Before I Wake Blog Tour

 I'm so excited to be a blog stop for Rachel Vincent's newest book 

BEFORE I WAKE

As a huge fan of the Soul Screamer's Series, I am so excited to read this latest installment and talk to all of you about it.  Some of you may remember that Rachel is the first author I actually wrote an email to embarrassingly telling her how amazing I think she and her series are and how wonderfully crazy they make me :)  If you haven't read this series, you are missing out.  Get started today with the first book, My Soul To Take.  

Take a look at Rachel's guest post below, and be sure to enter the daily contest to win a copy of Before I Wake, by entering, you will also be entered into the grand prize giveaway!  You could win an iPod Nano!  And it is pink!  And engraved with 'Soul Screamers' on it!  Can you say awesome?!

About Before I Wake - Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Indiebound

I died on a Thursday-killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul

The good news? He didn't get it

The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school...

Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent "recovering," she's back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend. But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won't keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn't just gambling with her own life....

In Which I Admit My True Age and Out Myself as a Former Band Nerd

Wanna hear a secret? I’m really bad at guest posts. Not at writing them, necessarily, but at coming up with ideas for them. I actually thought about this one for a couple of hours before it finally occurred to me that this blog post has a built-in topic. Have you guessed?

Today is my birthday. I’m 34, which means I’ve officially moved into my mid-thirties. I’m not sure how that happened. I swear, last week I was in high school.

On it’s own, my birthday is not a great topic for a guest blog, but I found the timing pretty interesting because in Before I Wake (the official book-birthday is next Tuesday, June 26^th), Kaylee celebrates her seventeenth birthday. And by “celebrates,” of course, I mean she barely survives a catastrophe of Netherworld-proportions.

[Seriously, did you think she was going to get a break from battling the forces of evil just because the anniversary of her birth has rolled around? It’s like you don’t know me at all! ;)]

Though it can’t compare to hers, my own seventeenth birthday was a bit of a catastrophe too, though on a much smaller, less bloody scale. Okay, ‘catastrophe’ may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was traumatic for me.

Seventeen years ago today, (Turns out seventeen plus seventeen is thirty-four. Coincidence? I doubt it… ;) ), I lost my high school band’s field commander tryouts. (For those who don’t know, the field commander is the person in gloves and a fancy suit or dress who conducts the band during performances and competitions.) And I don’t just mean that I was one of a dozen girls who didn’t get the position. I went to a very small school. Only two of us tried out.

I was the only loser.

In retrospect, it’s not such a big deal. I mean, who even remembers their senior-year field commander a couple of decades later? Okay, I remember our field commander, in part because I lost to her on my birthday, and in part because she grew up to marry the only one of my ex-boyfriends who remained a friend. But other than that, who remembers? I mean, it was high school. Looking back, those four years were actually a pretty small part of my life, at least according to the objective calendar perspective.

But in the moment? I was devastated. My birthday was ruined. I was humiliated, and I just knew that humiliation would continue for all of my senior year marching season, because every time we performed, everyone would see me in my horrible marching band uniform, with the stupid cummerbund and tall hat with an even taller plume (stupid fake feather—ours were gold). Then they would see the new field commander in her glittery dress, leading the whole band from the podium, not marching in horrible clunky white shoes with the rest of the plebian amateur musicians.

Was I right? Yeah. It was humiliating. For a long time. And the worst part is that my defeat overshadowed the rest of my birthday. I can’t remember anything else from that day. I have no idea what gifts I got, or what I did to celebrate.

Knowing me, I probably pouted and felt sorry for myself. I’ve been known to do that.

However, as I said, my seventeenth birthday disaster was nothing compared to Kaylee’s. I don’t remember what I got for my birthday, but I can promise you she’ll never forget the two big gifts she got for hers. One was awesome. The other was horrific.

That’s a good balance, right?

Maybe not. Poor Kaylee.

Fortunately (for me), my 34^th birthday is already going better than my seventeenth did. No 1. has taken the day off from work to take me to a movie, and I’m not doing any real work today.

And no matter what the evidence seems to suggest, I do hope that Kaylee’s next birthday is better than her seventeenth. After all, it could hardly be worse. Assuming she survives that long… ;)

Contest Info: There are two give-aways for those following her tour!

The first give-away is a daily one for the chance to win a copy of Before I Wake!
To enter the daily give-away, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Grand Prize:
The second give-away is for a grand prize of a pink iPod nano engraved with "Soul Screamers"! The Grand Prize winner is chosen from all daily entries!

Please note that both the daily and grand prize giveaways are for US/Canada participants only. See full contest rules here.

Monday, June 11th- Fiktshun

Wednesday, June 13th - Harlequin Paranormal Blog

Friday, June 15th- All Things Urban Fantasy

Monday, June 18th  - I'm Just Sitting Here and Read

Tuesday, June 19th Book Birthday -  Book Soulmates

Wednesday, June 20th - Late Bloomer Online

Friday, June 22nd - Mimi Valentine

Monday, June 25th - Tynga's Reviews

Wednesday, June 27th - The Page Turners

Friday, June 29th- A Cupcake and A Latte

Thanks Rachel, Kismet Book Tours and Harlequin Teen for including me in the blog tour!