Release Day…WITH YOU ALWAYS by Rena Olsen

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Adult book, release day, Rena Olsen, The Girl Before, Thriller, With You Always

Happy book birthday, Rena!!!

One of my bestest writing friends, one of the Shenanigals, a fantastic writer, Rena sets more of her words free today!

I am so proud of Rena, so grateful that I have been on this writing journey with her. She deserves all the good things and all the Gummy Bears. If you liked her first book, you will like this one.

Let’s celebrate MORE BOOKS!

In the wake of a painful breakup and struggling to prove herself at work, Julia feels adrift. When Bryce blows into her life, he seems like the perfect anchor. Handsome, charming, secure, and confident, Bryce brings out the best in Julia, sweeping her off her feet with attention and affection while grounding her with his certainty and faith. Together they embark on a path guided by the principles of his family and their church, each step a paving stone leading to happily ever after.

But this is no fairy tale.

Step by step, one small concession leading to another, Julia is slowly isolated from her job, her friends, and her family, until she comes to find that her dream come true is a cage. Then one day everything changes…and Julia is faced with no choice but to find a way out.

 

Want a copy? Of course you do! Go here!

 

Haven’t read her first book THE GIRL BEFORE? Read it. I cried. I cringed. In the end, I smiled. Go find it here!

Connect with Rena on Twitter, she loves new friends.

 

 

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Adventures in Iowa

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adventures in Iowa, Des Moines, fun, Rena Olsen, The Girl Before, visiting a friend

As you might remember, I took a road trip to Iowa last weekend to visit my friend (and super awesome published author now!) Rena Olsen. GO FIND HER BOOK IT’S OUT IN THE WILD NOW! THE GIRL BEFORE!

The Girl Before on the shelf at Barnes and Noble!

SEE?!?!?!! I went out on Tuesday and found it!

The Girl Before on MY book shelf!

You can have your own! A great book! A fabulous thriller, I wanted to slap and hug the main character at the same time. Clara grows as the stories of her past weave through the present, the two story lines mirroring each other. A horror lover, I found the real life terror of human trafficking truly scary.

Anyway… I wanted to share moments of my weekend with Rena. I HAD SO MUCH FUN! And it was great to spend time with her (really, she is a terrific friend and person!) before the craziness of this week hit…you know the week of HER DEBUT RELEASE and her launch party this weekend at a local bookstore. I got to go to that bookstore! And LOOK…

I won’t be there in person for the party, BUT I WILL BE THINKING OF RENA ALL DAY!

Let me share snippets of the weekend.

We stopped here for lunch one day…

Logo for Zombie Burger restaurant.

Dude. Yummy burgers and milkshakes! And ZOMBIES!

A super cool candy store called Rocket Fizz blew me away with the awesome.

Strange flavored sodas…like

Dragon Drool

How do you catch the dragons to collect their drool?

And…

Made from…Martians?

Who knows. I won’t be trying it either…too scared.

There was also a selection of Dr. Who stuff like this…

TARDIS lunch box

Which I didn’t buy, but buying three books at the bookstore made up for that.

I got to meet Andrea in person! A friend from Twitter, we have bonded over Dean Winchester and horror movies. We laughed. We hugged. YEA!

Rena took me to her church Sunday morning and, dude, it was like a rock concert. Music. Lights. A big TV screen. A drummer in a glass cage…I know, but they let him out, so don’t worry. Pretty inspirational words happened, words that made a lot of sense to us. To remember what’s important, to hold onto who you are, that brief moments of glory fade…that to reach goals it’s not about trying but training. I need to get into that training stuff. Good thoughts! Ones that helped me find peace with me, which is always good.

We went to a super neat-o movie theater to watch Jason Bourne (I do feel guilty for seeing it without my hubs and son, who want to see it and haven’t) where they served me a very yummy lunch. And after we stopped by this store full of stuffed animals and I couldn’t help but pose with this walrus in honor of my Walrus Writers group, who meet on Skype each week to critique our work and have fun.

Rena drove me around downtown Des Moines, here are a few pics…

We walked across this bridge! Pretty cool!

If there hadn’t been kids taking up all the swings, I would have swung on this fishing rod playground.

There might be a pic of me standing on that center raised spot acting like a goddess…yeah…

Hearts for Rena!

There might be a pic of me petting the bison head on that statue as well…

View from the Capitol

The Capitol building

And I might have found a Poke stop and collected some Poke balls…possibly caught a Pokemon…because it’s fun!

I also had a brief moment of fun in a sprinkler and was brutally attacked by another sprinkler, but we don’t speak of that.

I will end with a smile because of lots of grand memories I will cherish.

It’s Rena and me!

 

Road Trip and Friendship

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Adult book, ARC, candy wrappers, friends, pitch wars, reading, Rena Olsen, road trip, The Girl Before, thoughts, Thriller

Tomorrow I am driving 8 hours (or 9…or whatever) to spend the weekend with a dear friend to celebrate the fact that HER BOOK RELEASES ON AUGUST 9TH!

Yup. I’m driving all by myself. For the weekend.

Why?

Let me tell you a story…

About two (or was it three?) years ago…I mean, who cares, friendship isn’t measured in years…I entered Pitch Wars. That wonderful contest just began again…mentors are reading and trying to decide who they will choose to help and mentee hopefuls are chewing their fingernails off.

I’ve been there. Only it was candy wrappers.

I made a comment about eating chocolate and someone tweeted back that she stole and ate the wrappers. So I went with it. It became a thing. We indicated our nervousness by tweeting “*crinkle*” to each other. Others showed concern at the whole eating wrappers thing, but it helped diffuse the tension and did something much more important…it gave me a new friend. We bonded over eating candy wrappers.

Now neither one of us made it into the contest. And we were sad, for a second…then we forgot about that and looked forward, down the road to the next thing. We walked the journey together. It’s good to have a friend.

I watched her go from writing YA sci-fi to an adult, an OH MY GOODNESS WHAT AM I DOING WRITING THIS adult. A manuscript about human trafficking. And I said, “THIS IS IT! THE BOOK THAT WILL MAKE IT!”

And she scoffed at me.

Then she was getting offers from agents and stopped scoffing and started panic-excited-screaming. HOW WOULD SHE EVER CHOOSE! I told her to calm down and listen to her heart…and her gut. She signed with her agent from Dystel and Goderich.

Then revisions.

Then on submission.

THEN A BOOK DEAL!

AND NOW IT IS ALMOST HERE! HER DEBUT BOOK THE GIRL BEFORE IS GOING TO BE RELEASED INTO THE WILD I’M SO SORRY I’M SCREAMING BUT I AM VERY EXCITED!

I got to be a apart of the Love Tour. An ARC was mailed here, there, and everywhere. We read. We tweeted under #TheGirlBefore. We cried. We sent virtual hugs.

The ARC in MY hand on its way from Sarah to me to Jamie.

I was sad to see it go, but happy to have added my words full of love and support to my friend, who got it back not long ago and got to read everything we all wrote.

As much as I miss that book, I am ready to buy my very own copy on the 9th! I might stand in line jabbering to the cashier how I know the author and how FABUTASTIC the book is… I might. I might have book marks that I hand out to people.

Dude. I. Know. Her. RENA OLSEN. I KNOW HER. SHE IS MY FRIEND.

AND I KNEW HER WHEN, PEOPLE, I KNEW HER BEFORE SHE HAD AN AGENT AND A BOOK DEAL!

So I am going on a road trip. Because more than freaking people out with talk of eating candy wrappers. More than getting my heart broken by not getting chosen for Pitch Wars. More than anything…I made a terrific friend. One I have had the privilege of knowing, have gotten to tag along on her journey.

And it’s not over yet.

My dear Rena,

I am so proud of all you’ve accomplished.

I am proud to be one of the people you turn to when you are frustrated or have great news to share.

I am happy to stay by your side forever, to believe in you when you forget how, to excited-squeal with you when great things happen, and to be your roommate at any and all writer’s conferences. Because then I get to be cool by association.

I can’t wait for the weekend. We will have so much fun!

And me telling you how awesome you are at least 49957593720.8 times a day won’t get old, I promise.