As Yet Untitled

I'm very excited to announce the release of my latest New Adult novel Empath , the first book in the Flawed Series. Read on to find out more about this paranormal thriller and be sure to enter the giveaway at the end for an awesome prize package. The Struggle of an Empath Supernatural empathy isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. Anywhere she goes, Jade’s emotions are replaced by those of the people around her. Jade grew up in a suburb of Colorado Springs, protected from other people by her parents. Now she faces college—and the world—with nothing to shield her from unwanted feelings. When Cam, a classmate with a major crush on her unintentionally hijacks her emotions, Jade struggles to keep from being carried away in feelings of attraction. When Ethan, a psychopath with a thirst for fear, fixates on her, the emotional impact could be lethal. Caught in a deadly trap, Jade must untangle the emotions and find a way to use her empathic curse to overcome this killer or be overcome by him. Emp...

Becca J. Campbell's novel, Gateway to Reality, engendered high expectations after the release of her first novel, Foreign Identity , last year. I am pleased to say that Campbell's second effort has more than lived up to her first, and Gateway to Reality is  a pleasing blend of science-fiction excitement and convicting personal drama that makes it a highly satisfying read. When Wes, the protagonist, starts having strangely vivid dreams, his life takes a turn he never expected and he begins discovering things about the universe and his earthly body that he never thought he would. Confronted with an alternate dimension in which "Existence" is the only law, Wes must work to discover to which world he truly belongs, and which version of himself he an learn to live with. To compare this story to The Matrix might be apt in that Campbell has created an alternate reality for her characters in which they know the truth of their existence--namely that they are part of an un...

A while ago I wrote a graduate research paper on the female role models presented to young women in fairy tales. I was (and am) very proud of this paper, because it explicates a point that I am adamant on: that despite what some feminists would have you believe, storybook princesses can actually provide solid female figures for young girls to look up to during one of the most turbulent times of their lives. So, here is my paper, in all its glory, for you to enjoy. If you don't make it to the end it won't hurt my feelings--it's a long paper. But I hope you will at least skim through it, and let me know what you think! The genre of fantasy fiction has been a staple of young adult literature for centuries, dating back as far as the 1600s. The (for all intents and purposes) contemporary paradigm of the modern fairytale got its start in the mid-1700s, with Perrault’s collections of moralistic fairytales, which eventually evolved into the Blue Fairy Book. As c...

What romance may look like. Romance is perhaps one of the most scoffed-at genres of fiction. Readers picture glossy covers featuring busty women in various states of undress, looking longingly into a tan, muscular man wearing some type of breech/boot combination. Because of this, the Romance genre is generally a reader’s dirty little secret.   Not the kind of books you take with you no public transportation, or leave sitting on your living room table for people to see. But there are three romance authors who, while not raising the genre to the heady heights of Literary Fiction (though as you can tell, that doesn’t bother me a bit), have made it respectable and written some damn good characters along the way.   Enjoy their work, and feel free to leave their non-bodice-busting covers lying around wherever you like.       1. Nora Roberts Nora Roberts           I discovered Nora Roberts by chance when I wa...

Many of you have heard me wax enthusiastic about Deanna Raybourn’s Julia Grey novels. I took a risk starting this series, because after I read her novel, The Dead Travel Fast , I was somewhat disappointed. But by the time I had finished the first installment, Silent in the Grave , I was hooked on the plucky, independent character of Julia Grey. The fifth in the series, tantalizingly titled The Dark Enquiry , continues the delightful standard set by the previous four books. In this volume, Julia finally earns the chance to become a fully trusted partner in her husband, Brisbane’s enquiry agency after her brother comes to them with a little blackmailing problem. Her family’s involvement in this particular case is fortuitous for Julia, as it gives her an obvious in to the case and makes it easier for her to convince Brisbane that she can be useful. What follows is an entertaining and endearing account of starts and stops as they attempt to pin down  a blackmailer, poisoner, and a ...