Something New…THE BETTER TO BITE (With Giveaway) Back to Blog
Update: Thank you all SO much for sharing your stories with me! You had me fighting the urge to try the Bloody Mary routine once more. 😉 I randomly picked a winner, and that commenter is…latisha depoortere. Congrats!!! (Psst..more contests are coming soon!)
I’m very excited about a new book that I hope to release very soon (it’s October–come on, I HAD to release a paranormal during this spooky month!). Here’s the cover for the book:
And here’s the blurb:
Don’t go into the woods.
Sixteen-year-old Anna Lambert knows that the woods near her new home aren’t safe. She’s seen the wolves that stalk through that dark forest, but Anna doesn’t scare easily.
Anna is cursed–or gifted, depending on how you look at it–with the ability to find anyone or anything that is lost. So when folks start disappearing in the small town of Haven, Anna’s father, the sheriff, has to use her special skills as they begin to hunt for a killer.
But the killer isn’t exactly human. As Anna is pulled deeper into the secrets of Haven–a town that is truly cursed–she finds herself falling for two, equally mysterious boys. With the danger closing in, one of those boys may just turn out to be her savior. And the other? He could be a very big, very bad…beast.
Beware of beasts…and boys…with bite.
***
THE BETTER TO BITE will be the first YA that I release, although it is not the first YA that I have written. I actually wrote my very first YA novel almost 16 years ago. So, ahem, I guess you could say this one has been a long time coming. 😉
As I wrote THE BETTER TO BITE, I thought of it as Veronica Mars meets Little Red Riding Hood–with werewolves. I had such an incredible time writing this story, and I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that readers enjoy it, too.
And just because I’m releasing a YA novel, it does not mean that I won’t be writing adult stories, too. I promise, I’m definitely still doing them! Actually, I’m working to have an adult paranormal romance come out in just a few weeks, too, and then I have a December release with Kensington Brava (ANGEL IN CHAINS)…and in 2013, well, I’ve got at least 7 adult releases scheduled. I love writing–and I love to write in several areas, so no worries on that score.
I will be planning some giveaways with THE BETTER TO BITE, and as soon as the book is available, I will be back to spread the word. In the meantime…since it is the Halloween season, why don’t we do a giveaway today? I’ll give a $15 Amazon gift card to one commenter. You just tell me…what’s your favorite spooky ghost story to tell around Halloween? My heroine, Anna, in THE BETTER TO BITE, sure does enjoy spooky tales. And so do I! I’ll pick the random winner on 10/6 at noon (Central time). Good luck!!!
(And I’d like to send out a big thank you to my wonderful cover artist, Pickyme!)
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Love the cover!!!! We were never much about telling spooky stories growing up but I love to go to haunted places at Halloween.
I love red riding hood – I guess its not spooky in that sense, but I love the fairy tales. Thanks for the giveaway and Im looking forward to the release!
kerryjcj@verizon.net
I don’t do spooky telling lol..but I love reading your …I can’t wait Angel in chains….good luck and i’m crossing my fingers for you too
Mandy
Hmmmm… I suppose the CLAW! You know the one with the couple in a broken down car far in the woods, obviously I am a bit dim on the story. I should brush up 🙂
I really hate auto correct… Books….for…..
Around here we tell the kids about ghosts of people who were supposedly hanged from one of the old bridges. You are supposed to drive down there and park at the entrance to the bridge and shut the car off. Turn your lights off and honk the horn twice. When hear or feel something hit the car, turn your lights back on and there is a “body” hanging in the center of the bridge.
The trick is you have a friend go there ahead of you and set this up.. Kids sure can scream loud…lol I like the “Legend of Spookyhollow”
Love your book cover Cynthia. Gorgeous! Story sounds really interesting too. Myself i don’t like scary stories so i try not be present when they are being told. lol Yeah i go the other way. I have watched very few scary movies too. I had strep throat as a kid once and everyone was watching one of those Friday the 13th movies and i was on the couch and had to watch it. Well mostly i rolled over and faced the back of the couch but unfortunately you can still hear it. lol sigh. Have not watched even part of one since. If my hubby wants to watch something scary he has to do it while i am at work or i go upstairs to read.
Lisa B
Congrats on your new YA!!
Love the cover. I don’t know about any ghost stories but I do love to tell scary stories or read Edgar Allen Poe’s poems.
I remember always freaking out when I’d go to a slumber party and the girls would want to play “Bloody Mary.” Supposedly a witch by the name of Mary was killed by townspeople for assorted crimes, but she refuses to stay dead. As a matter of fact, she is easily conjured up by chanting her name three times while looking in a mirror. Once she is called, Mary starts on a bloody rampage and kills all who dare speak her name. It was always a badge of bravery to those who would actually go into the bathroom, stare in the mirror, and call out Bloody Mary’s name three times to see if she’d appear.
To be honest, I’m 41 now and probably wouldn’t do it now. LOL Some of those irrational childhood fears are hard to shake. LOL
No spooky stories for me. I am always scared!
I don’t really tell spooky stories but I do like to listen to them around Halloween time 🙂
There was a story when I was a kid living in Oklahoma, about some Girl Scouts that were killed at camp, my male cousin use to tell us this story when we would all get together. My Aunt overheard him and got all over him for telling that story, Why?? The damn thing was true!!!!!! I never camped out after that, am 43 and still refuse to camp!!!!!!
Definitely love the cover, which is very appropriate for YA. You can save the eye candy for the older readers!
The spooky story I told Jessie growing up was about a little girl murdered under Brown’s Bridge near the Mississippi State line. Her lonely ghost lured other little girls to their deaths in her search for a playmate.
Only after one of the girls’ parents discover her skeleton buried under the rocks around the bridge does she finally find peace and lets go of their daughter – who then wakes up from the coma she’s been in for months.
I guess I should write that someday, huh?
I like to tell spooky stories that have claimed to happen to different family members. When they claim to have seen a ghost or something, that makes it feel more real.
Gorgeous cover!
I don’t know any specific stories, but anything with vampires or werewolves makes me happy…I mean scared. 😀
Around here in South MS we tell stories of the Rock & Roll Graveyard. Really creepy for a kid when it’s a real graveyard that is near where you live.
Bloody Mary always scared me as a kid. I think someone told it to me at a slumped party and it freaked me out so much I had to sleep with the mirrors covered for a while.
Cant wait for the new book. Loved Wed or Dead!
OMG! this looks so good especially since it’s like Veronica mars, which i love! Any way, ghost story: in my home town we have whipper willow road, and basically the story is that if you take your car down the road, your car will break down and then the nj devil will come and haunt you until you get your car started again. crazy as it sounds, your car will break down 4/5 times you go down the road.
-Taylor Z
Lovemusicgirlx94@aol.com
Really not one for scary stories or story telling. Though I have to agree with Corinne there. Friend of mine who was five years older than me (and thought she was the wisest there was) told me the story of Bloody Mary. I could not stand sleeping in a room with mirrors for the longest time.
Definitely Bloody Mary. This book sounds great and the cover is awesome!
I love the cover.
The only creepy/spooky & scary experience I have is while being home alone when my husband was out on business. I was falling or was already sleep when I felt one of the corner of my bed sink down a bit as if there was someone sitting on it. I wasn’t sure if my husband had come home in the middle of the night so I turn and saw nobody, yet I saw the corner of the bed slowly go up again as if someone had just gotten up. Until this day, I do not sleep alone in my house, and if I have to, I sleep in the guest room with all the lights on LOL 🙂
readingdiva3(at)gmail(com)
Great cover! I look forward to reading your YA books. As I have mentioned in other posts on different blogs you have written I HATE scary stories. My older sister always told them and made me watch scary movies with her. The whole Bloody Mary thing freaked me out. I can’t think of specific stories that were told to me, but some of the movies I watched that scared the crap out of me included Carrie, Amityville Horror (old one), Nightmare on Elm Street, and the Friday the 13th movies. Oh and how about that car that came to life? Christine? Horrible! 🙂
Congrats on your new book and it being a new genre for us :). Beautiful cover!!!
Scary story I love to tell at this time of the year is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 🙂
I suck at telling stories, i wander off and never get to the punch line =) but i´m a great listener and always scream at the right place!
best wishes & Happy Thursday!
//Linda
As a kid, I was good at creating spooky stories that the other kids actually believed… used to have a good time seeing how they would react.
For me now, I love reading spooky tales… haunting love stories! 😉
I don’t know the name of it but it’s the story where the boy meets the girl (I think her name is Mary) at the school dance. She’s cold so he lends her his sweater. Later he walks her home kisses her goodnight and leaves. As he’s headed home he realizes he forgot his sweater and goes back to her house to retrieve it. A man answers the door. He gets very upset that the boy is playing such a nasty joke as Mary died a year ago that night. The boy leaves. He’s drawn to the graveyard and finds his sweater neatly folded upon Mary’s grave. I think some guy in the 60’s did a song of this story.
I can’t wait to read your YA :).
I love Red Riding Hood books and movies. I like telling ghost stories during this month. I have a book that has ghost stories for every city in the United States. There is one haunting story I love telling. It’s the one where the boy picked up the girl on the street before going to prom. He gives her his jacket and when he comes back to get it, it’s around her tombstone.
I don’t really now any spooky stories, but I am freaked out by those bugs in the remote jungles that implant thier eggs in your skin. You just think it’s a bug bite and wham few weeks later….. (shiver)
Never did ghost stories, but use to love the Ouija board!! Looking forward to the new releases!!
It would have to be The Headless Horseman.
Love the cover.And it sounds like a really great book.Looking forward to it.I don’t have a favorite spooky ghost story.I don’t tell them and haven’t heard any in years.
I don’t have any scary or spooky stories and I wouldn’t like to listen to any either; I get scared easily enough without it.
Great cover. I love the story of the Headless Horseman. Thanks for the giveaway.
mythic021@gmail.com
Some variation of the mysterious hitchhiker that turns out to be a killer
I don’t really do spooky stories anymore when I was younger I remember friends and I talking about Bloody mary! I do love to read and my favorite is Paranormal 🙂
Thank you for the great giveaway and congrats on new book!
Latisha D
tishajean@ charter.net
When we were little my Dad always would tell us stories about the Jersey Devil before going on Hayrides. Whenever we heard noise we would be extra scared.
usignolc(at)yahooDOTcom
i like to just talk about scary movies this time of year. Especially the Halloween movies.
fcammer2@comcast.net
I was always the one to tell people the ghost stories – only because I have been able to communicate with spirits since I was young. Used to totally freak my mother out (actually it still does) 🙂
When I was in high school there was this ghost story titled, The Hand. It was about a hand that had been cut off years ago in a murder. The hand came out at night and would strangle people in their sleep. Love the cover!
Congrats on your first YA release!!! It sounds like it is going to be amazing! 😉
I haven’t told stories in years, but when I was younger, my aunt (who is more like a big sister at only 5 years older than me), use to tell me stories about a house in the town that we lived in. It was supposedly haunted all year round, but during Halloween, it was really scary. It had boarded up windows and ivy running up the walls. I have always loved spooky/haunted stories though. 🙂
I cannot wait to read the new story. I am also excited to know that you will be releasing so many next year!
It’s beautiful!!! I’m not a big YA reader, but this sounds really good 🙂 Plus you know you could write the ingredients to a can of soup and I’d read it
(btw you don’t have to enter me, I just wanted to stop by and say hi)
I don’t really know any spooky Halloween stories, but I do love reading spooky books every now and then. And some of the ones I’ve read have left me freaked out *cough* Stephen King *cough cough*
Love the cover and looking forward to reading the book!! 🙂 My favorite story to tell around Halloween is Sleepy Hallow! That story still scares the heck outta me!!
Ashley A
ash_app@hotmail.com
Like Stephen king it whoo scary hate clowns
Hot hook congrats, great prze
Poe’s Tell Tale Heart. I remember my dad reading it to me and my brother when he was giving us a bath when I was 3 or 4. This might explain my love for the paranormal.
BTW I like the cover on The Better to bite, the red really stands out and gets attention, however give me the hunky bare chested males any day. Though I guess for YA mature male bare chests might be a touch inappropriate.
Hi Cynthia!!! My fav Halloween tale is The Legend of Sleepy Hallow!! You can’t get much better than that. As a matter of fact I will be watching the Johnny Depp version called Sleepy Hollow this afternoon. I can’t wait to read your new story. Yours are always the best and what a great Halloween present for your fanatic readers ** Grin **. How is the Halloween decorating coming? I actually got an early start this year because I will be headed to Disney for a few days next week. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!!
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When I was a kid, Bloody Mary used to scare the heck out of me! But as far as books go, The Shining by Stephen King is one of my favorite scary ghost stories. Thanks for the giveaway!
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