Why The Glass Butterfly's book birthday is a CATastrophe (aka: why I've been quiet as a dormouse the past few days)...

Today is The Glass Butterfly's official book birthday! HURRAH!

(gif by Heather Love King)

However, there's been a glitch. Since I've chosen to publish these books as indie titles (see story behind that decision here), I myself am responsible for uploading every version individually, paperbacks, ebooks, etc... on each and every online site available to indie authors.

Unfortunately, there's a processing timeline that has to be adhered to. It takes most versions at least 72 hours to go through and appear on all the venues for purchase.

Normally, I'm on the ball and can get things done three days ahead. In fact, I had last Friday set on my calendar as upload day, but then something unexpected dropped into my path...this little love, right here:

Friday afternoon while running errands, my daughter and I spotted this teensy 6-week-old baby scrambling around on busy a four-lane street in the middle of town (gif is a representation, not actual location). 

She was so terrified, she finally rolled up in a trembling ball in the middle lane as seven or more cars (and even a semi!) passed over her at full 40 mph speed without slowing down. The tires barely missed her each time because--by some miracle--she was centered between the lines just perfectly. 

My heart stopped with every car's passage. I was praying she'd survive, but had tears in my eyes and averted my gaze each time...the thought of her getting crushed was harrowing. I was trembling myself as I pulled into the closest parking lot to find a way to get her. Fortunately, at the same time, an anonymous, heroic man (who I will forever believe was this kitten's guardian angel) stopped his car mid-traffic and put the hazards on to pick her up out of the street. 

After he rescued her, he pulled into the parking lot where we waited. He stepped out of his truck, wincing, because the poor little love was wound around his ankle like a teensy, furry python and had her claws embedded in his skin. As I helped him get free, he asked if I could take over from there. I said of course, because I knew she was meant to be ours. 

We were only two minutes away from my veterinarian's office. The kitten was inconsolable and yowling so we wrapped her in a towel to protect her sharp little claws (and ourselves, haha) while I drove over.

After keeping her overnight, our vet gave her a good bill of health (another miracle that she had only road burn on her nose and paws from nuzzling into a tight ball on the asphalt to barricade herself against the velocity of the cars passing over), so we brought her home to be part of our family on Saturday. Here she is, happy and healthy in her safe place on the little fleece blanket I made for her.

She's a sweet, resilient tiny kitten. We named her Jujube (like the miniature gummy candies that I loved as a teen).

We call her Juju for short which is fitting, because in the urban dictionary, Juju means luck (bad and good both). Also, if you add a “b” at the end of each “u” it becomes jubjub (like the bird from Alice in Wonderland). 

How fitting is that for the pet of an author who's written an AiW spinoff?

All that to say, due to our newest addition, I didn’t have time to do any work until Monday because we were helping Juju adjust to her home and recuperate from her traumatic experience. 

So, as of now, the only places where The Glass Butterfly is live are Nook, Amazon, and iTunes (apple). Perfect for anyone who'd like to order the ebook versions and start reading today! 

However, if you're wanting a paperback, there is only one venue available from which to order, and it's B&N. Others should be processed by this weekend. I will update The Glass Butterfly page with more buttons as soon as other versions become available, so keep checking there!

Also, in the spirit of her new and bright future, Jujube thanks you for your patience and hopes you'll take part in the festivities while you wait! There's still a fantastic INTL giveaway going on for the prizes below through August 18th, so be sure to enter the rafflecopter before you leave today. And as always, thanks so much for the book support!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Glass Butterfly Pinterest & Playlist Reveal + Giveaway!

In less than 2 months, The Glass Butterfly will break free of its cocoon and fly. So it's time for a couple of reveals and a giveaway!

Below is a peek at my secret pinterest board. I've now made it public, so by clicking on the image, you'll be taken to pinterest where you can see all my visual inspirations for the story.

Click to go to board

And anyone who knows me knows I'm inspired auditorily as well as visually, so here are the songs that I used to set moods, emotions, and scenes.

Don't have spotify? Check out a list of the songs linked up to youtube by visiting this page on my Haunted Hearts Legacy website.

*****

Now for the international giveaway. Below are the five prize packs up for grabs. Just enter the rafflecopter for your chance at one!

The Architect of Song prize pack 

(signed swag, 

8x11 vintage musical sheet and flower print)

The Hummingbird Heart prize pack 

(signed swag, Papyrus jeweled 

hummingbird greeting card)

The Glass Butterfly prize pack 

(signed swag, set of 6 butterfly/dragonfly magnets)

Journal and Quill prize pack 

(vintage brocade journal, 

quill and ink set)

Haunted Hearts Legacy prize pack 

(three book set, signed and personalized)

Good luck to all who take part, and I look forward to sharing this romantic, mysterious, and ghostly tale with you on August 15, 2018!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Welcome to NewASH -- Featuring Kat Ross from the Red Team!

 Welcome to New Adult Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was inspired as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until May 1st! Go to the New Adult Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are THREE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I'm a part of TEAM RED – but there are also purple and blue teams for chances to win two other sets of books!

If you get lost, or would like to find your favorite author, there are links to all the authors participating here.

***THE SCAVENGER HUNT***

Directions: At the bottom of this post, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my lucky book number. Collect the lucky book numbers of all the authors on TEAM RED, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by May 1st, at noon Eastern Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

LET THE HUNTING BEGIN!

***MEET KAT ROSS***

Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.

***CHECK OUT KAT'S BOOK***

They are the light against the darkness. 

The steel against the necromancy of the Druj. 

And they use demons to hunt demons…. 

Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King's elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister. 

Scarred by grief, she's willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius. Human in body, he's possessed of a terrifying power, one that Nazafareen controls. But the golden cuffs that join them have an unwanted side effect. Each experiences the other's emotions, and human and daeva start to grow dangerously close. 

As they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae, unearthing the secrets of Darius's past along the way, Nazafareen is forced to question his slavery—and her own loyalty to the empire. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north, and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, the fate of an entire civilization may be at stake… "

***KAT'S EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT: An excerpt from THE MIDNIGHT SEA***

My eyes flew open at the crack of dawn. I groaned and rubbed my forehead. My scalp tingled, an icy, unpleasant sensation. I knew right away where Darius was and what he was doing. It was another side effect of the bond, I'd discovered. I could feel his heart beating. I knew that one of his boots was too tight. I could shut my eyes and tell you exactly where he was, even if he was hundreds of leagues away.Why had no one told me what it would be like? I supposed Tijah did, but this was much worse than I'd expected. Much, much worse.

I threw on my new scarlet tunic and marched down to the river. Tendrils of mist swirled through the dead reeds at the edge. It was late autumn and the air had a dank chill that promised snow.

My daēva stood there, stripped to the waist, pouring water over his head with his right hand. He wore a gold faravahar on a chain around his neck, its eagle wings spread wide. His left arm lay at his side, grey and dead. I stared at his shoulder, at the juncture where smooth skin met rough. His Druj curse.

It slowed me for a moment, seeing that pathetic arm, but I wasn't yet ready to forgive him for waking me. That was my excuse, anyway. Of course, what really angered me was the terrible realization that I was burdened with a sorrow not my own, but that bled me nonetheless. What really angered me was him—everything about him.

He was calmer this morning, but I wasn't. I stopped about twenty feet away. He didn’t turn around although he knew I was there.

"It's nice that you're so pious," I said. "But don't you think it's a little early to be down here performing the morning rites?"

He paused, then dumped the last of the water from the bowl. I felt the cold trickle down my spine and my lips tightened.

"I was taught by the magi to come at first light," Darius said. "Did you expect to sleep in? I'm afraid that's not the way it works for Water Dogs." He smiled, and we both knew it was fake. "I'm sorry if I've offended you in some way."

I stared at him, at the dark hair plastered across his forehead, his stubborn mouth. He looked so human. And yet there was something in the way Darius held himself, perfectly at ease in his own skin. Still but coiled, like the wolves I'd seen in the mountains.

"You haven't offended me in the least," I said. "I suppose you need the blessing more than I do."

I spun on my heel and walked away, knowing I had wounded him. A small stab to my own heart. And I felt slightly ashamed. But that wasn't the end of it. Then I felt his satisfaction at my shame. And my own anger that he knew and was glad. 

And then his amusement at my anger!

I stalked off, determined to think nothing, to feel nothing, ever again. If only it were that easy.

Awesome excerpt! This is going on my GoodReads to read shelf! If you'd like to add it to yours, go here.  Or to buy the book, here's a link. And be sure to check out what other books Kat has cooking up on her website.

Also, don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me, Kat Ross, and many more authors!

TO ENTER, YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT MY LUCKY BOOK NUMBER IS 6.

Add up all the lucky numbers of the authors on TEAM RED, and you’ll have the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

***CONTINUE THE HUNT***

To keep going on your quest for the hunt and to check out my own personal cover /trailer reveal and INTL giveaway, you'll need to check out the next stop at Kim Briggs's place. GOOD LUCK!

Upcoming trailer reveal and giveaway!

For more information on the Spring 2016 #NewASH dates and prize packages, follow this link.

Hope to see you there!