Cover Reveal: FIRE OF STARS AND DRAGONS by Melissa A. Petreshock

Swoon Romance puts together some gorgeous covers!! Today, I'm excited to be a part of the Cover Reveal for FIRE OF STARS AND DRAGONS by Melissa A. Petreshock, one of my friends and publishing sisters. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the book sounds intriguing. I can't wait!

New Adult Romance

Releasing April 2014

Publisher: Swoon Romance

Following the death of her vampire uncle, twenty-one-year-old CAITRIONA HAYDEN finds herself in the midst of a trio of quintessential alpha male suitors in 22nd century sovereign America

Cover Reveal: THE FINE ART OF PRETENDING by Rachel Harris

I am so excited to be a part of the cover reveal for Rachel Harris' THE FINE ART OF PRETENDING, coming this fall from Spencer Hill Contemporary!! As a part of Rachel's Flirt Squad, I've had the opportunity to read a few selected excerpts of this novel, and I'm already totally in love with Brandon and Aly. I can't wait to read the whole thing! But in the meantime, isn't this cover absolutely adorable?

About THE FINE ART OF PRETENDING:
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Author: Rachel Harris
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary

According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls:

Pitch Wars Middle Grade Alternate Showcase

Welcome to the Alternate Showcase!

Today I’m hosting some of the wonderful writers who participated in a six week boot camp where published/agented authors and industry interns mentored a team of writers to help them polish their manuscripts for agents. The mentors picked one to go into the agent round on Brenda Drake’s blog and two alternates in case their top pick dropped out of the competition.

The alternates were amazing, so we wanted to do a showcase of their talent to reward them for their hard work. Following this post you’ll find the pitches for the writers I’m hosting.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-20 - THE VANISHINGS

MENTOR: Marieke Nijkamp
ALTERNATE: Genetta Adair
TITLE: THE VANISHINGS
CATEGORY / GENRE: MG / Contemporary
WORD COUNT: 61,000

PITCH: Thirteen-year-old germaphobic Skyla faces a Mayan tunnel, a volcano, and an earthquake in Guatemala’s toxic dump to use her OCD skills and solve an epidemic before it kills her friend.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-19 - THE MYSTERY AT SPINDRIFT

MENTOR: Jen Malone
ALTERNATE: Chris Bailey
TITLE: THE MYSTERY AT SPINDRIFT
CATEGORY/GENRE: Middle Grade Mystery
WORD COUNT: 32,000

PITCH: When Ellie McCoy’s dog snuffles up a severed human finger among the palmettos, the twelve-year-old is scared breathless—until she realizes that solving a real mystery will turn a same-old summer on quaint Maydock Island into an adventure worthy of Nancy Drew.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-18 - SECRETS OF THE SAINT

MENTOR: Jen Swann Downey
ALTERNATE: Megan Basham
TITLE: SECRETS OF THE SAINT
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Fantasy
WORD COUNT: 82,000

PITCH: When twelve-year-old Katie Flannery and her brother, Jack, discover a scroll their father hid before he died, they become the guardians of their family’s 1500-year-old secret—a secret that began when St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Now they must stop their uncle from unleashing Patrick’s ancient enemy on the world.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-17 - QUINCY STRANGE AND THE TEN

MENTOR: Jennifer Malone
ALTERNATE: Heidi Boyd
TITLE: QUINCY STRANGE AND THE TEN
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Mystery
WORD COUNT: 48,000

PITCH: For Quincy Strange, forgetting to fasten his polo shirt’s top button is just as horrifying as being sucked into a black hole. But when he uncovers a canceled CIA project involving genetic testing on students, he finds his oddities to be his best attributes, as he forms a hypothesis that just might save the lives of the ten test subjects.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-16 - MANTICORE

MENTOR: Stephanie Funk
ALTERNATE: G.K. Byrne
TITLE: MANTICORE
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Horror
WORD COUNT: 49,000

PITCH: Aggie has been warned not to explore the Great Dismal Swamp near her new home, but a kitten’s sickly cries lure her in one afternoon. Only it’s not a kitten. It’s a monster. Now Aggie must hatch a plan to destroy it before it destroys her.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-15 - ALEX DE VEGA AND PANDORA'S BOX

MENTOR: Marieke Nijkamp
ALTERNATE: Patrice Caldwell
TITLE: ALEX DE VEGA AND PANDORA'S BOX
CATEGORY / GENRE: MG Supernatural Thriller
WORD COUNT: 44,000

PITCH: When a high-tech energy cube codenamed Pandora’s Box goes missing, twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Alex is hired by The Agency—New Atlantis’s secret intelligence service—to retrieve it from supernatural creatures who wish to use it to destroy the city in return for a cure for her comatose sister.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-14 - RISE AND FALL OF A HALLWAY SUPERHERO

MENTOR: Joy McCullough-Carranza
ALTERNATE: Davy DeGreeff
TITLE: RISE AND FALL OF A HALLWAY SUPERHERO
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Adventure
WORD COUNT: 50,000

PITCH: Jack teams with his school's mysterious hallway superhero to uncover a thuggish conspiracy going all the way to the principal’s office. But how can Jack expose the truth when he's framed as the evil mastermind?

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-13 - MIRACLE MEGGIE

MENTOR: Veronica Bartles
ALTERNATE: Toni De Palma
TITLE: MIRACLE MEGGIE
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG contemporary
WORD COUNT: 33,000

PITCH: Meggie knows Wanda’s miracle-making business is crazy. But when her sister is born prematurely, Meggie’s desperate for a miracle. As Wanda’s assistant, maybe she can learn to make magic and become her sister’s superhero.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-12 - THE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT

MENTOR: Shannon Duffy
ALTERNATE: Carmen Erickson
TITLE: THE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT
CATEGORY/GENRE: Upper MG fantasy
WORD COUNT: 61,000

PITCH: At a mysterious school, Andy learns he must transform into a wild animal for the final project. Now he must choose—bail on his friends, or stay and trade in his skin for a fine coat of fur.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-11 - THE INVISIBLE GIRL

MENTOR: Gail Nall
ALTERNATE: Amy Kinzer
TITLE: THE INVISIBLE GIRL
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Contemporary
WORD COUNT: 45,000

PITCH: When twelve-year-old Beatrice becomes homeless after her father disappears, her family moves into a rundown hotel.  Bee finds solace in the misfit group of drifters she meets, embarks on a search for her father, and fights to be seen in a world where she’s invisible.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-10 - STORM OF MAGIC

MENTOR: Jen Swann Downey
ALTERNATE: Meredith Mansfield
TITLE: STORM OF MAGIC
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Fantasy
WORD COUNT: 57,000

PITCH: Everyone believes usable magic died in the Great Mage War along with its practitioners. Then a violent storm infects eleven-year-old Rell with leftover magic which threatens to kill him. In a world now hostile to magic, Rell's survival depends on finding a mage to help him--one who doesn't want him dead.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-9 - MIMI LOST AND FOUND

MENTOR: Gail Nall
ALTERNATE: Pat Martinez
TITLE: MIMI LOST AND FOUND
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Historical
WORD COUNT: 49,000

PITCH: When dynamite arrives at the Paris Lost and Found, twelve-year-old Mimi ventures to find the source and discovers Paris is wired for destruction. She must save Paris! But if she asks for help and reveals her escapades, she’ll be locked in the abbey orphanage ‘til the end of the war.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-8 - NANNY MORTO

MENTOR: Joy McCullough-Carranza
ALTERNATE: Lyudmyla Mayorska
TITLE: NANNY MORTO
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Horror
WORD COUNT: 25,000

PITCH: A death angel-in-training requires the soul of a child to earn her wings, so she becomes a nanny. When she grows to love her charges, she must reconsider her destiny. MARY POPPINS meets THE GRAVEYARD BOOK

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-7 - TUNNELS AND TRAITORS

MENTOR: Naomi Hughes
ALTERNATE: Amy Moellering
TITLE: TUNNELS AND TRAITORS
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Mystery
WORD COUNT: 58,000

PITCH: On Graduation Day, twelve year-old Emily Bray finds a mysterious cadet manual at the West Point Military Academy. In its pages, a cryptic map leads her to the world of steam tunnels and a notorious cadet society. But when her investigations go awry, her father is unjustly accused of theft. To vindicate him, she must race an evil historian to a secret Benedict Arnold left behind.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-6 - THE TROUBLE WITH FROGS

MENTOR: Naomi Hughes
ALTERNATE: Nicole Mogavero
TITLE: THE TROUBLE WITH FROGS
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Fantasy
WORD COUNT: 58,000

PITCH: On her eleventh birthday, Samantha discovers she can talk to seven boys-turned-frogs who’ve been cursed by her witchy soon-to-be stepmother. The cure? Kisses. But girls have just one magic smooch, and tricking the mean sixth-grade girls into puckering up is only the start of Sam’s troubles.

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-5 - FOLLOWING INFINITY

MENTOR: Brent Taylor
ALTERNATE: Tom Mulroy
TITLE: FOLLOWING INFINITY
CATEGORY/GENRE: MG
WORD COUNT: 38,000

PITCH: In the wake of her brother’s death, thirteen-year-old Molly travels across the country to his dream roller coaster. Will she find a final connection or discover her destination is something entirely different?

Pitch Wars ALT: VB-4 - GHOST FARM

MENTOR: Shannon Duffy
ALTERNATE: Wendy Parris
TITLE: GHOST FARM
GENRE: MG Mystery
WORD COUNT: 33,000

PITCH: Twelve-year-old Rebecca follows ghostly whispers to an off-limits attic and discovers letters that hint at a tragic family secret. Now she must search a creepy abandoned farm to uncover the mystery—and stop the chilling ghost that stalks her every move.