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Kindle Scout is reader-powered publishing for new,
never-before-published books. It’s a place where readers help decide if a book
gets published.
With Kindle Scout, Amazon is taking a 21st century approach
to publishing, letting readers nominate which books progress to funding. It’s
like your favorite reality TV show, except for books. It means you can now read
excerpts from hitherto unpublished books and, if you like them, give your
thumbs-up.
Each book, across the romance, science fiction and mystery
& thriller genres, has 30 days to get as many votes as possible. After this
period, Amazon checks which titles have the most backing, and selects which
will be published.
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(Voting for this book ends on December 16, 2014).
Ashley’s Dream by B.R. Kingsolver
Publication date: January 2015
Genres: New Adult, Romance
Purchase: (TBA this January)
When she graduates college and the job offers don’t come rolling in,
her life continues as usual: working as the manager of a college town
bar and hanging out with her friends. Then a tragic event pushes her to
take a chance on romance.
But things are not always as they seem, and Ashley’s white knight has secrets. Her friends try to tell her something isn’t right, but her common sense is smothered by his kisses and soft endearments.
When the job offer she has always wanted arrives, will she follow her heart and choose love, or follow her life-long dream?
But things are not always as they seem, and Ashley’s white knight has secrets. Her friends try to tell her something isn’t right, but her common sense is smothered by his kisses and soft endearments.
When the job offer she has always wanted arrives, will she follow her heart and choose love, or follow her life-long dream?
Marcie
flew in to Denver on Friday and drove up to Fort Collins that afternoon. We had
dinner together at the bar and then I went back to work. She showed up at my
place the next morning at nine, and I would have killed her if she hadn’t had a
key and been quiet about it. She let herself in, and though I woke up, I fell
back to sleep when she didn’t come into my room.
The
smell of bacon and fresh coffee woke me the second time. I staggered into the
kitchen and watched in a daze as she shoveled pancakes and bacon on a plate and
set it on the table.
“Eat,”
she said, pouring coffee in a mug and setting it beside my plate. God, I thought,
she’s going to make someone a great wife. As I ate, I decided that it should be
me.
“Will
you marry me?” I asked.
She
threw back her head and laughed. “We might as well, considering our luck with
men.”
We
finished breakfast and I showed her my new clothes.
“Kind
of a bummer,” I said, modeling one of the dresses. “I look gorgeous, but I
don’t have anyone to wear them for.”
“Get
Tyrell trained,” she said. “Things can’t be that busy during the summer. We
should go out when I’m home.”
“How
much longer are you going to keep the apartment here?” I asked. I knew it had
to be a pain driving up here from Denver every week.
“I
don’t know,” she said. “The lease is up next month. But from what they’re
telling me, I’ll probably be on the road, either working on audits or project
work, for the next couple of years. Some people do that their whole careers.”
She
watched me change and then said, “You know, we could get a two or three bedroom
place for less than we spend on two singles.”
I
looked around. I’d had the apartment for a year, since Marcie left the previous
summer for her internship in New York. I wasn’t particularly attached to it.
We’d lived together for four years, and were comfortable together.
“Do
we have to get a bunch of cats?”
I
didn’t think it was that funny, but she laughed until tears ran down her
cheeks.
-GUEST POST-
Relationships in
NA - A Disturbing Trend in New Adult
One of the hottest categories in popular literature
is New Adult, usually defined as having protagonists in the 18-25 age range and
involving “coming of age” themes. Its detractors are calling it Young Adult
plus sex, or Older YA Smut.
I’ve also become increasingly aware of a trend in NA
that I find disturbing. If you check the list of recommended NA books on
Goodreads, four of the top five on the list are romances that involve abusive
relationships. All of these books are bestsellers, and their authors have
developed rabid followings. All of them also appear on Goodreads shelves for
“abusive relationships”, “abusive boyfriends”, “books I wouldn’t want my
daughter to read”, etc.
I raised this topic on Twitter’s #nalitchat a few
weeks ago. Some people agreed with me that this trend disturbed them. But one
woman said, “It’s better that a girl find out about abuse from a boyfriend than
a husband.” WTF??? I checked, and her NA book involves an abusive relationship.
Cycles of abuse usually start when the victims are
young. Her answer seems to indicate that it’s easier to escape from an abusive
relationship if it’s not a legally binding one. Or maybe she thinks that the
abuse of a boyfriend is somehow less damaging than the abuse of a husband. I
don’t know. Her answer completely baffled me.
While the myth of the Alpha Male is ubiquitous in
romance literature, the domineering Alpha seems to fit better in the
Historicals. When I read of a contemporary Alpha who won’t take no for an answer, and a female
protagonist (I refuse to call a doormat female a heroine) who says no, but who afterward loves him for
“taking” her, I want to throw up. I hope that the myth of enjoyable rape would
be completely dispelled in the 21st century.
In all too many of the NA romances, the bad boy
takes a break in his busy schedule of devirginating all the bad girls to fall
in love with the good girl. She all too often protests silently that she knows
he’s bad for her, but gives it up with hardly a whimper when he turns his
deadly charisma in her direction.
And that is what bothers me. Go to Amazon and read
the 1-star reviews for the best-selling NA books. A minority of us are outraged
by the misogynistic portrayals of NA romance. What is unsettling are the 5-star
reviews where young women swoon over the bad-boy Alphas who are treating women
like crap.
Anyone who thinks that men, and teenage boys, are
not reading these books is living in a feminine fantasy world. These boys and
young men read the 5-star reviews and think that is the way women want to be
treated. You can’t tell me that the women writing those reviews don’t fantasize
about the hunky Alpha protagonist. How have we reached a point where young men
and women are reading about abuse turning into love, book after book after
book?
Anyone who thinks it’s realistic that bad boys can
be rehabilitated by the love of a good woman needs to read the daily newspaper
in their hometown occasionally. Try the police report section. Rehabilitating
misogynistic players is not something that happens in real life. They say
they’ll reform, and may even act okay for a while ... before they land in jail
for killing their lovers.
The reformed abuser is a bigger fantasy than
vampires and werewolves. This brings me to the question of why literate,
educated women are buying this garbage.
I mean, I get it. Who wants to read a novel about an
accountant who goes to work every day and faithfully comes home to help with
the dishes and play with the kids?
Glittery vampires. Fabio-covered bodice rippers. The
Alpha werewolf who both dominates and protects his mate. The abusive
billionaire who chooses to be a monogamous abuser. The holy grail of capturing
the gorgeous bad boy, reforming him, and making all your friends swoon.
But can’t we write an Alpha who takes no for an answer, just because it’s the
right thing to do? An Alpha who respects women? A strong man who doesn’t feel
the need to expend his rage on someone smaller than he is?
Sadly, as long as such novels have success, we’ll
see more. The portrayals of abuse will get worse. More young women will read
them, swoon over the abuser, and perhaps think that their love will somehow
magically change an abuser in real life.
Perhaps we should make Looking for Mr. Goodbar required reading in high school.
I made silver and turquoise
jewelry for almost a decade, ended up in nursing school, then took a
master’s in business. Along the way I worked in construction, as a
newspaper editor, a teacher, and somehow found a career working with
computers.As to my other interests, I love the outdoors, especially the Rocky Mountains. I’ve skied since high school, with one broken leg and one torn ACL to show for it. I’ve hiked and camped all my life. I love to travel, though I haven’t done enough of it. I’ve seen a lot of Russia and Mexico, not enough of England. Amsterdam is amazing, and the Romanian Alps are breathtaking. Lake Tahoe is a favorite, and someday I’d like to see Banff.
Author links:
That guest post I agree with 200%- I don't like NA that much, but the whole alpha-male thing has turned me off of many romances (historical, paranormal, etc.). I feel there is a difference between an alpha male and an abuser- an alpha shouldn't need to force/threaten to get his way, he should be able to find other non-abusive ways to show his power. Any use of force/the hero inflicting pain on the heroine in books makes me gag and one/two star a book.
ReplyDelete~Litha Nelle