Pixie Chicks by Regan Black

Pixie Chicks by Regan Black

From Echelon Press:

"For a quartet of girlfriends known as the Pixie Chicks, life takes on a delicious new flavor when their normal Friday night walkabout through the Hobbitville Gardens reveals secrets and adventures previously unimagined. Who knew the statues were portals to similar, magical gardens around the world? Or that only a select few can travel by statue and fewer still can arrive at their desired point? These four will reach for the stars despite the risks of the unknown to embrace an adventure suitable only for the boldest of teens."

To begin, Black's use of characterization is phenomenal! Her different characters and motives are clearly defined, so it is not necessary to skim over past pages in a full-blown effort to find a single defining trait that can somehow be used to distinguish the different characters. Furthermore, her characters easily enable the reader to be drawn into the story and feel as though he is actually in it and not merely an outsider intruding upon private moments.

Black also mixes fantasy with romance with such ease that it appears seamless. The fantasy aspect provides the story with a magical and light air that wonderfully works hand-in-hand with the romance angle, creating a light-heartedness that perfectly encompasses the story. Coupled with the story dealing with normal teenagers who have access to a magical garden and the story becomes a creative and delightful mix of the average and the fastasy.

(Reposted from my 5-1-09 blog)

Check back in tomorrow for a review of one of Regan Black's new short stories, Hot Spots. And make sure to check in Friday when Regan guest blogs as part of her tour for her new story, Shadow Stone.

I am Pleased to Announce....

That Michael Springer is now available from Echelon Press Shorts!

Finals. Even with an amazing boyfriend who is calm when finals are upon them, Sarah finds herself avidly studying for the dreaded tests whenever she finds an empty spot in her schedule. The last thing she needs, on top of the never-ending stress of acing each exam, is to begin to feel sick when finals have arrived.
While she’s in the library one morning before classes start, she meets Michael Springer–a nice guy who seems to be the only one crazy enough, beside herself, to arrive early enough to school early to catch a few moments of studying. She continues to run into him, and he becomes adamant that she return home and rest; staying will only cause her illness to worsen.

Michael might be a great new friend, but finals are the most important time of the semester after all. Rest will come over winter break.

And why is it that even though she’s been at the school at year, this is the first time she’s ever seen Michael Springer?

So why don't you all head on over to Echelon Press and Buy Michael Springer now!

And make sure to visit Echelon Shorts' Blog tomorrow to read my guest blog on the site!

You're Excited.

Yes, I know you're excited. You want to know how I know?

I can see you jumping up and down, smiling. And that generally represents excitement to the public.

So, then, why are you excited?

(Thinks for less than a second)

I know why you're excited! Can't say I blame you. It is a very exciting thing, after all. Why would you not be excited?

For those of you who don't know why this person is excited, I'll clue you in.

Tomorrow is the release of my new short, Michael Springer. Yes, that's right, the day is finally almost here! It is being released from Echelon Press tomorrow, and I will be blogging about it on the Echelon Press Shorts blog on Monday.

So head on over to Echelon Press tomorrow to check it out!

Alyssa

Only 5 Days!

That's right! You read that correctly. There are only five more days left until the moment you've all been waiting for...

The release of Michael Springer!

(Cue music)

Today I will be posting its summary to get you all excited for Thursday!

Finals. Even with an amazing boyfriend who is calm when finals are upon them, Sarah finds herself avidly studying for the dreaded tests whenever she finds an empty spot in her schedule. The last thing she needs, on top of the never-ending stress of acing each exam, is to begin to feel sick when finals have arrived.

While she’s in the library one morning before classes start, she meets Michael Springer – a nice guy who seems to be the only one crazy enough, beside herself, to arrive early enough to school early to catch a few moments of studying. She continues to run into him and he becomes adamant that she return home and rest – staying will only cause her illness to worsen.

Michael might be a great new friend, but finals are the most important time of the semester after all. Rest will come over winter break.

And why is it that even though she’s been at the school a year, this is the first time she’s ever seen Michael Springer?

So take out those red pens and mark your calendars for five days from now! Michael Springer will be out before you know it!

Alyssa

Michael Springer

VERY exciting news concerning the release of Michael Springer...

I have just received the release date!!

(Cue excited cheering from my millions of adoring fans)

That's right! I was just informed that Michael Springer is set for release by Echelon Press Shorts on October 15th!

No, you heard that correctly. October 15th is a mere two weeks away! A fortnight! So mark that date in your calendar, so when the 15th rolls around, you will be so excited to read the story that you'll barely be able to click the buttons necessary to read it!

Stay tuned for more news on Michael Springer!

~~Alyssa

Echelon Shorts

Hey everyone! Just wanted to take a quick second to remind everyone to jump on over to the new Echelon Shorts blog! It's for Echelon Press' new line that deals with short story EBooks and various authors from the line blog there! How great is that?

If you head on over there right now, you can find my own blog! I not only talk about my new release Mysterious No More, but I also give a quick blurb for my upcoming release, Michael Springer!

Update on Michael Springer:

I have just learned that Michael Springer will be released by Echelon Press Shorts in October! That's right everyone! October! So those of you waiting anxiously for the story to come out, you won't have to wait much longer! It will soon be available for purchase! (Cue applause)

I'll let you all know when I hear more about Michael Springer. Talk to you soon!

"I'm Bored."

You're bored. You're sitting on your bed... at your desk... on your couch... and you can't believe how mind-numbingly bored you really are.

Since when did that spot on the wall become so interesting? And that speck of dust. You really should do something about that. Maybe you should get something to drink. You are pretty thirsty after all. A nice tall glass of water might be good.

Could take away boredom for a whole minute. That just leaves... Oh... The rest of the day, but hey! You wasted that whole minute getting a glass of water. Time's sure flying by!

Now that water's sitting in your belly and you're still bored. Maybe you should just count all the bumps coming down from the ceiling...

Okay, that's when you really need to say enough. I mean, come on. Counting the bumps on the ceiling? Is that really how you want to be spending your day?

Well, if it is, carry on!

But if you're just doing it because you have nothing better to do, then you should stop. Seriously. Because I'm sure that there are better things that you could be doing right now than counting the bumps coming down from the ceiling.

Like read a book?

And it's not nice if you laughed when I said that and decided to go back to counting the ceiling bumps. Because reading can be really fun! I know that I love it!

So tell me this. Are you really entertained by those bumps? Huh? Because reading a good book can be way more entertaining than counting them, I can tell you that much!

So the next time you're bored (and you know it's going to happen!), why don't you consider picking up a good book and reading it?

Oh, I get it! You're not sure where you can find a good book and have simply been stumped this whole time! Why didn't you just say so? Echelon Press has some great books if you're looking for one! So get reading!

Or I suppose you could just go back to counting...

Alyssa Montgomery
http://www.alyssamontgomery.com/
Author of Where Are You?, Mr. Mysterious, Mysterious No More, and 9:53 PM (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology) and COMING SOON - MICHAEL SPRINGER!