Tag Archives: blog tour

Blog tour: Ring around the Rosie by Julie Coulter Bellon

The latest book from my critique partner Julie Coulter Bellon has launched—and it’s the thrilling conclusion to her hostage negotiator series! It’s a fantastic capstone to their stories, and a sweet reunion romance. Check it out!

Ring Around the Rosie Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Today is the kickoff for the blog tour for my new novel, Ring Around the Rosie! There are some awesome prizes being given away, so be sure to scroll down and enter to win!  

Ring Around the Rosie



Revenge is a dish best served cold . . .

As the ex-wife of a law enforcement officer, Sarah Reed has known loneliness and loss. In order to cope, she makes a life for herself that’s full of routine while building a wall of ice around her heart. Everything about her is as predictable as she can make it until a tiny detour for her ex-husband, Ron, changes her life forever. Caught in a bomb crisis, Sarah is taken hostage by a man who wants Ron and everyone around him to suffer—and his idea of suffering is more terrible than Sarah had ever dreamed.

Captain Ron Reed has seen the worst of humanity in his job with the Hostage Negotiation Team, but he never expected his past to come back with a vengeance—literally. Aaron Starks, a criminal explosives expert, has stolen next-gen bomb technology and uses it to force Ron to bargain for the lives of his team and his ex-wife, Sarah, the woman he still loves. But the situation escalates when Ron discovers that Starks has an even bigger objective in mind—using the bomb to show how vulnerable America and her people truly are.

Ron is willing to risk everything to save his country and those he loves, but when negotiations break down, will his sacrifice be too little too late?

Excerpt 

Her words were cut off by a blast of hot air and fire, an explosion so large it blew them all backward. Ron hit the floor hard and lay there dazed and groggy. Glass and debris rained down. Confetti-sized menus and napkins floated like snowflakes in slow motion all around him. For a second the entire world was a silent tunnel with him at the end of it. It would be so easy to just close his eyes and let the blackness suck him down into unconsciousness. But he couldn’t. Not yet. Get up. Get everyone out.

“Sarah?” he croaked. He tried again. “Sarah?” His legs felt like lead and the urge to just lie back was stronger than ever. No. Keep moving. “Claire?” He coughed and tried to catch a breath, but couldn’t get the oxygen to his lungs. With a shallow intake of air, he turned over on his stomach and used his arms to raise himself to a sitting position. The inside of the diner looked like a destructive madman had rearranged it. The booths were toppled or stacked on top of each other. The hostess station was next to him now. The only thing that was still standing where it had before the blast was the four walls, the ceiling, and the antique counter. “Sarah,” he called again. “Bart? Colby?” The little girl. Was she still in the back with her mother?

No one answered. Where is everyone? He crawled forward. Sarah had been nearly right beside him. Now there was no sign of her. He rubbed his eyes and coughed. Moving slowly, he prayed she was alive. It didn’t take long to find her sandwiched between an overturned booth bench and the podium for the hostess station. With some effort he managed to maneuver close to her, the adrenaline kicking in as his blood pounded through his system. Don’t let her be dead. Not like this.


Purchase Your Copy
Praise for Ring Around the Rosie
“Julie Coulter Bellon proves once again she is a master at capturing her audience from the very first page . . . Unlike most suspense novels, the most suspenseful portion of Ring Around the Rosie is the first two thirds of the book . . . Suspense readers as well as anyone who just enjoys an absorbing story will enjoy this one.”  —Jennie Hansen, Meridian Magazine

Julie Coulter Bellon is one of my favorite romantic suspense writers, and this book is her best so far! It charters deep emotions and a complex plot. At the same time it traces the resurrection of a marriage. It has good writing, good plotting, and a very satisfying ending.  —Award-winning romance author, G.G. Vandagriff 


About the Author





Julie is married with eight children and eleven published books. She loves to travel and her favorite cities she’s visited so far are probably Athens, Paris, Ottawa, and London. She would love to visit Hawaii, Australia, Ireland, and Scotland someday. She loves to read, write, teach, watch Castle and Hawaii Five-O, and eat Canadian chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.        

Giveaway

Prize #1—$30 Amazon Gift Card 
Prize #2—Booklovers Basket
Prize #3—Four Book Set of Hostage Negotiation Team series 
Ends 9/15/14 

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Blog tour: Damnation by Jo Noelle (+ giveaway & writing tip)

I’m so excited to share this book with you! I got to read a pre-release version of this book almost a year ago and I LOVED it. I’ve been waiting forever for it to come out so I could review it! I love the conflicts Cassie faces and how she learns and grows in a realistic way. Plus, I loved the fresh, vivid writing.

About the book

DamnationDamnation by Jo Noelle

Cassie is going to heaven—if she can get amnesty from hell in the next twenty days.  Her assignment is to change the eternal destination of a girl in Albuquerque to earn admittance into heaven.

No sweat.

But when Cassie returns to earth during her three-week, mostly-mortal assignment, her old habits get in the way, (apparently habits don’t die when you do), the partners assigned to help her are anything but helpful, and it turns out the girl she is supposed to help is the only enemy she made on her first day of school.

Oh, I’m so going to hell.

Things aren’t all bad—it helps to have a hot angel on your side. Mmm-Marc. Even though he’s all about heavenly business, Cassie would like to make it personal.

Assignment with benefits.

goodreads1Add Damnation to your Goodreads!

Read a sample of Damnation on Amazon now!

About Jo Noelle

Author PicJo Noelle grew up in Colorado and Utah but also spent time in Idaho and California. She has two adult children and three small kids.

She teaches teachers and students about reading and writing, grows freakishly large tomatoes, enjoys cooking especially for desserts, builds furniture, sews beautiful dresses, and likes to go hiking in the nearby mountains.

Oh, and by the way, she’s two people—Canda Mortensen and Deanna Henderson, a mother/daughter writing team.

Writing tip from Jo Noelle: Building Tension Through Questions

We’re looking at some ways to build tension in our stories and decided to ask a lot of questions to get us started.

Questions!

Decide what the overall book question is going to be for your story. This is the overall premise you are writing to achieve. For Damnation it is:

  • Will 17 yo Cassie Witlon earn amnesty from Hell in the next 20 days?

Then as you plan or revise each scene decide what questions you can plant for the readers to be motivated to learn the answer to. Here are some more we used:

  • Will Cassie beat the deadline?
  • Will Cassie escape?
  • Will Cassie get distracted from her purpose?

These are a little cryptic but they become more detailed as we wrote the scenes. We need one question for each scene. Some authors describe this step as making sure your scenes have a “purpose” or a “goal.” It’s just a little easier for us to think in terms of answering a question.

More about story questions and scene goals

The giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get the Details
1 winner will receive a $100.00 Amazon.com giftcard.
Blog hop and Rafflecopter registrations Begin 9/1/14 and End 9/7/14 MDT

 

This drawing is open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Card.  Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Check back on this blog between Sept. 8-10, 2014. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized and sponsored by Canda Mortensen & Deanna Henderson DBA Jo Noelle. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

(Clever title about Spy Noon) (I got nuthin)

It’s the last day of the blog tour for Spy Noon, and all my cute stories and things are at the last tour stops today:

I Love to Read and Review Books with a review & giveaway!

The Stubby Pencil with Mary Ann Dennis

Spy pickup lines at Tressa’s Wishful Endings, another giveaway and a review!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog tour! Back to our regularly scheduled writing programming tomorrow.

Spy Noon is here!

But before we get to that—AMAZING NEWS.

whitneyI know January was filled with all kinds of great news for me, but the end of the month brought the best. The 2013 finalists for the Whitney Awards—prestigious awards for all LDS authors—were announced.

And I, Spy is one of the five Whitney Award finalists for Mystery & Suspense.

And so is Spy for a Spy.

Sometimes it sets in and I get excited and humbled and flattered and thrilled. Most of the time, I’m still just . . . stunned. I worked so so so hard on these books, but still . . . I don’t know how this happened. I’m not entirely convinced it did.

Another fun fact of going up against myself: I have double the chance of winning, yes (if it were statistical, which it isn’t), but no matter who wins . . . I will also lose. Which also means I’m guaranteed the traditional Whitneys loser pie!

Now, somehow, I have to move on from that amazing announcement for another. Spy Noon is here!

We’re celebrating the launch of Spy Noon, a prequel novella to I, Spy! You can also find Spy Noon at the special 99¢ launch discount through Singles Awareness Day (Feb 14) on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and JordanMcCollum.com!

It’s the day a significant proportion of the population dreads—a day they are reminded of everything they don’t have—a day that lives in infamy. You may know it as “Valentine’s Day,” but if you’re unattached, a better name might be . . . Singles Awareness Day.

On the other hand, there are worse fates than being alone, even on Valentine’s Day. For example, a totally hot guy you can’t seem to get away from, pursuing you when you’re really not interested—and he can’t take a hint. CIA operative Talia Reynolds doesn’t do romance, but her new coworker doesn’t care.

About the Book

Canada’s the last place you’d expect to find an American spy, but CIA operative Talia Reynolds has problems piling up higher than a Canadian snowbank. When Elliott Monteith, her ridiculously handsome new coworker, shows up (and shows her up), Talia decides it’s game on. She’ll be the first to track down a dangerous counter-spy, and she’ll give Elliott an unforgettable souvenir of his time in Ottawa: some humble pie.

Her plans don’t work as well as she expects, though. Elliott’s over-the-top flirting dredges up too many painful memories for Talia and undermines the confidence she’s worked hard to regain. To do her job and keep her integrity intact, she’ll have to keep her personal feelings at bay. Now Talia must find a way to work alongside Elliott—and maybe even trust him—to outsmart the enemy.

More about Spy NoonAdd Spy Noon to Goodreads! 

Read an excerpt from Spy Noon now!

The Spy Another Day series

I, Spy
Book One
Spy for a Spy
Book Two
Mr. Nice Spy
FREE Prequel novella
To save her secrets and her country, CIA operative Talia Reynolds must sacrifice the man she loves. Talia’s new boss is her ex-boyfriend. And that’s the just beginning of her problems. Elliott Monteith must choose between his fiancée and his fellow spy. Cake.
Chronologically, Spy Noon is the first in the series.

Praise for the series

A fast-paced, crisply written story with entertaining plot twists, told in a first person, wryly self-deprecating narrative voice. . . . I, Spy is a well-crafted romantic suspense with humor, heart, and a uniquely engaging heroine.

— Vanessa Kelly, Love Rocks column, BarnesAndNobleReview.com

 

I knew by the first page that I was going to love [I, Spy]. I absolutely loved Talia’s inner voice. . . . The plot is enjoyable and I loved the action! I really could not guess what was going to happen next. There were so many surprises at the turn of each page, especially during the climax, it didn’t matter what time it was, I had to finish.

— Mindy Holt, LDS Women’s Book Review
One of her top reads of 2013

 

The series has this great combination of sarcasm and wit in the MC, great chemistry and dialogue between her and her love interest, and then a whole slue of spying, deception, intrigue, and danger. Especially of that last one. . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed [Spy for a Spy]! I would definitely read it again and I am highly anticipating the next book that Jordan McCollum writes! If you enjoy action-adventure, suspense, or books about characters who are spies and some romance, then I would definitely recommend this.

— Tressa, Tressa’s Wishful Endings

 

About the author


An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can’t resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. In her day job, she coerces people to do things they don’t want to, elicits information and generally manipulates the people she loves most—she’s a mom.

Jordan holds a degree in American Studies and Linguistics from Brigham Young University. When she catches a spare minute, her hobbies include reading, knitting and music. She lives with her husband and four children in Utah.

Website/Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Email newsletter 

Today’s Tour Stops

Readalot Rhonda + review
Shooting Stars Reviews

Spy for a Spy is here!

SpyForSpy_CVR_LRGIT’s 11-12-13! And you know what that means! It’s time to celebrate the release of Spy for a Spy—and my friend Julie Coulter Bellon’s new book, Pocket Full of Posies!

Join us TODAY on Facebook (at my page and Julie’s page) and Twitter (follow Julie and Jordan) for drawings from 9 AM MST until 5:30 PM MST, and enter to win more fabulous prizes here!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Party!

Also be sure to check out today’s tour stops!

Emily Gray Clawson Using spy skills to predict the presents of Christmas future (before the giver knows!) + a review!
Anna del C. Dye
Rebecca Shelley
Christy Dorrity Using spy skills to find a child lost in the grocery store + what I eat when I’m writing!

The time my critique partners made me cry

This entry is part 11 of 13 in the series All my novels

After nine novels, you’d think you know what you’re doing. Well, sometimes you’re wrong. And not just a little wrong. Wrong on every level. Fractal wrongness.

Fractal wrongness

Oh, book. Book, book, book.

The book stats

SpyForSpy_CVR_LRGTitle: Spy for a Spy.
Genre: Romantic suspense
Inspiration: I don’t . . . really know. I think I was brainstorming ideas for what I’d like to see Talia take on next, and playing the what-if game, figuring out who the worst, messiest antagonist would be, and how I could make it worse from there.
Writing dates: January? to July 2013.
Length: 70,000 words in the first draft; 88,000-ish in the final version.
Back cover copy:

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. And it was the last place CIA operative Talia Reynolds expected to run into fellow operative Brand Copley. AKA her new boss. AKA her ex-boyfriend.

Just the guy every woman wants to face in the middle of planning her wedding. Once again, Talia’s lying to the man she loves, but this time, to protect his heart.

After Brand takes over Talia’s latest case and steals her newest agent, he assigns her to spy on her old boss—who’s suddenly giving her every reason not to trust him. With only weeks until the big day, planning falls by the wayside as she goes into damage control mode. But when Talia discovers Brand’s real motives, fighting him is the only option, no matter what the personal and professional cost.

What I learned from this book

For a long time, I had no idea what to put here, except for this story:

From the beginning, I knew where I wanted this story to go. I knew why the bad guy was bad, I knew what I wanted to do with the main characters, I knew how I wanted the romance to play out. But then, somehow, it just . . . didn’t. It didn’t quite come together.

Naturally, it didn’t help that I had to interrupt the writing of this novel to have a baby, launch I, Spy, move, and recover. It also didn’t help that because of time constraints, I had to start this novel through my critique group when it was only about 2/3s done. I finally finished the last third not long before I had to send it off, and by then I was starting to get a handle on it, but still. When we started working with my book, it became obvious there were problems that ran deeper than repeating the same paragraph practically word-for-word in six place in the book. (What the heck, brain?!)

Finally, in one meeting, one of my critique partners flat-out told me: “[Bad guy]’s motivation needs to be X.”

And I nearly cried. I don’t think Emily and Julie noticed, but I really did tear up at that moment. Not because my CP was hurting my feelings—but because that was the exact motivation I’d hoped to use, hoped to get across, hoped to convey. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost hope of being able to do that effectively. But to have her point it out not only restored my faith that I might actually be able to do this whole writing thing, but also showed me that I must have done something right in setting it up, and all I needed to do was go back to where the story got off track.

And add another 10,000 words. And edit the whole thing to death. Then send it out to my editor. And edit it again. And again. And then format the ebook. And then typeset the print book.

Kinda hated the book at that point.

As hard as this whole experience was, and as fresh as it is, somehow, I’m already starting to see the good. In just the last few weeks, I’ve managed to stop hating it. Seriously, there were moments as recently as last week where I considered pulling the plug on publishing this novel—or on publishing in general.

But I figured I owed it to the six people who cared (kidding), and I’d already put in all the work (sunk cost is a logical fallacy, self—well, sort of . . . I mean, if I didn’t hit publish, I’d definitely never recoup my investment, right?). The reviews on my blog tour have been so wonderful & so kind, it’s really changed my perspective on what ended up being a somewhat bitter experience to something that I’ve come through a stronger writer and a better person—and a book I might even like.

Speaking of the blog tour! I’ve got some catching up to do on sharing the stops!

Today’s stops!
Lindzee Armstrong + My top 10 ways to FAIL as a spy
I Love to Read and Review Books + a wonderful review!

Saturday’s stops!
Getting Your Read On + an amazing review!
Read a lot Rhonda with a great review!

Friday’s stops!
Westhoff Family Using your spy skills for . . . awesome.
Colorimetry Interview: find out what my favorite scenes in this book were . . . sort of 😉
Ranee` S. Clark Interview: I spill the truth about my past as a spy + Spy tips for . . . potty training? + a fantastic review. Ranee`’s got it going ON!
Lisa Swinton Spy tips for your next RenFaire. I’m totally not kidding.

Promoting my books has never been so fun! PLUS we haven’t even gotten to tomorrow’s Facebook/Twitter launch party!! Come join us!

Photo credits: fractal wrongness—the mad LOLscientist

Spy for a Spy Blog Tour Begins!

We’re celebrating my new novel, Spy for a Spy! Read on to get a cool spy tip for your daily life, free & discounted reads (I, Spy is 99¢!), and enter to win some great prizes! You can also find Spy for a Spy at the special $3.99 launch discount on Amazon, Kobo, and JordanMcCollum.com!

About the Book

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. And it was the last place CIA operative Talia Reynolds expected to run into fellow operative Brand Copley. AKA her new boss. AKA her ex-boyfriend.

Just the guy every woman wants to face in the middle of planning her wedding. Once again, Talia’s lying to the man she loves, but this time, to protect his heart.

After Brand takes over Talia’s latest case and steals her newest agent, he assigns her to spy on her old boss—who’s suddenly giving her every reason not to trust him. With only weeks until the big day, planning falls by the wayside as she goes into damage control mode. But when Talia discovers Brand’s real motives, fighting him is the only option, no matter what the personal and professional cost.

More about Spy for a Spy | Add Spy for a Spy to your Goodreads to-read list!

Hone your spy skills

Spy skills can come in handy in the most unusual situations, like this one . . .

Further hone your spy skills by reading Spy for a Spy!

Join the party & enter to win!

As part of the debut of Spy for a Spy, I’m co-hosting a launch party with Julie Coulter Bellon, author of Pocket Full of Posies. Join us November 12 on Facebook (Jordan’s and Julie’s pages) and Twitter (follow Julie and Jordan) for drawings throughout the day, and enter to win more fabulous prizes here!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Special deals!

Spy for a Spy is a sequel to the novel I, Spy, available for 99¢ at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ny site this week only!

To save her country and her secrets, CIA operative Talia Reynolds will have to sacrifice the man she loves. More about I, Spy.

Also, as a free gift this week, I’m giving out free e-copies of the prequel novella, Mr. Nice Spy, on Amazon and here!

Today’s tour stops

Shooting Stars Reviews

Tressa’s Wishful Endings—My top 10 spy tricks for your every day life, and an awesome review of Spy for a Spy!!

Lots more fun spy tips, interviews & reviews coming up!

TBR Tuesday: Blog This by Cami Checketts (& free reads!)

Today we’re celebrating the release of Blog This by Cami Checketts!


Will protecting children throughout the world cost Natasha her own family?

Devastated by the loss of her brother, Natasha Senecot works to expose the dangers of Matthew Chrysler’s violent video games, succeeding in bankrupting and humiliating him.

Chrysler retaliates and sends a hit man after her. Natasha is forced to fake her own death to protect her children, but after witnessing another tragedy, Natasha won’t hide any longer.

In a race against time, can Natasha expose Matthew Chrysler before his assassin murders her family and shatters her world?

Celebrating her release, the author is also offering her other books on sale through October 18th!

FREE!
FREE!
Poison Me Dead Running

 

Starting tomorrow, October 16, through October 18th

99¢
99¢
The Broken Path Blog This

My review

I read Dead Running over the summer and really enjoyed Ms. Checketts’s blend of humor, romance and suspense. She hits all the right notes again with Blog This! At first I wasn’t sure which romantic lead we were supposed to be rooting for, but pretty soon it was obvious there was only one viable option, though there were some very big, very real obstacles to overcome. A couple times I wanted to shake the main character, but Ms. Checketts did a really great job of making even kind of annoying or outright evil characters sympathetic. A fun read!

I received a free e-copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.