Belle Whittington
Serial daydreamer, Inkslinger, Author of YA Paranormal Novels, Shopaholic, and Professional Nerd.Join me as I begin my journey to publication. Here, I will post articles of interest, blogs, and interviews pertaining to Indie Publishing.
Check out a sample of my novel, CICADA, posted on my "About My Writing" page. I've also got some CICADA short stories posted here, as well.
Thank you for stopping by! Let's follow each other! :-)
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Pg. 254 of David Markson’s copy of Forces in Modern British Literature: 1885-1946 by William York Tindall:
On which Markson placed the text of...
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My tumblr is one today.
Tempus, as they say, fugit.
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Currently Reading
I was suppose to read 13 reasons why by Jay Asher but i really had a hard time reading it cause i just have the copy...
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by Sherrie Wilkolaski
Over the weekend I was looking for a book on Amazon and I could not find what I was looking for. I was searching for a newly released title, so I expected that the Amazon Search may not pull it right up at the top of my inquiry however, I was more concerned for the long-term search results for this book as the author had not associated any keyword “tags” for his title. I don’t want to name names, but I will tell you this. The title I was looking for is one of the only books on the subject matter that covers an historic event that no one else has written about. Huge marketing opportunity for this book and the author did not include the name of the historic event in his marketing copy or in his Amazon keyword tags. It got me fired up.
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m participating in Good Choice Reading’s Valentine’s Day Books with Love Hop! <3
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays! So I thought I would spice things up for my wonderful readers by writing a little Cicada Valentine Short and offering a fun, fantastic, choco-lishious giveaway!
Once you’ve read my little short story, pop on over here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway! What are the prizes? I’m giving away one e-copy of Cicada and an assortment of chocolate molded insects created by the awesome chocolatiers at The Chocolate Vault. (**These are not real insects!**)
Cicada Valentine Short Story
Belle Whittington
A gust of wind blew through the door and fluttered across the paper lace hearts that dangled from the tiled ceiling of Mom’s bakery, Sprinkles. Everett pushed the door open, carrying a huge red foil candy heart, and his jeans pocket got caught on the bells that dangled from the door handle, freeing them from where they had hung for the past three years, and sent them jingling across the shiny tile floor.
Everett paused and pushed his glasses up his nose, “Well, that was bound to happen sooner or later,” he stated matter-of-factly. He looked around at the scattered bells and shrugged.
“What’s that you have?” I couldn’t help but giggle as he plopped the slightly rumpled giant red candy heart on the counter by the cash register. I reached across the counter and pulled the five-pound monstrosity toward me. The thing was absurd! It had first been wrapped in foil, then surrounded with red opaque cellophane, and then decorated with enough red lace ruffles to choke a goat. And right in the middle of the mound of ruffles was a velvet rose.
“It’s a Valentine, of course!” Everett answered, his eyes wide behind the thick lenses of his glasses.
“Who’s it for?” I decided to tease him a bit. “Oh! Is it for that girl who follows you around the cafeteria at lunch?” I bit my lip to keep from giggling. “You know… the one with the knee socks?”
“Psh! No!” he rolled his eyes. “It’s for you!”
“For me?” I heaved the enormous, crinkling heart into my arms. “That’s really thoughtful, Everett. Thank you. It’s my first Valentine ever!” And I really was ecstatic over the humongous thing, and I knew exactly where I would hide it once all the chocolate was gone. It would slide perfectly under my bed, and I would be able to hide all sorts of things inside it. Letters, pictures, and cards. Little did I know that sometime in the near future I would hide a key in there…a key that would lead me to something that would save my life.
“Well, open it then!” Everett smiled a giant goofy smile.
“You get the first piece!” I ripped the cellophane away and pulled the lid off. All of the chocolates inside were shaped like bugs. Not ugly bugs, mind you. The pretty ones. There were different types of butterflies with slivered nuts decorating their wings. There were dragonflies dusted with edible gold and silver glitter. There were lacewings dipped in light green sprinkles and ladybugs dusted with red sugar. Right in the middle was a giant firefly wrapped in foil painted to look as if it were glowing. “These are gorgeous! Too pretty to eat!”
“Nonsense!” Everett said as he popped a ladybug in his mouth. “Try one. They taste even better than they look!”
And they did. I tried one of the sparkling dragonflies, and it melted on my tongue. The edible glitter was sweet and crunchy against my teeth and all I could say was, “mmm…”
“Do you like it?” Everett asked, a blush rising across his cheeks and nose.
“I love it, Everett,” I said. Without even thinking, I grabbed him by his shirt collar and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you very much. This is the best Valentine’s Day ever.” I smiled brightly because I meant it. It was the best one ever. The past year and a half had been torture with trying to cope with the loss of Dad and Aaron. Everett had always been there, and there was a growing warm place in my heart for him.
“I’m glad you like it,” he smiled. “So, I’ll see you at the movies tonight? We’re all still going, right?”
“Absolutely! I’ll see you when Andrew and I pick you up,” I couldn’t hide the huge smile that still crossed my face. “David and Natalie are meeting us at The Grand.”
“See you then,” Everett said while walking backward toward the door, that broad goofy smile on his face. He slipped on one of the bells, which caused him to stumble over a chair and knock a small table over on its side. He quickly stood up, straightened the table and chairs, and pulled his shirt down. “I better get out of here before I burn the place down or something!” He snorted.
I watched him cross the street and head back toward Kroger where he worked after school and on weekends. Although there was a glowing warm feeling in my heart, there was a dark, looming feeling somewhere in the back of my mind. I tried to pinpoint what it was that was bothering me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. One thing was for certain, when the wind blew through the door earlier, it blew in a feeling that things were about to change. I bit my lip and wondered what the next few months would bring.
First off, let me just say how much I appreciate Tiffany for having me over to her lovely blog for a cup of hot tea and a chat!
Interview Questions:
How did you come up with the idea for cicada?That’s a really good question! There were actually a lot of little things that came together to form the idea for Cicada. For instance, there really is a suspicious-looking building across from the drive-in. And there really is a small forest that looks extremely spooky and haunted…especially at night! And…there really is an old storage facility that has an odd number of bunnies living withing the confines of the chain-link surrounding the property. But it goes farther back than that!
Click here to read the rest of the interview and show Tiffany’s blog some luuuvvvv! <3
Post by Tiffany
Ever wonder what happens in bookstores at night?
Please enjoy this special guest post from YA author Belle Whittington!Cicada Holiday Companion StoryBy Belle WhittingtonChristmas in our small, inconsequential, southeast Texas town is usually a cold and rainy time of the year. In retrospect, the snow and sleet that covered everything, including the haunted forest, in a blanket of white must have been a harbinger that everything was about to change. However, at the time we thought it was a good omen. At the time we thought that all the sadness of losing our father and brother would finally disappear and we could recall the memories of Christmases past without shedding tears or hiding the pain under a pillow at night when all the rest of the world had fallen asleep, dreaming of sugar-plums and Santa Clause.And so we filled Sprinkles with the spicy, sweet aromas of Christmas, drawing in customers with candy canes painted on the front windows and strings of twinkling lights swirling around the shrubs in front of Mom’s bakery. Giant gingerbread men dangled from the branches of the Norfolk pine tree that Andrew had bought at the Willis Boy Scout Christmas tree lot, and strands of popcorn and gumdrops adorned the tree, forming giant Ws from the blinking star on the top to the piles of the deceptively-wrapped empty boxes stacked beneath the decorated boughs.
Congratulations to Kelly!
She won a shiny new e-copy of Cicada for her entry on twimom101 book blog…a lovely blog by Mandy! :-)
A few days ago I posted a review of an amazing new YA book, the first book in a series, as part of a blog tour hosted by Bree at The Magic Attic. The book is called Cicada, and I loved it. Today the spectacular author, Belle Whittington, has stopped by to share some more info with us about herself and her series!
“I have been daydreaming stories for as long as I can remember. My first recollection of wanting to be a writer was when I was in the second grade, and my teacher, Mrs. Rambin, would have us lay our heads on our desks after lunch while she read us stories full of magic and imagination.
Most of my early writings were stories with a twist of science fiction…even my earliest poems. I remember sitting on the dam of a neighbor’s pond around the time I was eleven, writing a story about space travel. In fact, I still have that little handwritten story. It’s still bound in the same yellow notebook that I put it in way back in the sixth grade!
Go here to read the rest and show Carole’s blog some love! <3
Review: Cicada by Belle Whittington
Cicada by Belle Whittington
Series: Cicada (Vol 1)
Release Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 220
Source: ebook provided by the authorSummertime for Blair Reynolds and her friends had always been carefree and fun…until the summer they happened upon something that was not human. As they band together in a fight for their lives, Blair’s true love becomes something more than human. Something unnatural. And their survival depends entirely upon their ability to keep a secret.
Cover/title: Wow. Colorful. Immediately drew my attention the way the girl was posed.
Review:WARNING: Spoilers are in this preview.
I loved the preface to this book… “So, I ask again. Can you keep a secret? If not, put aside this story. Throw it away. Burn it. Tell no one what lies between the covers of this book. But if you can keep a secret, proceed with caution. And tell not a soul.” My hubby and I took a trip last year to southeast Texas, to the great piney woods during the hot summer days and nights where this story took place, and as I read, I felt like I was THERE again. The author did a fantastic job of creating the setting for this story and reading it at night spooked me out.
Go here to read the rest of the review…
Post by Valerie <3
Review: Cicada by Belle Whittington
Cicada by Belle Whittington
Series: Cicada (Vol 1)
Release Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 220
Source: ebook provided by the authorSummertime for Blair Reynolds and her friends had always been carefree and fun…until the summer they happened upon something that was not human. As they band together in a fight for their lives, Blair’s true love becomes something more than human. Something unnatural. And their survival depends entirely upon their ability to keep a secret.
Cover/title: Wow. Colorful. Immediately drew my attention the way the girl was posed.
Review:WARNING: Spoilers are in this preview.
I loved the preface to this book… “So, I ask again. Can you keep a secret? If not, put aside this story. Throw it away. Burn it. Tell no one what lies between the covers of this book. But if you can keep a secret, proceed with caution. And tell not a soul.” My hubby and I took a trip last year to southeast Texas, to the great piney woods during the hot summer days and nights where this story took place, and as I read, I felt like I was THERE again. The author did a fantastic job of creating the setting for this story and reading it at night spooked me out.
Click here to read the rest of the review…
Post by Valerie
Go here to see the rest of the tour stop and enter the GIVEAWAY!
Today,
Assortments brings to you a Book Excerpt from
“Living, existing, and dying are all relative,” he pressed the soil over the box with his foot, tamping it down.
“What does that even mean?” I stood at the edge of the cement‐covered grave.
“It means that things are not always what they seem,” Everett pulled me into an embrace. “But there is something that is what it seems.”
“What is that?” I was stunned by how strong his arms felt around my waist.
“How much I love you, and how far I’d go to protect you,” he removed his sunglasses to reveal the blue eyes that I was accustomed to seeing.
“Protect me from what? We took care of those monsters … remember?” The last word soundedineffectual as it found its way off the tip of my tongue. He pulled me tighter against his chest, and a surge of electricity grew between us, distracting me from what I was saying.
“That’s for me to worry about,” his lips pressed against my forehead. He moaned softly and kissed the tip of my nose. “My lovely firefly,” his lips hovered above mine. “ I’ve thought about doing this for along time,” he whispered, his breath brushing against my lips.
I’d never been kissed … not on the lips, anyway. In my usual manner of thinking through things, I quickly created a checklist of what I should do next. The checklist went up in flames as his lips met mine, and, as if I’d always known what to do, I kissed back.
Lifting myself on my tiptoes, I moved my hands up the lines of the smooth newly‐formed muscles on his back and over his broadened shoulders. His lips covered mine, and I twined my arms around his neck. As if the sheer, tangible electricity growing between us wasn’t enough, a brisk gust of wind blew across the floor of the darkening forest and encompassed us in a whirlwind, creating a wall of leaves that whirled around us. His kisses gentle yet longing, comforting yet voracious, spoke more than I love you. My kisses followed his lead as my lips parted and beckoned for more, ignoring that my heart was warning me that his kisses were saying goodbye.
Goodbye? my mind asked my heart. I opened my eyes to look into his, hoping I would find a different answer. His eyes were still closed, his lips still covering mine with kisses.
The whirlwind, still encircling us, was twinkling with the light of hundreds of fireflies. I gasped, and when Everett removed his lips from mine, I could see a sky full of stars. He pulled me closer against his chest as I looked from side to side, realizing we were no longer standing on the forest floor, but hovering among the treetops, surrounded by millions of twinkles in the darkness.”
Cicada by Belle Whittington
Cicada
By: Belle Whittington
Released: July 14, 2011
Source: Author
Purchase the Book: Amazon
”Summertime had always been carefree and fun for Blair Reynolds and her friends—until they came upon something that was not human. As the group of friends band together in a fight for their lives, Blair’s true love becomes something more than human…something unnatural. And their existence relies on their ability to keep a secret.” (Summary from goodreads.com)
Belle Whittington’s Cicada is the story of Blair and her group of best friends who discover something one summer night that isn’t human. Blair and her friends become involved in a dangerous mystery that they must keep a secret in order to survive.
Cicada is a mysterious and captivating story that I read in just a couple of hours. Blair is an interesting protagonist who hangs out with her older brother and friends. She is tough and will do anything for the people that she loves. I enjoyed the friendship that Blair shared with her brother, Andrew, and her friends. I especially loved the relationship that Blair shared with Everett, the sweet yet geeky guy who is fascinated by bugs.
Cicada instantly captured my attention and this book was not what I was expecting but in a good way…
Click here to read the rest of the review…
Post by Traci
……………………………… My Thoughts ……………………………… In Short
- Cicada had a new and unique paranormal creature- I enjoyed Belle’s writing- The main characters were well developed- I felt the romance wasn’t necessary- This is an imaginative story
In Long
Cicada has one of those blurbs which doesn’t really give much away so you find yourself starting a book which you don’t really know much about and have no idea where the story might go. I didn’t even really know what paranormal creatures were involved in this.
I did expect some kind of paranormal story but not necessarily the one I got. When I realised what the book was about I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get into it so was relieved when Belle quickly thrown us into the story.
Go here to read the rest of the review…
Post by Jodie
When it came to Cicada by Belle Whittington I wasn’t quickly sold. I’ve been played and duped by gorgeous covers before, and Cicada, without a doubt, has a gorgeous cover. It wasn’t until I had the chance to dig into the synopsis that I realised how intrigued I was to discover what the title was about. You see, it doesn’t really dig deep into what the novel is about or what happens, it leaves the reader with an overwhelming sense of mystery that will have them clawing their eyes out in frustration. Was I curious? Oh, curiouser then a cat. Luckily, my wonderful blogger friend Bree from The Magic Attic contacted me in regards to participating in the Cicada blog tour she was organizing and I happily leapt at the opportunity to finally quench my thirst for this mysterious novel with the wickedly anticipating premise.
Unsuspecting And Out Of This WorldGo here to read the rest of the interview and enter the giveaway!
Post by Mocha <3
