Get rom-com 'It's in the Stars'

10 days until IT'S IN THE STARS is released. Preorder today. Here's the skinny:

Love always turns up…

Newspaper journalist Sydney Turner Davies is the last person you’d call clueless when it comes to romance. She knows what she wants in a man (if in a little too much detail!) and is everyone’s go-to girl when it comes to relationship advice. So why is she still single? Turning 26 only makes it clearer—it’s time for a change!

Where you least expect it. 

When inspiration strikes in the form of her daily horoscope, Sydney decides to turn her eyes to the sky and leave her love life up to fate. What her horoscope says, she does! With her straight-talking best friends and the zodiac to guide her, what could go wrong?

Navigating the dating game has never been simpler. But for Sydney, finding love is just the first step. When romance finally blossoms…will she be brave enough to follow her heart?

Cover reveal: It's in the Stars

Here's the cover for my newest book, IT'S IN THE STARS, coming Feb. 12, from Carina/HarperCollins. *Happy Dance*

The story behind 'The Christmas Violin'

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The Christmas Violin and how it came to be:

I remember the morning as if it were minutes ago. Winter was tumbling into spring and I woke up from a dream that followed me like a shadow.

I was standing on the stone steps of a cemetery. A young woman with beautiful red hair played the violin in front of a small granite tombstone in the shape of a teddy bear. I was mesmerized, watching her slender fingers dance as the violin bow tickled the strings.  She was playing a lullaby, a beautiful lullaby.

From my perch, I saw an old homeless woman watching the violinist, peeking out of a cluster of arborvitae bushes. And I also saw a young man, dressed in a suit, watching the violinist from a few graves away.

That’s the image I woke up with and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Even when I tried pushing it aside to work on something else, it wouldn’t let me. It had a real attitude and, gosh darn it, I was going to listen.

So I did. I learned a long time ago not to fight my characters when they are insistent that I come out to play. So I stopped ignoring them and said, “Okay, if we’re going to do this, I need each of you to help me tell your story.”

Publication day for Will, Middle Name Trouble

So excited today that my second middle grade, WILL, MIDDLE NAME TROUBLE, is now available. WILL joins FREAKY FRANK in my line of middle grade books from MuseItYoung. Happy reading! 

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Sometimes we find more than we’re looking for… 

Will Moran is always getting into trouble. But this time, Will, who cleans and cooks and takes care of his younger twin sisters while his mom works, didn’t do it. 

Will’s class is collecting donations to benefit the local soup kitchen. Every time his teacher catches Will earning a buck from a bet, it ends up in the donation can. When the money goes missing, Will’s the prime suspect. After all, most of the money came from him. 

Will and his eclectic group of friends set out to find the thief and prove his innocence, but they end up finding so much more.



Other middle-grade books

Freaky Frank

Ebook specials

Here are the current specials:

Contemporary romance

FREE: The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike

99 CENTS: The Yearbook Series: Sue and Tom

99 CENTS: The Yearbook Series: Tess and Jeremy

Young adult (but adults will enjoy, too)

99 CENTS: The Lion Awakens 

Sunday column: Letting go is never easy

I remember his midnight curls.

The way his pudgy fingers clenched mine.

His gummy smiles and baby giggles.

The smell of powder as I cradled him in my arms.

Rolling, sitting, crawling.

His first steps, wobbly at first. More like jabs than steps. Or maybe lunges. Falls and fears and tears. He'd tumble and I'd help him up.

Read the rest

Humorous middle grade 'Freaky Frank' will be out June 27

Big release day coming up for my humorous middle grade "Freaky Frank." If there is an 8- to 12-year-old child in your life, this would be a great read for them. I had so much fun writing it. 

This is the first of my middle grades that will be released from MuseItUp Publishing. The next one coming in the fall will be "Will, Middle Name Trouble."

About "Freaky Frank"

In many ways, Frank Fratello is a typical teen. He plays baseball, hangs out with his friends at the mall and gets in trouble at home. But there’s something very different about this sixth-grader—he can read minds. And reading minds can cause problems. Like when Frank says what someone is thinking before they say it. Or answers a question before they ask it.

Despite being telepathic, Frank must deal with everyday middle school life, which includes battling a bully who hates him. Nasty Nate and his flunkies live to get others in trouble—especially Frank.

But Frank and his friends aren’t giving up. There has to be some way to bring Nasty Nate down. They just have to find it.

This review put a smile on my face

Latest review for The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike 

When I picked up Gina and Mike, read the reviews I thought to myself "oh no, another sappy story, surely the reviews were over the top and *I* was not going to go running for tissues." To my amazement, the author has taught me a lesson in humility, because by chapter 6 I was a blubbering mess and found myself wiping the tears I was bound and determined not to let fall. I give huge kudos to this author for having the courage and will to write about such a complex topic. Making the characters come to life on page and making them all relatable in some way. For making us, the reader, feel the emotions, the anger, the hurt, the loneliness of these characters was brilliant. I was in despair at one point of not knowing if these characters would find their HEA. I will leave it to the new readers to find out. Well done!

Download my book for FREE today

You can download my book, The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike for FREE today. Happy hump day! 

If you read it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. 

Also, if you don't have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle reading app for your PC. 

What people are saying: 

The highs and lows keep you reading and anxious to see what's next.

Wonderfully relatable characters whose lives are forever altered by the choice of silence.

A story of friendship, love and redemption, this book will grab you from the beginning and leave you wanting more.

I can't wait to read more from this author!

This is a perfect vacation read, once you start you won't put it down until you're finished!

It will make you laugh and make you cry, and realize the importance of friends and family - and how a secret can change your life.

Buffy Andrews draws you in with action from the very start of this novel.

The characters feel like old friends and will bring the reader back to their high school days.

A quick page turner, you won't be able to put this book down.

This is a great story about the vagaries of life, but also about the redemptive and healing power of love.

Read these books for free

Here's a list of books from Limitless Publishing and when they will be free to download. 

• "Banished from Grace" 9/6 - 9/7
• "Return of the Taken" 9/7 - 9/8
• "A Dark Road" 9/8 -9/9
• "The Promise" 9/9 - 9/10
• "Savior Frequency" 9/10 - 9/11
• "Dark Wings" 9/11 - 9/12
• "The Game" 9/12 - 9/13
• "Sun Kissed" 9/16 - 9/17
• "Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike" 9/18 - 9/19
• "Because of Lucy" 9/19 - 9/20
• "The Guardians" 9/20 - 9/21
• "The Trials" 9/21 - 9/22

How to promote your book via social media

When my debut novel, “The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike,” was published, I shared the news via various digital platforms. 

Of course, I did the usual Twitter and Facebook, but I also employed some other tools that you might not be quite as familiar with.

I will discuss NewHive, YouTube, SoundCloud and Tout in this post.

In a companion post on Steve Buttry's blog, I discuss RebelMouse, Storify and Pinterest. Be sure to read BOTH posts.

NewHive  

NewHive is a lot of fun. Think of it as a blank canvas and you get to put whatever you want on it. Your creation is called an expression.

It’s uber easy to use and a fun way to promote your book.

I like creating expressions around a particular topic and I have created several, from an Author Expression to a Gettysburg150 Expression.

I also created one for “The Yearbook Series.”

This tool allows you to drop text, images, music, videos, etc. onto your blank canvas. And, you can link out to various sites, like Amazon.

Each expression gets its own url and there are the normal social share buttons. These include Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. You can also embed your expression in a blog post or article web page.

On The Yearbook Series expression, I have a pin that links to the Yearbook Pinterest board. 

I included my book trailer from my YouTube channel.

I have review snippets that link to a blog post with more reviews. 

I have the book cover that links to Amazon. I also have a module with links to connect with me via various social networking sites.

I can edit the expression at any time, adding or subtracting content or changing it. People find expressions via featured, network and community feeds as well as through tags and search. And, like with the other social networks, you can “heart” an expression and share it.

Storify story: Author Buffy Andrews