2016 SFR Brigade Summer Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2016 SFRB Summer Blog Hop! This is the Brigade's 5th Annual Blog Hop. I have been a part of the previous four, so wouldn't miss this one for the world, or other worlds, lol. ;)

As you may already know from your travels to other worlds before stopping by mine, this year's theme is "Other Worlds." 

I want to tell you about Bazin and Miaxa's homeworld of Beryll. Bazin and Miaxa are energy beings that use metallic bodies to contain their energy. Beryll is much the same way. It is a planet full of ionized energy. The planet itself is composed of metals; even the sea is metal, a liquid metal. The Beryllians utilize the metals of the planet to harness its energy for everything from recharging their mechanical bodies to powering their infrastructure. 

The following is an excerpt showing what the planet looks like:

***

They stopped at an overpass and looked out over the Mercury Sea. The silvery liquid metal rippled tranquilly against the horizon as the sky swirled with blue and violet ionized energy. The dancing light was reflected by the sea, and it was hard to tell where the sea ended and the sky began.

“I never get tired of looking at that,” Kiva said, turning to watch the equally beautiful lighting of the city. Each building was charged with contained electrons that traced patterns of color along the edges, smoothly flowing from one color to the next as they collided with nitrogen atoms.

Miaxa looked down, too anxious to appreciate the tranquility of the planet’s natural beauty, or the ingenuity in containing it. "Do you think they'll come to a settlement?"

***

Thank you for stopping by. I have reduced the price of my new release "Aliens in the Barn: 4 Short Stories of Mech Alien Romance and Misadventure" from $2.99 to only 99cents for the duration of the hop. Go check it out! <3

Blurb:

Four short stories of romance between Bazin and Miaxa, two alien beings from the planet Beryll. Finding themselves on a previously unknown planet, Earth, they grow fond of a human family. Cultural misunderstandings are a constant, the day-in-the-life misadventures of Bazin and Miaxa and their human friends.

Alexander Maddox has a special job with the government involving aliens from another world. The ones living in his barn were unexpected. Misunderstandings a daily occurrence, he is sure his resident aliens will be the death of him. A life in pieces collection of the Maddox family's everyday life with their alien residents.  

Aliens in the Barn:

--There’s a mechanical extraterrestrial living in Alex’s barn, but what will happen if the alien’s wife arrives? Wait, Bazin’s married?

Scared to Death:

--Beth has been married to Alex for over a year and he still can't make it home for dinner. Why do he and his coworker friend spend so much time working on that truck in the barn?

The Skellyd Hunters:

--With a core-bonded strength few understand, Bazin and Miaxa are Beryll's finest warriors. Sometimes they go a little too far and Andler is left with the consequences, for better or worse.

Meet Douglas Fir:

--Being human isn't easy with robotic alien residents misunderstanding the simple stuff. Alex can't imagine his family life without Bazin and Miaxa, however. Time to have them over for Christmas. 


Buy Links:

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Please follow the links below to read the next entry in the blog hop. Happy reading!

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Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for some great prizes! You can find the entry form here: SFRB Summer Blog Hop Giveaway! 

3 Amazing SFR Brigade Projects

Hello! I posted this on the Science Fiction Romance Brigade blog, but want to include it on my blog as well. Enjoy!

The SFRB community has been pulling together, working on some amazing projects. The 1st fantastic project, one I am so jealous I couldn't be a part of, is Portals. This is an absolute genius idea. I love it so much and have already found some new books to read. This project includes four volumes of books full of first chapters by forty, that's 40, different SFR authors. Wow! These chapters are gateways, or portals, to each of these authors' amazing worlds. So far, the first two volumes have been published. There is a Portals blog to read more about how this super project came together: http://sfrportals.blogspot.com/

The 2nd project is a ten book SFR giveaway brought to you by ten authors of the SFRB. And those 10 books are print copies! One lucky winner will win all 10 paperbacks. This giveaway ends May 31st. To enter, click on the following link: http://www.spajonas.com/giveaways/scifi-romance-paperback-giveaway/

The 3rd project, and one I'm so happy to be a part of, is "Romancing the Stars: 8 Short Stories of Galactic Romance and Adventure." This anthology includes short stories between 4,000 and 8,000 words by eight different authors from the SFRB. It was so fun doing this, the authors being super supportive of each other and motivating each of us to write some wonderful stories. "Romancing the Stars" is available for pre-order now: https://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Stars-Stories-Galactic-Adventure-ebook/dp/B01G2V9AW4

The SFR Brigade Cafe Androids & Aliens

 

Welcome to the SFR Brigade summer café! This is the 4th week of the café and we are serving up Androids and Aliens this week. 

 

 

 

Androids & Aliens on the SFR Brigade blog

 

Androids and aliens are near and dear to my heart. I love reading books involving them and I love writing them. My favorite is when there is a mix of the two.

My writings involve aliens made from pure energy that have robotic bodies to contain the energy: sentient robotic aliens from the planet Beryll. They cannot take an organic form because their energy core would burn up an organic body. Being called 'robots' is very offensive to Beryllians, though, so I have to be careful with that word.

Despite having robotic bodies, their movements are very fluid and smooth. Think more like Ultron from "Avengers" instead of Robby from "Forbidden Planet." They are able to manipulate their energies along with their bodies to project matter and retract it too. They do this through a form of pair production, a technology humans want to replicate once they come into contact with humans. Humans call them Materializers because they have mastered pair production and contain it so fluidly that it appears that they materialize matter out of nowhere.

Even though Beryllians are pure energy at their core, they still have to have an outside energy source to help fuel their mechanisms and circuitry. There are several ways they can ingest fuel. They can consume it like a liquid; Earth gasoline isn't their favorite, but it does the trick. They also have tiny solar cells lining their upper backs and shoulders that they can manipulate to face any direction. I suppose a nice appetizer would be to sit out under the noon sun and soak up some rays.

Since we're human and can't soak up energy from the sun as sustenance, I have a very simple recipe for a nice refreshing drink on a hot sunny day. Not exactly an appetizer, but it's filling enough to be an appetizer, certainly a pallet cleanser before the main course.

Refreshing Lime Fizzy

1 gallon Lime Sherbet ice cream (or sorbet) straight from the freezer
3 quarts of pale Ginger Ale (chilled)
2 cans of Sprite (chilled)

Dip out frozen sherbet ice cream into a punch bowl. Pour ginger ale and sprite over the sherbet. This recipe is great with raspberry sherbet as well! Enjoy!
For a more adult drink, substitute a strawberry Moscato wine instead.

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My short story 'starters' are available on QuarterReads:

"The Skellyd Hunters"

With a core-bonded strength few understand, Bazin and Miaxa are Beryll's finest warriors. Sometimes they go a little too far and Ander is left with the consequences, for better or worse. (Rated M)

"Meet Douglas Fir"

Being human isn't easy with robotic alien residents misunderstanding the simple stuff. Though, Alex can't imagine his family life without Bazin and Miaxa. Time to have them over for Christmas. (Rated PG)

QuarterReads is a wonderful site for buying and selling short stories, but it does require a $5 subscription (with that subscription, you get 20 reads, which at a quarter a piece equals to $5...hence QuarterReads).

However, I'm gifting 2 reads to anyone who comments below (no subscription required), so you can read "The Skellyd Hunters" and "Meet Douglas Fir" for free (again, no subscription required, so it's completely free)! Please include your name and email in your comment and you will receive 2 free reads from QuarterReads. (There will be a week delay since I will be on vacation at the time of this post. Also, I know Brigade members are trying not to bogart all the prizes, but please go ahead and comment if you'd like a couple of free reads. I have plenty of reads to gift out to people.)

I have several works in progress regarding the Beryllians and can't wait to further introduce them soon.

 

If the rafflecopter code doesn't work below, click this link to go direct: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f2d2ed1116/ 

 

Also, please visit the other participants to find out their serving of science fiction romance!

Inlinkz Raffle a Rafflecopter giveaway

Starry Nights Blog Hop

Starry Nights

Hello everybody! I am literally moving from Alabama to Nevada right now, but there is no way I am going to miss the SFR Brigade's 3rd Annual Blog Hop. Funny, because I was moving during last year's blog hop as well. Oh, the military life. Hopefully there isn't a pattern here... Nah, we'll be in Nevada for a few years, at least, so next year I'll finally be stationary for this very awesome blog hop.

For this year's Starry Nights theme, I have an excerpt from my work in progress Fracture Series. There are a few snippets from this series throughout my blog. My story, 'The Stranger,' that was published in "Tales from the SFR Brigade" is set in the future of this scene. Without further ado:

Alexander Maddox walked into the barn, into a scene that he would never forget, on a night full of scenes that he would never forget. There, pinned against a support beam by none other than Bazin, was the mella; he couldn't remember her name to save his life. Her chest lay open with the same bright burning ball of icy blue fire he'd seen in Bazin's. She was emitting noises that sounded like whimpering and her body was shaking. Bazin was holding her wrists behind her back, his injured leg shaking against her as he struggled to keep his balance. His own chest was open, but, from this angle, Alex couldn't see his core. However, Alex couldn't miss the large humming cannon pointed his way.

"Maddox!" Bazin bellowed. "If you do not get out of here, I will shoot you where you stand!"

Alex backed up, shocked to see a weapon, even more so about the prospect that Bazin would actually shoot him.

But the mella. What was going on? Actual concern for her kept him from going too far. Suddenly, he remembered her name.

"Um, Miaxa?" he swallowed.

"Get out!" they both yelled in unison and Alex could not oblige fast enough.

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Alex ran out of the barn and shut the door, leaning his forehead against it as he couldn't imagine his night getting any crazier.

"What's going on?" Lynn's voice came from behind him, and he jumped high in the air.

"Lynn! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He raised his head towards the sky, the winking stars surely mocking him.

Lynn ignored him. "I want to meet her."

"You can't right now…um...I think he's about to screw her," Alex stated matter-of-fact.

"What? Can they do that?" Lynn tried peaking through the cracks in the door, apparently ignoring his crude statement in her curiosity.

"I…I don't know, but he threatened to kill me," Alex said excitedly and described what he saw. They went silent as they heard noises coming from within.

"It sounds like he's killing her," Lynn said worriedly. "What should we do?"

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It was Ander who answered the phone. "Alexander Maddox," he exclaimed in greeting. "We have been looking for you. We have been trying to locate Bazin."

"Well, he's here," Alex said and before he could get anything else out…

"He's there? Kelyan was getting worried that the new arrival might be a Skellyd that he couldn't handle, possibly broadcasting a Gathon signal to lure us into a trap. Why didn't he bring him here? Where is he now? We need to speak with him."

A who? Why would they be luring them into a trap?

"That's why I'm calling. I think we need your help. Bazin said the new arrival's name is Miaxa..." and Alex launched into the story of his day and how they are now out in his barn and his concern. Miaxa could be dead already.

There was silence on Ander's end.

After some length, Alex finally asked, "Ander, are you still there?"

Alex heard a whooshing sound and then, "Yes, well, that explains why he has not been answering our calls." Another moment passed, another whooshing sound. "So, why do you need our help?"

"You never said he was armed," Alex said. "He threatened to kill me."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that," Ander commented. "But don't worry. He would never harm any of you."

Alex wasn't really worried about Bazin harming him or his family. He knew Bazin better than any human. It wasn't the threat that worried him; it was the fact that these aliens had weapons. So many questions rose to the surface that he didn't know where to start. Were all of them armed?

"And he's not hurting her, Alexander Maddox," Ander continued, completely oblivious of Alex's inner struggle.

"I keep telling you guys that you can just call me 'Alex.'" With the current circumstances, Alex decided now wasn't the time to push about the weapon.

"He's not hurting her, Alex," Ander repeated. "They are both in considerable pain due to the amount of time they've been separated and they need to join."

"What? What does that mean? Do you mean they're having sex in my barn? My grandfather built that barn!" Of course, he and his wife had defiled it a time or two, but that was beside the point.

"They cannot have sex, Alexander, er, Alex. We are not like organics. We lack the organs for such a function," Ander said. "As far as their reaction upon first contact…That is very interesting."

"Interesting? You mean, you don't even know?" Alex couldn't believe it. Not only did he not understand them, but it seemed there were things they didn't understand about themselves.

"Coremates have never been separated this long before, so it's new to us too. I will record your accounting and then ask them more at another time. But for now, you had probably better give them some space. Those two are about as trigger-happy as a couple of Skellyds."

"Yea, I gathered," Alex retorted. "Are you sure they're not?" There was silence on the other end. "I'm just kidding, Ander. I don't even know what a Ske-lad is."

End Scene.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Since I'm moving, I don't have any prizes to offer. The only thing I can offer right now is a free book, which is always free and also part of all the main prizes: "Tales from the SFR Brigade."  There is no requirement to comment here, but you are definitely welcome to say something if you'd like. Entry to the grand prize is via Rafflecopter below. The prizes this year are amazing!

Thanks again!




　
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Brenda Novak Auction Ends May 31st

Hello everyone! The Science Fiction Romance Brigade has donated some amazing books and items to the Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research. Included in the auction is a RARE print copy of "Tales from the SFR Brigade." Check out the 'out-of-this-world' offerings and if anything appeals to you, place a bid. :) Bidding ends on May 31st, so there isn't much time left.

Brenda Novak Auction

Happy Bidding!

Tales from the SFR Brigade On Amazon

The SFR Brigade is happy to announce that "Tales from the SFR Brigade" is finally up on Amazon. You may have already seen a previous post about the book on my blog a few months ago, but this is a science fiction romance anthology by eight different authors. My story, 'The Stranger,' was one of the stories chosen and it has been very exciting to be a part of this anthology.

Warm yourself up on a cold winter day, or night, with this free book!

Did I mention it was free? It's totally FREE!

Check out the description:

Experience love and adventure among the stars in ‘Tales from the SFR Brigade,’ a digital anthology of eight Science Fiction Romance stories.

• A space captain discovers the cyborg she loves just might be her greatest enemy.
• A mind-wiped prostitute risks all when she recruits a dangerous stranger to help her escape a terrible fate.
• A prisoner-of-war confronts the comrade who loved her, then left her for dead.
• A space-obsessed physics teacher is kidnapped by a far-too-charming alien.
• An apocalypse survivor battles the biomech-enhanced hunter who seeks to capture her.
• A young artist must choose between her comfortable life on Earth or a war-torn space colony with her beloved.
• A daring thief is on the run from the alien law man who is determined to bring her to justice.
• A widowed rebel leader tries to save the last remnants of humanity, one stranger at a time. (This one is for my story, 'The Stranger.' ;))

From Earth to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, explore the worlds of Science Fiction Romance with stories from Linnea Sinclair, Marcella Burnard, Erica Hayes, Liana Brooks, Pippa Jay, Berinn Rae, Amy Laurens, and Kyndra Hatch.

 

 Download it from Amazon here.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

The Science Fiction Romance Brigade Anthology

Tales From the SFR Brigade 

The Stranger by Kyndra Hatch

I am happy to announce my debut publication! It is a very late announcement since the publication came out in late June, but I was moving right as the book came out and things have only just now slowed down enough for me to blog about the good news. 

So much has happened since January that I don't know where to start, so I'll try starting at the beginning:

I am a member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade. It is a fantastic group of authors, readers, and SFR enthusiasts who help each other with writing questions, book promotion, and even book production. Late last year, sometime around November, a submission call was sent out for group members to send in short stories for an anthology. It was an experiment to get a free publication out for SFR awareness and promotion. 

But it wasn't just any 'ol experiment. They weren't looking for random half-hearted stories. They wanted good, professional, works and put together a stellar team of editors to decide which stories were publication worthy. 

Something about this submission call really spoke to me. I didn't have anything out at the time and the same self-doubt that kept me from writing before was trying to creep into my subconscious. They were asking for professional stories. They never straight up worded it that way, but I knew that's what they were looking for. I knew it had to be good. Was my work professional enough? Did I know the right formula for writing a SFR story? Was there a formula?

I already knew I could write, having gained that confidence through writing fan fiction. I just didn't know what it takes to write a publication worthy story. I'm still not entirely sure what it takes, but it's a learning process that I'm enjoying.

Writing a short story felt doable and I wanted to submit something so bad that I simply went for it. I spend a couple of weeks thinking about what I would write. Ideas are always bombarding my brain, but nothing was coming through that would be short enough. I started out with the thought that I could write a flash fiction, but quickly realized just how hard it is to write flash fiction. Seriously, sit down and try to write a story with only 1,000 words. Obviously, people can do it, but I think it might be more difficult than writing a full on novel.

I took numerous breaks, reading flash fiction to hopefully get the right frame of mind to write it. Unfortunately, I can't remember what I read since I was reading so much, but something about a couple being trapped in a cave sparked my imagination. I immediately stopped reading and started writing. I'm not even sure how that cave story ended because I haven't been able to find it again (I was perusing a lot of free sites on the web).

As Christmas holidays set in, I began to lose heart because it didn't look like I would make the beginning of January deadline. Then, the deadline date was moved to the end of January, so I continued the story with renewed vigor and was able to submit it on time. 

Then came the inevitable waiting game I hear so many authors talking about. Thank goodness I didn't have to wait as long as most of those discussions imply. I received an email in March. Knowing what it would be about, I put off opening it for a day, too nervous about the shortcomings I knew my story had. 

When I finally opened the email, I wasn't surprised that it was a rejection letter. I had researched and learned several things about points of view, voice, and showing versus telling after the story submission and I knew my story had all those issues.

However, with the rejection letter came a surprising second chance. It turned out that they really liked the story idea and gave me suggestions on how to bring it up to speed. If I was willing to revise it based on their suggestions, then I had another deadline. If I wasn't willing to revise, then they wished me luck in submitting the story elsewhere.

Now, I'm not proud and certainly not too proud to take direction. I'm an amateur and these folks were the professionals. Flattered that they liked the story idea and a more than willing student to improve my writing skills, I went through each suggestion with the enthusiasm of a preschooler with a new box of crayons. The best part about it was that I understood each and every issue they were addressing. All I needed was that little extra advice, because the story simply popped after that. 

Of course, the second chance wasn't a guarantee that the story would be accepted, but that part no longer mattered to me. What mattered was that I was getting help from proven authors. What mattered was that I was improving my writing skills. What mattered was that I would be more prepared for the next time I submitted a story for publication.

They said to submit the revised story to Diane Dooley, which make me even more excited because I had read and liked her works. She was also the person that helped me get more involved in the group and, therefore, indirectly responsible for all the stuff I had learned about writing through the group discussions. The thing I love about being a part of the SFR Brigade is how accessible and helpful all the authors are.

It wasn't two days after I submitted the revised edition that Ms. Diane Dooley forwarded it on for acceptance, that it was exactly what they were looking for. I was so excited, I couldn't stand it!

Naively, I thought that would be it, that the story would be published in the summer and that my job was done. I had no idea about the editing process...Since that is where I admit I am such a noob that I had no idea who the famous SFR authors were either, that is another story. 

For now, enjoy "Tales From the SFR Brigade" and my short story within, 'The Stranger,' as well as the fabulous short stories by Linnea Sinclair, Marcella Burnard, Erica Hayes, Liana Brooks, Pippa Jay, Berinn Rae, and Amy Laurens!

Smashwords: Tales From the SFR Brigade

Website: Tales from the SFR Brigade Anthology


Like the SFR Brigade Facebook Fanpage: Science-Fiction-Romance-Brigade-Fanpage

The SFR Brigade 2nd Midsummer Blog Hop - Out of this World

 

Welcome to the second SFR Brigade blog hop! The theme this summer is 'Out of This World.' I love this theme because I love daydreaming about other worlds and the beings that inhabit them. I wonder what those beings could be like, what they're made of, whether or not they think and feel, what their culture would be like.

There are a lot of movies out there that have aliens from outer space coming to Earth and immediately killing us. Sometimes we know the reason, sometimes we don't, but I always come away from those movies feeling like something is lacking. They rarely tell us much about those aliens.

I want to know who the aliens are. I want to know what makes them do the things they do. My imagination has to fill those unknowns.

So, for my yet-to-be-published works, I write about aliens. Even more interesting to me, is that they have the capacity to love. Science fiction romance is a great fit!

My aliens have been torn apart by war. They are called the Gathons and the Skellyds. If war were black and white, the Gathons are the good guys and the Skellyds are the bad guys. Both are of the same species from the same planet, but have divided themselves into factions with those names. War, however, isn't so black and white and I love to explore what makes a being 'good' versus 'evil' and all the grey areas in between.

The Gathons and Skellyds are energy beings made of pure energy, called cores. In order to contain this energy core, they have to inhabit some sort of body. They cannot inhabit organic bodies, because the energy will burn up all organic components. So, they inhabit metallic bodies, full of wiring and electronic components to include computerized 'brains.'

They are able to survive as pure energy without inhabiting a metallic frame, but those that choose to do so can only communicate by joining with another energy being. This creates a permanent bond that some find undesirable. In fact, the Skellyds are against any type of bond and consider it a weakness to be destroyed. So, they take a humanoid shape in metallic bodies that are powered by their energy cores and their thoughts are saved in their CPUs. Those thoughts can be voiced through electronic vocal systems, such as speakers or vocal chords made of wiring.

These energy beings are capable of intense hatred, but also a deep love that can define them. Skellyds avoid the part of themselves that allows them to love. Gathons, however, embrace it.

By combining their energy cores, they form a permanent bond with a love on a level so deep that humans have a hard time grasping what it would be like. They become Love. Once that bond is formed, the couple communicates through the bond. Separation becomes painful and one bonded Gathon is usually never too far from the other. The bond strengthens them, but there is a catch that all Skellyds consider the biggest weakness of their kind of all: if one dies, the other dies soon after...

So many wonderful possibilities to explore with the Gathons and Skellyds. I can hardly wait to unleash them into the literary world!

If you're interested in SFR book releases, or science fiction romance in general, check out The Science Fiction Romance Brigade fanpage on Facebook.



Check out the posts of all the other participants. You can also find a list of their names on The SFR Brigade blog spot. They are out of this world!

1. Diane Dooley              15. Imogene Nix                        29. Anna Hackett
2. Kimber Vale                16. Rinelle Grey                        30. Tonya Cannariato
3. Maria Hammarblad     17. Veronica Scott                     31. T.C. Archer
4. Bookswagger              18. Reading Reality                    32. Sabrina Garie
5. C.E. Kilgore                19. Spacefreighters Lounge       33. Kyndra Hatch
6. Liana Brooks               20. Pippa Jay                             34. S.A. Huchton
7. Cathy Pegau                21. Melisse Aires                       35. T.K. Toppin
8. Misa Buckley              22. Pauline Baird Jones             36. Jo Jones
9. Yolanda Sfetsos          23. Sandra C. Stixrude               37. Liza O'Connor
10. Rachel Leigh Smith  24. Monica Enderle Pierce         38. Isabo Kelly
11. Greta van der Rol      25. The Galaxy Express            39. Nina Croft
12. Jessica E. Subject      26. Linda Mooney                     40. Cathryn Cade
13. Diane Burton             27. Aubrie Dionne
14. E.A. Hoornaert          28. A.R. Norris







Now for the prizes!

1st Prize - $150 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice) and an ebook bundle (currently Ghost in the Machine, Bayne, Recast Book 1:Wither, Recast Book 2:Clash, Alien Adoration, Switched, Reckless Rescue, Wreck of the Nebula Dream, Keir, Terms & Conditions Apply, The Key, Marya, The Iron Admiral, Sasha’s Calling, Trouble at the Hotel Baba Ghanoush, Winter in Paradise, Once Upon a Time in Space, the Telomere trilogy, Winter Fusion, Blue Nebula, Demential, Wytchfire, Maven, Fires of Justice, Interface, Girl under Glass, and Breakout. Bonus books – Ghost Planet, The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy and Deception, and Games of Command.)

2nd Prize - $50 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice)

3rd Prizes - four $25 Amazon or B&N gift cards (given to separate
winners and their choice)

Enter to win (goes live at 00:01 Pacific Time on June 21st): a Rafflecopter giveaway. Good luck!

A comment is not mandatory for my post, but I'm interested in your thoughts if you'd like to share them. Have fun on the hop!