“For We Wrestle Not Against Flesh”

Back in March, I joined in the cover reveal blog tour: Today, I share my thoughts on the story inside – where, relevantly enough, the true worth lies.

The Book: “Entertaining Angels” by Emerald Barnes.

Genre: Christian YA

Blurb: Madison Andrews can’t face her reflection in the mirror. All she sees is a big, fat nobody. Yet, deep inside she longs for something more, something that’s not skin deep.

Along comes Zach, the new guy in school. He’s smoking hot and totally out of her league. She somehow catches his eye, and he makes her feel beautiful for once. But just as she gets close to Zach, her nerdy best friend, Chase, won’t let Madison doubt her true beauty, no matter how many meals she skips.

Even as Madison begins to realize that she is more than what she thinks, darker forces are at work, darker than the lies and mocking from her peers, stopping her from amounting to her full potential. Can Madison find true happiness in her own skin?

My Thoughts: My feelings on this novel were a bit mixed. The prose and storytelling struck me as repetitive and obvious, reminiscent of a play in which the actors aren’t sure what to do with themselves while delivering their heavy-handed lines, so they perform a lot of the same motions over and over. Beyond that, though, the story had a good heart, doing a fair job of portraying a young person in a spiritual battle on a field of self-doubts.

It was pleasing to see the number of people in Madison’s life who not only genuinely cared about her, but strove to support and embolden her, in painful contrast to others – even members of her own family – who either stood hard against her or simply proved ineffectual allies. And I appreciated that the story kept going beyond a certain game-changing moment, rather than leave it there and thereby suggest that everything would be easy-breezy ever after. Life, as I’ve experienced it, doesn’t work that way, so I was glad the author didn’t try to paint things in that light.

HSYRT? (Hey, Should You Read This?): For anyone who needs to be reminded – or perhaps hear for the first time – just what they’re worth in the eyes of those that matter, Entertaining Angels is a book worth looking over.

Your Thoughts: Put ’em in the comments, and I’ll know!

Entertaining Angels (and Blog-Touring Authors)

Two things today! Part One, a guest post and cover reveal from an author pal and her upcoming book! Part Two, a quick roundup of the stops so far on my “Inspired” blog tour. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Part One: Emerald Barnes and Entertaining Angels

Emerald Barnes: I am super thrilled to show you the beautiful cover for my newest and upcoming novel, Entertaining Angels. Again, my cover artist was Natasha Brown, and she is super talented. She brought my disjointed vision to life, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank her properly.

I can’t wait to publish it, which I’m hoping will be in May. That’s what I’m estimating anyway. But, I couldn’t wait any longer to show you my beautiful cover!

About Entertaining Angels:

Madison Andrews can’t face her reflection in the mirror. All she sees is a big, fat nobody. Yet, deep inside she longs for something more, something that’s not skin deep.

Along comes Zach, the new guy in school. He’s smoking hot and totally out of her league. She somehow catches his eye, and he makes her feel beautiful for once. But just as she gets close to Zach, her nerdy best friend, Chase, won’t let Madison doubt her true beauty, no matter how many meals she skips.

Even as Madison begins to realize that she is more than what she thinks, darker forces are at work, darker than the lies and mocking from her peers, stopping her from amounting to her full potential. Can Madison find true happiness in her own skin?

<<<>>>

Emerald Barnes: Why is Entertaining Angels so near and dear to my heart? Well, it’s basically my story growing up in high school. Well, I didn’t have a Chase, but I was Madison. I had a hard time looking at myself in the mirror because I felt so horrible about the way I looked. All I could see in my reflection was someone who I didn’t think was loveable. I couldn’t even love myself for who I was. I wanted to be skinnier, prettier, and more popular.

Sure, I had friends who were popular, but I could tell the difference in their attitude towards me as opposed to someone more like them, you know the type. Guys were my friends, but they were never interested in me as more than a friend. I was overweight, and I didn’t stand a chance in the high school world. Well, that’s why I thought anyway.

I lived my life in a daydream, hoping that one day God would answer my prayers, and I’d wake up skinny and hot. Little did I know, I was beautiful. I am a daughter of the King, but I didn’t really realize the implications of that phrase until I was much older. I was out of college before I truly understood what that meant.

One night, God spoke to me, not in a loud audible voice or a burning bush, but through song. Beautiful by MercyMe. I was driving home from my cousin’s house late one night when it came on the radio. The Presence of God filled my little Alero, and God told me I was beautiful because He made me. I was His creation, and God only creates beautiful things.

How does this tie into Entertaining Angels? God wanted me to share my revelation with the world, specifically young adults, but I think that even older women need to hear it. We don’t fully understand the implications of what it means to be a child of God.

Do you know how much He loves you? It’s our job to understand how much He does love us, and then, we need to learn how to love ourselves like he loves us. Entertaining Angels is about just that. It’s about one girl’s journey of self-discovery. Madison learns to love herself, and she sees just how important she is in God’s eyes.

It’s important that we love ourselves, and it’s my hopes that this novel does that for women of all ages. This is why Entertaining Angels is so near and dear to my heart.

Are you a book reviewer? If so, please sign up for an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of my novel here.

<<<>>>

About Emerald: Emerald Barnes graduated with a B.A. in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women. She resides in a small town in Mississippi and has the accent to prove it.

She mainly writes suspense/thrillers in the YA genre, but she dabbles in other genres and her books are enjoyed by all ages! She’s constantly working on new novels and has more ideas than she knows what to do with. She blogs which takes up more of her time than she anticipates but loves it so very much! She’s also a volunteer at the World Literary Cafe which is amazing, and she is a crazy grammar Nazi who proofreads novels!

She’s an auntie to three beautiful nieces and two handsome nephews who take up the other half of her time, but she couldn’t imagine spending her time in any other way!

She’s a Whovian, a little bit of a nerd, a reader, a writer, and a family-oriented person. God is number One in her life, and she thanks Him continuously for His love and favor.

Connect with Emerald: Website / Blog / Inspiration Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads  / Google + / Amazon Author Page / Piercing Through the Darkness / Read Me Dead

The Entertaining Angels Blog Tour Schedule:

March 17: The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something year Old Girl

Andrea Buginsky, Author  /  Tammy’s Tea Time 

Rachelle’s Window – Guest Post  /  The Writing Realm – Interview

March 18: ssteinwriting – Interview

Fran’s Stuff  /  Sitting On The Porch With Lynn – Guest Post

Angel Breath Books – Guest post  /  The Serious Reader

March 19: Totally unrelated to this tour is my interview with Angie Brashear.

Sheila Deeth – Guest post  /  The Wonderings of One Person

J.L. Mbewe  /  Ever On Word – Guest Post (you are here! ;D)

March 20: Community Bookstop

Fictional Reality  /  A.R. Silverberry – Guest Post

Bonnie Blythe’s Pure Romance

March 21: The Readers Realm

Blue Brown Books  /  Beck Valley Books

Belindawitzenhausen.com, Igniteyourcreativity.net & WriterzBlox.net

Nike Chillemi ~ Crime Fictionista – Guest Post

Part Two: Meanwhile, on the “Inspired” blog tour…

Aptly enough, on Monday we kicked things off with a short ‘n’ sweet interview on the blog of the good folks who helped me get the novel out into the world, J. Taylor Publishing.

That same day found me on the blog of fellow JTP author J.A. Belfield (of Holloway Pack fame), where I dreamed aloud about the 10 ways I would spend the day if I could do it with one of my best character friends, Will Scarlet.

And today, I’m visiting Scribbler’s Sojourn, blog of Terri Rochenski (JTP author of the Pool of Souls), with a letter to my personal muse.

Plenty more tour stops still to come (full schedule available on my website’s homepage), and the fantastic book behind it all is still gloriously available for purchase. So if you feel thus inspired, make sure to get your copies!

P.S. – Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win awesome free “Inspired” goodies. (:

“Re-Cover” or “New Looks, Same Books!”

Eyes wide, everyone: You’re arrived at a stop on author Emerald Barnes’ blog tour! Her novellas “Read Me Dead” and “Piercing Through the Darkness” have received cover makeovers, and she’s eager to tell us why and show them off. The floor’s all yours, Emerald!

* * * * *

Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Danielle!

People have been asking me why I decided to change my covers. It’s really a simple answer. It’s for the genre of the book.

I loved the old covers for both of my books. Honestly, I still love them, but they didn’t fit the covers of their genre well.

Read Me Dead — “before”.

Read Me Dead’s old cover has a sad, young girl on it, and really, that’s what she is, but you couldn’t see her face. I like that we get to “see” what Alex looks like in the new cover, but it still holds that sad, young girl image. My cover artist, Najla Quamber, added in script in the back. That is important to the story, and I liked that subtle text added. She also added raindrops which is also important and in some important scenes. The story is dark, and I won’t lie about that. Alexia is a sad girl, and we wanted that to come across in the cover. It came across in the old cover as well, but I think the brown coloring of the old cover wasn’t “young adult” enough. Take a gander at the most popular young adult covers. It didn’t really “fit,” and I wanted it to fit and be eye-catching for that genre. I think we’ve succeeded for that.

Piercing Through the Darkness — “before”.

Piercing Through the Darkness’ old cover focused more on the “antagonist” of the story. Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but I wanted the focus on Kandi, the girl whose life was torn apart when the accident happened. (Then again, if you’ve read the novel, you’ll know that even the antagonist isn’t really a usual antagonist.) But still, if you notice the young adult/new adult genre covers focus more on the females. I’m not sure why that is, but that is the case. The girl is bloody, and I think that’s what draws the eyes in. Why is she bloody? The old cover didn’t really draw us in with “whys” in my opinion. It could’ve be better, so we made it better.

I think this is another thing about being an Indie author that I love. If it turns out that our covers aren’t right, they can be changed, and this instance, although I loved the old covers and think they captured attention well, I eventually thought it could be better. 

Covers are the first thing that is seen. A book is judged by its cover, and it has to be appealing and eye-catching yet still capture the essence of your book. I think these new covers are just that for mine.

* * * * *

Read Me Dead — “after”!

Alexia Wheaton’s problems go far beyond picking a dress and a date for the homecoming dance.

For seven years, Alex has lived with a painful memory – the memory of her parents’ horrific murder. As the sole witness, she has kept quiet about the identity of the murderer to protect herself and her family and friends, but when a journalist over hears her secret and writes about it in the local newspaper, Alex is plagued with fear that her parents’ murderer will soon find her – and silence her forever.

Alex is catapulted into a race against time to save her own life and bring her parents’ murderer to justice. She will face many secrets, lies, and betrayals before the truth about their murder is revealed.

“Read Me Dead” by Emerald Barnes on Ganxy

Piercing Through the Darkness — “after”!

It’s on the edge of her memory like a word on the tip of her tongue, but Kandi can’t remember what it is to save her life.

Despite being a cop, Jimmy can’t protect Kandi from the one thing that haunts her. She’s in danger and doesn’t even know it. After it happened, her brain repressed her memories of the accident, and now, she’s taking a Biology class under a man who wants to see her dead. The memories have started coming back, and it feels like she’s miles away from him. How can he protect her when she doesn’t even know she needs protecting?

Can these characters pierce their way through the darkness?

“Piercing Through the Darkness” by Emerald Barnes on Ganxy

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About Emerald Barnes:

Emerald Barnes graduated with a B.A. in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women. She resides in a small town in Mississippi and has the accent to prove it.

She mainly writes suspense/thrillers in the YA genre, but she dabbles in other genres and her books are enjoyed by all ages! She’s constantly working on new novels and has more ideas than she knows what to do with. She blogs at emeraldbarnes.blogspot.com and ebarnes23.wordpress.com which takes up more of her time than she anticipates but loves it so very much! She’s also a volunteer at the World Literary Cafe which is so amazing!

She’s an auntie to two beautiful nieces and two handsome nephews (and another unknown gender coming by the end of 2013) who take up the other half of her time, but she couldn’t imagine spending her time in any other way!

She’s a Whovian, a little bit of a nerd, a reader, a writer, and a family-oriented person. God is number one in her life, and she thanks Him continuously for His love and favor.

Stay up to date with her at her Website, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also find her on Goodreads , Google+, and stay up to date with her releases on her Amazon Author Page. 

For more stops on the tour visit: http://www.emeraldbarnes.us/on-tour.html

“Roundup” or “The Spotlight Bounces Back”

Previously on Ever On Word, the release of “The Swan Prince (Book One of The Wilderhark Tales)” ushered in a week-long giveaway extravaganza that took up all my blogging attention (not to mention much of my Facebook and Twitter attention. Thank you, everyone who didn’t yell at me to shut-up about the stupid giveaway, already! Believe me, I came close to wanting to yell at myself).

With all that finally over with, I can take the time to properly express my gratitude to some treasured souls who have graciously joined me in promoting “The Swan Prince” on their own web spaces in the past weeks. Rather than overwhelm anybody with an onslaught of articles all at once, we’ll start with a reasonable three features for our first “summary of information” and continue on to the rest at a later date.

Thank you, Emerald!

First up, Emerald Barnes (author of “Piercing Through the Darkness” and “Read Me Dead”), who was kind enough to not only interview me on her blog (read it here!), but also to provide an early-reader review of my novella so I could include it in my book like a glorious stamp of pre-approval.

Thank you, Kimberly!

Ginormous thanks also to Kimberly Kay, whose short story “Sleepless Beauty” will appear along with my “A Morrow More” in the One More Day anthology coming out in December! Kimberly featured me on her blog twice: One happy-author-making book review, and one way-too-fun interview. (Throw two fairytale-lovers together on the internet, and let the shenanigans ensue!)

I’ve said it already, and I’ll say it again: Thank you, Emerald and Kimberly, for your time and attention! I thank you, my characters thank you…

Sula as drawn by Yana Naumova.

And speaking of characters and rounding up, I managed to wrangle the main cast of “The Swan Prince” into sharing why they think you ought to read their book. So for today’s ending note, here’s Sula!

Why Sula thinks you should read “The Swan Prince”:

She looks askance at the internet, arms folded, eyes narrowed in skepticism. “Well, speaking as a person, I’m not wholly sure I like the idea of anyone and everyone sticking their noses into this particular period of my life. It’s hardly their business. Speaking as a character, though,” she says, reconsidering the matter, “why go through everything I have if no one’s going to read about it? I certainly feel entitled to some manner of compensation! And if it won’t come in the form of Danielle rewriting the end of the book so I get to strangle a certain antagonistic force (naming no names; spoilers, and all that), then I’ll take fame for me, fortune for my author, and a few hours of reading pleasure at my expense for you. See? Something in it for everyone. So go on: Buy the thing.”

“Pregnancy” or “And Story Makes Three”

My gracious hostess.

Congratulations: It’s a guest post!

            Fellow blogger, writer, and awesome-sauce person Emerald Barnes has done me the honor and pleasure of hosting a Deshipley original post over at her blog, Dreaming Awake. So for those of you who don’t already hang around Emerald’s domain with some sort of regularity, I encourage you (read: threaten you at water-gunpoint) to pop over there now, via this lovely link of delight. (: