For What It's Worth


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Heartbreakers Blog Tour: Day 1 - Jenny Kaczorowski & Brenda Hiatt

Who can resist a heartbreaker?

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Hey guys! To celebrate this wondrous week of love I’ve joined the Heartbreakers Blog Tour (because nothing says love like heartbreak – & I’m twisted that way!) hosted by the lovely Judith Tewes.

All this week I’ll be featuring two YA/NA authors per day – from self-published and small press to traditional publishers, debut authors to bestsellers. Get swept away with these tales of first love, melting kisses and of course – heartbreak.

Most of these authors were new to me and I’ve been busy downloading their books. There’s a great variety here and I can’t wait to dig in.

Please follow along and be sure to enter the the awesome giveaway for a FREE KINDLE + EBOOKS from the Heartbreakers Blog Tour Authors!

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So let’s get started and meet the authors!

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Jenny Kaczorowski: The Art of Falling (Bloomsbury Spark, 2013)

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For seventeen-year-old Bria Hale, image is everything. She’s a militant vegan with purple hair, Doc Martens and a permanent scowl. Kissing captain of the football team Ben Harris? Definitely not part of that image.

Now with each secret kiss, she’s falling deeper for the boy every girl at Oceanside High is crushing on. Throw in a few forbidden bacon cheeseburgers and she’s facing one major identity crisis.

Ignoring Ben should be easy, but when a flashy display of artistic spirit lands her in close quarters after hours with the boy she’s too cool to like, she can’t keep pretending those kisses meant nothing. With her reputation and her heart on a collision course, Bria must either be true to herself or to the persona she’s spent all of high school creating.



Karen: I love how The Art of Falling has a bit of a twist on the typical romance. Bria is an artist, vegan, has purple hair and is proud of it! She's the one who's embarrassed to be falling for the captain of the football team and ruin HER image. Very cool! How did you come up with the idea for this book?

Jenny: I wrote a couple scenes for another book that didn’t quite fit, but I didn’t know what to do with them. I knew Ben and Bria had a story to tell, but I didn’t know what it was. It was actually while I was on vacation, away from my computer, that the idea popped into my head. All these teen movies, like SHE’S ALL THAT, focus on popular boys proving that the geeky, artistic girl is really pretty underneath, and I wanted to turn that idea on its head. What if the boy liked her because she’s different. What if she was afraid of what her friends would think? I know my friends would have freaked out if I’d dated a jock in high school!

Karen: What would Bria and Ben get each other for Valentine's Day?

Jenny: Ben is big on experiences, so he’d plan a romantic date, with some kind of memento to remember it by – maybe a tourist souvenir from the Pier, like their names on a grain of rice. Bria takes a more hands on approach and would make him something like a scrapbook with things from their relationship – illustrated and annotated of course.

Karen: Thanks Jenny! Doesn’t the Art of Falling sound fantastic?? I can’t wait to read this one!


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Brenda Hiatt: Starstruck (Createspace, 2013)

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Nerdy astronomy geek Marsha, M to her few friends, has never been anybody special. Orphaned as an infant and reluctantly raised by an overly-strict “aunt,” she’s not even sure who she is. M’s dream of someday escaping tiny Jewel, Indiana and making her mark in the world seems impossibly distant until hot new quarterback Rigel inexplicably befriends her. As Rigel turns his back on fawning cheerleaders to spend time with M, strange things start to happen: her acne clears up, her eyesight improves to the point she can ditch her thick glasses, and when they touch, sparks fly—literally! When M digs for a reason, she discovers deep secrets that will change her formerly humdrum life forever . . . and expose her to perils she never dreamed of. Yes, the middle of nowhere just got a lot more interesting! Read the opening chapters for free on Wattpad! http://www.wattpad.com/story/7692289-...


Karen: How would Marsha and Rigel, from your teen novel - Starstruck, spend Valentine's Day?

Brenda: Hm. If it weren’t February in north-central Indiana, I’d say they’d want to escape from the world for a few hours to their secret clearing in a cornfield. But they probably wouldn’t enjoy sitting in a snowy field of stubble, so more likely they’d have a date day walking around Jewel’s historic downtown, with some private time in the arboretum, then warming up with hot chocolate at Dream Cream, Jewel’s little ice cream shop.

Karen: I was really inspired by how much you embrace change in your life. After becoming an empty nester you started scuba diving, community theater, hiking and Taekwondo. Is there anything else you want to tackle? (You can read more about Brenda’s adventures and journey into writing here. I found it to be very inspirational.)

Brenda: Lots of things, actually! I’d love to take up ballroom dancing, if I could convince my hubby to go along with it. I’d also really like to take an underwater photography class and there’s still a WHOLE lot of the world I’d like to see—I love traveling! A life goal is to dive the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia someday and to visit “Hobbiton” in New Zealand. Among other things!

Karen: Thank you for stopping by Brenda. Now I want hot chocolate and to find out what Dream Cream is – lol Sounds delicious!

Follow the tour! & don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
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Participating Authors:

B.A. Binns: Minority of One (All The Colors Of Love, 2014)
Tina Bustamante: As Waters Gone By (Leap Books, 2013)
Eileen Cook: The Year of Mistaken Discoveries (Simon Pulse, 2014)
D.G. Driver: Cry of the Sea (Fire & Ice Young Adult Novels, 2014)
Christine Duval: Positively Mine (Bloomsbury Spark, 2013)
Laurie J. Edwards: writing as Erin Johnson. Grace and the Guiltless: Wanted Book 1 (Curious Fox, 2014)
Janet Gurtler: 16 Things I Thought Were True (Sourcebooks Fire, 2014)
Sara Hantz: In the Blood (Entangled Teen, 2013)
Brenda Hiatt: Starstruck (Createspace, 2013)
Denise Jaden: Never Enough (Simon Pulse, 2012)
Jenny Kaczorowski: The Art of Falling (Bloomsbury Spark, 2013)
Jen McConnel: The Secret of Isobel Key (Bloomsbury Spark, 2013)
Jeri Smith-Ready: This Side of Salvation (Simon Pulse, 2014)
Judith Tewes: TBA (Bloomsbury Spark, 2014)

Participating Bloggers:

For What It's Worth
Judith Tewes
A Life Bound By Books
Ashley Poston
A Simple Love of Reading
Little Library Muse
Jennzah.dot.net

11 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for hosting us! These were fun questions :)

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    1. Thank you Jenny! I'm looking forward to reading The Art of Falling :-)

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  2. Both books sound really good. I'm especially drawn to The Art of Falling. Thank you for sharing, Karen!

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    1. It sounds cute doesn't it? I'll let you know - I have it on my Kindle

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  3. Air Supply songs sounds like a heartbreak to me :)

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    1. OMG - I haven't listened to them in a long time.

      Lost in love...and I don't know why....lol

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  4. Carolina Liar's I'm Not Over. It's got a great beat and I can listen to it even if my heart isn't broken.

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    1. Love them! I listen to them a lot when I run or workout.

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  5. That one Alanis Morrisette song ;) Thanks for sharing and congrats to Jenny on the new release!

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  6. Starstruck sounds cool! And I think I know what happens!

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