It’s a Cover Reveal – Hope Series by @sydliyah

Published on August 25, 2014August 25, 2014 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle2 Comments

Hope Series

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Cover Designer: © Arijana Karčić, Cover It! Designs

Title: Hope for Her (Hope Series Book #1)

Publication Date: October 1, 2014

What do you hope for?

No one ever expected much from him.

Joshua Elijah Griffin, IV is on his last chance. A stint in rehab and a transfer to a new school has scared him into putting his life on track. He’s determined to live up to his family’s expectations, but on the first day of class, Josh meets a girl. He knows his father won’t approve, but in Carrington, he sees a kindred spirit. He’s whttp:/https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/hope-for-her/id912061468?mt=11&uo=4&at=10lK7Villing to give up everything to be with her.

No one ever thought much of her.

Carrington Olivia Butler is ready to shine. Always in the background, she goes away to college to break out of her shell. Carrington wants to feel special. Josh’s attention is exactly what she craves, but their intense and sometimes volatile relationship is more than she bargained for.

As their relationship progresses, Josh’s demons return, and Carrington’s feelings fade, but they aren’t ready to give up hope. They give their love one last shot to survive, but hope, may not be enough.

**This book contains adult subject matter. Not intended for young readers.**

Hope For Him ( Hope Series, Book #2 )

What do you hope for, now?

– Available December 2014

Hope For Us ( Hope Series #3 )

What do you hope for, still?

– Available February 2015

About The Author

Sydney Aaliyah Michelle is a New Adult Contemporary Romance writer, a voracious reader and movie fanatic who Sydney has been blogging at sydneyaaliyah.com for three years, where she interviews people about their tattoos, discusses her favorite movie quotes, reviews books (New Adult & only the ones she loves) and journals about her writing and editing process. Hails from Texas. After surviving 5 1/2 years living in China, she had the courage to finally pursue her passion and become a writer. Sydney’s self-published debut New Adult Novel Another New Life released June 2014. An active tweeter, she is also a JuNoWriMo (2x) and NaNoWriMo (2x) winners who notes the sci-fi action flick “The Matrix” as the best representation of her life in the past. She is blessed to be awake now and doing what she loves.

Website / Twitter / Facebook/ Goodreads / Pinterest

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Hope For Her

by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Giveaway ends October 01, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

What is your Dream Destination?

Published on December 5, 2013December 4, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle33 Comments

To celebrate the launch of Soul Cutter by Lexa Cain and The Ghosts of Aquinnah by Julie Flanders, they created this cool bloghop.

If you’ve spent any time with me, my Facebook account, my Twitter account and especially my blog, you know I love to travel. This bloghop is right up my alley. The hard part is picking just one. My Travel Bucket List is about 32 destinations deep and I have been blessed to have knock 15 places off the list.

Random Pick – #19 – Tibet

Five Reasons I want to travel to Tibet:

It takes a lot of effort to visit Tibet; 16-24 hour plane rides, passport, visa, permit, guides, donkey drawn carts, etc.
It’s hot and cold; the temperature in the summer ranges from freezing to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mt. Everest Base Came, I could tell people I climb to Mt. Everest (the to is silent).
Tibetan monastery – How amazing does this place look? There are 20+ of them in this region.
Tibetan people – I met a really cool couple from Tibet while I was in China and they wanted to take me back home with them. They actually travel to their village by donkey drawn carriage. No roads about 200 miles north of Lhasa. Sounds like an adventure.

What is your dream destination?

The Democratization of Publishing—Independence is Scary

Published on June 28, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle1 Comment

I don’t typically reblog, but this post changed my mind about self publishing. Thanks Kristen Lamb for sharing your sage (knowledge).

Kristen Lamb's Blog

I’m looking over the final formatting for my new book Rise of the Machines—Human Authors in a Digital World. The goal is to release it on July 4th for a number of reasons. My first book was called We Are Not Alone and then we have the whole Rise of the Machines thing goin’ on with the new book. What better day to release than Independence Day? Okay, May the Fourth might have been cooler, but the book wasn’t finished with editing at that point.

Yes, I am a sci-fi nerd :D.

Publishing has Been Democratized

Before the e-book/indie revolution, we writers relied on New York solely to grant us a career or not. We needed favor from the ~~King~~ traditional press to move forward. There was no other way unless we were willing to hand ten or twenty thousand dollars to a vanity press and hope we could duplicate…

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My Weekly Updates – The Thrill of it All Blogfest

Published on June 24, 2013June 23, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle21 Comments

love & sci fi blogfest 2 Tara & Heather created this blogfest to celebrate some milestone in the publishing process of their upcoming releases, Pop Travel and Maguire’s Corner.

I decided to share one of my favorite thrills:

He held my hand tight as he pulled me closer. Our faces were inches away from each other. He hesitated and I panicked. I turned and started to walk away, but he still have a strong grip on my hand. When I turned back to tell him to let go, I didn’t have a chance to get the words out. His lips were on mine, no hesitation this time.

My surprise prevented me from kissing him back at first. He started to pull away and I panicked again, but this time from fear he would stop. I kissed him back.

I was keenly away of the the way his lips tasted, all smooth and wet and with a hint of peppermint. The power of suggestion had been working over time in my imagination and I laughed. This time he succeeded in pull away.

“What’s so funny?”

“I thought you would taste like peppermint and you do.”

He smiled and kissed me again, letting go of my hand to wrap his arms around my waist.

*From my JuNoWriMo Novel.

There is nothing more thrilling than a first kiss. What do you find thrilling?

Click on the badge to visit the other Thrill of it All! Blogfest participants.

Addicted to New Adult

Agent Suzie Townsend invites you to join her in a discussion on New Adult from June 24th to July 16th on her blog, Confessions.

I am currently querying a New Adult Romance and writing another. The characters I write never seem to quite fit in full on adult, now they have a spot in the literary world.

Coolest Things

Miami Heat wins the 2013 NBA Championship. Not a fan of either team in the game, but Game 6 reminded why basketball can be an exciting game. It was awesome. Game 7 had to end the way it did. Plus, Tim Duncan and 5 rings doesn’t sound right.

It was a movie full weekend.

Man of Steel

Fast & Furious 6

Gangster Squad

World War Z

The Impossible

One awesome, one amazing, one great, one inspiring and one failed to meet expectations. Which movie was what?

Sad Things

James Gandolfini died last week at the age of 51. I loved The Sopranos, but I’ve still only seen season 3-6. I was late to the party. People have said that Tony Soprano ruined him for other rolls, but I disagree. I think it was the complexity of Tony Soprano and the way Mr. Gandolfini played him made other roles he played compelling because they were simple. See The Mexican (compassion and a little funny) and True Romance (pure violence). Also, Gandolfini is such a great name.

Check out The Many Faces of James Gandolfini at My Film Views.

What was your favorite James Gandolfini Role?

Post to Ponder

Do you write your chapters to long?Are you stuck in the old days? by Caleb Pirtle III – It’s the James Patterson formula. Each chapter is a miniature book.

Do Romance Novels set Unrealistic Expectations? by Melissa Cutler on Tameri Etherton’s Blog – I think if guys read romance, they’d fair so much better. The instructions are right there, they just need to use them.

Over Thinking Your First Draft by Sarah Foster on The Faux Fountain Pen – If you understand the purpose of the first draft, it should be the most fun step in the process.

#JuNoWriMo Post to Ponder

Camila Kyndesen: #JuNoWriMo Interview at The Peasant Revolt

Amanda Fanger: #JuNoWriMo Interview at The Peasant Revolt

The Editwock Will Steal Your JuNoWriMo by Courtney Cantrell

The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award

award-picture — The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award

Camilla Kyndesan gave me this really cool award. The badge is really cool and I’m honored, Thanks Camilla.

Final week of #JuNoWriMo. Good luck everyone and have a great week everyone.

Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest

Published on March 18, 2013March 18, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle44 Comments

It is time, once again, for another legendary blogfest from our Ninja Captain Alex. This time it is all about my favorite subject, movies. But, to pick only ten. Wow, only ten. Can I possible narrow my list down to ten? Let me give it a try.

Sydney Aaliyah Michelle’s Top Ten Movie Countdown (quotes included):

# 10 – The Matrix (1999) – “You hear that Mr. Anderson?… That is the sound of inevitability… It is the sound of your death… Goodbye, Mr. Anderson…” “My name is … Neo.”

#9 – Goodfellas (1990) – “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

#8 – Fight Club (1999) – “All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.”

#7 – Gladiator (2000) – “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”

#6 – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”

#5 – The Bourne Identity (2002) – “I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab or the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am?”

#4 – Notting Hill (1999) – “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

#3 – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) – “There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity!”

#2 – Transformers (2007) – “We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting, protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there’s more to them than meets the eye. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting.”

#1 – The Avengers (2012) – “Let’s do the head count here. Your brother, the demigod; the super soldier, living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breathtaking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins and you, big fellow, you’ve manage to piss off every single one of them.”

Do you agree with my list? What films are on your top ten list?