Red Dawn Blog Tour: guest post and giveaway

This Tuesday marks a first for us. We are today's stop on the Red Dawn Blog Tour hosted by PJ Blog Tours. This is our first time participating in a PJ Blog Tours and we thank them for including us. We have a guest post from author J.J. Bonds and there is a giveaway below.

Red Dawn (Crossroads Academy #2) by J.J. Bonds

YA paranormal * ebook, 282 pages * Published August 28th 2012

Purchase at Amazon

Katia’s done running. She’s fought fiercely to protect her identity, her secrets, and those she loves most. And while it hasn’t been easy, she’s finally making peace with the past. Katia’s even looking forward to the start of a new school year at Crossroads Academy.

Too bad things at Crossroads are going to be a little different this fall. There are new rules, new students, and new relationships. Katia quickly discovers that navigating the halls of Crossroads is as complicated as ever.

When a friend’s life is at stake, Katia will be forced to choose between the safety of Crossroads and an enemy more dangerous than any she’s ever faced. Will Katia have the courage to risk it all -including her life- for a friend?

Guest Post by J.J. Bonds
Can you tell us about your world building and what the new year at Crossroads Academy holds in store for Katia?

Great question! World building is so important when you’re writing anything, but this is especially true for fantasy. After all, how do you make the paranormal seem, well, normal? I find that the best way to make the unbelievable believable, is to weave the paranormal elements in little by little amidst the mundane details. Readers don’t like an information dump and most won’t find it believable, so you have to give them one piece at a time-- just enough to whet the appetite!

I’m a very visual person so I spend a lot of time imagining the setting, history, scenery, characters and the rules (in this case, vampire rules). But how to make all of those ideas come alive for the reader? Word building. I spend a lot of time outlining and making notes-- I make notes about everything.

I use those piles of notes to create the world through the eyes of my characters. After all, they’re the ones who have to live it and breathe it and if they’re not convinced, the reader won’t be either. I don’t always get the wording right on the first pass. Sometimes there’s too much detail, sometimes there’s too little, but that’s what revisions are for, right? I spend a lot of time in what writers call ‘the revision cave’, which is really just a creative way to say slogging away at the computer. ;-)

As for Red Dawn?

The start of a new school year is always tumultuous and it’s no different for the vamps at Crossroads Academy. A new year signifies change: new students, new relationships, and new problems. Even though Katia is starting to come into her own and begins to let her guard down with those closest to her, she’s still got a few things to learn. And true to her nature, Katia will learn them the hard way.

Red Dawn is an action packed adventure that will take Katia beyond the walls of Crossroads and test the bonds of friendship and loyalty. Readers will be thrilled to discover that Shaye plays a much larger role in this book and that Katia and Nik just might turn up the heat on their love/hate relationship before it’s all over.

Thanks so much for featuring the Red Dawn blog tour on Reader Girls! I really enjoyed writing the post and appreciate your support of indie authors!

About the author:

J.J. Bonds

Author Social Links: Facebook | Twitter 

J.J. Bonds is an independent author who writes Young Adult Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy. Her debut novel, Crossroads, was released in fall of 2011. It is the first in the Crossroads Academy series. J.J. lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where her love of all things paranormal keeps life interesting. She lives with her husband, daughter, and two rambunctious dogs.

You can also connect with J.J. at:

Facebook | Facebook Fan page | Twitter | Shelfari

Next stop on the tour:

A Bibliophile’s Thoughts on Books

There is a large giveaway for the 
J.J. Bonds Street Team--find details at this link.

Giveaway: 

Choice between ebooks of CrossRoads or Red Dawn. Giveaway ends at midnight on September 18th. Open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway