Tuesday Top Ten Launch Day Edition – Ten Things You Should Know About The Awakened!

Happy Release Day to me!

Official Awakened Cover

That is probably one of the weirdest and most surreal things I’ve ever typed up on this blog. I’m seriously blown away by that!

But its today! Today, The Awakened is a real book out in the real world! All over the world, decease people can go online and buy a copy of MY book, either in Kindle and paperback format! This is crazy to me. But also it feels amazing. This is what I’ve spent most of my life hoping for. Working my ass off for. I’m glad its finally here.

Have you gotten your copy of The Awakened yet? Its okay! I’ve provided a beautiful link here for you ;)

Even better! In just half an hour, I’ll be starting my SIX HOUR Twitter party extravaganza. If you don’t follow me on my author twitter yet, you definitely should! I’ll be on Twitter from noon PST to 6 pm PST, celebrating the release of The Awakened. I’ll be answering any and all questions you have, and reading alongside anyone else who is reading it! I’m going to be sharing snippets from The Awakened and even smaller ones (but still cool) from the rough draft of The Awakened 2. I’ll have giveaways, including signed bookmarks, signed posters and Kindle copies of the book.

12295380_875285382592325_7153715133112012905_n

Definitely come and check it out! You don’t have to stick around for the whole six hours so come by anytime, shoot a question my way, anything! I’ll be happy to chat with all of you!

Now moving on to this week’s Tuesday Top Ten. Today is a special one, since today is my release day! So excited! Today I’m sharing ten things you should know about The Awakened before you read it! There are NO spoilers below, so don’t be scared to go beyond this part!

Also below is the schedule for the blog tour! SO many amazing and fantastic blogs are participating, sharing in The Awakened celebration and hosting me as a guest writer or in interview form. There is also information for the giveaway as well! It runs until December 12th so get those entries in!

Now, let’s get to it!

The book is about zombies…sort of

For so long, I hesitated to compare the Awakened to zombies but there are similarities for sure. They’re both undead, and they both crave one thing: human flesh. However, the Awakened don’t really have the same origin as zombies and that’s a huge plot point in the novel. And they’re smarter. They’re reflections of their old selves, but their overwhelming hunger outweighs that and makes them the monsters they are.

Zoey and Ash aren’t perfect. 

I’ve had beta readers and reviewers and several people tell me, I loved the book but Ash drove me insane or god I got annoyed with Zoey. And I’m okay with that! I want you to feel that! Both of these characters are incredibly flawed! They’re 18 years old and kind of sheltered, very taken care of, until the world goes to sh*t and so they mess up a lot. They make a lot of mistakes. And that’s okay. That’s a huge part of the book, having these two figure out what the hell they are doing.

The bombing was an accidental scene. 

I didn’t intend to bomb every major city as part of a plot point. I remember watching The Walking Dead with my boyfriend at the time and saying, jokingly, “Why don’t they just nuke everything? Why do they just let it get out of control?” Well, because my brain can’t shut off, it got me thinking and I wondered, what if they DID bomb everything? Where would you go? What would be the consequences of that? And that’s why I wrote it in.

“Nightmare” by Set It Off is the unofficial theme song. 

I was having SUCH a hard time at the beginning of this novel. I had this idea and for me, it was very risky. I don’t write science fiction! I’ve always stuck to romance! So this was out of the box for me and I was feeling doubts about actually accomplishing it! I went to a concert where Set It Off was opening, the first time I actually saw them. They played Nightmare and it just immediately stuck to me, and that song, plus the entire Cinematics album was on repeat while I wrote.

All the settings are done by research not experience. 

I have not been to ANY of the settings that are in the novel. I know, crazy right? I was originally going to have Zoey from Los Angeles, since I’ve lived here in Southern California my entire life but my book before The Awakened took place here so I needed a break for sure. So New York, and all the other settings, were researched. It was hard at times. I forgot that Zoey and her companions would be FREEZING at times because it was winter. Winter isn’t much of a thing here so that was actually genuinely tough! There is a setting that appears at the very very end of the book, and I have been there. That setting is way more important in the second book and I’m glad I’ve actually BEEN there LOL.

The Awakened was supposed to be a standalone. 

When I originally started writing the book, I had no plans to write more than the one book. As I continued to write, however, I realized I had created a world and a scenario much, much bigger than just one book and I realized I’d have to split it in two. People keep asking if it’ll be a trilogy but I think I’d lose my mind if I attempted that LOL. It’ll be two books and that’s it!

Zoey and Ash used to be Kate and Nate. 

Kate. And. Nate. Did I ever mention how absolutely AWFUL I am at naming characters? I am truly truly awful at it. I would just name all my characters the same thing if I could because names are baffling to me. It took me a second to realize their names rhymed and I was so horrified at myself. So I changed Nate to Ash. Then eventually I changed Kate to Zoey. I tend to do that a lot, change character names. I like change and I get tired of names quickly. I almost changed it from Zoey too until my friends were like, NO. I’m so glad they keep me in line…

The 5th Wave, Alienated and Unremembered were the biggest influences on the book. 

I love all three of these books so much and they all had huge influences on The Awakened. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey did a lot for the survival part, especially since my characters are teenagers like Cassie. It was beyond helpful. I LOVED using Alienated by Melissa Landers to incorporate the romance between Zoey and Ash, but also still make it about the science fiction. Though Alienated is definitely more romance, it was so helpful. I think one of the most helpful though was Unremembered Jessica Brody. Its SO science fiction but it has a heavy foot in reality, in the reality we know and it showed me that I could totally write this book. It had a HUGE influence on this book.

The Awakened gave me the confidence to write more science fiction. 

I honestly didn’t think I could write science fiction before this book. I still sometimes don’t think I can do it. The book I wrote about this one is called Benched and is a new adult sports romance novel. Much shorter, and felt much easier to me. But I do feel the confidence to take these ideas I have and go with it. I’m currently working on the sequels to both The Awakened and Benched but I have an idea for a sort of space/robot/cyborg story about a girl named Nadia, who is the last human, the last princess, left in existence, surrounded by robots and cyborgs, until she finds out maybe she’s not. Its daunting but I really believe I can tackle it.

The sequel to The Awakened will open the world even more. 

The Awakened focuses a LOT on the main characters and their own problems, their own survival. Its very very centered on them, and for good reason. Its all about Zoey and her companions. However, in the sequel, its going to be very much about the rest of the survivors as well. Its going to be much more about the bigger picture. This is SO daunting to me but I’m excited for it. I’m excited to open up this world and exploring the bigger consequences of everything that has happened.

********

I hope you guys enjoyed that and that you enjoy reading The Awakened! I am so excited that its out today. Don’t forget that there is a great giveaway going on, hosted by me, which has no effect on me saying its great ;)

Up for grabs is a signed book, poster and bookmark, more signed posters and bookmarks and kindle editions of The Awakened!

Giveaway Graphic

a Rafflecopter giveaway

******

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the blog tour for interviews, guest posts and more!

November 26th: Reading and Reviews / What A Nerd Girl Says

November 27th:  Living Within Fiction

November 28th: Lisa of Literature / Seeking Bazinga

November 29th: Chloe’s Book Nook / Book and Movies Addict

November 30th: Tine’s Reviews / Escape from Realities

December 1st: What A Nerd Girl Says / The Book Academy / Bookish Wonderland

December 2nd: Recently Acquired Obsessions / Morgan Reads

December 3rd: Case Maynard, Author / Movies, Shows and Books

December 4thBout of Bibliophilia

December 5th: Tesairie’s Book Reads / iFandoms Collide

December 6th: Just One of Those Bibliophiles / A Traveling Book / Endlessly Readings

December 7th: My Life in Blog / Erin Rhew Books

December 8th: Metamorphic Books / Knightingale Reviews

December 9th: Reading Over Sleeping / Always and Forever Fangirl

********

Attention Southern California: Launch Party for The Awakened Announced!

Hello everyone!

I am SO insanely excited to announce that I will be having a launch party for my debut novel, order The Awakened!

Official Awakened Cover

This is an incredibly exciting thing for me. Not only do I get to celebrate The Awakened finally being a real, tangible THING that people are actually going to read, but I get to celebrate this with YOU guys too!

This is amazing. I literally can’t handle this at all. I will be signing books and doing SO many exciting things and its just amazing as hell. SO great! I can’t wait.

Now let’s dive into the information!

When: 

Saturday, December 5th, 2015
3 pm t0 7 pm

Where:

Comic Book Hideout

215 West Commonwealth Ave
Fullerton, CA 92832

Event Details: 

This will be a VERY casual event!

It takes place between 3 and 7 pm so show up whenever!

Roughly around 3:30 pm, I will be doing a reading from The Awakened, and a short Q and A with one of my very best friends/future author friend, Alexandra Campos! Then I will take questions from the audience, if you guys have any!

From there, I will sign books. I will personalize and sign as many as you want, and pictures are totally okay :) Just make sure I don’t blink in them!

There will also be giveaways featuring exclusives for the release party only!! Make sure to show up for those because they are going to be SO awesome!

Book Purchasing!

There will be books to purchase at the event through Comic Book Hideout! They will be 15 dollars, and she accepts all forms of payment. There will be 50 copies available! Except checks I think. I’m not sure. Because, like, who uses checks besides old ladies anymore…

No offense old ladies..

However! Until November 10th at exactly midnight PST, you can preorder your copy through this eventbrite link!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/launch-party-for-sara-elizabeth-santanas-the-awakened-tickets-19454588197

By doing this, you guarantee that there will be a copy (or 2 or 3 or…) waiting for you to take home at the event! Preorders are only available for THREE days so take advantage of this while you can!

Note: Starting in December/January, there will be an option to purchase signed copies of The Awakened directly from me! I am working out the details on how I am accomplishing this but I definitely want to set this up! I know I have friends and fans and followers all over the place and I definitely want to make this option available for you! Keep an eye out for it, mid to late December or early January!

*********

I am so insanely excited for all of this! I hope to see a bunch of you there! If you live in Southern California, make sure to share with your family and friends! If you don’t live in Southern California…still make sure to share with your family and friends!

Can’t wait to see you all there!

THE AWAKENED Cover and Release Date Revealed!

I am SO insanely excited to share this with you today!

I’ve been counting down the days to revealing the official cover for The Awakened, tadalafil and to finally tell you when you can get your hands on this beauty!

As a reminder, my debut science fiction novel, The Awakened, is being published by the amazing BenjaminOfTomes through his brand new micro publishing company, OfTomes!

I’m insanely excited about this. I’m about to finally share the cover, and I’ll also share the synopsis. I’m going to add the links to my official author pages: website, instagram, twitter, etc, so please follow me on there. Then also click the link on GoodReads to add it to your TBR list!

All right now…

You ready for this…

I am SO SO SO ready for this…

Here it is!

The Official Cover Reveal!

Official Awakened CoverThis is the official front cover! This is what you will see when you buy it in ebook format!

Official Awakened Paperback Cover

This is what the entire paperback is going to look like!

ISN’T IT GORGEOUS!

I can’t handle how much I seriously LOVE it. This is MY book and it looks totally amazing. Sigh. Its beautiful. Mad props out to Kim at KimG Designs for making this absolutely beautiful and more than I could have ever hoped for!

The Official Release Date

December 1st, 2015!

And for those of you in Southern California, stay tuned for an official launch party!!

The Official Synopsis

Zoey Valentine is concerned with two things: surviving the multitude of self-defense classes her dad makes her take and avoiding Ash Matthews.

That is, until the Z virus hits, wiping out a third of the population in a matter of weeks. If that weren’t frightening enough, the bodies of the victims disappear and suddenly reappear, awakened from their dead state. They’re faster, smarter, and they work together to get the one thing they crave, human flesh.

The United States is in a panic and then the government decides the unthinkable: to bomb every major city overrun with the awakened.

Now Zoey is on the run, with her dad and Ash, desperate to find a place of safety amongst the ruined remains of the country.

Add it on GoodReads Now!

All My New Official Author Links

Please follow them!

My Website 

My Twitter

My Instagram

My NaNoWriMo

My Facebook

My GoodReads

**********

Thank you SO much for being a part of this! Stay tuned for more info on preorder, giveaways, and all sorts of awesome stuff coming soon!

Cover Reveal for THE AWAKENED in 4 Days! Sign Up Now!

Only four days away from the official reveal of the cover! I received the final, beautiful, amazing, decease fantastical cover today and I’m so insanely excited to share it with all of you! You are going to seriously love it all SO insanely much!!!

And I’m looking for help! I need to spread the word about this book as much as I possibly can. This is my debut novel and I want it to do AMAZING! I have a seriously AWESOME YA author reading and blurbing the book (eek!) and I’m just so excited for everything guys. Ben and I have so many great ideas for this book, there’s going to be an EPIC giveaway for preorders and there is even going to be a release party!

Continue reading

Happy Release Day to Gabriella Lepore and OfTomes Publishing!

I am so happy to be celebrating the release of Gabriella Lepore’s novel, adiposity Secrets in Phoenix! Not only is it SO good so far (I’m about halfway), but it is the first novel being published by the amazing Benjamin Alderson of OfTomes Publishing.

The second, of course, will be The Awakened by me! Eek!

Anyway, I’m SO excited that this book is finally out in the world and that all of you guys can read it! Its an awesome book so far, and Gabriella is my author sis at OfTomes and I’m so proud of Ben for putting this company together. I’d love to tell you a bit more about the book and Gabriella herself and I hope that you guys can check it out and get your hands on it!

About Gabriella Lepore

Gabriella is the author of the Witches of the Glass Castle series, How I Found You and Evanescent. Her book, Secrets in Phoenix, is the first novel published by OfTomes Publishing. Make sure to follow her at the links below!

Website / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / GoodReads

About Secrets in Phoenix 

12042623_990310911027024_8431309178317982429_n

When Sophie Ballester and her twin brothers Sam and Todd are uprooted from their home and sent to a remote boarding school run by their Great Aunt Ness, they stumble upon a hidden room that holds a secret—a secret that will change everything.

The people of Phoenix Holt are not what they seem.

In fact, nothing is.

Add it on GoodReads now or purchase it in ebook and paperback format on Amazon!

*******

Congratulations to both Ben and to Gabriella on today’s awesome release! Its SUCH a big day and I’m so so excited :) And I can’t WAIT to be a part of this super amazing family this December!

Don’t forget, head to Amazon and get your hands on a copy of Gabriella’s book now!