Chilling News

Not to be melodramatic (which is one of my few talents), I'm happy to announce the release of my first Young Adult Paranormal, DEATH CHEATER. 
 

I was thrilled with the cover of this novel, which you can see far left. All I knew was I wanted an image of a butterfly, somehow worked into the art, and my cover artist at Desert Breeze Publishing, Jenifer Ranieri, did a fantastic job. I've been involved with ebooks since before there were ereaders, and I'm of the opinion that Desert Breeze has some of the finest book covers around. Being as there have been some Ariana cover art awards, I know I'm not the only one.

The blue butterfly you see on the cover of DEATH CHEATER is supposed to be a beautiful species from Brazil. Known as Morpho Menelaus, this butterfly steals a scene or two in this paranormal story, going from a collector's shadow box to fluttering its way out the door. But that's all I'm going to tell you. Here's the blurb for DEATH CHEATER if you haven't heard about it yet:

Athena Gray lives vicariously through her sister because people in general avoid her. Whether it's strange things like dead butterflies fluttering to life, or the time she saved her dying grandpa just by willing him to live, Athena knows that she is different. The only person who doesn't seem to think so is Dan, the most popular boy on Omega High School's baseball team. But even Dan can't understand the reason she acts haunted, until a spirit roaming the local historic burial mounds takes an interest in people Athena cares about.

A week after its release, reviews for DEATH CHEATER are already starting to come in from some young adult readers at goodreads.com:

"I really enjoyed this book, it was well written, had good pace, and kept the reader interested. I really related to Athena as a character, and really felt for her and the problems she was facing. It definitely reminded me of what it's like to be a teenager, and I really liked that she had her own way of saying things, eg: 'oh cheese!'

The storyline itself was intriguing, the idea of being a death cheater was original and not something that I have come across before, and the romance element was light and didn't overpower the rest of the book.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes young-adult fiction, or books with a paranormal/fantasy feel."

--Sarah

Read Sarah's entire review at: 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13486248-death-cheater               

Free copy? I'll be giving away a free copy of DEATH CHEATER (this March) at a giveaway coming soon to The Balanced Writer. Stay tuned. And if you can't wait, I hope you'll visit Amazon or Desert Breeze and pick up a copy of my latest ebook release. 

Share the news. Word of a mouth is a balancing author's best tool!

~Danielle Thorne

You can read the first chapter and more of DEATH CHEATER through Amazon's 

"Click to Look Inside" feature. Check it out!

FYI: Heads up! DEATH CHEATER is only $4.99 at Amazon this week!

Orange for Valentine's

My best friend loves those big, rich chocolate oranges they sell around Christmas time. I imagine they sell them around Valentine's Day, too, but I wouldn't know because those things aren't for me. I'm not even big on the orange-filled chocolates that I get in those boxes of delightful candy from my sweetheart. Yes, I squeeze them to see what the filling is then toss the rejects back in the box. Bad Momma!

One thing my best friend and I have in common, is we like cake. She likes to bake and decorate them, I pretty much like to bake and eat them. My favorite chocolate cake recipe in the entire universe is Orange Chocolate Cake. It's heaven in a pan. We got the original recipe from The Cake Doctor cookbook series, but with our own twists, we merged together an orange-chocolate cake together with sinful orange-chocolate frosting that curls the toes. 

My BF's cake work for her daughter.

There's no reason to feel stuck in a rut if you plan on baking something for your Valentine this February. Make this recipe below as a cake or as cupcakes, and you'll be thrilled that you not only found an amazing new recipe, but you've taken the pink out of romance and gone a little orange. 

ORANGE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Cake:

1 box of Devil's Food cake mix

1 1/3 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice (I use Tropicana Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice.)

½ cup of vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of orange zest

Grease a 9X13 pan. Blend ingredients in mixer one minute on low. Beat on high for two minutes. Bake about 30 minutes or until cake springs back to the touch.

Frosting:

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese

½ stick of butter

¼ cup of dark (Dutch) cocoa

½ teaspoon of orange peel

2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice

3 and ¾ cup of powdered sugar

Blend cream cheese and butter on low. And the other ingredients except for the powdered sugar, and blend on low. Beat in powdered sugar to spreading consistency. YUM!

You Tricked Me, Bob

I have several acquaintances that are really into the running thing. These women amaze me. They're full time moms, some have jobs, and in-between they run 5K's and marathons. What the heck?

I enjoyed sports when I was a kid, but I've lost the edge. Instead, I much prefer to watch them from the comfort of the couch. Turning forty, I knew I was going to have to become a lot more active. I've gone through spurts of speed walking, which I really enjoyed, but with all the full time writing, editing, and Mum duties, I just couldn't be consistent.

Bob yelling. At me.

So last week, I'm watching one of my favorite shows about torture -- you know -- The Biggest Loser, and Bob tells the camera (Me) to just walk a mile every day. And every day, beat the time. I've wanted to get serious about some kind of exercise program since the New Year, so I decided to commit myself to thirty days of walking a mile a day.

 The results? The first day: not so bad. The second day. Well, I had to hurry. The third day… Gosh, I almost got shin splints going up and down the hills in my neighborhood. But my time improved every day. Yay for me! Until day four.

Oh. My. Gosh. Bob tricked me. I had to actually run to beat my time. I can only do that in about thirty second spurts or unless a dog is chasing me. Right? It didn't help that I was wearing those toner tennis shoes that make you walk funny and pummel your arches.

Today, well… my fifth mile. I had to run even more. Being the lazy person that I am, I figured out that if I just ran when the street slanted downhill, I could beat the time and work less. I did beat my time, and I didn't pass out although I wheezed pretty loud. And it hurt.

Darn you, Bob. I have twenty-five more days to "walk" my mile and beat my time. My arches are about to collapse. My legs feel like noodles. And by the way, I haven't lost any weight!

So Bob, my friend, if I'm not running marathons by March, I may have to end this relationship. Or at least drop the challenge. You should have been straight with me, baby!

~Danielle Thorne

Guess who has a new release? Me! Check out DEATH CHEATER, coming soon!