Kick Butt Debut Author Spotlight

Welcome to a Kick Butt Debut Author Spotlight! Go to Christina Lee's blog to find links to other blogs who are celebrating favorite authors.

Today I am spotlighting one of my favorite middle grade authors, Anita Laydon Miller!
Not only can she dance and make me laugh, but she writes awesome middle grade e-books.
Just this year she has debuted her first middle grade novel in March and her second great kids' ebook in August.

EARTHLING HERO
11-year-old Mikey Murphy wakes to find a stranger in his room—a kid who looks exactly like him. Meeting his alien clone and his clone’s sister is just the start of Mikey’s adventures. Can he befriend the siblings, bust into a military installation, fight expert assassins, discover an evil alien’s lair and save the world?

A SCARY GOOD BOOK
Two words change 12-year-old Hannah Stone’s life forever: Help me. With her best friend Ollie at her side, she’ll do anything to save a life. But will she lose her own?

Both books are selling well, and it's no surprise. Earthling Hero is an exciting sci-fi adventure book, and A Scary Good Book is very suspenseful, and even a bit creepy. I highly recommend both! And best of all, both books sell for only 99 cents!

Check out the brand spanking new trailer of this mg mystery!

You can visit Anita at her two blogs, Anita Laydon Miller and Anita Laydon Miller's Middle Grade Blog.

Also, please visit my other blog, Book Recs of the Rock and Famous! Today an eccentric, alternative rocker shares what he is currently reading.

What can you get for a buck?

A book for a buck, that's what! (Actually for less!) Congratulations to middle grade author, Anita Laydon Miller! Her newest release, A SCARY GOOD BOOK, is available today. Please go read a sample, and you will be sucked in and want more. Read that HERE. And read how you can purchase this kids ebook HERE! An awesome mystery for only 99 cents!!!

Twelve-year-old Hannah Stone tells everyone she’s “okay,” but that’s a total lie. Two years ago her dad was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The detective in charge of the case never found the driver, but he somehow managed to get Hannah’s mom to fall in love with him. The jerk. And speaking of love, Hannah’s developed a major crush on Ollie Ortega—he’s her best friend and the only one she can talk to—a crush on Ollie is so not a good idea.
Also not a good idea? Searching for a missing person with no help from the police. But that’s exactly what Hannah does when she finds messages in library books—underlined words that point her in the direction of someone who needs her.
And, suddenly, Hannah’s even further from okay. She breaks into a library, gets caught in a kidnapper’s web, and is stalked by her dad’s killer, all in an effort to save a life…but can she save herself, too?

CONGRATS, ANITA! This will be the first book I buy my daughter when she gets her ereader this month! I can't wait to read the rest of the book (and share it with her)!

Also, I've been a lucky blog winner this week. Thank you to Ellen Oh; I won Carrie Harris's BAD TASTE IN BOYS on her blog!! I know it's going to be a riot. Also I won Julie Fedderson's colloquialism contest. You won't believe what phrase won me a cool Honey Bee gift basket! Thank you, Julie!!

Anita vs Kelly Dance Off For Charity!

Today is the day! Earthling Hero author Anita Laydon Miller has challenged me, yes me, to a DANCE OFF! Silly girl. The not so silly part is that the person with the least number of comments that day will put $ away towards a charity! We will continue for five more months starting the first Monday in September (We need dance lessons in the summer...). Then in December, we will give that money to a wonderful charity (to be determined) for the holidays.

So, please make a comment, any comment (snarky is okay) on this post. Of course, please check out Anita's dance HERE
(You may comment on both. We play nice.)
Can you BEAT IT, Anita? :)

ANITA, ARE YOU OKAY? ARE YOU OKAY, ANITA?

A post about singing, an incredible dance off challenge, and a $0.99 ebook for kids!

Anita Laydon Miller has one of my favorite author blogs. She usually writes short posts, but packs them with great information. She’s the book columnist for the COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE, so she’s always reading good books. And until recently, she was the client of a sought-after literary agency, so she’s got the inside scoop in publishing. A couple weeks ago, Anita switched gears and decided to epublish her middle grade science fiction on her own. So now she’s an epublishing expert, too.

According to Anita, EARTHLING HERO is an “inexpensive middle grade ebook”—at $.99, she’s right—that she’s hoping will appeal to kids and to families who read aloud together. Below is a short description of the book and then a short video of Anita singing.

Imagine waking one summer night to see someone standing beside your bed. The “someone” is a complete stranger, but looks exactly like you. That’s what happens to eleven-year-old Mikey Murphy. The next few days are filled with adventures—breaking into a high-security military installation, engaging expert assassins in hand-to-hand combat, searching for an evil alien’s hideout in the middle of a national landmark—all with two new alien friends at his side. Can Mikey and his friends survive their adventures and save the world?

That was Anita’s singing debut. Doesn't she look adorable in her cowboy boots?

Now are you ready to watch Anita and me dance? Because that brazen lady just challenged me to a dance-off! Here’s how it works: On May 2nd, Anita and I will each post one-minute videos on our respective blogs. Anita’s video will show her dancing, my video will show me dancing. We’ll count the number of comments we each get during the 24 hours after we post the videos. The person with the least number of comments (and you can comment on both blogs, everyone), will place $10.00 in a kitty. We’ll post new dance videos on the first Mondays of September, October, November and December and keep track of the comments each of those months, too, so that there will be $50.00 in the kitty in December. We’ll give that money away to a to-be-determined charity.

I accept your challenge, Anita. Let the dancing begin! It's ON!