Blog Tour and Guest Post: Phoenix: The Rising by Bette Maybee

 

Phoenix: The Rising

By Bette Maybee

Release date: 1/11/2013

Blurb

Every 300 years, the immortal Phoenix returns to Mono Lake to be reborn--but this time it didn't return alone. The Nephilim are back in force, trying to keep it from being reborn so one of them can claim its immortality. But first they have to figure out who the Phoenix is--and any red-haired, green-eyed, seventeen-year-old in the area is fair game. And so, the killing begins...

Julie Mason doesn't believe all this legend crap until she falls for Eli Sullivan, whose hallucination-inducing kiss not only saves her, but makes her the Nephilim’s prime target. But, it's worth the risk. Her death is inevitable...not even Eli can prevent it. All she has to do is keep the Nephilim off Eli’s trail until The Rising. Once Eli is reborn and forgets his past life, Julie’s life is over, whether she’s dead or not. At least that's what she thinks...

About the Author:
 Bette Maybee is a new author who loves to dabble in different genres, but they always have one thing in common. Romance! She just can’t help herself! Whether it’s young adult, paranormal, or women’s fiction, all her tales must have a dark, swoon-worthy hunk as the center of attention!

Bette has lived most of her life in Iowa with her husband, Tim, eating corn-on-the-cob and tipping cows. (JK—she’s never tipped a single cow, although she does moo at them whenever she gets a chance.) She’s also a mom to three gorgeous kids, Allison, John, and Tim, and a mother-in-law (the good kind) to Tim’s beautiful wife, Pippi. After surviving a fifteen-year career as a middle school Science and Language Arts teacher in the Catholic school systems (for which she deserves a MEDAL!), she’s now spends her days assisting university faculty, who, thank goodness, don’t have a habit of doing the gallon challenge as her former charges did and are easily tamed with a bowl of Jolly Ranchers. She reserves her evenings for writing and tweeting, which is really okay with her husband because then he has free rein with the TV.


Guest Post:

It’s all in the name...

Have you ever wondered why you have the name you have? Speaking from experience, I can tell you that most parents don’t just draw a name out of a hat or look at a sign and say, Arizona—you shall be called Arizona—although that does happen occasionally. Trying to figure out a name for a child can be totally traumatizing, and just as a parent goes through the harrowing experience of trying to choose just the right name for their precious bundle of joy, I weather that same storm each time I choose the names of my characters. I have to try them on. Walk them around for a few chapters to see if they squeak every time I say them or if they mold to the story as perfectly as a fantastic pair of Maddens. Not only do they have to fit perfectly, but the meaning of each name must be relevant to that character. And so, being the curious little Google addict that I am, I did my research ... and in researching, I not only came up with the names of most of my characters, but I also developed my storyline for PHOENIX: THE RISING!

Of course, not all my names were the product of my Googlemania. Some of my characters had personality quirks that reminded me of certain people I’ve met in my life. Some had names that had to be ostentatious and bitch-worthy. (Even the word ostentatious is ostentatious—don’t you think?) Some had to be simple and unassuming. And some had to be good fodder for insulting nicknames. (I have to admit, I had a lot of fun with those!)

So, take a look at the names of my characters in PHOENIX: THE RISING and do a little researching yourselves. You may be able to figure out which characters are the good guys and which characters had a little falling out with the Big Guy upstairs. In the meantime, in homage to my precious bundles of joy, I’m going to share an excerpt involving my two unlikely besties, Julie Mason and Charsey Winters. Enjoy!

***

As Julie rounded the corner of corridor C, she saw Charsey twirl the combination on their locker, pull up on the handle with no results, slap the locker, and start twirling again. Only 174 days to go Julie thought as she shifted her book bag from her right shoulder to her left. She stopped next to the locker, put her hand over Charsey’s to halt the insane twirling, and then removed the girl’s useless fingers from the dial.

“Scooch.”

Charsey stepped away from the locker, and Julie took her place. In a matter of seconds, the locker door swung open. Julie stepped out of Charsey’s way.

“I just don’t understand how you can do that the first time,” Charsey said as she hung her bag up and grabbed a stack of books off the top shelf.

Julie eyed Charsey’s books. Unlike herself, Charsey didn’t have any AP classes. As a matter of fact, they didn’t have any classes together except PE, which they would be having for the first time this afternoon. She was not looking forward to it.

Julie shrugged, hung up her book bag, and slid her books off the lower shelf. “Just a gift I have, I guess.”

Charsey’s eyes latched on to something down the hall. “Don’t look now, Jules, but Kas Penemue is eyeing you.”

Julie dropped her eyes to the floor as her heart began to thrum.

“Yup, it’s official. He’s now staring at your ass, annnnd ... he’s smiling. Christ, Jules, Kas Penemue likes your ass!”

Julie turned in the opposite direction, hugged her books to her chest, and took off. It took everything in her to keep from sprinting. Halfway down the hall, Charsey grabbed her elbow.

“What’s the hurry?”

Julie pulled her elbow from Charsey’s grasp.

“I don’t want to be late for class.”

Charsey grabbed her elbow again and pulled her into the girl’s restroom.

“What’s wrong?”

Two girls primping at the mirror looked their way, obviously planning on eavesdropping. Charsey turned to them.

“Scram.”

The girls picked up their bags and were out the door without another word.

Charsey backed up against the door, blocking anyone else from entering. They were alone.

“Come on, Jules, what’s wrong?”

Julie threw her books on the sink and pulled a cigarette out of her bag, lit it, and took a drag.

“Jesus, Jules, your hands are shaking!”

Julie looked down at the cigarette trembling in her fingers. She took another drag, walked over to the first stall and chucked it into the john.

“I met the Penemue brothers this morning in detention.”

Charsey rolled her eyes. “Is that all? They’re harmless, Jules. They’re just big teddy bears that happen to play killer defense. Besides, Kas is hot. I wouldn’t mind if he looked at my ass the way he just looked at yours.”

Julie turned to the mirror, blinked, and adjusted her right contact. Her hand was still shaking.

“Moseman seemed afraid of them. They sat there talking and he wouldn’t even do anything about it.”

Charsey positioned herself behind Julie and stared at her in the mirror. “Moseman wouldn’t ever do anything to upset his star football players. He just gives them a little leeway.”

She placed her hands on Julie’s shoulders and squeezed. “When they get a little rowdy, which they tend to do before a game, they sometimes end up in detention. But it’s all just for show. It can’t appear that the school’s letting them get away with anything.”

Julie turned to face Charsey.

“What did they do this time?”

Charsey shrugged, looked in the mirror, then absentmindedly lifted her right arm and sniffed her pit. Julie crinkled her nose.

“You are so disgusting.”

Charsey smiled and chomped her gum.

“Why, thank you! Wanna sniff?”

She lifted her elbow and leaned towards Julie. “Come on, Jules, it smells like watermelon!”

Julie smiled, pushed her away, and grabbed her books off the sink. “Sounds tempting, Charse, but I think I’ll pass.” She pulled open the bathroom door just as the tardy bell for first period rang.

Crap. This was not going to be a good day.

***