Ready to cool down for the summer? Why not take a vacation to an ocean with mermaids or an icy land with ice-breathing dragons? Mer-Charmer and Dragon Redeemer are on sale this week on Kindle (U.S.) for 99 cents each.  

If you ever read book 1 (Fairy Keeper), this is a chance to finish the series for a great price!  And if you just love mermaids or dragons, both books can stand alone, especially book 2, though the series is richest when read in order. The World of Aluvia is upper middle grade, sometimes classified as lower YA, perfect for ages 10-14 and up.  

And while we're talking books, don't forget that DETOURS is releasing August 10th, so please put that on your to-read list on Goodreads and even request an e-ARC if you're a book reviewer! You can send me a note on my Contact page. I'd love to hear what you think of the second book in the Secret Psychic series!  Thanks for your support!
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I'm so excited to share that I will have a short story in the Greek myth retellings anthology SING, GODDESS! with Snowy Wings Publishing. My story is a retelling of Atalanta and the Golden Apples, set in the world of Aluvia many years before the start of the series, among the merfolk. I loved being back in that world and hope you will, too!

The beautiful cover was designed by Najla Qamber Designs.   Here are more details on the anthology, releasing on August 24th:

Aphrodite. Zeus. Medusa. Hercules. You’ve heard their names. You thought you knew their stories… until now.

Lose yourself in this collection of eleven young adult re-imaginings of Greek myths from the authors of Snowy Wings Publishing. From magical kingdoms under the sea to the halls of a modern high school, from Ancient Greece to the distant future, you will find romance, courage, fantasy, danger, and more. With each story bringing a twist on a classic legend, there is something for everyone to enjoy again and again.  

 Welcome! If you are participating in BOWS (Book Owl Word Search), you've landed on the right page for the Purple Team!  Not sure how to play? Read here first.  Hi, I'm author Amy Bearce and my book, Shortcuts, recently re-released from Snowy Wings Publishing.  Book 2, Detours, is out this August.

Umm, okay, thank you, Parker!  How about a glimpse into what her gift is like to experience, since she didn't really get around to it here.  She's a little distractible sometimes, but we love her just the way she is.

Full of psychic powers, secrets, crushes, and fun friendships, SHORTCUTS is upper middle grade, perfect for ages 10-14, but also enjoyable for older readers who are young at heart!  Detours is the next book in the series and is also told from Parker's point of view, showing what happens when two psychic divas clash. 

If you'd like to win an e-ARC of the book 2, Detours, for early review, just leave a comment in the blog! Up to ten winners will be selected!  Winners will be notified in a reply comment here on May 24th.
 
About SHORTCUTS:

If you could change people’s hearts, would you?

As a psychic empath, Parker Mills can sense strong emotions in others, and the new girl, Mia, is so sad it’s like a punch in the gut. It hurts Parker to be around the hurting, and she prefers parties over pain any day.  That’s why she’s developed a toolkit of tutoring, coaching, and match-making to keep everyone around her as happy as possible.  But Mia isn’t interested in any of Parker’s tips and tricks.  This is more than just annoying (which it totally is.)
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Parker is one of four secret psychics in their small town, and her precog bestie has a vision that Mia’s pain will lead to the psychics’ discovery by some very dangerous people looking for human lab rats. It’ll all go down at the middle school Halloween dance if they can’t help Mia first.  But when Parker’s gift goes haywire, keeping everyone safe suddenly gets a whole lot harder, and with the dance looming, she’s running out of time to stop the coming destruction.

 Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to write down the secret word for your search and leave a comment if you'd like to be entered to win an e-ARC of Detours. I think Parker spilled the beans, but in case you missed it, my secret word is  PSYCHIC.  

For your next stop for Purple Team BOWS,  you'll get to learn more about fantasy author Jeffrey L. Kohanek and his books! Hop on over to his website now:   https://jeffreylkohanek.com  (It's on the main page...scroll down a bit if you don't see it.)

Finished with Purple Team's posts?  Pick a new team and start all  over!   https://www.snowywingspublishing.com/book-owl-word-search/bows-teams/

I'm so delighted to be a part of Changing Hands Bookstore's Tween Reading-Go-Round, to kick off their summer reading program! Join us for this free, fun event with lightning-fast questions!  4-5pm Central, Saturday May 8! 

From their website: 
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 It's time to play the 2021 Summer Reading Bingo! Join us for our virtual kickoff party at the Reading-Go-Round with Amy Bearce, Melissa Hope, Terri Libenson, Graci Kim, Kwame Mbalia, Prince Joel Makonnen, Dusti Bowling, and Justin A. Reynolds.

You'll rotate through a variety of Zoom rooms to meet the authors one at a time for 10 minutes of Q&A before moving into the next room. The authors will be challenged to answer as many questions as they can, as fast as they can! It's a quick-paced Q&A blitz!

The Changing Hands Summer Reading Bingo celebrates diversity and inclusion in children's literature. Read great books, connect the squares to win prizes and enrich your reading experience. 
RSVP HERE »

*Changing Hands Bookstore Zoom events are password-protected with wait rooms enabled. The password is entered automatically by clicking the event link when logged in to a Zoom account. They will admit guests shortly before 4PM Central and throughout the event. If you join late, please be patient—they'll admit you when they see you.

Don't forget to check out all the books and authors for this event! So honored to be included in this amazing list!

Rome Reframed  By Amy Bearce
Sea of Kings  By Melissa Hope
Truly Tyler (Emmie & Friends)  By Terri Libenson, Terri Libenson (Illustrator)
The Last Fallen Star (A Gifted Clans Novel)  By Graci Kim
Last Gate of the Emperor By Kwame Mbalia, Prince Joel Makonnen
Aven Green Sleuthing Machine, 1 ) By Dusti Bowling, Gina Perry (Illustrator)
Miles Morales: Shock Waves (Original Spider-Man Graphic Novel) By Justin A. Reynolds, Pablo Leon (Illustrator)

I really hope to see you there!  You don't have to use your camera for the Zoom if it makes you anxious--you can type your questions in the chat and that's totally cool!  No worries! So register for free and join us on Saturday!

Amy

Secret Psychics, Book 2, is called Detours and it will be releasing from Snowy Wings Publishing August 10th, 2021!  The same awesome people who did book 1's new cover did Detours as well: cover layout and typography by Qamber Kids, with the cover illustration by Katie Archambault! Najla and Jenn at Qamber Kids listened to all my ideas and helped me narrow down the focus for the new look for this series.  Here is the cover for Detours!

About the book:

Not even psychics always know who to trust.

Parker Mills still has it all. She’s the two-time winner of the Miss Divine Pecan Pageant, the chair of the 8th grade social committee, and the new lead in her school’s spring play.  Even better, Parker has five awesome friends who are just as gifted as she is. As a secret psychic empath, Parker experiences the emotions of everyone around her, even influencing them if she’s not careful. But she finally has her power under control, and spring is shaping up to be the perfect end to Parker’s middle school career. At least it was perfect until the kids from Archer, the rival middle school across town, are forced to share Parker’s school.

Threats and fights explode, but since Parker and her psychic friends are kind of the reason the other school got destroyed (long story),  she figures they should do everything they can to make the new kids feel welcome.  Unfortunately, the Queen of Archer, Gabby Durand, has no interest in using their mutual influence to smooth out the tensions.  Nor does she welcome Parker’s award-winning help. She's too busy trying to take Parker's top place in everything, as if she ever could. But with new dangers coming at the secret psychics from all sides, Parker needs to work with Gabby before their rivalry literally burns down the school.

Are you a book reviewer, librarian, or book seller?  I have e-ARCs available! Contact me!

Find Online for pre-order:
​IndieBound | Barnes & Noble |  Amazon US  | Amazon  UK | Goodreads ​

As I have shared, Shortcuts is moving to Snowy Wings Publishing and getting a sequel.  I'm so excited to get to share the next step in Parker's story with you.  The cover for Detours will be revealed in one week and today... today I'm so happy to share the new cover for Shortcuts:

I love it! Heart-felt thanks to go to Qamber Kids and illustrator Katie Archambault for this beautiful cover! The cover layout and typography is by Qamber Kids, with the cover illustration by Katie Archambault!  The entire Qamber Kids team was amazing to work with (shout-out to Najla and Jenn!), and I could not be happier with the final results!  Please feel free to share-- sharing is great for spreading the news.

About the book, for those who haven't read it:

If you could change people's hearts, would you? 

Parker Mills has it all.  She's the two-time winner of the Miss Divine Pecan Pageant, head of the 8th grade dance committee, and a secret psychic empath. Since she absorbs strong emotions from those around her, Parker has committed herself to finding shortcuts to happiness.  Whether acting as a tutor, coach, or matchmaker, Parker knows that when others are happy, she's happy.   Granted, all that fixing other people's drama means her own crush has no idea how she feels, but it's still a win-win so long as her psychic method remains a mystery.  
 
At least, that's how it always worked until Mia came to town.   With her mysterious past and dark cloud of depression, Mia's moods threaten to rain on Parker’s happiness parade.  After Parker's usual shortcuts fail-- even after bringing super cute Josh on the scene--she's forced to kick things up a notch, or two.  But when Parker's psychic power goes haywire, dangerous secrets unravel... starting with her own.  


 A few of the older reviews were lost when the books linked, so if you haven't given a review for Shortcuts but have enjoyed it,  I'd be grateful if you could add your review to Amazon,  even if it's a one-liner!  

There is also a new Goodreads page for Shortcuts, which is happily linked to the old one.  If you want to share your thoughts on the book there, you can jump to that here.  To pre-order the new ebook on Amazon, click here.  If you'd like the paperback, well, it's on sale early on Amazon, so you can already grab a copy and leave a review even before the official publication date of April 13th! The new edition is not available in hardcover, but I still have copies of the old hardcover edition for sale.

Thanks for all your support!  More information on Detours coming soon!

​Amy

I'm thrilled to share that Foreword Reviews selected PARIS ON REPEAT as a finalist in their 2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, in Juvenile Fiction!  Over 2000 entries compete in these awards!  The winners will be announced June 17, 2021.  You can learn more and see all the books in each finalist category at Foreword Reviews.  The page for Paris on Repeat is found here.  And you can check out all ten of the Juvenile Fiction finalists here. Being one of ten finalists for the year in my category is truly an honor!

Congratulations to all the finalists!  Thank you, Foreword Reviews and Jolly Fish Press! 

Book News: Shortcuts will have a new publishing home in April!  I'm thankful for my time with CBAY Books and also very thankful that Parker and friends can continue to hang out with us at Snowy Wings Publishing, with a brand new cover!

I can't show the new cover yet, but I love it!  With cover design and typography by Qamber Kids, and the cover illustration by Katie Archambault, I think those of you who have read Shortcuts will agree that the new look captures the book perfectly!  The cover reveal will be on March 24th, and I'll be share all the new links then, too!

What about Detours?  I'm happy to announce Book 2 will arrive this year, too. The publication date will be announced soon.  The new series title is Secret Psychics. This series has taken several unexpected...detours...(sorry, I can never resist a pun), but I'm excited both books will be out in 2021.

If you have the first edition of Shortcuts, you have the same story as the second edition (though if you want the new cover, I wouldn't blame you-- it's really pretty!) And Detours was never actually published, so it'll be my first first-edition, so to speak, with Snowy Wings! Exciting times, and I'm happy to finally be able to share the sequel.

If you are interested in advanced review e-copies of Shortcuts and/or Detours, please reach out to me via email or social media. Detours especially will need readers for early reviews to help it launch successfully.  And keep an eye out for the cover reveal on March 24th-- if that's something you'd like to participate in, I'm happy to send you the info. Just drop me a note! Thank you!

If you love a book you checked out from the library, borrowed from a friend, or received as an ARC, you can support that book in many ways, without spending any money. 

​Authors know that readers can't buy every book they love. But supporting a book in other ways is valuable because it helps other readers find it. It also makes it more likely that author will get to write other books you might also enjoy. That's what Parker Mills would call a win-win!

1. Share with friends and family!  Word-of-mouth remains the best way for a book to succeed.  Sharing about a book on your social media sites or in your classes or at work is a great way to help it reach many more people.

2. Leave reviews!  Did you know you don't have to buy the book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble to leave a book review there? Especially with the pandemic, a lot of people are searching for books online.  Reviews can be short and sweet--these are not school book reports. Reading reviews at these common retail options means more people can feel confident that a book will be a good fit for them. Goodreads and BookBub are reader-focused sites that really help spread the news of a book, too.  You can write one review and post the same one to all of these locations!

3.  Libraries and Lists:  The Two-Part Power of the Patron

1. Ask your library to carry it.  Not all libraries can carry all books, but if a patron requests a book or a series, librarians listen carefully.  And authors love libraries!  This is nothing like pirating-- libraries pay for those books, to include e-books and audio books.
2. Submit your favorites to state lists! Parents, teachers, and librarians can nominate books they love to state lists like the Texas Bluebonnet list.  Then the committee of librarians for that award chooses the top books from the nominations.  If a book isn't nominated, it misses a chance for consideration. A book making a state list is a huge boost for that book to stay in print!  

Readers actually have a lot of power in publishing. I just think a lot of people don't realize it.  I sure didn't, until I was on this side of the book world, too.

​So be a super hero and boost a book! Share with friends, leave reviews, and recommend it for libraries and lists! 

I promise you, authors thank you from the bottom of our hearts!