Autobiography and Published Works of Violet Yates

Just a short bio:

A love of the English language was fostered in Violet Yates at a young age. Since the time she could first read, books were an escape to a world full of fantasy and imagination, where horses became unicorns and wings, where tornadoes picked up houses and little girls and they somehow landed in an emerald city. Having grown up in Hawaii, there was quite a bit of Hawaiian legend to be told to little Violet, as well as Chinese stories of girls and boys being born from peaches and growing from trees. She wrote her first story at age 8 and sent it into Highlights magazine, who sadly rejected it. But that did not stop her. Throughout Violet’s life, she worked at perfecting her writing, striving to achieve straight A’s in school.
While in New York in her 30’s, Her love of words led her to seek a Bachelor’s degree in English, and during those years she wrote a novel, a novella and several short stories. She went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration.
Violet loves to read, write, watch movies, listen to music and dream. She considers the Bible to be the best book ever written.
Violet has three children,a 23 year old son who is strong and wise, a 22 year old son who is handsome and makes her so proud, and a beautiful 13 year old daughter who takes after her mother a great deal.
Currently Violet lives in on the Kona Coast in Hawaii.

Link to my Published by Violet Yates Facebook Page, for information & updates on my books: www.facebook.com/publishedbyvioletyates

A link to my novella, Leaves of the Fall: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62456

A link to my short story collection, A Violet Fancy: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79143

Two short stories, Forgotten Forest of the Innocent & Learning to Drive: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61075 & http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62820

My autobiography, Leaves of the Fall: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/64041

All are only 99 cents, which is a great deal, plus you get to sample free. They are also only 99 cents on the sites listed below and easily searchable.

My short story collection is available in paperback here: http://www.amazon.com/Violet-Fancy-Short-Story-Collection/dp/1463799918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397221235&sr=8-1&keywords=violet+yates

Falling into the Lord’s Hands is available in paperback here: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-into-Lords-Hands-Addiction/dp/1466244372/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1397221235&sr=8-4&keywords=violet+yates

My books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, Diesel, Page Foundry, Baker & Taylor (only via Blio right now), Flipkart, Oyster & Scribd. Baker & Taylor Axis 360-will be shipped soon. My books have the capability to be purchased by via Library Direct so that they would be accessible at libraries. If you have questions regarding the sites that I don’t have links for, I don’t currently know much about them but I will find out what I can if you need to know. All but Amazon are distributed through Smashwords.

Thanks! Have an awesome weekend! 🙂 ❤ 😀

 

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Cover for Tears of Heaven

I think I’ve found the cover for Tears of Heaven. My son’s girlfriend is a brilliantly gifted artist. She drew me a picture with pastels last summer, and I never really gave it a second thought. Tonight while considering what to use for my cover, I happened to glance at it. It is perfect. It is just stunning enough to grab someone’s attention and abstract enough to make someone want to look closer to see what it is. I feel really good about this.

Here’s the cover, like this or comment to let me know if you think I should use it:

 

Tears of Heaven, cover art by Laura Whitney

Blurb for novel:

Lena Ka’awa, a dark-haired Hawaiian beauty, takes on the powers of Pele, which causes catastrophe for Kaitlyn McDowell, and Ikaika Leahi. Tristan, Kaitlyn’s husband dies in a fiery car accident. Ikaika’s wife, Beth, and their child, Aolani, are also killed. The two, Kaitlyn and Ikaika meet up at the graveside and look to each other for friendship and comfort. Aolani is now a ghost with supernatural powers; she ‘pushes’ Kaitlyn to investigate the ‘accident’ further, causing them to suspect that Lena killed them… Tears of Heaven is set on the Big Island of Hawaii. It has a lot of Hawaiian culture and history in it, but it is classified as contemporary fiction.

A possible cover image for my upcoming novel, Tears of Heaven

I’ve been tinkering with image files to create a good cover image for my upcoming book, Tears of Heaven. I should have the book ready to publish hopefully by the end of summer, or maybe sooner if I get to work on it in a couple weeks. It is half done at the moment.

I am looking for feedback on this cover. Tell me if it wows you, or makes you want to know more about the story.

Tears of Heaven

A little about Tears of Heaven:

Tears of Heaven. It’s set in Hawaii, has a lot of history in it but contemporary. It’s about Madame Pele- a woman, Lena, takes on powers of Pele and causes catastrophe for my main character, Kaitlyn, and Ikaika, the other main character. Her husband dies as a result, in addition to Ikaika’s wife and child, Aolani. The two meet up at the graveside, along with Aolani’s ghost. Aolani ‘pushes’ Kaitlyn to investigate the ‘accident’ further, causing them to suspect that Lena killed them…
I’m still working on the description a bit, but that is the gist of the novel thus far. It is a classified as a paranormal mystery, with literary themes. I would love feedback on the cover, and for those of you who have read Tears, it would help if you could tell me if this cover speaks to the theme of the book.

Also, I am going to need reviewers, so if you are interested, please email me at violetyates2@gmail.com for more information. I am going to make a list of people who will be able to review the book before it goes live. 🙂

Thanks for looking! Please leave a comment or two below if you liked this blog.

Violet Yates

Review of The Second Duchess

“The Second Duchess” by Elizabeth Loupas

Review by Violet Yates

First and foremost, I must say, “BRAVO!” I absolutely loved this book. Elizabeth Loupas did a brilliant job knitting all of the pieces of this story together, accomplishing something a lot of authors only dream of being capable of doing.

The story, set in the 16th century Italian city-state of Ferrara, surrounds the mystery behind the death of the stunningly beautiful and youthful first Duchess of Ferrara, Lucrezia Medici; the Duke, Alfonso d’Este, was rumored to have murdered her. The Duke has married again, this time taking to wife Barbara of Austria, a twenty-six year old woman who is not known for her beauty. From the moment of her wedding, Barbara is subjected to the intrigue of the court- there seems to be no end to the gossip of the Duke’s first duchess, and she is the target of not only that, but veiled threats as well. Spurred at first by curiosity, then by necessity, Barbara takes it upon herself to discover what actually happened to Lucrezia Medici and therefore vouchsafe her own safety. Her husband the Duke is at first kept in the dark about his wife’s sleuthing, and treats her rather cruelly for her disobedience when he discovers her secret investigation. As the story progresses, however, we begin to see a change in his demeanor and he becomes redeemable. Throughout the story, we are given insight into the character of the first duchess, Lucrezia, in the form of an inner monologue from the woman’s ghost.

This story is rich and full of life, true to the Renaissance Era. The mention of the English legend of Tristan and Isolde (Barbara receives beagle puppies from Queen Elizabeth  and names them Tristram and Iseult), endeared me further to the story. Loupas put a lot of work into this novel; her knowledge of the Italian Renaissance Era is apparent. Her ability to use that knowledge to create such a wonderful historical mystery puts her on par with the likes of Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory. I hope to read more novels by Elizabeth Loupas.