The Black Friday Indie Book Sale!

This weekend, I have marked down the Kindle editions of all four of my Once Upon a Western novels to $0.99 for Black Friday, and that sale will last through Cyber Monday!  My e-book editions are usually $2.99-$3.99, so this means you could theoretically get all four of them for less than just one Kindle copy of My Rock and My Refuge.

Not only that, but my books are part of the massive annual Black Friday Indie Book Sale hosted by author Perry Kirkpatrick, which includes more than 500 ebooks all priced under a $1.  Check out her website to browse the complete list of books that are included in this sale, and start reading some great books this weekend!

Here are direct links to each of my Kindle books that are on sale on Amazon, just to make life easier for you:

Cloaked

Dancing and Doughnuts

One Bad Apple

My Rock and My Refuge

Happy reading!  And, happy Thanksgiving!

My New FREE Short Story: "Gruff"

Here it is!  My latest short story!  

Like the stories I released the past two years, "Gruff" continues the adventures of some of my Once Upon a Western characters.  

Three Billy Goats Gruff... reimagined. 

Deputy Christopher Small is running out of time. He doesn't want to disappoint his little brothers by neglecting to play the annual autumn prank they're anticipating, but he needs to get himself all slicked up for dinner. Why? His parents have invited Miss Mary Rose O'Brien, the girl he's sweet on. Will he have time to do both? 

Find out in this new short story that follows both my book Cloaked and last year's short story "Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," all part of my Once Upon a Western series of fairy tale retellings.

+Get a FREE Kindle copy from Amazon
+Get a FREE Nook copy from Barnes and Noble
+Get a FREE e-book copy from Kobo


Add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads here.

I hope you enjoy it!

"Cloaked in Red" by Vivian Vande Velde

Someone recommended Vivian Vande Velde's fairy tale retellings to me not long ago, and I discovered my library had a few of them, so I got this one to try.

Oh, my Elvis.  This book made me laugh so hard!  It's actually a collection of eight different retellings of Little Red Riding Hood, and since I retold that myself as a western called Cloaked, I was really excited to read some very different variations on the story.  Some of these were exciting or thrilling, and some were just light and funny.  But all of them were great fun.

My favorites were:

"Little Red Riding Hood's Family" has a big surprise about Granny's identity.

"Granny and the Wolf" involves a comely young granny fending off an unwelcome suitor.

"Why Willy and His brother Won't Ever Amount to Anything" has two brothers who get fact and fiction confused fairly often.

Overall, this was a fast, delightful read, and I hope to find more of Vande Velde's books at the library, because I very much enjoyed this one.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for some nudge-nudge-wink-wink moments of very mild innuendo that would go over the heads of most innocents.  Also, some violence and tense situations with people in danger.

"Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," a FREE New Story!

I've written a new short story, and you can read it for free right here on my website, www.rachelkovaciny.com.

"Blizzard at Three Bears Lake" retells Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a western, with Mary Rose O'Brien from my book Cloaked as the heroine.  But you don't have to know Cloaked to enjoy this story, though obviously it does kind of give away who survives to the end of Cloaked. 

Adventurous, imaginative Mary Rose simply wants to explore a little more of the Wyoming mountains around her grandmother's ranch. She knows that once winter arrives, she'll be stuck at the ranch for months and months. She seizes her chance for one last autumn outing and heads for a beautiful lake her new friends have told her about. But a blizzard descends while she's out riding alone, trapping her in a cabin inhabited by three fierce and furry strangers.

Subscribers to my mailing list got this story for Christmas.  If you want first dibs on stuff like this, but you haven't subscribed to my mailing list yet, you can do that on my website too!

Once you've read "Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," I'd love to hear what you think of it!  You can tell me here on my blog or leave a review on Goodreads.

Happy New Year!

"Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen (again)

(From my Instagram)

After this reread, I can say for certain that, yes, Northanger Abbey ties with Pride and Prejudice for my second-favorite Austen novel.  (Persuasion is my favorite, and has been for decades now.)

I love Catherine Morland.  I love Henry Tilney.  I love Elanor Tilney.  They're all absolutely adorable, and I want to hug all three of them.  At once, if possible.  An Austen group hug. 

I also love how much this book makes me laugh.  It's just delightful, that's all there is to it!  I first read it in 2012 -- it was the last of her major works that I read.  I loved it then, and I loved it now.  How could I not?  An entire novel about a heroine who can't possibly be the heroine of a novel?  It's brilliant.

As usual, Austen's writing is delightfully wry and witty and sarcastic.  Especially the dialog for Henry Tilney, whom I would probably have been scared of if I'd met him when I was 17 myself.  Dude is way too smart and way too teasing, and his humor is probably too dry for me to have quite gotten when I was that age.  Now, however, I do declare he is probably my favorite Austen hero!  Though if I reread Persuasion soonish, I may recant that and decide that nope, it's Captain Wentworth.  I really can't decide between the two of them most of the time, so whichever one I've encountered most recently is my favorite.

I actually based a few things in Cloaked, my Little Red Riding Hood retelling, on this book.  Like Catherine, Mary Rose is imaginative and fond of reading novels.  Like Catherine, she travels far from home at a young age and must learn to trust her instincts and intelligence.  Like Catherine, she meets and dances with a young man who also likes to read novels and tease her.  I didn't actually plan for those similarities to be there, they just kind of organically happened while I was writing it, and I liked it so well, I tossed some Austen references into the book while I was at it to cement things :-) 

Anyway!  So happy I got to re-read this.  It was perfectly charming, and I'm now in the mood for more Austen, so we'll see if I can slip another of her books into my reading time this spring.

Particularly Good Bits:

Alas! if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? (p. 29).

Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone.  No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her better for it (p. 67).

"If I could not be persuaded into doing what I thought wrong, I never will be tricked into it" (p. 95).

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid" (p. 102).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for not-spelled-out-entirely cursing and some taking the Lord's name in vain, both by one odious character.  ::glares in his direction::

This is my 16th book read and reviewed for my second go-round with the Classics Club.

The Winners!

Congratulations to these four lucky people! We will be contacting you today to get your mailing info so we can send you your prizes.

Cloaked by Rachel Kovaciny -- Kendra L.

October by J. Grace Pennington -- Faith B.

Before it's Love by Michelle Pennington -- LaNique D.

With Blossoms Gold by Hayden Wand -- Mikayla H.

The Annotated-by-the-Author Giveaway!

Hey, guess what?  FOUR authors (including me) are running the coolest-ever giveaway right now.  We call it the Annotated-by-the-Author Giveaway... because we're each giving away a copy of our latest book which has been personally annotated by the author.  

That means the author of each book has inserted notes (I used sticky notes, and I'm assuming the others did similar things) into the book giving you all kinds of cool information about the story.  I don't know what the others are doing, but for Cloaked, I wrote about name choices, historical details, plot choices, and more.

Each author is also going to include some little surprises in the box.  So the winners will basically get a cool little subscription box, but for free instead of having to pay a subscription fee.

You can enter this giveaway right here or on my other blog, where I've provided more details about the books and authors.  Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(This is open to US addresses only.)

The "Cloaked" Kindle Giveaway!

It's true. I'm giving away three Kindle copies of my book Cloaked right now! Click here to go to the Amazon giveaway page and enter. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, and only open to US residents because that's what Amazon allows, I'm afraid.

The giveaway runs through November 14, and three winners will find the e-book automatically added to their accounts on November 15.

Need something to read while you travel to visit relatives for Thanksgiving? Looking for something to while away those homework-free hours during your fall break? Or want something to amuse you while people nap in front of a football game after the big meal? This would work well for all three!

Winners of the "Cloaked" bookmark giveaway!

Congratulations to Niki T, Lydia B, Olivia F, Faith T, and Jessica G!  You won the giveaway of five bookmarks (handmade by me) that reflect some elements of Little Red Riding Hood that I used in Cloaked.  

Winners, I will be contacting you later today via the email address you supplied to the Rafflecopter widget.  I'll need your mailing address so I can send you your bookmark, so please keep an eye out for that email!

And everyone, thank you again for supporting me as I wrote, revised, and prepped Cloaked for publication.  In case you hadn't heard, I'm already working on the next story for my Once Upon a Western collection -- a retelling of "Twelve Dancing Princesses" set in the Old West!

"Cloaked" Release Day + Giveaway!

Today's the day!  Cloaked is officially available in paperback and e-book from Amazon right here.  

Wow.  This feels slightly surreal, to be honest.  I mean, I've spent how many decades thinking, "Someday, I will publish a book."  And someday is today.

Thanks to my ARC readers, there are already several reviews up on GoodReads.  Thank you, ARC readers!!!  You can now post reviews on the Amazon page too :-)

Yesterday, I asked people to hold off on ordering copies until today so we can see how big of a splash this book can make on Amazon's charts.  Today is here!  You can order now :-)  I'll pop back in later on to report on its stats.  I'm hoping we can show Amazon that yes, people want to read clean, wholesome, God-pleasing books.  #RebelliousWriting!

And yup, there's a giveaway.  Because, you know... I just can't resist doing them.

The picture shows one bookmark, but I'm giving away FIVE of them.

This is open world-wide.  Enter using the widget below, and please be sure to use an email address you check often.  I'll draw FIVE winners on Saturday, October 7, and notify them at the email address provided.  If you don't reply to claim your prize within one week, I will have to draw a new winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to everyone who has supported me with your encouragement, time, prayers, and assistance!  Today would just be any other day without you, not my someday come true.

A Request for Anyone Who Has NOT Ordered "Cloaked" Yet

Tomorrow is release day!!!

If you have not already pre-ordered Cloaked, could you do me a favor and hold off until tomorrow?  I'd like to see what happens if a whole bunch of people order all on the same day, namely Friday, Sept. 29.  Maybe we could make it climb a decent way up Amazon's charts for a bit!

Here's a link to its Amazon listing, for your handy reference.  And also a snippet from an advance review:

Tomorrow, I have a little giveaway planned to celebrate release day, so check back in for that!

Call for Advanced Readers for "Cloaked"

First off, thank you all for being so supportive and encouraging! So many of you have cheered me on while I've struggled through the process of independently publishing my first book. We are almost there, folks. Thanks to a heroic rescue by Cowboy yesterday (when I say my husband knows everything about everything, I'm not exaggerating), I have finished formatting Cloaked. Which means I'm pretty confident I will be releasing this book the last week of September.

So now I'm looking for some brave, kind volunteers who would like to be Advance Readers! There are some requirements for qualifying as an ARC reader. You must be able to:

• read a PDF file
• finish reading the book (just under 200 pages) by September 30
• leave a review on Amazon.com
• also leave a review at at least ONE of the following:

1. Your own blog
2. GoodReads

If you meet those qualifications, then send me an email at rachelkovaciny at gmail dot com :-) I can't give away unlimited copies, but I do need a decent number of reviews....

(This has nothing to do with the book, I just love this shot from The Lone Ranger.)

The Book Cover for "Cloaked"

Here it is!  The cover for Cloaked, the western re-imagining of "Little Red Riding Hood" I have been working on for... well, it feels like forever, but it's actually been just a little over a year.  And which, yes, will be released by the end of this month, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.  In both Kindle and paperback forms, via Amazon.

I don't know about you, but I am in love with this cover.  It's the work of my talented sister-in-law, Erika Ohlendorf.  If you're a writer and want to see what other kinds of work she does, her website is here.  Her prices are reasonable, as original cover art by a real artist goes.

If you're on Goodreads, Cloaked has a page there already.  (Thanks, Elisabeth Grace Foley!!!)  I have an author page on Goodreads too.  And, you know, a website and a Facebook author page, that kind of thing.  Just in case you want to find me elsewhere.

So... what do you think?  Does it say "western Little Red Riding Hood" to you?  I hope so!

Want to Participate in the "Cloaked" Cover Reveal Event?

So, you know I'm working on independently publishing my book Cloaked, which is "Little Red Riding Hood" re-imagined as a western. Like my story in Five Magic Spindles, "The Man on the Buckskin Horse," was "Sleeping Beauty" re-imagined as a western. Same idea, whole new cast of characters and setting and story.

I'm pretty sure you know about this because I've been talking about it on my blogs off-and-on for like a year now.

It's my first time doing the indie-pub thing. I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm terrified. I'm thrilled. And I'm almost done with this thing at last. Like, seriously, this book will be out in September. I don't have a firm date yet, but it's coming. For real.

(This popped up in my Pinterest feed today.  Perfect timing.)

I'm going to be asking for some Advance Readers soon. Very soon. But first... I'd kind of like to do something fun to celebrate my cover being finished and ready to share. I've been working with graphic designer Erika Ohlendorf on a cover for my book, and... it's basically done. We've got like one more tweak to do. Which means that next week, I will be sharing it with all of you!

I know a number of you, my lovely and supportive and encouraging blogging friends, have been looking forward to seeing what the cover will look like. (And to reading the book, too, I hope!) If you would like to join me in showing off the cover on your blogs or in social media this coming Wednesday, Sept. 6, please email me at rachelkovaciny at gmail dot com with "Cloaked cover reveal" in the subject line.

All participants will receive my gratitude, fake internet points, and an imaginary hug :-)