Sunday, July 7, 2013

Blog Tour/Review/Guest Post - Mountain Charm by Sydney Logan

 

 

Guest Post

Tell us about your book trailer video? How did you come up with the ideas about putting it together? (Link to the trailer)

 

Both of my book trailers were created by one of my readers, Rebekah Moss. She is a film & media student, so designing my book trailers gives her some editing experience and offers her the chance to beef up her resumé.

 

For us, the first step in creating the book trailer is me writing the script. I take snippets from the book blurb and create 15-20 PowerPoint text slides. Next come the images, which can sometimes be the toughest part. Typically, it takes weeks for me to find the perfect pictures to complement the text. I search for pictures on Deposit Photos and royalty-free sites. Once I finally find the pictures and insert them into the slideshow, I then ship it off to Rebekah for her to work her magic.

 

In the past, I’ve used royalty-free music for my book trailers. For Mountain Charm, I decided to ask my readers if any of them were musicians and would be interested in having their music featured in my book trailer. Sarah Cowart, a singer-songwriter from Louisiana, contacted me and pointed me toward her Soundcloud. I fell in love with her music, and we finally settled on an instrumental of her song “Charlotte.” You can listen to Sarah’s music here: http://www.reverbnation.com/sarahcowart

 

I take zero credit for my book trailers. Yes, I write the script and find the pictures, but Rebekah puts it all together. She’s lost a lot of sleep for me over the past two years. Sarah’s musical contribution to the trailer made it perfect, and I love that my readers are willing to share their talents with me.

 

Here is the finished product. We hope you enjoy it.

 

 

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Summary of Mountain Charm:

“True love and sweet whispers, till death do us part;

Send someone to love my Appalachian heart.”

 

At the age of thirteen, Angelina Clark followed in the footsteps of her ancestors by casting an Appalachian love spell, which promised she would blossom into a beautiful and gifted woman who would find her true love. A young Angelina had been thrilled to participate in the sacred ritual, but through the years, her father’s untimely death and her mother’s failing health have shaken Angelina’s magical faith to its core. As her twenty-first birthday approaches, she refuses to practice her supernatural gifts and no longer believes in the love charm.

That is, until Dylan Thomas arrives on her front porch.

Dylan, a Nashville writer, travels to the mountain town of Maple Ridge to unearth the family’s supernatural secrets. While her clairvoyant mother is convinced that Dylan is her daughter’s soul mate, Angelina refuses to see the nosy reporter as anything more than a nuisance.

Despite their constant bickering, sparks fly.

Dylan admits he feels strangely drawn to Angelina and is in no hurry to leave Maple Ridge or publish his magazine article. Fearful that his emotions are being influenced by the spell, a stubborn Angelina struggles to fight her own budding attraction to the reporter.

The two inevitably grow closer just as her mother’s health begins to deteriorate, and Angelina is faced with the possibility of selling the family’s music shop to pay the mounting medical expenses. Desperate to help the woman he loves, Dylan explores his own family tree and finds support from an unlikely source. Can he finally prove his love is real—spell or no spell?

A story filled with love, friendship, family, and just a hint of Appalachian magic, Mountain Charm will leave you spellbound.

 

Author Bio:

Sydney Logan is an Amazon bestselling author and holds a Master’s degree in Elementary Education. With the 2012 release of her first novel, Lessons Learned, she made the transition from bookworm to author. Sydney has a very unhealthy obsession with music, and her iPod is filled with everything from Johnny Cash to Eminem. She is also the author of two short stories: “Mistletoe Magic,” available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, and “Stupid Cupid,” which is featured in the Romantic Interludescompilation. When she isn't reading or writing, she enjoys playing piano and relaxing on her front porch at her home in East Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat.

 

Visit Sydney’s website at www.sydneylogan.com.

 

Buying link: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/books/detail/91

 

Review by Fiona Wilson

 

Angelina Clark comes from a long line of females with magical powers. When she reaches the age of thirteen she performs a ritual carried down the line from her ancestors. This involves reciting a spell calling for her true love to find her when she is 21. As a thirteen year old Angelina wholeheartedly believes in the spell, and her gifts.

However by the time she turns 21 that belief has died, along with her father. Her mother is also ill, further convincing Angelina that the supernatural powers her family is known for mean nothing. Seriously disillusioned with it all she gets on with her life, and her work.

Angelina runs the family's music shop and is happily going about her day to day routine when a reporter arrives, looking to do a story into her family. She is suspicious at first, but her mother appears to get on with him, inviting him for supper most nights and allowing him to ask questions of the locals. Slowly Angelina begins to find herself drawn to the reporter, Dylan Thomas. But she fears he is becoming attracted to her only because of the spell.

Can Angelina put aside her doubts and allow Dylan into her life? Or will she push him away for fear that it is only the spell which draws him to her?

With her mothers illness, Dylan's apparent growing attraction, and Angelina's own doubts, Mountain Charm is a story which will draw you in. It is so nice to read a story without supernatural creatures, death and destruction. It is simply a lovely story, with a bit of magic thrown in, which will make you smile and hope for love to win through!

 

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