Life Doesn’t Come with Cheat Codes.

Hello friends! I’m writing today with some VERY exciting news about my yet-to-be-published book.

Before anyone else, I’m going to let you see my book cover and cover blurb. How cool is that?

But first, a little background: So this newest book, Forgiving What I Couldn’t Change (The Rewind Duology Book 2) is the sequel to Forgetting What I Couldn’t Remember. Both books deal heavily with coming of age, struggles with bullies, and finding yourself amidst the noise. Vera Bartlet is the main character, and in book one, she has to track down her missing dad while dealing with issues like time travel, dating, and learning to adult. If you like snark and clever tagline, you’d probably like this book, and you can find it on Amazon HERE.

Here’s the blurb for book 2:

Life doesn’t come with cheat codes.

Vera Bartlet finally lands her dream job after rescuing her dad from the psychotic bullies who held him captive. Despite dealing with the recurring trauma from being bullied and the psychological struggles surrounding it, Vera’s moving in a much better direction. With time travel under her belt, happily engaged friends, and an improved relationship with her previously estranged Uncle Edgar, life is stable – until the time machine gets stolen.
Vera’s family worries that a machine immune to the limits of time and space in the wrong hands would spell disaster for more than just their family. But when she’s quite literally dragged into the epicenter of the nefarious operation, Vera gets thrown into the very same virtual reality world that imprisoned her dad for the better part of a decade.

This place isn’t like anywhere Vera’s been before. Sporadic sky patterns with a deadly acid nightfall, man-eating purple-blooded wolf creatures, and an avatar with totally unnecessary upgrades is only the beginning of what she has to deal with. Her only saving grace is the frustratingly attractive Fader, who’s been in the game longer than she has and knows a way out.

Can Vera make it out of the game alive, forgive her bullies, and level up before her whole world glitches?

AND HERE’S THE COVER…

Seriously, how cool is this?!?! I’m obsessed with this cover. My designer really nailed this one.

As of now, I’m planning far a soft-release, maybe later next month if all goes to plan. But I’m not making any formal announcements yet as I’m still in the editing process right now. Even the cover may be subject to change depending on how everything is laid out, but I’m really excited to see how it goes.

There’s just so much that goes into all this, and I’m really hoping that it’ll all go smoothly, but the key is to just keep rolling with it and not panic. But then again, that’s also just life. And lately, I’ve been really bogged down with all my freelancing work on top of it all. And getting out of burnout is really, freaking difficult. I’ll probably blog about that soon too – but today is not the day.

In the meantime, if you want to join my review team, you can do so at this link: http://eepurl.com/df6qqf

Thank you so much for all your continued support! Angelina signing off for now, but I’m never too far away. Comment below to connect or follow me on Instagram and Tiktok.

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“My Life is What I Make It. I Choose to Rise and Take It.”

For me, writing and music have always been inextricably linked. Heck, I started writing books in the first place because of someone I met in band camp. But I also listen to music while I write my stories, and think about where it needs to go.

As I’ve been starting 2021 with a renewed vigor for life (read my 2020 reflections HERE), I’ve also been thinking about how I want to continue the sequel to my time-travel coming-of-age book, Forgetting What I Couldn’t Remember.

All of my books pictured here, with Forgetting What I Couldn’t Remember front and center!

This book is a challenge, because while the first book was about claiming justice for bullying and other struggles, the second book is about forgiveness. And that’s something I’m still working on in real-time too. Granted, writing these books have made it a lot easier to forgive, having finally laid it all bare for the world to see. But I’ve decided that I’m finally ready to let go. Holding on to this stuff isn’t doing me any good – and I’m finally expressing it (and myself) the way I’ve always wanted to.

As I continue to plug away at my draft of the second and final installment of The Rewind Duology (Forgiving What I Couldn’t Change), I’ve been putting myself in Vera’s shoes. She’s angry, frustrated, and about a hundred other things that like me, she struggles to articulate. That’s why I love this song by Tonight Alive (my favorite line of which, is the title of this blog post).

It’s all about knowing yourself, where you want to go in life, and being brave enough to take the reins and get yourself there. That’s where real success begins, and wanting it isn’t enough – you have to be willing to use setbacks as strengths too.

If you like friends-to-lovers romance, coming of age, and getting even with middle school bullies, I think you’ll love this book as much as I loved writing it.

“I know I will survive this, I’ll be the strongest person I know.”

– Tonight Alive

As for my character Vera Bartlet, she’s got to forgive others and forgive herself for falling prey to her own struggles as ling as she did. It’s a tough journey, but I have a feeling she’s going to break through very soon. If you want to “meet” Vera for yourself, you can find Forgetting What I Couldn’t Remember on Amazon HERE.

Listen to “World Away” by Tonight Alive HERE.

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