Synopsis

When the vice president resigns and Ellie and Taryn’s parents emerge as the frontrunners, the girls find themselves back in the spotlight.

Ellie could not care less about becoming the Second Daughter, but she knows how much the opportunity to make history means to her mother – and women everywhere. With her family taking center stage, Ellie must decide whether she can put her feelings for Gabe on hold – again.

Taryn, so used to captivating the hearts and minds of everyone she meets, is unbothered by the increased media scrutiny. But an inopportune screw-up has her beholden to an unlikely – and unfriendly – source for help.

Overnight, Evan has skyrocketed from social pariah to Miss Popular. As she and her reluctant parents adjust to her new lifestyle, the last thing she needs is a front-page scandal.

Brinley can’t stop thinking about her Stowe-bound hook-up…until her father’s intern, Patrick, starts flirting. Is it time to abandon her fling now that she has a more appropriate suitor?
With the second highest office in the land up for grabs, everyone is picking sides. But where does the heart lie when duty, truth, and love collide?

KKI is an interactive app and web experience that lets readers of the Kingdom Keepers book series follow along as author Ridley Pearson writes the seventh and final book in the series. You can find it on the web at www.kingdomkeepersinsider.com or as an app for your iOS, Android, Kindle, or NOOK devices.

Every 10 days for the next four(ish) months, Ridley (who is nicer than pie, btw) posts a new chapter outline with requests for “Insider Input” – everything from voting on plot points to contributing actual descriptions and dialogue to be used in the final book, which will be published by Disney in 2014.

Yes, you read that right – Ridley is letting kids help with the final book! And everyone whose writing is chosen will be mentioned. Coliloquy’s involvement aside, let’s all marvel for a second at how awesome it is to see a large publisher and bestselling author doing something like this for kids. 

In addition, we’re running fan fiction contests around prior books, and Ridley has given us access to his vault of secret “behind-the-scenes” footage, so we’ll be sharing a bunch of exclusives, as well.

We just finished the first month of KKI, and the response has been overwhelming. If you’re a teacher or parent, just go check out the volume and quality of the fan fiction entries – these kids are amazing writers!

For Team Coliloquy, it’s been a blast to work on our first middle grade property, and we take great pride in the creative work that went into making it a safe and protected environment for the kids.

So check it out and get your kids writing. Or enter yourself…we promise not to tell!

Synopsis

Kingdom Keepers Insider is a free interactive fan experience for readers of the Kingdom Keepers book series, allowing them to follow along as Ridley Pearson writes the seventh and final book of the series.

Insiders guide the direction of the story by voting on plot points, character involvement, and locations—even contributing ideas for dialogue. All users who contribute to the final book will have their user names or real names included in the print and electronic books to be published by Disney in 2014.

Insiders also enjoy access to exclusive content and writing contests judged by Ridley Pearson, promoting writing and literacy in a safe environment with characters readers already know and love.

Kingdom Keepers Insider is available on the web at www.kingdomkeepersinsider.com, as well as on all mobile and e-reading devices.

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When Penny Harrison, the main character from my debut new adult novel, GAME. SET. MATCH. popped into my head, I knew she was a tennis player. I knew that in the same way I knew her dad was biracial, that she had two brothers, and that she was possibly the most internally motivated character I’ve ever conceived. Penny’s chosen sport offered a world of opportunities without any preset limitations or glass ceilings because tennis is the only major sport where men and women are on an equal playing field. Wimbledon is Wimbledon, Olympic gold is Olympic gold and being Number 1 in the world is Number 1, whether you’re a man or a woman. Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams are just as famous as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

It’s equal.

Or as close to equal as it gets.

There are debates to this day about equal prize money at Grand Slams. The ATP (the men’s tour) and the WTA (the women’s tour) are very much separate and do not always get the same prize money for similar tour events and of course there is the issue of looks and what makes a female athlete “marketable,” but when it comes down to it, tennis fans are tennis fans and stars in women’s tennis have as many and sometimes more opportunities as their male counterparts. Thus, when I was writing, I could approach my characters and their stories organically.

Had Penny been the best basketball player in the world, her fame would maybe have been equal to that of a decently well-known NBA player, certainly never reaching the level of a LeBron James. Soccer? There are famous women’s soccer players in the US, like Alex Morgan and Hope Solo, but around the world, the popularity of women’s “football” is almost nil compared to the men’s game. Golf? There’s Tiger Woods and then there’s everyone else and even an uber-sports fan like myself is nearly at a loss to name a famous female golfer (okay, that’s a lie, Michelle Wie and Paula Kremer both come to mind, but again I’m a HUGE sports fan).

There is a reverse effect as well. Had Penny been a gymnast, I would have had to consider that men’s gymnastics is not nearly as popular as women’s and that any fame on her part would likely eclipse that of an equally or even more accomplished man.

It’s because Penny is a tennis player that I could make her, her friends, her love interest and her competitors as famous or as under-the-radar as I wanted. Therefore, Game.Set.Match is not about whether you are male or female, but how you play the game.

Between May 1 and May 15, be the first 100 to write an Amazon review for Game.Set.Match. and be entered to win a $200 Amazon gift card or one of 2 $50 gift cards to smashingonline.com.

Join us for exclusive content, member deals, cover design contests and pre-release information on all our fabulous books!

Throughout the month of May, we’ll be sharing sneak previews of some of our upcoming releases:

GAME.SET.MATCH by Jennifer Iacopelli  (coming May 1)

HARD LISTENING by Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Mitch Albom, James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Sam Barry, and Roger McGuinn (yes, it’s true!)

GEORGETOWN ACADEMY 4 by Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz (coming in June!)

TOTLANDIA 4 by Josie Brown (coming in July!)

Synopsis

Nestled along the North Carolina coast, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the world’s most elite training facility. In this pressure-cooker environment, futures are forged in blood and sweat, and dreams are shattered in an instant.

Penny Harrison, a rising female star, is determined to win the French Open and beat her archrival, Zina Lutrova. But when her coach imports British bad boy Alex Russell as her new training partner, will Penny be able to keep her laser-like focus?

Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. The daughter of two Grand Slam champions, she’s hell-bent on extending her family’s legacy and writing her own happily-ever-after…until her chosen Prince Charming gives her the just-friends speech, right before the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.

With a powerful serve and killer forehand, newcomer Indiana Gaffney is turning heads. She’s thrilled by all of the attention, especially from Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and hot older brother, except he keeps backing off every time things start heating up.

With so much at stake, dreams—and hearts—are bound to break.