Cyber Launch Party Day 8: The Ballad of Kelly Parra

Welcome to Day 8 of the Ballads of Suburbia Cyber Launch Party! For all of the details on the party including guests, the daily contests and the grand prize drawing be sure to read the information at the beginning of Day 1's blog.

Before we get started today, I just want to say thank you to everyone who wished me a happy release day yesterday and/or left comments on yesterday's blog. I've been shamefully behind on replying to blog comments since life has been so busy, but I have read them all, am so grateful and will do my best to reply soon!

Also Lauren of Shooting Stars Mag has done something really, really cool! She got a Ballads of Suburbia taffy collection put together! That's right! A deliciously sugary snack to munch on while you read? Really what is better than that. You can order it here and my fans get a special 20% off coupon! Just enter the code BALLADS when you check out! Read more about it on Lauren's blog! I'm definitely ordering a bunch. Some to eat and some to give away on here! Oh and if you are curious about which character I assigned which flavor to:

Kara was Lemon Meringue Pie (though Maya would eat that too)

Adrian was Xtreme Hot (because he just is)

Christian is Pumpkin Pie since his ballad has to do with Thanksgiving

Maya is Cinnamon for her hair

Cass is Black Licorice (because she just is)

Stacey is Cherry Cola (because it just seemed to fit some how)

Liam is Rum (because there was no pot flavor, thank god, I think that would be nasty)

Lastly, a lot of great reviews of Ballads are rolling in. I have the ones I was notified about here. Though my website ate some of them at some point, so I might be missing some. If you are a reviewer and don't see your review listed, please post a link to it! I am proud to share these reviews with the world :)

Today's Winner:

Each day I am announcing the winner of the contest that was posted one week earlier. Today's winner gets a song from Tara Kelly! And that winner is runningforfiction from blogger! I will pas your email on to Tara so she can contact you about your prize! Remember to enter last week's contests! Each contests lasts one week!

Now, today's guest blogger is author Kelly Parra!

Kelly Parra debuted into young adult fiction in 2007 with her Latina novel Graffiti Girl, which garnered attention as a double nominee for the Romance Writers of America RITA award, a Latinidad YA top pick, as well as chosen for the California High School Reading Collection and National Book Foundation "BookUpNYC" program. Her latest novel Invisible Touch has hailed fresh praise from bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz, and given the Gold Award of Excellence from TeensReadToo. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and co-author of the popular young adult blog, YA Fresh. To read an excerpt of Invisible Touch visit www.KellyParra.com and to view the book trailer, go here.

Kelly is the first author to take a stab at writing a ballad from a character's point view. So this gives you a great taste of Invisible Touch, which is one of my favorite books!

Kara Martinez: An Invisible Touch Ballad

By Kelly Parra


“And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl.
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe... just breathe…”
~ Anna Nalick


There are times I sit in my room in the dark, thinking of the past. I can’t sleep. I’m twisting my Rubik’s Cube, trying to dissect the events that led up to the night that changed my life forever. Wondering what I could have done differently. If there could have been a way to change it all, to rewind that night like it had never happened.

And then the tears come, because wishing for the things that can’t come true is like experiencing heartbreak all over again. Especially when I can’t bring my father back.
My dad…was the light of our family, our glue holding the four of us together. When we lost him, the family bond crumbled to dust and my mom, brother, and me scattered into our own world of sorrow, pain, and regret.

It was like Mom was sent adrift, flowing out of control, and she grabbed onto me to save her life. Put all her attention and pain into her strength to hold onto to me so tight. She’d lost my dad to death, my brother Jason behind a brick wall, and I was the only one left, screaming for help.

Because after the accident that took my father’s life and saved mine, I changed in a way I didn’t understand. I changed in a way no young girl could comprehend. I saw things that weren’t there, pieces to a puzzle that didn’t make sense.

There’d been doctors, a place with silent walls and walking dead with beating hearts, and I couldn’t breathe there. So I played make-believe, answered what everyone wanted to hear, and lied that it had all been a dream. I was released, but watched so carefully as if I moved too suddenly or breathed too hard, I would break.

And now I live silently, speaking anonymously though a Secret Fates blog--my hidden confessional where I whisper all my pain, all my puzzles, to a cyber world who can’t see the real me.

Then everything changes again when I meet him.

Anthony is full of mystery and something so unique that stops time when I’m with him. He’s strong and loyal with his secret pain, and part of a puzzle, like spokes on a wheel. He’s the center of what could be the most dangerous sign I’ve ever faced.

When everything has been silent, suddenly it all comes alive. Feelings shattered through glass.

Fast. Dangerous. Alive.

Mom’s grip tightens. Jason’s walls thicken. Anthony breaks my silence. I finally breathe.

And the dangerous sign that I keep seeing, the loaded gun, fires two shots into the night.

Today's Contest:
Kelly has been kind enough to put a copy of Invisible Touch up for grabs today and I know you are super intrigued by it now and want to read it! So to enter just leave a comment about Kelly's ballad. And you'll earn additional entries by blogging/tweeting/etc about this blog or the cyber launch party. Just note your additional entries in your comment. Winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday July 29th!

Tomorrow's Guest:

Tomorrow, Drew Ferguson, author of The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second will be guest-blogging. So please come back to see what he has to say!