The Heart's Journey Home! (+$25 Amazon GC giveaway!)

Title: The Heart's Journey Home 

Author: Nikki Jackson 

Series: N/A

Pages: 607

Date Published: 2015

Publisher: N/A

Format: Kindle

Genre: Realistic YA

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
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Synopsis:
As if being seventeen isn’t hard enough, Tori Logan faces an especially difficult set of circumstances. Her mother died when she was young, leaving Tori with a father whose idea of parenting seems to include trying to buy her love with expensive toys…and leaving Tori with his live-in girlfriend, Rachael, while he goes off on adventures.

Thankfully, Tori can take care of herself. She knows exactly who she is and what she wants to do with her life. Her Lakota Sioux grandfather, a former Navy SEAL, trained Tori in self-defense from a young age. Now, as a teenager, Tori excels at mixed martial arts, even participating in a government program that will train her to become a serial killer profiler—her dream job.

With her two best friends at her side, Tori believes she can handle anything. And with summer vacation stretching before them, the trio plans to find plenty of adventure.

But while Tori is determined to be independent, life has other plans for this fierce young teen, and they include coming to grips with some hard—and surprising—truths about both her past and her future.

~A Wordsmith~

Family and friends teased me at the size of my book, more than 700 pages – which sounds like a lot (okay it is a lot but it's a fast read believe me), yet the majority of the teasing has been because they said I write the way I speak, using many words. Admittedly I do talk long; if I'm telling a story it's a long story, if I'm answering a question or weighing in with a comment, that's likely to be long too. And no, we writers don't simply like to hear ourselves talk, I think we flat out love words. We like to speak them as well as write them.

We writers love the way words sound. We love how they roll off our tongues or out of the ink of our pens. We love how they dance and box during engaging conversations. We love how they tweak the imagination painting illustrative pictures we use to convey information and concepts and at times our own weird thoughts. Words provide light and shadow and depth and color. We writers love the emotion that words both evoke and convey – laughter, anger, shock, tears, passion, commitment, patience, love, solidarity, alarm, retrospect, peace. Words can incite a riot and quiet a fussy baby. Words can lead men in the most heinous acts of genocide, or quell a mounting storm bringing peace. Words add flavor and seasoning to our world – both real and imagined. Words.

I've been around for a while (my gray hair can attest to that) and I've seen what words can do. That's why I respect the craft and the responsibility that goes along with it. I'm not a casual writer, I'm a serious writer. With that I recognize I'm responsible for every word I ever publish. I owe it to humanity to pour out good, to do no evil, and I also owe it to humanity to call it out if it's wrong – to point, if not lead, the way to change. All of this is merely me being responsible and true to the craft I love


So what’s the reader’s responsibility? Basically to keep the writer honest. Honest and true to the art. Your job is to kick the writers you know and follow in the seat of their pants if they ever get lazy and start turning out work that’s subpar, less than you know they can produce. Your job is to call trash trash and throw it where it belongs. Your job is to support your favorite writers with encouragement, nice reviews and by continuing to buy their books. In reality, your job is to inspire us. A real writer is writing for the reader. Sure, The Heart’s Journey Home is a story (a series really) that has been rolling around in my head for a while and I just had to get it out, but every sentence and paragraph and chapter I wrote, I wrote with you in mind. I want you to love my teen characters as much as I’ve come to know and love them. I want you to care about what’s bugging them. I want you to feel their joy and anguish and be surprised right along with them when the unexpected happens. I want you to be entertained. I wrote the book for you.

I feel the relationship between the writer and the reader is truly sweet. Making friends with people all over the world, people you’ll likely never meet, but through the written word you make a connection. I’m old enough to be everybody’s mama, I’m Black, female, but through this one book we can be friends. Now that’s special. This is why I write. Sure I want everybody to buy my book, but I want you to enjoy reading it. I want you, wherever you are, to simply get to know me. A wordsmith.

~Try an Excerpt!~

I could really use a belt. Fin thought as he jumped from the porch, bounding over the five steps.  Running down the graveled drive at break-neck speed he cursed the fact he was wearing tennis shoes - that along with the baggy, beltless pants was hemming up his stride.

The sound of shrieks and a male voice yelling at him in a foreign language didn’t help the matter.  Fin tripped over his own size 12 feet, rolled and got up running.  After gathering his wits about him he heard a muffled roar zoom past him followed by a streak of green.  He was unsure of what it was but he was too scared to try to figure it out – he was running now – minus the jeans and a tennis shoe. 

Fin all but dove into his Camaro thankful he’d left the keys in the ignition and not in his pants pocket.  He turned the key and sped down the drive, kicking dirt and gravel in his wake.  In his rear-view mirror he could see the crazy man chasing him with the longest, sharpest sword he’d ever seen.

Making it to the end of the drive, Fin did a complete donut, spun the vehicle around in the right direction and then tore off down the street.  Tori had grabbed his errant shoe and AJ leaned down to scoop up the jeans, then the two of them tore down the drive after Fin.

~Meet Nikki!~ 

Ever since she was young, Nikki Jackson has loved reading and the way that books allow you to journey on wonderful adventures without ever leaving the comfort of home. She decided at a young age that she wanted to become a writer to enable others to experience the magic of books—and The Heart’s Journey Home is the result.

In addition to writing, Nikki Jackson is a contract worker for General Motors. She and her husband currently live in the Detroit metropolitan area.

 Nikki will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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