Blogoversary Day 3: Traditionally Published Authors that have rocked my world

Welcome back, everyone, to day 3 of my Blogoversary! I've been so blessed and lucky to have amazing authors come into my life, and this includes the terrific awe inspiring traditionally published authors who have made it through the wringer and came out intact on the other side (not to mention super duper successful!)

1. Paula Stokes (aka Fiona Paul), author of the Venom trilogy, The Art of Lainey, Liars Inc, and the recently purchased Vicarious!
I have to mention Paula first, because she has been an amazing friend for the past year, and I'm so sad she moved away from me to Oregon! I've been so impressed with her hard work especially over the past year, and I'm so happy to see it's finally paid off! She's been an inspiration in so many ways, and I'm so grateful that we are so close. Her books are amazing and get better and better. Plus, she's my sounding board for life in general. I can't wait to see her in July when she comes on tour-- maybe we can grab some dim sum!
http://www.authorpaulastokes.com/

2. Antony John - author of Five Flavors of Dumb, Elemental Trilogy, and more to come!
Antony has been a wonderful friend as well, and is a fellow book lover/author in St. Louis. I first met Antony through his wife, who was my attending in infectious disease when I was still a medical resident. We got on the topic of hobbies, and I told her that I loved to read and review books. She mentioned Five Flavors of Dumb, probably not thinking this would amount to anything. I read it and loved it, and from there we've met up multiple times at author events and dinners, etc. Antony has also been a wonderful guide to the world of writing and convinced me to write my first book (which is now shelved, but I finished it!).
 http://antonyjohn.net/

3. Tamara Ireland Stone - author of Time Between Us and Time After Time
Tamara came for an event to St Louis, and I was extremely lucky to meet her and get to gab after the event at dinner. I absolutely loved both of her books, and she's such an amazing person as well, with a terrific story. She was totally successful in her previous life, even working with Steve Jobs! But then moved on to be completely amazing at her new job as a YA writer. Time Between Us is now optioned for film and has been published in many different countries. I'm so proud of her!
http://tamarairelandstone.com/

4. Rachel Harris - author of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century and many other cute YA and adult romances
Rachel is a complete sweetheart, and I'm still dying to meet her in person. She's been such a wonderful friend virtually, and I've loved doing multiple online events with her. She has a very avid street team, which makes sense, she's so loveable, how could she not? And she's always been so supportive of bloggers in general, sending us hugs wherever she is! I can't wait for all the new boys she's going to write about because they are all universally swoony!
http://rachelharriswrites.com/

5. Victoria Scott- author of Fire and Flood, and the Dante Walker trilogy.
Tori has had a huge year and I'm so glad I was there to watch her blossom! I love her books, and Dante is one of the hottest book boys ever created. She's so fun to interact with, and I was overjoyed to get to do her twitter party, which was a huge success! I can't wait to see what else she has up her sleeve!
http://www.victoriascottya.com

6. Lenore Appelhans - author of The Memory of After (aka Level 2)
I met Lenore at the same book event as Tamara, and I'm so thrilled to get to know her, first, because she's such an awesome person, and second, because she used to be a blogger like me. Just gives me hope that one day if I decide to go back to writing, there's a possibility that I may publish one day even though I started out as a blogger. She's super sweet and very supportive of my writing endeavors, and I can't be thankful enough for that!
http://lenoreappelhans.com/

7. Anna Banks - author of the Syrena Trilogy
Anna is one of the most generous authors I have ever seen, and also put together probably the best twitter party I have ever been to. She is not only super sweet but her books just keep getting better and better. I feel really lucky to have gotten to meet her online this past year and only hope that one day we can meet in person!
http://byannabanks.blogspot.com/ 


These are just a few authors that have rocked my world this year. There are many others such as Kat Zhang, Lissa Price, AG Howard, Tammara Webber, Kathleen Peacock, Jodi Meadows, etc, that have also been wonderful. Thank you all for being so great and making being a blogger so worth it!

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