Cafe of Dreams ~ Book Reviews

Sticky Post: 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-02-29T12:42:00.000-06:00

I wanted to do something different and fun in 2012, so I came up with the following idea. This is, of course, in addition to reviews, interviews, spotlights and all that wonderfully fun stuff, lol. Please feel free to pass this along and if you have an author/s that you would like to see participate, please let me know and I will see what I can do.

I am doing "365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways" at Cafe of Dreams. What do you think? Any authors willing to be showcased for a day or know of authors who would like to participate? I have the file ready to send out with the info needed - bio, pic, and 4 quickie/fun questions.

Please email me at cafeofdreamsbookreviews@yahoo.com and I will send you the info asap. Thanks!

Margay Leah Justice ~ 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-27T00:01:00.001-06:00

Descended from the same bloodline that spawned the likes of James Russell, Amy and Robert Lowell, Margay Leah Justice was fated to be a writer herself from a young age. But even before she knew that there was a name for what she was doing, she knew one thing: She had a deep and unconditional love for the written word. A love that would challenge her in times of need, abandon her in times of distress, and rediscover her in times of hope. Through her writing, Margay has learned to cope with every curve ball life has thrown her, including the challenges of single parenting, the harsh realities of living in a shelter, coping with the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, and the roller coaster ride of dealing with a child who suffers from bipolar disorder. But along the way she has rediscovered the amazing power of words.

Margay currently lives in Massachusetts with her two daughters, two cats, and a myriad of characters who vie for her attention and demand that their own stories be told.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

This is kind of a funny question. I absolutely love to read Regencies, but I don’t write them – at least not yet! I usually write in whatever genre the idea presents itself in, so when I get a good Regency idea, I will surely write it. Right now, I seem to be doing a lot of stories with a paranormal theme, but I love writing in almost every genre.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

Oh, wow, that’s kind of like picking your favorite child – and you should never do that! My favorite character is usually in the book I’m currently working on/recently published, so right now that would be Shiloh Beck and her love, Micah Sloane, from Sloane Wolf. Shiloh is an empath who has lived her life within the walls of a mysterious institute whose main purpose is to cultivate the talents of gifted children. Micah is a wolf shifter whose main purpose is to protect his family’s legacy – and secret – from the rest of the world. When they come together – let’s just say sparks fly.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Well, Sloane Wolf, of course!

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Blog ~ Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem Blog ~ MySpace ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Oh, my gosh! It’s a toss up between coffee and chocolate – love them both. But since I have to have my coffee every morning, I guess that would be the one.

Thank you so much for having me here, April! It has been fun.

Book Spotlight

Sloane Wolf Book One in The Wolves of Destiny Falls

For more than a hundred and fifty years, the gray wolf has failed to roam the hills of Massachusetts, leading to the belief that they are extinct. But with a spattering of sightings across the Berkshires, the legend of the gray wolf comes to fruition. The product of that legend, Micah Sloane will go to great lengths to protect his kind from the threat of outsiders, who seek to exploit the legend for their own interests. One thing he didn’t count on, however, was finding his soul mate in the company of such men.

From the first time she predicted a stranger’s imminent death when she was little more than a child, Shiloh Beck knew she was different. Wishing to cultivate her gift, her parents made the fateful decision to enroll her in a private school for paranormally gifted children. Unbeknownst to them, the school was just a front for a research facility simply called the Institute, whose secret board members weaned gifted children from their families to exploit their gifts. Shiloh has spent the better part of her life trying to escape the Institute and reunite with the family she was told had abandoned her.

From their first meeting, Micah and Shiloh share a connection that goes beyond the normal to bond them in a way that love alone cannot. But before they can build a life together, they must deal with the fall-out when the legend of the wolves collides with the men behind the Institute.

Purchase Links: MuseitUp! ~ Amazon ~ Smashwords

Excerpt:

"No hiking trails where you live?"

Another odd expression crossed her face then, and once again, quickly masked. She favored him with an ironic little smile that zinged straight to his heart like Cupid's proverbial arrow. Damn, he was treading on dangerous ground here. If he were smart, he'd put an end to this nonsense and some distance between them. If he were smart.

"No," she murmured, looking ahead once more, "no trails where I live."

"City?"

"Not exactly."

Not exactly? How could you "not exactly" live in the city? Micah shook the question away as he directed his attention, and the conversation, toward her friend, several feet in front of them now. "You know, I've got to wonder why you needed us," he said. "Your friend seems to know where he's going."

"I don't see how," she disagreed, her breath coming in little pants as she negotiated the rugged terrain that steadily rose into the azure sky. "I've never known him to go for the hiking thing, either. This is a first for us both."

"And how long have you known him?"

A telling pause, then, "Most of my life."

"Family friend?"

The question brought her up short. Literally. Stopping in the middle of their makeshift path, she turned to face him, a defiant expression on her face. Fascinating, he thought as he mimicked her actions. His brothers, he absently noted, didn't miss a beat as they strode along in a semi-circle behind Jon, their attention focused upon him and nothing else. And then it was just him—and her, standing beneath the hickories and oaks.

* * * *

Shiloh waited for the others to put some distance between them, watching as they did so, before she turned her attention back to Micah. She was nearly undone by the headiness of standing so close to him. Did the man have any idea of his potency or was she the only one he affected this way?

"Okay, you want to tell me what this is all about?" she demanded, wrapping her arms about her waist in a defensive gesture and to control her wayward longings, a vain attempt.

"What?"

"This." She waved a hand between them in indication of the topic. "The interrogation."

"It wasn't exactly an interrogation," he tried to deny.

The nerve of him!

"Oh?" she challenged. "You want me to count the questions? Let's see—"

"Just making conversation. Something wrong with that?"

The fight whooshing out of her, Shiloh glanced toward the disappearing trio before responding. "No," she said and, grudgingly, "Sorry."

"Yeah." He kicked the ground between them with the toe of his hiking boot, his frustration evident in the gesture. "You sound it."

"I'm not used to people—well, strangers—asking a lot of questions."

"If I'd known asking you a couple of questions would upset you—"

"More than a couple."

"I wouldn't have asked them," he continued as if uninterrupted. "What's your problem? Are you this skittish with all people?"

"No, just you," she answered before she could think better of it. She wanted to kick herself. What was wrong with her? Might as well confess how he affected her, at this rate. But at least he looked as surprised by her candor as she felt.

"Lucky me," he said after a moment in which neither one of them seemed able to talk. He looked away from her, toward the slope of the wooded mountain. "We should probably catch up with the others. Who knows where your friend is headed."

"Not me." She fell into step beside him, grateful for the less taxing pace he set. "He kept the map to himself. He wouldn't let me see it. Like it was a treasure map or something. Only thing I know is it’s hand-drawn. Well, hand drawn on the computer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Jon is a total computer geek," Shiloh revealed, glancing his way. "Why draw with a pen what you can do with a mouse?" She looked forward again, gave a little shrug. "That's his motto, anyhow."

"And what's your motto?"

She didn't answer right away. No one had ever asked it of her before. At length, she shrugged and told him the truth. "I don't have one."

"No? I thought everyone had one.”

To diffuse her unease, Shiloh turned the topic on him. “So what’s yours, then?” She even managed a smile as she warmed to the subject. “What is the Sloane family motto? Live by the sword, die by the plague?”

With a chuckle, Micah said, “Not quite. Try again.”

“The acorn doesn’t fall far from the oak?”

“Not even close!”

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

“What does that even mean?”

For the first time since they met, Shiloh shared a laugh with Micah. “I don’t know! I always wondered that myself.” She paused for a moment before she dared to ask, “So what is the Sloane family motto?”

“It changes depending on the situation, but the prevailing one is ‘Family isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.’”

“That’s nice.” Before she could stop the thought from reaching her mouth, she said, “I wish I had a motto like that.”

“So why don’t you?”

And they were right back to where they started.

Unease trickled down her spine at the question. She flinched before she could check her response. Relax, Shiloh, she cautioned herself, covering her reaction by feigning interest in a moss-blanketed rock they passed. She inhaled a few breaths before speaking again. “I don’t know—not something we talk about.”

* * * *

Why was she being so cryptic? Micah saw the way she flinched at the mere mention of her family. He knew his question, which seemed harmless to him, wasn't to her. People didn't usually react like that, unless they had a good reason. And although he hadn't known her for long, Shiloh didn't strike him as the type of person who overreacted to things. Well, at least not something like this. The mystery of Shiloh Beck deepened.

Giveaway!!

Margay Leah Justice is offering one lucky winner a copy of Sloane Wolf in either pdf or e-pub format! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest open until Midnight, Feb. 4th!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WJ Rosser ~ 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-26T00:01:00.000-06:00

WJ Rosser is a poet, storyteller, and novelist currently living in Orange County, California with his wife and seven children. With more than twenty years spent educating in institutional, business, and homeschooling settings, he's become quite opinionated about education's process and product. A spirited rhetorician fully committed to reasoned argumentation as a means to reach the best conclusions, he can often be found in conversations with complete strangers attempting to provoke thought and avoid punches.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I read everything. I mean it, everything. I like pulp fiction just as much as I like brilliant classics. You might find me reading Faulkner one day and Lee Child the next. I love the written word. It’s like music to me. I love classics, opera, rock, punk, country, reggae—well, everything. Still, I know the difference between great music and fun music. I listen to everything and I read everything.

My writing is primarily literary

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My favorite is the unnamed wife in The Robber. I modeled her after my wife. She’s playful, beautiful, and perfect. Since the story is told from the husband’s point of view, you see her through the eyes of the man who loves her. Without question, she’s my favorite.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

I would start with The Robber. My writing isn’t for everyone, but anyone who likes that story will like most of what I write. You’ll discover right away that I write tragedy and remorse far more than happiness. I think negative emotions are universal more than positive. Certain events almost always cause paralyzing sadness, but the same can’t be said about events that cause joy.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I have several blogs. I review required reading on http://rosserreviews.blogspot.com/ and I have a great many academic articles at http://wjrosser.suite101.com. My Facebook author page at https://www.facebook.com/WJRosser is how I keep up with my readers.

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

This one is easy. Single. Malt. Scotch. I think I can survive with just that. If everything else in my life was taken, a good single malt will offer the comfort I’ll need to get through the rest. And yes, you’ll find that drink in nearly everything I write.

Book Spotlight:

The Robber

Master storyteller WJ Rosser presents three heartbreaking tales of love, tragedy, and redemption as well as three poems.

The Robber: A remarkable and poetic story of love and loss set against the backdrop of a beautiful mountain cabin and an unlikely burglar.

Winchester 30/30: A man has a drink at his recently deceased father's watering hole.

Genny: A man on a business trip ends up with a much younger woman in his hotel room.

Giveaway!

WJ is generously giving away 5 copies of his book The Robber in the winner's eformat of their choice! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Feb. 4th at Midnight!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Elaine Cantrell ~ 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-06:00

Elaine Cantrell was born and raised in South Carolina where she obtained a master’s degree in personnel services from Clemson University. She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary society for women educators, Romance Writers of America, and EPIC authors. Her first novel, A New Leaf, was the 2003 winner of the Timeless Love Contest. When she’s not writing or teaching, she enjoys gardening, quilting, reading, and collecting vintage Christmas ornaments.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I’m sort of strange with my reading habits. Honestly, I’m all over the place, but if I had to pick one thing, I’d say women’s fiction. I’ve also resolved to read more books by authors who aren’t famous yet. Check out my page at Goodreads for a list of what I’ve read. If you have a Goodreads account, let’s be friends. As far as writing goes, I write romance which is dear to my heart.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My all time favorite is Richard Lovinggood who’s the hero in Return Engagement. Richard is passionate, knows what he wants and goes after it, and would give his life for the woman he loves. He’s so good looking he makes women shake in their high heels, and he might be a tiny bit dangerous. He’s an alpha male with a soft spot for his Elizabeth.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Either Return Engagement or A New Dream. If those titles don’t appeal to you, I think Purple Heart will. I’ve gotten some rave reviews for all three of these.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

website ~ blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Chocolate and books. No, that’s two things. Chocolate. No, books. But chocolate… Yeah, that’s it; books.

Book Spotlight:

Return Engagement

Elizabeth Lane has heard the call of the four most seductive words in the entire English language: what might have been. Would you risk everything you hold dear to find out what might have been? That’s the choice which Elizabeth has to make.

Elizabeth is lucky, for she has it all, money, fame, a satisfying career and a devoted fiancé. Her humble beginnings are all but obscured, but she isn’t the kind of woman Senator Henry Lovinggood wants for his son, Richard. Senator Lovinggood plans to make Richard the President of the United States; he’ll need a woman from a wealthy, powerful family by his side. Ten years ago he broke Richard and Elizabeth up, but this time it won’t be so easy, for Elizabeth wants to know what might have been. This time she’ll fight back, a struggle which ultimately leads to kidnapping and attempted murder and alienates her from the man of her dreams.

*Purchase at Whiskey Creek Press

Excerpt:

In this excerpt Richard and Elizabeth have reunited on the beach and spent the evening together after a ten year separation.

They rode the Ferris wheel and the tilt-a-whirl two times each. Then they went through the haunted mansion which gave Elizabeth a great chance to scream and cling to his side. She hid her face against his shoulder, savoring the male scent of him. When they left the haunted mansion, they found a place that sold cotton candy and funnel cakes. They bought a huge amount of both and devoured the sugary treats as if they’d never had anything so tasty. I shouldn’t flirt so brazenly with him, Elizabeth thought but who cares? Her obvious joy caused some bystanders to smile as they remembered their own courtships.

She paused when they passed a shooting arcade. “Richard, you’re FBI, so I guess you’re supposed to be a good shot. Win me a stuffed animal.”

Richard groaned. “Those guns are probably all sighted wrong so you can’t win. Couldn’t I just buy you one instead?”
“No, that won’t do at all. Never mind. It’s okay if you don’t think you can do it,” she replied with no hint of a smile whatsoever. Would he try to win a prize for her or not?

Richard stepped up to the counter and inspected the row of guns provided by the arcade. “Okay, I know a challenge when I hear it. I’ll win you an animal if I have to stay here all night.”

The attendant, a wizened gnome of a man with a sour expression on his face, wandered over to them. “Win a prize for the lady, mister? Dollar a shot.”

“Yeah, I’ll give it a try.”

He selected the gun he wanted and shot, but he missed. “Just as I expected, the sights are off, and it pulls to the left.” He adjusted for the bad sights, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. This time he hit the target dead center.

“Hooray,” cheered Elizabeth. “I want that big white cat over there. How many does he have to hit to get it?”

“Ten in a row,” the man sourly replied.

A few minutes later Richard and Elizabeth walked away carrying the big cat with them.

Elizabeth tucked her arm through his. “This is so exciting! Nobody ever won anything for me before. You are such a good shot. I bet you’re one of the FBI’s best marksmen.” Is he blushing? thought Elizabeth. I bet it’s been a long time since a woman made him blush.

She couldn’t resist the urge to tease him. She came to a halt and looked intently into his face. “Why, Richard, are you blushing?”

The color in Richard’s face deepened. “I don’t think so. It’s just the lights.”

“Oh, yes you are! You always used to blush when I teased you. Did I embarrass you?”

Richard ducked his head, a little gesture that probably sent her blood pressure sky high. “All right, my face does feel a little warm” he admitted, “but no, you didn’t embarrass me. It’s… well it’s kind of nice to have you flirt with me and brag on me. I’m surprised how bad I wanted to show off and win that damn cat for you.”

“You are so sweet,” she declared, giving him a warm smile.

“I don’t believe it! Is that what I get for winning the cat? Sweet? I don’t want to be sweet.” Ignoring the crowds of people all around them, he jerked her close which made her breath leave her in a little woof. “I want to be your lover. I want you to say I’m sexy and that you want me. I can’t believe you think I’m sweet.”

Elizabeth willingly threw both discretion and Alex to the wind. What did discretion or Alex matter at a time like this? “Oh, that’s what you want, is it? I’m glad you made your intentions clear, Mr. Lovinggood.” She took a small step toward him and obligingly tilted her face upward.

She had known Richard wouldn’t waste his chance. His eyes darkened as he bent his head. Elizabeth gasped when his lips touched hers. She had forgotten how his kisses made her knees shake, her heart pound, and almost burned her up from the inside out.

Richard finally lifted his head. “You have a lazy, satisfied smile on your face,” Elizabeth breathlessly observed.
A smile crossed his face. “Yeah, I do.” His voice dropped. “You held me so close, and you kissed me like you’d never get enough of me.” He gently stroked her cheek with his fingertips. “That kiss thrilled me from head to toe. I…I don’t ever want to let you go.”

Elizabeth looked around at the crowds of people everywhere and blushed herself. “It’s one thing to kiss an actor in front of a camera, but I don’t like to be too affectionate in public. No more kissing right now, please.”

“Can I kiss you later when we’re alone?”

Alex! Elizabeth came down to earth with a thud. “No. We shouldn’t have kissed at all. It’s my fault, and I apologize.”

Richard laughed as if she’d said something hysterical. “You don’t have to apologize for that. You won’t hear any complaints out of me.”

Oh, lord! What time was it? She glanced at her watch. It was time to go home. Maybe Mother and Alex are worried about me. I haven’t behaved very well tonight. It isn’t fair to Alex for me to go out on a date with Richard. Oh, but you can’t call this a date! Yeah, right, and maybe the sun won’t come up tomorrow. She picked up her cat, and they started the walk back to their cars.

***

Elizabeth was right. It was a public place, and one set of eyes had been focused on them for almost the entire evening. The small, unremarkable man with washed out brown hair did not follow this time, but in his mind a new plan started to take shape, an infinitely superior plan.

***

“Look at the moon, Richard. Have you ever seen anything so big and beautiful? Isn’t it lovely the way it’s reflecting off the water?”

“Yes, but not as lovely as you are.” Richard made a sound of disgust. “That is so trite. You’d think I could do better, but all evening I’ve had trouble saying what I mean.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re trying too hard, but for the record, I think you’re doing just fine.” She shivered and hunched her shoulders as she hugged herself. “That wind is cold.”

Richard immediately removed his jacket and handed it to her. “Here, put this on.”
“Won’t you be cold?”

“I’m fine. I’ve got on long sleeves and that’s enough.” His eyes twinkled in the moonlight. “In fact, I kind of like the idea of you wearing my clothes. Sounds like high school, huh?”

The chilly wind that blew across the moon-drenched water snatched Elizabeth’s laughter away. “Who cares?

Sometimes it’s nice to be as irresponsible as a teenager.”

“Let’s sit down and watch the moon awhile.”

Elizabeth willingly sank into the damp sand and cuddled close beside him.

“Richard, about this evening….”

“Elizabeth, about Alex….”

“You go first,” Elizabeth urged, glad to put off telling him she couldn’t see him again.

“All right, I will.” He turned slightly, an almost angry look on his face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing getting yourself engaged to Alex Crawford? It’s obvious to a blind man that you don’t love him. You’ve been teasing me and flirting with me all evening. You’ve even kissed me. Right now your body language makes me think if I wanted to take this snuggling any further you’d be willing.”

“Wha…” Elizabeth sputtered.

“You don’t strike me as the type of woman who’d pick a man for a night of sex and then go back to her fiancé like nothing had happened. If that’s true I don’t think you love Alex as much as you think you do. The question is: what are you going to do about it?”

Elizabeth moaned and hid her face in her hands. Richard expected this surprise meeting to lead to something more that a hot dog on the beach, a casual meeting between two old…friends. I’ve done enough damage for one evening; I’m going home before I cause any more trouble. I’ve betrayed Alex and given Richard hope for a relationship with me when there is no hope.

She tried to jump up, but Richard grabbed her and held her close. “The wind is cold, and you can think just as well, no better, in my arms.”

Elizabeth gave up the effort to get away from him. “Yeah, right. Being in your arms clarifies everything! I’m so confused I don’t know if I’m coming or going,” she cried. “I do love Alex. I do! That’s why I agreed to marry him, but with you I feel like a different person.

“I know I shouldn’t have flirted with you and kissed you, but I couldn’t help myself.” Her eyes misted with tears. “I didn’t want to help myself. It’s like it was ten years ago only better because now nobody can accuse me of corrupting a minor. You asked me what I’m going to do, but to tell you the truth, I don’t know. The only thing I’m sure of is that I don’t think I can stand it if you walk away again.”

Elizabeth threw her hands over her burning face again. “What kind of woman am I? I haven’t seen you in ten years, yet here I am leading you on and encouraging you to… What’s wrong with me!”

Richard jerked her hand away from her face and kissed it. “From my point of view things have finally taken a turn for the better.” Satisfaction oozed from his voice.

“You’re willing to admit you don’t want to lose me. It’s taken ten years, but we’re back where we belong-together. Everything I ever felt for you came back the minute you spoke to me. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel it too.”

“I…” Elizabeth fell silent. After all; what could she say?

“Let me help you make up your mind about what to do.” Richard pushed her back into the sand and kissed her, a delicate, brushing of lips that deepened as hearts caught fire. Elizabeth imagined she could feel the thudding of his heart against her own and shivered against him. She didn’t really notice when his hand slipped under her blouse, but when she felt its warmth on her breast she cried aloud and shoved him away.

“I want to finish this in private,” Richard whispered. “We’ve waited ten years, and we deserve this night. Ask me to go home with you.”

A New Dream

Everyone admires Matt McCallum, and why wouldn’t they? He’s tall and handsome, but more importantly he’s a football player for the Green Bay Packers. He’s making a lot of money, and he’s engaged to Stacey Thomas, one of the hottest women you ever saw. He has the world at his feet, but all of his dreams come crashing down one bright summer evening when he and Stacey hit a deer while they’re driving home. As a result of the accident, Matt’s right leg has to be amputated. Plunged into a deep depression Matt, eventually finds a job managing a grocery store. He likes the people he works with, especially Violet Emerson. She’s even prettier than Stacey, but Matt doesn’t have a lot to offer a beautiful woman like Violet. Does he?

*Purchase: Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Astraea Press

Excerpt:

Prologue

The red convertible cut a path through the moonlight, its headlights dancing along the arched limbs of the trees above the road.

“Oh, Matt, it’s such a beautiful night,” Stacey declared with a sigh. “I’m going to miss you when you leave tomorrow.”

Matt reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’ll miss you too, but if I don’t report on time, I’m in trouble with the coach.”

“That’s what I get for falling in love with a pro football player,” Stacey teased, her blonde hair turned to frosted silver by the light of the full moon above them.

Matt squeezed the hand that wore his engagement ring. “It’s too late to back out now,” he intoned with mock seriousness. “You’re mine.”

“Mmm, do I like the sound of that!”

The car rounded a curve, and without warning a deer bounded across the road. Matt braked sharply to avoid the animal, but the tires slid on a patch of loose gravel in the road, and he lost control of the convertible. It fishtailed and started to spin in the road.

Matt made a tremendous effort to correct the slide, but it was useless. The car turned around once more and skidded backwards for a short distance before it slid off the road where it jumped a steep ditch and went airborne. All Matt could see was a blur of trees and darkness as the car careened into the woods. It made a lazy turn in the air and came to rest bottom side up.

The last thing he remembered was the sound of Stacey’s screams.

Giveaway:

Elaine Cantrell is offering a pdf copy of A New Dream as well as a pdf copy of Return Engagement. If you have a preference as to which copy that you would like to win, please let me know in the comments below. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends as Midnight, Feb. 4th.

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anastasia V. Pergakis ~ 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000-06:00

Anastasia Pergakis knew she always wanted to write. She began at a young age, writing those little stories about the apple tree in the yard. Though her love of stories stayed with her through her poetry stage in high school, she didn’t begin writing novels until she was almost an adult. That’s where she found her true passion.

Her characters visit her dreams – and sometimes during the day – to share their stories with her. Anastasia is merely the writer, but the characters are really the storytellers.

Anastasia lives in Columbus, Georgia with her husband and son. A stay at home Mom, she loves spending time with her son during the day, then writing furiously at night.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love to read almost anything really but my favorite would have to be mystery/crime dramas. I have been reading a lot more action type of books lately, but I think that is because of my own book being a fantasy adventure novel with tons of fight scenes and such in it. I write fantasy mostly, but all my books have a hint of romance, mystery, suspense, and lots of action.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

This is a tough one! I have so many that I love for different reasons. But, for the sake of this post, I'll go with Derac Vidor, Captain of the Kinir Elite. He is from my debut novel, Cleanse Fire. He's a warrior elf, fiercely loyal to his country and her people. When in uniform, he's often a prickly sort of character, coming off as too serious and rarely smiles. But, get him around his mom, siblings, and nieces and he's a playful, relaxed sort of guy. I think he's my favorite just because of all my characters, he's the one that 'talks' to me the most! Plus, he's 6'4 and full of muscles. How can I resist that?

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Well, Cleanse Fire is my only book out at the moment, so I say start with that that one! :)

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Facebook, Kinir Elite Page ~ Kinir Elite Website ~ Facebook, Author Page ~ Author Website ~ Twitter

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

I'm sure some of my friends would say Pepsi or nicotine, but truthfully, I could force myself to deal with that. I don't think I would survive without a way to write, whether it's my computer or pen and paper or a typewriter - as long as I have someway to write my stories, I'm happy.

Book Spotlight:

Cleanse Fire: The Kinir Elite Chronicles

Cleanse Fire is a fantasy adventure novel, with edge-of-your-seat action. Epic battles, suspense, and a bit of romance too!Follow the Kinir Elite as they track down a traitor and find more than they bargained for.

This book was written to honor soldiers who have served, are serving, and will serve their country. Three percent of the profits of this book are donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. Learn more about them at their website, WoundedWarriorProject.org.

Thank you to all the service men and women serving their country. Your sacrifice makes it possible for me to follow my dreams. You are all my heroes.

* * * * *

Complete the mission, no matter what...

Captain Derac Vidor has served Kinir for nearly twenty years. It's his life,
his blood soul. And then his Commander betrays everything Derac holds dear. Now
he has to focus on his own life and his team instead of saving the citizens of
Kinir.

Treason is only the beginning...

Fueled by rage, the team chases the source to their Commander's betrayal - a
powerful wizard bent on revenge. The wizard seeks to destroy the Kinir Elite,
in both mind and body. No place is safe, even among their allies.

The past holds the key...

Derac's tragic past may be the key to saving the team. But can he face the
gruesome nightmare in time?

Giveaway!

Anastasia is offering one lucky winner a copy of her book Cleanse Fire in the ebook format of their choice! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends at Midnight, Feb. 4th!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Michele Lang ~ 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-23T00:01:00.001-06:00

Michele Lang writes supernatural tales: the stories of witches, lawyers, goddesses, bankers, demons, and other magical creatures hidden in plain sight. She is the author of the historical fantasy LADY LAZARUS, the first of a series. DARK VICTORY, the next novel in the series, releases in early 2012. In addition to this, Michele has practiced the unholy craft of litigation in both New York and Connecticut.

She returned to her native New York shortly before 9/11, and now lives in a small town on Long Island with her husband, her sons, and a rotating menagerie of cats, hermit crabs, and butterflies. Visit her on the web at www.michelelang.com

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love history, and read biographies and door-stoppers about American and world history when I am in the middle of writing a new story. David McCullough and Alison Weir are two of my favorite historians. I also love reading urban fantasy, historical fantasy, and paranormal romance: Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Meljean Brooks, Nalini Singh, Naomi Novik, Charlaine Harris, and Kat Richardson are just a few of my favorites. As for writing, I love writing supernatural fiction of all kinds, whether edgy futuristic romances, time travel romances, historical fantasy, or contemporary romantic fantasy. A reviewer recently called one of my stories "a beautiful tale in a dark world" and I think that's an apt description of much of my work.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

I am half in love with Magda Lazarus, the main character of the LADY LAZARUS historical fantasy series. Magda's a witch of the blood who lives in a magical Budapest in 1939, right before World War II breaks out, and she fights the supernatural Nazi war machine with everything she's got. She's so moody and hellbent on fighting her enemies, but she's also funny, fanatically loyal and elegant. I wish I could meet her!

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

If you love novels and historical fantasy, then definitely Lady Lazarus. If you love more contemporary stories, check out my short story The Walled Garden.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

My website ~ facebook ~ twitter

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

My husband -- he's a great-looking muse, amazing BBQ chef, and brilliant technowizard all in one!

Book Spotlight:

Lady Lazarus

With the romance of Twilight, the suspense of The Dresden Files, and the delicious thrills of True Blood, the enthralling saga of Magdalena Lazarus unfolds. Descended from the legendary witch of Ein Dor, she alone holds the power to summon the angel Raziel and stop Hitler and his supernatural minions from unleashing total war in Europe. The Nazis have fighters more fearsome than soldiers, weapons more terrifying than missiles, and allies that even they are afraid of SS werewolves; the demon Asmodel who possesses a willing Adolf Hitler, and other supernatural creatures all are literally hell-bent on preventing Magda from possessing the Book of Raziel, a magical text with the power to turn the tide against Hitler’s vast war machine.

Magda, young and rebellious, grew up in the cosmopolitan city of Budapest, unaware of her family’s heritage. When her mother dies, Magda—ready or not—is the Lazarus, who must face the evil that holds Europe in an iron grip. Unready to assume the mantle of her ancient birthright, but knowing that she must fight, she sets out across Europe searching for the Book. Magda is desperate enough to endanger her soul by summoning the avenging angel Raziel. When she sees him in the glory of his celestial presence, her heart is utterly, completely lost…

Dark Victory

Magda Lazarus was a reluctant witch until the dire threat of Nazi Germany convinced her to assume the mantle of her family’s ancient powers. But though this young, beautiful Jewish woman has fought off Hitler’s SS werewolves and the demon who would rule through the Führer, she has been unable to prevent the outbreak of World War II.

As long as Magda can summon spirits, there is still a chance to save people from the dire threat of the Holocaust. Her family’s guardian angel, Raziel, stands beside her in the battle against the human and supernatural forces of evil arrayed against her people and all of Europe.

In Michele Lang's Dark Victory, as the Nazis prepare to invade Poland, Magda and her beloved Raziel marshal their own army, a supernatural force that will battle Hitler’s minions to the death…or beyond.

The Magic of Fabulous

“You can live your life like a grub hidden inside a rotten tree, or you can live like a butterfly, brilliant and free and tossed by the wind. Now that’s the magic of fabulous, and that is what I have to offer you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Budapest, 1939 -- Eva Farkas, an ordinary young woman, lives in extraordinarily dangerous times. Werewolves, vampires, and Fascists fight for dominance, and all of Europe balances on the edge of the Nazi abyss.

Eva must fend for herself in Budapest after her best friend, a witch named Magda Lazarus, leaves town in order to hunt a mysterious book of spells. Eva knows she has no chance in hell of surviving the impending war.

But she intends to beat the odds. Without spell, fang or claw to protect her, Eva must cast her own spell of moxie and allure, concoct a dark magic of fabulous -- and not just endure, but fly.

THE MAGIC OF FABULOUS is a novella set in the world of the LADY LAZARUS historical fantasy series, and contains both an afterword by the author and excerpts from the other books in the series.

THE MAGIC OF FABULOUS by Michele Lang
When the deck is stacked against you, how do you choose to play the game?

Giveaway!

Michele Lang is giving one lucky winner a Smashwords coupon for her book The Magic of Fabulous! This allows the reader to pick the format that works best for them, no matter the reader you have! To enter, please simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below! Contest ends February 4th at Midnight!

Good Lucky, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-22T15:46:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have noticed that there were no spotlights yesterday or today (Sat. and Sunday). I decided to leave the weekends for everyone to catch up on the previous week's spotlights, posts and giveaways. So the actual posts will run Mon. - Fri. with the contests still going strong on the weekends as well as the winners being picked on the weekends. I am hoping by doing this adjustment, the great authors featured will not get overshadowed. I am sure that as the year goes on, I will continue to tweak this year long promo, but rest assured, it will still be a continuous 365 Days of promos and/or contests of great authors!! I may also incorporate my reviews within the promo, not completely sure yet. Anyone with suggestions on what they would like to see during the year, please let me know!

Review: A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable by Veronica Blade

2012-01-20T03:00:00.001-06:00

A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable
By: Veronica Blade

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 237 KB/ 155 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Crush Publishing Ink (January 4, 2012)

About:

A Cinderella who spends her nights as a wolf. A prince with a taste for blood.

Seventeen year old Cydney struggles against her werewolf nature, trying to keep everyone around her safe. No way will she risk exposing the beast at the prince’s ball, no matter how her two cousins try to persuade her. Even as she attempts to get on with her life, Cydney can’t forget the boy she loved three summers ago — or what she did to him after losing control.

Turned into a vampire to save his life, the prince refuses to live up to his royal duties. He just wants to find the girl he loved and lost...the werewolf girl who bit him. But his father, the king, commands him to attend a ball where he must choose a wife. Can he find his Cinderella before he's forced to marry another? He doesn’t even have her real name, much less a glass slipper.

Excerpt:

If I’d known it could be like this and that she’d wanted it too, I would’ve kissed her ages ago. I mentally kicked myself for wasting all those weeks when we could’ve been doing this the entire time.

Her hand crept up under my shirt and her fingers trailed along my back. Goosebumps danced on my skin.

She pressed closer against me and I took the kiss deeper, letting loose my weeks of pent up craving for her.

I didn’t think life could get any more perfect than being with Cindy. And I no longer yearned for a normal life. I wanted things to stay exactly as they were at that moment. With my Cinderella.

Forever.

A soft moan erupted from my throat when she angled her face to take the kiss still deeper. I slid my arms around her waist and the tips of my fingers inched up underneath her tank top.

She shivered.

But it wasn’t a usual shiver. Her whole body began to tremble and I nearly lost my hold on her. I pulled back. Cindy’s eyes grew huge and her pupils dilated.

She threw her head back, her limbs vibrating as she growled. No, not a growl. It was more like a dull roar, full of pain and anguish. Was she… was my Cindy about to turn into a werewolf? Or was it something else? Maybe if I held her again, whatever was happening to her might stop. I lunged for her.

“Get away from me!” Sobbing, she shoved me back, but in the process, one of her claws raked across my chest.

I flinched, as blood beaded on my skin. A little scratch wasn’t going to stop me though. Not when Cindy needed my help. I stepped forward again.

Her lips curled up, exposing long, growing teeth and she shrieked. Yeah, she’d hit werewolf maturity all right. But she hadn’t completely morphed. Just her teeth and nails. Maybe if I calmed her, she could prevent it from progressing. I wrapped my arms around her waist, as I’d done just moments ago, and pulled her close.

She shrieked again, then searing pain shot through my arm.

Werewolf bite. Oh, crap. My dad was going to kill me… unless the werewolf virus beat him to it.

The forest spun around me and I couldn’t keep my eyelids up. My muscles went lax and when the ground rose to slam against me, I didn’t feel a thing.

My Review:

Imagine if Cinderella from the well-known fairy tale that we all know and love was actually a werewolf. Imagine if Prince Charming was a vampire. Hmmm.... Thus the foundation of A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable. Now kick in Veronica Blade's enormous story telling talent, several paranormal twists and, folks, you have one outstanding, unique and astounding read.

To be honest, I have loved everything that I have read by Ms. Blade and consider her to be one of today's great talents. She proves that she can bend and excel in a range of genres from YA to Contemporary Romance (with Blind Date, Checkmate) and her stories are quite flawless. YA and Paranormal are two of my absolute favorite genres and I am in heaven when these two are blended together.

Now, my thoughts on a furry Cinderella and a blood sucking Prince Charming? Love it! The entire time that I read the story, I felt as though I was right there with the characters, feeling their angst and insecurity. Cydney has always been incredibly fearful of her shape-shifting werewolf abilities, especially since that long ago day when she had her first "turning" experience and just happened to bite the love of her life. Though being young and new, she had no idea how to control the changing, she has lived in fear of harming another person.

Remy, a true Prince, has long ached to find his lost Cinderella. After that day when he was bitten, his love for her never faltered. When his father, the King, decides that it is time for Remy to get married, he decides the only thing to do is to hold a Royal Ball to find his son a wife. All the young ladies are required to attend the Ball, though Cydney has absolutely no intention of going. She also has no idea who the Prince really is (as kids, they called themselves Cinderella and Jack instead of their real names). Cydney is facing a bit of strong persuasion, however, and just may have to do the thing that she dreads the most.

A Bite's Tale is such an enjoyable, fun, addicting and absorbing tale that once I began reading, I didn't want to stop. Yes, in opposition, I didn't want the story to ever end, so I savored it like tiny bites of the juiciest and tenderest of steaks. All the while I was reading, I found myself loving the parallel story telling between the classic Cinderella story and A Bite's Tale. I also found myself smiling in many spots at the paranormal/modern twist. I loved both Remy and Cydney, as well as the secondary characters of Cydney's cousins and aunt. They were all so wonderful. Also the fact that this place, where they lived, joined together both humans and paranormal beings was very intriguing.

A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable is a perfect story to indulge within for Young Adults and Adults as well. I give it my highest recommendation and truly cannot wait to read more by this amazing and talented author, Veronica Blade!

About Veronica Blade:

(from Ms. Blade's Amazon Author Page)

Veronica Blade lives in Southern California with her husband and children. By day she runs the family business, but each night she slips away to spin her tales. She writes stories about young adults to relive her own childhood and to live vicariously through her characters. Except her heroes and heroines lead far more interesting lives -- and they are always way hotter.

That's the official bio. The unofficial bio is that I, Veronica Blade, am an addict. I love all things vampires and witches and werewolves -- the stranger, the better! My favorite shows are The Vampire Diaries and True Blood. And, okay, I admit it, I'm still a huge Buffy fan.

Currently, I have one full length novel available and two novellas. Everything I write is sweet romance and usually I throw in some witches, vamps or werewolves -- sometimes all of the above (but always light on the paranormal, heavy on the romance).

In the spring of 2012, my latest book will be available -- My Wolf's Bane, which is the first book in the Shapes of Autumn series. This is YA and all about werewolves and other shifters.

I answer all my emails personally. If you'd like to contact me, you may do so at veronica@veronicablade.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy reading!
Veronica Blade

Veronica Blade ~ Day 20 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Veronica Blade lives in Southern California with her husband and children. By day she runs the family business, but each night she slips away to spin her tales. She writes stories about young adults to relive her own childhood and to live vicariously through her characters. Except her heroes and heroines lead far more interesting lives — and they are always way hotter.

Would you be interested in donating a book to giveaway? Can be print or ecopy. If ecopy, what format? If print copy, what are shipping restrictions? Print is fine, US only

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

YA all the way! I’ll read grownup books now and then, but it’s rare. As far as writing goes, Blind Date, Checkmate is the only grownup story I’ve written since I got hooked on YA.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written?

Hayden from Something Witchy This Way Comes

Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

I LOVE the way he’s not afraid to take risks or live on the edge. I think what I love best about him is that he loves Tessa with his whole heart and he wants to be a better person for her. Who doesn’t want to be loved like that?

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

It would depend on your mood. If you want a light read with a sweet romance, go for A Bite’s Tale: A Furry Fable. If you’re feeling grown up and want a more mature read (yet still want the sweet romance), read Blind Date, Checkmate. If you love bad-boys and you’re in the mood to dive into a full length book where you can get lost for a while, go with Something Witchy This Way Comes.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I spend waaaay too much time on FaceBook. Pretty much everything you want to know is right there. I visit goodreads a bit and I almost always have a book giveaway going on there. I occasionally tweet…. But I’m horrible at keeping up my blog!

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Hairspray. There, I said it. Hey, I like big hair. So sue me

Book Spotlight:

Something Witchy This Way Comes

Brainiac Tessa McClean’s newly discovered magical powers give her an escape from her self-absorbed parents. But the thrill of being a witch fades when she learns of a rival coven and begins to suspect her own coven’s motives. Evidence tells Tessa to trust one side, but instinct drives her toward the other.

When the school’s scrumptious delinquent, Hayden Anders, offers Tessa self-defense lessons in exchange for tutoring, his timing couldn’t be better. Although hanging out with him is a necessary evil in Tessa’s fight to stay alive, resisting a bad-boy she secretly yearns for might be more than she can manage.

Together, Tessa and Hayden work to unravel the mysteries behind the two covens to discover why they’ll stop at nothing to lure Tessa to their side. She must form an alliance with one of the covens before it’s too late. But the wrong decision could cost Tessa the lives of all who she holds dear — including Hayden.

Excerpt:

“All sobered up, are you?” Hayden asked, eyes narrowed.

“Yes, completely.” I backed up so he didn’t have to worry about hitting me with the car. “I’ll see you guys later.”

As if waiting for me to say that, he jumped out of the car and slinked toward me like a panther — never taking his eyes off me. The look on his face was anything but mild. Uh-oh. What was up with that? He’d been pretty cool all night, hadn’t flirted and had only touched me to lead me somewhere.

Hayden didn’t slow down as he passed me. Instead, he gripped my hand again and dragged me along. Leaving the partiers behind, we went back up the driveway, and into the garage. He left the door slightly ajar, letting in a sliver of light so we didn’t have to fumble. He finally stopped in a secluded spot in the far corner of the garage and leaned against a work table.

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

Refusing never occurred to me. Like a pliant doll, I lifted my chin and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me. He swooped and covered my mouth with his, his hot tongue assaulting mine.

Oh, crap. It was perfect — like his fantasies had melded with mine.

Except this was better.

I drowned in the feel of his lips, and his hands brought shivers as they skated up my back. When his mouth deserted mine, his eyes seemed to absorb the details of my face, his hands planted firmly on my hips. Then, in one swift move, he lifted me up onto the work table and kissed me again. Harder, hungrier…

I set my purse aside to free my hands. They skimmed his bare arms, moving on to explore his naked chest, my thumb sneaking into the waistband of his jeans.

What was I doing?

I couldn’t let him get any more than he’d already gotten from me. With my palms flat against his chest, I shoved him away. “Uh… I have to go.” Jumping off the table, I bolted.

A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable

A Cinderella who spends her nights as a wolf. A prince with a taste for blood.

Seventeen year old Cydney struggles against her werewolf nature, trying to keep everyone around her safe. No way will she risk exposing the beast at the prince’s ball, no matter how her two cousins try to persuade her. Even as she attempts to get on with her life, Cydney can’t forget the boy she loved three summers ago — or what she did to him after losing control.

Turned into a vampire to save his life, the prince refuses to live up to his royal duties. He just wants to find the girl he loved and lost...the werewolf girl who bit him. But his father, the king, commands him to attend a ball where he must choose a wife. Can he find his Cinderella before he's forced to marry another? He doesn’t even have her real name, much less a glass slipper.

Excerpt:

If I’d known it could be like this and that she’d wanted it too, I would’ve kissed her ages ago. I mentally kicked myself for wasting all those weeks when we could’ve been doing this the entire time.

Her hand crept up under my shirt and her fingers trailed along my back. Goosebumps danced on my skin. She pressed closer against me and I took the kiss deeper, letting loose my weeks of pent up craving for her.

I didn’t think life could get any more perfect than being with Cindy. And I no longer yearned for a normal life. I wanted things to stay exactly as they were at that moment. With my Cinderella.

Forever.

A soft moan erupted from my throat when she angled her face to take the kiss still deeper. I slid my arms around her waist and the tips of my fingers inched up underneath her tank top.

She shivered.

But it wasn’t a usual shiver. Her whole body began to tremble and I nearly lost my hold on her. I pulled back. Cindy’s eyes grew huge and her pupils dilated.

She threw her head back, her limbs vibrating as she growled. No, not a growl. It was more like a dull roar, full of pain and anguish. Was she… was my Cindy about to turn into a werewolf? Or was it something else? Maybe if I held her again, whatever was happening to her might stop. I lunged for her.

“Get away from me!” Sobbing, she shoved me back, but in the process, one of her claws raked across my chest.

I flinched, as blood beaded on my skin. A little scratch wasn’t going to stop me though. Not when Cindy needed my help. I stepped forward again.

Her lips curled up, exposing long, growing teeth and she shrieked. Yeah, she’d hit werewolf maturity all right. But she hadn’t completely morphed. Just her teeth and nails. Maybe if I calmed her, she could prevent it from progressing. I wrapped my arms around her waist, as I’d done just moments ago, and pulled her close.

She shrieked again, then searing pain shot through my arm.

Werewolf bite. Oh, crap. My dad was going to kill me… unless the werewolf virus beat him to it.

The forest spun around me and I couldn’t keep my eyelids up. My muscles went lax and when the ground rose to slam against me, I didn’t feel a thing.

Blind Date, Checkmate

Should a woman who’s unable to forget her first love give “happily ever after” one more try?

Shelby Winters’ one great love went sour. If she can’t feel that way about a guy again, why bother? When Shelby’s best friend sets her up on a blind date with Logan, the guy who broke her heart, he pursues her relentlessly, forcing her to make a choice: give her heart what it’s always desired and risk total devastation or shut Logan out and lose her only shot at happiness. To Shelby, it’s a lose-lose situation. Or is it?

Excerpt:

“I never stopped loving you,” he said as we both got to the door.

Liar. I whirled around and glared. “I was seventeen and it’s been nine years. We’ve both grown up. I’m not the same stupid kid and I won’t be so gullible this time.” Why did he keep drawing me into these conversations? “So far, Logan, you’re all talk and no action. The story of your life. No follow-through.”

I tried to get past him but he blocked the door. I backed up when I noticed his eyes ablaze, thinking maybe I’d pushed him too far. As if I were his prey, he caged me against the wall with his arms. I pressed my back into cold plaster so I wouldn’t feel his thighs brushing mine. He only moved closer, a breath away, the friction of our bodies sending an inferno through me.

Oh, yes, that had definitely been missing in my life.

“You want me to follow through, I’m ready right now,” he growled softly.

Me too. But Logan was the last guy I’d go there with. Although it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship re-enacting certain moments with someone that gorgeous, deep down I was still bruised by his past rejection.

But I couldn’t deny I was tempted.

I’d never had a relationship that lasted. If I was doomed to a life of loneliness, it almost seemed justifiable to take happiness where I could find it, even if only temporarily.

Logan inched toward me, his lips at my temple. My pulse spiked as he sucked my earlobe between his lips and I shuddered.

“I knew you still loved me,” he whispered in my ear.

His words slapped me back to reality. A temporary fling with him would only bring me a lifetime of more pain. No. Way.

“Oh, honey, you’re confusing love with lust.” I patted his cheek a little harder than necessary and pushed on his chest. “A guy like you should know better. Let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”

I sailed past him knowing I’d thrown him a nice curve. I’d just taken his bishop. Score one point for me.

My Wolf’s Bane (Shapes of Autumn, book one) – coming soon

Caught in a centuries old battle between her kind and werewolves, a teenage multi-shifter risks revealing herself when she chooses to fight for the boy she loves — her only ally but natural enemy, a werewolf.

Autumn’s strengths as a mere shape shifter mean little against her boyfriend-turned-werewolf ex. As if the lying cheat wasn't menacing enough as a human. The new boy at school, Zack de Luca, rushes to her defense and Autumn winds up trapped somewhere between normal teenage life and an inter-species battle. But she has no intention of letting a little thing like potential death come between her and Zack, the werewolf boy she loves.

Excerpt:

With my heightened senses, I drew in the scent of pine and earth. Stars glowed and twinkled in the dark above as I reveled in the crisp night air. My ears picked up the chirps of crickets and a small animal rustling in the nearby brush.

What undiscovered abilities might I have? With my body’s ability to heal rapidly, could I be killed? Would I require a stake through the heart like a vampire or a silver bullet like a werewolf? Werewolves, vampires and leprechauns… They were probably in the forest right now, watching me.

I laughed. Sure, Autumn.

But Zack was real and he’d been unusually agreeable earlier. Why the sudden change? How long would it last?

Racing between trees, I worked off my frustration at him and the events of the past week. Like lightening, I charged through the forest, furry little animals scampering in my wake. As my lungs effortlessly took in air, a familiar scent met me and I slid to a halt, bits of dirt spraying the nearby shrubs.

Wolf.

He came into view beyond a clump of trees, black and magnificent. A few yards away, he hesitated, almost as though he didn’t want to scare me. I can’t explain why I suddenly felt so comfortable with this wild beast, but I did.

Giveaway!!

Okay, I have read each of the first 3 books and can guarantee you that they are all awesome!! With that in mind, I am so excited to let you know that Veronica is giving away one print copy of Something Witchy This Way Comes! US addresses only, please. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below! Contest ends Midnight, January 28th!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

2012-01-19T03:00:00.000-06:00

Obsidian
By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Paperback: 292 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (December 6, 2011)

About: Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

My Review:

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout is categorized as a young adult novel in the mixed genre of science fiction/paranormal. While this is true, I, as an adult, fell in love with the story, so feel that it goes beyond that age range, as many YA novels do today. Within Obsidian, readers will find a truly unique storyline, enormous tension, romance, humor, suspense; paranormal and engrossing reading that will hold their attention and melt the real world away. This is the experience that I had while reading, in any case.

While Obsidian is about Aliens, you do not have to be a Sci-Fi/Alien fan to become immensely absorbed within the pages of this book. Personally, I have not had that much experience reading books revolving around Aliens; however that did not stop me from falling deeply into this story. Ms. Armentrout has penned a masterpiece of engrossing and incredibly entertaining literature.

Katy is a teenage girl who has recently lost her father to a sudden diagnosis and death from Cancer. It is for this reason that her mother has decided that the best thing for both of them is to move to someplace completely different and begin their lives again. After meeting one of her neighbors, Dee, she quickly makes an instant connection and friendship. It is after meeting Dee’s twin brother, Daemon, that the real fun begins!

For some reason, Daemon acts as though he cannot stand even the mere sight of Katy. His attitude is a bit like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – one moment he is absolutely horrid, the next tolerable. The banter between the two builds some unbelievable tension, as well as sizzling chemistry, that will hold the reader’s eyes glued to the pages. Toss in the discovery that the beyond gorgeous twins are actually Alien beings of light (and they are not the only ones) and you have one heck of a story.

Ms. Armentrout ignites the imagination with a paranormal story that is not all that far-fetched. Never was there a moment where I rolled my eyes and thought to myself “whatever, this is so out there”, instead my attention was instant, unwavering and solid. Smooth, tight, believable and just plain delicious, Obsidian will be a book that will remain on my mind for a long time, as will the sassiness of the characters and the smoldering sexiness of Daemon. The ending was perfection for leaving the reader yearning for more and I cannot wait to see what happens next between these two and the other characters.

Mind-blowingly amazing. These were the words that instantly popped into my mind as I finished the final page of Obsidian. Oh, yeah, and WHY?!?!?! I truly and honestly did not want this story to end. I am so incredibly in love with the characters and their story. I want more, more, more!! Thankfully, this is book one and the story will continue, though not nearly soon enough for me.

Favorite Quote: It was past one in the afternoon, and Daemon looked as if he’d just rolled out of bed. His jeans were rumpled, hair tousled and all over the place. He was on the phone, talking to someone as he rubbed a hand along his jaw.

And he was shirtless.

“Doesn’t he own a shirt?” I asked, grabbing a spade.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Not even in the winter. He’s always running around half-dressed.” She groaned. “It’s disturbing that I have to see so much of his…skin. Yuck.”

Yuck for her. And hot damn for me.

*My review of Obsidian originally appeared at Romancing the Book

Jennifer L. Armentrout:

Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you've heard about her state aren't true. When she's not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russel Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories....which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Rogers.

Tracie McBride ~ Day 19 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways

2012-01-19T00:01:00.002-06:00

Tracie McBride is a New Zealander who lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 80 print and electronic publications, including Horror Library Vols 4 and 5, Abyss and Apex, Dead Red Heart and Electric Velocipede. She won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent for 2007. Her short story and poetry collection “Ghosts Can Bleed” was released in April 2011 by the writer's co-operative Dark Continents Publishing, of which she is vice president. She welcomes visitors to her blog

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool speculative fiction fan, both as a reader and a writer. Although my writing is firmly rooted in science fiction and fantasy traditions, it often crosses over into horror territory.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

The funny thing is, I often don’t like my characters very much, which is why I don’t mind doing horrible things to them. Most writers put a piece of themselves in their work, and the character who most resembles me is the freshly deceased mother-of-three Sharon in the story “Last Chance to See”. I have a lot of empathy for Brother Tomas in “Baptism”, who despite his ultimate failure, is a good guy with honourable intentions. And the amoral “tiger” from “The Last Tiger” was the most fun to imagine and set loose on an equally amoral world. All three of these short stories are in my collection Ghosts Can Bleed.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

As I write short stories and poems, you can find a bit of me here, a bit of me there… Ghosts Can Bleed is my collected speculative fiction works from 2005 to 2010, but you can also get a taste of more recent work in the e-book April Fool and other Antipodean horror stories and in the print anthology The Spectrum Collection.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I hang out in all the usual places – Facebook, Goodreads and on my blog. Much as I am tempted, I don’t tweet, as I fear that if I add one more social networking site to my list, then my butt might become permanently melded to my computer chair. ;-) I love making friends that I haven’t yet met, so don’t be shy, come on over and befriend me!

Links – Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Blog

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

A good, convenient and reliable internet connection. Our modem broke down last year, and I was having withdrawal symptoms within a few hours.

Book Spotlight!

Ghosts Can Bleed

Alien landscapes and mythic societies…creatures of the night and the more terrifying monsters of the human psyche…

Be warned: Ghosts Can Bleed… but it’s not just the blood you should be worried about…

Last Chance To See – what if you had a chance to attend your own funeral? A reincarnation facility offers this opportunity, but you won’t be quite as your family remembered…

House Arrest – Angela misses the social event of the year when she realises that there’s no place like home– and no dietary aid in the world like it, dahlings!

Baptism – Brother Tomas is the fourth friar to visit the island of Koreka with a holy mission: to save the immortal souls of the mermaids who live there. But the mermaids have an unholy baptism of their own to offer…

Killing A Goddess - The Goddess demands a sacrifice, and Laura is a willing volunteer. It is a great honour for the five young men chosen to assist in the ritual. But do they really know what they are letting themselves in for?

Ghosts Can Bleed - Maurice knows, because he is one…

DreamCatcher – will prevent bad dreams coming through to you. But what do you do with the nightmares that are caught in it? What if you could return them to their owners?

Rush Hour – Virgil retreads Dante’s Inferno, twenty-first century style. Wasps, tornadoes and dirty nappies block his path – and that’s before the motorway…

Marked – being scarred by lightning is like being touched by the hand of God. This divine spark is essential, because only the Marked can see the creatures that hunger for us…

Blue Screen of Death – Sara’s dead. Again. With Heaven’s computer system failing, and God on holiday, it’ll take a genius hacker to fix it. Problem is, he’s not on Heaven’s database…

Diagnosis – all aspects of human health can be scientifically measured, analysed and assessed. But there’s one measure Dr Chad has neglected to notice…

By turns terrifying, darkly comic, surreal and stomach-churning, these forty one stories and poems from award-winning author Tracie McBride open the veins of the world to show humanity in a different – and much darker – light.

Excerpt from “Baptism”

Brother Tomas drew his habit tightly around himself, a futile gesture against the biting sea wind. He eyed the tiny island in the middle of the bay that would be his new home. He had been in Koreka for less than a half a day, and already he was homesick for the Secoduna Desert. His superiors had decreed that he be sent here, and they took their instruction directly from God, but sometimes he wondered if they might not occasionally be mistaken in their interpretation. Have faith, Brother, he silently chastised himself. Surely, this was no mistake; if anyone could succeed where others had failed, it would be him.
“You're the fourth friar I've rowed out there in as many months,” said Mellie, the rawboned young woman who had been assigned as his escort. She gripped the oars with two windchapped, meaty hands and leaned back, sending the little boat surging against the wavelets. “But I didn't row any of them back, not alive, leastways. What makes you think you'll do better?”
“Greater experience, true devotion to and faith in Our Lord, and a plentiful supply of chasteberry tea.” Tomas smiled and patted his rucksack. His smile faded as he sniffed the air. “What's that smell?”
Mellie looked over her shoulder. A large log bobbed in the water several feet away. Mellie grinned humourlessly and rowed harder until they grew level with the object. A ripe, overwhelming stench rose from it. The 'log' had a face.
The corpse floated on its back, its eye sockets empty and its mouth open to the sky. It still wore its shirt, cravat and jacket, but was naked from the waist down. Its groin was a ragged mess of tattered, bloodless flesh. Tomas retched and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve.
“What's the matter, Brother?” said Mellie. “Haven't you ever seen a dead man before?”
“I've dealt with many bodies, but they were all...”
“Less chewed?”
“I was going to say 'drier'.”
“You'd better get used to it. Most of them wash up on your island.” Mellie picked up a pike, hooked it through the dead man's shirt and dragged it to the side of the boat. With a grunt, she hauled it over the side and dropped it at Tomas's feet, sending up a fresh miasma of decay.
“They all think they can withstand the lure of the mermaids' song. We try to warn them, but...” She shook her head.
“...but if you tried too hard, it might be bad for business,” Tomas finished. With all the able-bodied menfolk of the town either dead or moved away, their traditional livelihood of fishing was defunct, their nets left to rot on the shore. Perversely, the town thrived, their boats converted from functional fishing vessels to pleasure craft as men flocked from all parts of the country. Most came seeking to satisfy their prurient curiosity, some came to challenge themselves, but save for a few wretched suicides, they all expected to live to tell the tale.
But Tomas was not here for those misguided men. He was here to save the mermaids' immortal souls.
As if in response to his thoughts, a dozen sleek heads broke the surface of the water within arm's length of the boat. Mellie hissed and smacked at the mermaids with her oar. They hissed back and retreated to a safer distance.
“They like to hang around and gloat when we bring in a body, the filthy bitches.” She spat into the sea. Her spittle rested for an instant on the surface before dissipating. “Pardon my language, Brother.”
Tomas barely heard her. He crossed himself as the mermaids encircled the boat, his eyes never leaving them. He had been told that there were no mermen, and that in the absence of available human partners, mermaids coupled with other sea creatures. Indeed, he could see evidence of this in their features; one had a fat round face that bristled with spikes, suggesting that she had been sired by a puffer fish. Another, with her tiny little black eyes set wide on either side of an elongated face, was undoubtedly the offspring of a shark. The impression intensified as she opened her mouth and gave a gurgling approximation of a human laugh, displaying three rows of razor sharp teeth.
He had also been told that, even when they were not singing, the mermaids exuded a malignant glamour, and that to be in close proximity with one was to experience temptation on an almost unbearable scale. His manhood stiffened and pressed against his breechclout, and he shuffled painfully in his seat, anxious to conceal it from Mellie. He had resisted the advances of many a bejewelled Secoduna beauty, yet one look at these creatures and he had to grip the sides of the boat to stop from flinging himself into the water.
“A new man of God!” the shark-like one said. Her voice bubbled like slow-boiling porridge, and Tomas's stomach roiled. “I do hope you will be as...entertaining as the last ones.” Her tail undulated, propelling her torso above the water's surface, and she flung back her long black hair to thrust her breasts at him.
Nobody had told him about the gills.

Giveaway!

I don't know about you, but after reading this and checking out Tracie's books, I am dying to get my hands on a few!!! Tracie is generously giving one lucky winner a print copy of Ghosts Can Bleed - and this is open Internationally! How cool is that? To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below and feel free to leave a question and/or comment for Tracie below! Contest is open until Midnight, January 28th!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Bloodspell by Amalie Howard

2012-01-18T09:49:00.000-06:00

Bloodspell
By: Amalie Howard

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Langdon Street Press (a division of Hillcrest Publishing Group, Inc.) (June 1, 2011)

About: The spell was simple... ''Cruentus Protectum'' (''Defend the Blood'')
But what do you do if your blood is your enemy?

Victoria Warrick has always known she was different. An outcast at school, she is no stranger to adversity. But when she receives an old journal for her seventeenth birthday, nothing prepares her for the dark secrets it holds--much less one that reveals she's a witch with unimaginable power.

What's more, when she meets the dazzling but enigmatic Christian Devereux, she has no idea how much her life is about to change. Enemies will hunt her. Friends will turn on her. The terrible curse that makes her blood run black will stop at nothing to control her. And Christian has a sinister secret of his own...

Without knowing whom to trust, can Victoria survive her blood's deadly desires? Or will she lose everything, including herself?

My Review:

Amalie Howard proves that there can be a new and unique twist to the ever-popular vampire/witch theme so prevalent in today’s Young Adult genre.

Strange things are beginning to happen to Victoria (Tori) Warrick and after a mysterious illness lands her in the hospital for a lengthy stay, she transfer to a new school to hopefully begin a new life. That life is beyond anything she could imagine and not in a good way.

On her 17th birthday, Tori is given a gift from her deceased Grandmother via her Aunt Holly. The gift contains an old journal as well as powerful amulet tucked within an intricately carved wooden box. The journal tells a dark and haunting story of a long ago ancestor. Within these aged pages, Tori will find answers, as well as more disturbing questions to discover who she really is and what her destiny holds.

Within Tori blood, boils a curse and all-consuming power that she must learn to control, before it overtakes and controls her. Add to this realization the appearance of a mysterious and darkly handsome stranger and Tori will be in for the physical and emotional fight of her life.

Christian is a vampire and any type of relationship with a witch is strictly forbidden. However, the powerful pull and chemistry between Tori and Christian is impossible to ignore. Once Christian discovers who Tori is and exactly what her blood is capable of, he knows that he will stop at nothing to keep her safe – just as her enemies will stop at nothing to take her blood for their own.

Bloodspell is an amazing paranormal ride that grabbed me from the beginning and filled me with surprises and eagerness to fly through the pages to discover what was going to happen next. I loved the characterization of both Tori and Christian. They are both remarkably strong, courageous and brilliant. The story truly never had a lull in action and was filled with twist and turns. What made Bloodspell different than many other stories within this genre? It was darker and though it had the “forbidden love” theme to it, it was not the main plot of the story. There were no mushy “woe is me” types of thoughts throughout and the characters are incredibly mature, which kicks the story up another notch. In addition, the idea that blood can hold such powerful magic is intriguing, as well as the fact that this curse (or blessing) is carried on through the maternal blood line.

Readers will find themselves swept away within the complex, intricate and massively incredible and enjoyable story, Bloodspell, crafted by an amazingly talented author. Amalie Howard will blow minds with her debut work, which plays out like a veteran author’s works. She definitely has an amazing future ahead of her and I can’t wait to read what she releases next! I highly recommend Bloodspell to lovers of the paranormal – young adult or not.

Favorite Quote: This is a special birthday for Warrick women. It marks both an end and a beginning, the end of what we know and the beginning of what we are to become. Don’t fear it. Embrace it. You are a Warrick.

*my review was originally published at Romancing the Book

Amalie Howard:

AMALIE HOWARD grew up on a small Caribbean island where she spent most of her childhood with her nose buried in a book or being a tomboy running around barefoot, shimmying up mango trees and dreaming of adventure. She received a bachelor’s degree from Colby College in Maine in International Studies and French, and a certificate in French Literature from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France. She has also lived in Los Angeles, Boston, and New York City. She has worked as a research assistant, marketing rep, global sales executive, freelance writer, and blogger. A lover of other cultures and new experiences, especially of the culinary variety, she has traveled extensively across North America and Europe, and as far east as China, Indonesia, and Australia. She currently resides in New York with her husband, three children, and one very willful cat that she is convinced may have been a witch’s cat in a past life.

Amalie Howard’s debut novel, BLOODSPELL, evolved from a short story that took on an eerie life of its own, and is undoubtedly the result of a lifelong infatuation with witchcraft, vampires, and excessive amounts of chocolate.

TEN FUN FACTS ABOUT AMALIE:-

1. She’s traveled to 141 cities in 18 countries.

2. She fenced competitively in college.

3. She lived and studied in France for several years (she still looks back on them as some of the best, most self-defining years of her life).

4. She danced ballet for nine years but stopped to focus on academics.

5. She is a Padi-certified deep-water scuba diver.

6. She entered and won a beauty pageant when she was 16.

7. She’s a closet gear-head. She loves cars, bikes, boats and anything with an engine.

8. She bungee-jumped 765 feet off of the Macau Tower in China.

9. She has three tattoos.

10. She once surfed on the coast of Australia and a 20-foot great white shark was spotted there the next day.

Felicia Rogers ~ Day 18 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-18T00:01:00.002-06:00

Meet Felicia Rogers!

Felicia Rogers, born and raised in the southern part of the United States, is a Christian wife and mother. She is just your average, ordinary woman, with a side interest-- writing. For eleven years, every waking moment of her life was consumed with changing diapers, wiping noses, and kissing scrapes. But now that her children have grown and she enjoys a modicum of freedom, in addition to taking care of hearth and home, she writes! She enjoys adding a flavor of realism and humor to her all too real romance stories. For what is love without a little laughter?

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

Personally my favorite genre to read is romance. If we have to digger deeper I would say historical romance with a twist of time travel.

As far as my favorite genre to write, that is a tricky question. So far I’ve written and published two YA paranormal suspense novels, two short contemporary romances, and a historical suspense romance, which I hope to be the first of a five part series. Within the next month I will have a chick-lit and an inspirational suspense published as well. I really don’t have a favorite genre to write. I enjoy placing every story that comes into my head down on paper.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My favorite character I’ve written would have to be Cedric. He was the first male hero I really created and he is in the book, There Your Heart Will Be Also. The reasons I like him, is he’s Scottish, and he wears a kilt. He’s also protective, flirty, and handsome.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Recommending a book to a new reader is always difficult. In the past year I’ve noticed that not all readers have the same tastes. What I like others may not. But I guess if the reader is into YA paranormal I would suggest my book, The Key. If they are into historical novels I would go with There Your Heart Will Be Also. However, if they are just looking for a short romantic read they could try, The Holiday Truce or The Perfect Rose. As you can see, I have something for everyone.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Readers can find me at my website ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Email

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Coffee! You ask what is the one thing I can’t live without and I give you coffee. No way could I go more than a day and not drink some of the steamy brew. It wakes me up and starts my morning. I enjoy the smell, the taste with the right about of flavored creamer, the warmth, I love it all!

Just to share a little secret, I have a shirt which carries a message concerning this very thing. It says, “Is there life before coffee?” And my answer is, “Of course not!”

Book Spotlight:

There Your Heart Will Be Also

Only daughter of an English lord, Sarra of Greenbriar, is used to getting her way. So when her father passes and the King begins sending suitors, she feels justified in taking matters into her own hands. Through a series of harmless pranks, Sarra works to keep the potential husbands at bay.

Cedric MacNeil is a Scotsman that has lost it all. Death claimed his parents and jealousy claimed his entitled position as Laird of his clan. Since his mother was a familiar of the English court, he leaves his native land and heads to England to fight on behalf of the English King. Tournaments are won, earning honor and glory for the crown. Cedric’s reward is the opportunity to gain what he wants most in this life, land.

But as he gets to know Sarra, he realizes he might get more than he bargained for.

Available at: Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Astraea Press

The Perfect Rose

Abandoned by his wife and left to raise a child alone, Caleb Reed falls short of the ideal work-from-home dad. He needs a woman to help him, in every sense of the word. At the suggestion of a friend, Caleb agrees to hire Ariel Lauren on a trial basis.

As an orphan, Ariel has more issues than just how to make it on her on. Yes, she needs the money that Caleb offers her, but more than anything she finds she desires his love. One calamity after another befalls her and jeopardizes her new job and her chance at having a family. But through it all, Caleb is by her side, his gruff exterior threatening to melt in the face of their shared attraction. Will they decide to continue life alone or will the magic of Valentine's Day bring them together?

Available at: Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Astraea Press

Giveaway!

Felicia Rogers is graciously giving away one pdf copy of There Your Heart Will Be Also and The Perfect Rose to two lucky winners (one title per winner)! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Midnight, January 28th!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

D.G. Gass ~ Day 17 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-17T00:01:00.002-06:00

Who is D.G. Gass?

Inspired by Walt Whitman and Carolyn Keefe, author D.G. Gass, from a young age, has always loved to write. It just took 40-years for her to believe in her work enough for it not to find the trash when she finished. Originally from Jeannette, PA, the Yankee transplant, currently resides in Columbia, SC with her husband and daughter, not to mention, three cats that own her.

A veteran of the US Air Force, whose day job is in healthcare IT, the author has a passion for veterans issues, which is the driving force behind her first book, “Ghosts of Arlington”. When she’s not writing, she can be found curled up with a good book, working on handcrafts, or staring blankly at walls in a catatonic state.

D.G. Gass released her first poetry compilation, Twilight Ponderings, Midnight Musings at the beginning of 2011. The compilation is a series of poetry and prose that was born out of loving someone with diagnosed chronic depression.

• What genres are your favorites to read?

Paranormal/horror, mystery, romance

How about to write in?

Not sure yet. Ghosts of Arlington is a mixture of paranormal and romance. I currently have a murder mystery, a horror and a romance in the works. I guess I'll know the answer to that question by the end of 2012.

• Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written?

Billy Benning. Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in. In Ghosts of Arlington, Billy is Aaron's brother. While he's not a major character, he's the antagonist to the main character, Candace. Writing his dialogue was fun.

• For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Ghosts of Arlington. Not only is it my first work of fiction, but a portion of the royalties for each book sold is donated to the Wounded Warrior Project

• Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

On Facebook ~ Twitter ~ web

• What is one thing that you could not live without?

Coffee, isn't that a necessity for everyone?

Book Spotlight:

Ghosts of Arlington

Not all ghosts remain on the battlefield...

As an Army wife, Candace Benning understood and was prepared for what might happen. She was prepared when her husband was sent to the Middle East twice. She was prepared when they told her of his injuries and the months of therapy that would be needed. She was prepared for the psychological battles he might face. She was prepared for everything - or so she thought.

After witnessing her husband's suicide, Candace tries to move on, despite the emotions and the memories that haunt her. But memories aren't the only things haunting her. Recurring dreams and unexplained events have her worried for her sanity. Was she experiencing the effects of posttraumatic stress or was there really something beyond the grave reaching out?

And what about Everett Bayard, the reporter in search of a story in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal?Was his appearance just a coincidence or was there something else behind it? Whatever it was, Everett would be the key that draws Candace back into a fight she had hoped she'd left behind.A fight to save the Ghosts of Arlington.

Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com

Giveaway!!

D.G. Gass is offering one lucky winner a copy of her book Ghosts of Arlington in the format of their choice (ecopy or print - print for US addresses only, ecopy International) To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Midnight January 28th.

Good Luck, Everyone!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Greg Messel ~ Day 16 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-16T00:01:00.001-06:00

Who is Greg Messel?

Greg Messel has written three novels and three unpublished memoirs. He published his premiere novel “Sunbreaks” in 2009, followed by “Expiation” in 2010 and “The Illusion of Certainty” in 2011. Greg has had a newspaper career as a columnist, sportswriter and news editor. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist. Greg also spent many years in the corporate world as a Financial Manager. He now devotes his energies to writing at his home in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Carol.

You can visit his website, connect with Greg on Twitter or Facebook.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I like mysteries but not serial killer stuff. I think that has been way overdone. I read a lot of non fiction and especially love biographies. I just finished a new book called “The List” about Jewish families in London right after the war trying to locate their family members. Great book. As far as writing, I have written three historical romance books. I think the most interesting challenge faced by most humans is in relationships. It’s a miracle that we fall in love and find happiness. I am currently writing a mystery set in 1957 in San Francisco that I’m really excited about.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

Truthfully, I’m most interested in the main character, Sam Slater, the detective in the book I’m writing now. I guess that’s how writers are. I’m most interested in the world I’m creating now. However, I do really like Alex in “The Illusion of Certainty.” Alex is a woman, a young attorney, who is trying to work out her life and overcome a crushing loss. I think most of the readers of “The Illusion of Certainty” are really rooting for Alex.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

I’m very fond of my second book “Expiation” which is the story of long lost love. However, I would recommend starting with my third book, “The Illusion of Certainty.”

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I’m on Facebook and Twitter every day. You can always contact me on my blog at www.gregmessel.com

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

I know I should say my wife and that’s true. However, I’m addicted to my iPhone. It makes my life happen. I constantly listen to all my music, check the traffic in Seattle, watch the stock market, keep up on my e mail, Twitter and Facebook and take pictures. On airplane trips I watch movies or read books. How does it get better than that?

Book Spotlight:

The Illusion of Certainty follows two parallel storylines. Marc is a successful businessman who seems to have everything—a great job, a beautiful wife, a house in an upscale neighborhood of Portland, Oregon and two great kids who are preparing for college. But something is not right. Marc is unsettled by the sudden change in his wife, Aimee, who seems distant and unhappy. What’s going on with her?

The second storyline involves a successful young attorney, Alexandra Mattson. Alex, as she is called by her friends, meets a handsome young cop, Sean, during an unexpected crisis in her neighborhood. Sean and Alex seem made for each other and begin to merge their futures in a world of uncertainty.

The only certainty in life is that we will face uncertainty. Despite all fo the technology and controls available in the modern world, sometimes the only comfort comes from the human touch.

Excerpt:

The naked woman stood motionless, leaning against the wall of the
shower and letting the hot water strike the top of her head and cascade
down her back. She placed her hands flat against the tiled shower wall and
leaned forward and closed her eyes. The warm water soothed her exhausted
body and she felt enveloped in its comforting caress.
She felt safe and was now pampering herself after a grueling night shift
at the hospital where she was a nurse. A nurse with considerable responsibilities.
Aimee Hunt-Wilson had enough experience and clout to avoid these
awful shifts but as a supervisor she was on a mission this summer. She had
been working nights most of the summer to try to rehabilitate the night shift,
which was in disarray. Someone needed to repair the damage brought on by
an incompetent supervisor who was now gone. Aimee was trying to shape
things up. It’s what Aimee did best; however, it was taking a toll on her.
Marc Wilson was having his first moments of consciousness on this
Tuesday morning. He slept alone. That was happening more and more these
days. From the bed he could see Aimee, his wife, through the clear glass
box that was the shower in their master suite. The only light filtering into the
bedroom and casting a soft light on Marc’s bed was the light from Aimee’s
shower.
He leaned up on his elbow and gazed through the steam at the nude
Aimee. He was getting aroused. Marc still loved his wife’s body. Lately,
when he saw her, she was always hidden in the baggy scrubs she wore at
the hospital. Her long black hair was plastered to her wet bare back by the
shower water. Aimee always tanned so well. At this point in the summer she
had a perfect swimsuit tan. Her body had matured but it had actually gotten
better since the college days when they first met.
Her breasts and hips were fuller now but the rest of Aimee’s body was
taunt and lean. She was about 5-5, probably in the best shape of her life. Aimee
obsessively exercised and carefully monitored her diet. After her shower she
would come to bed to rest and then be pounding the pavement this afternoon
running, getting in her miles. Aimee had always been so meticulous about
what she ate and she imposed the same standards on Marc.
Marc’s favorite meal, a burger and fries, was considered in the same
category as rat poison by Aimee. If Marc went through a fast food window
to sneak a burger, he felt compelled to hide the evidence from Aimee.
But all of this vigilance certainly paid off in the way Aimee looked. This
mother of two, with a manic schedule, looked terrific as she approached
Illusion of Certainty
middle age. Her long dark hair, which was naturally curly, was a stunning
combination with her bright blue eyes.
Marc now lay in the early morning light watching Aimee step from the
shower, all pink and soft, as she began to towel off. She then plugged in
her hair dryer, bent over and began to dry her long hair. As he observed her
maneuvers to dry her hair, he was taking in the sight of her bouncing breasts
and lovely body. Marc knew that when she finished, she would quickly
throw on one of his oversized t-shirts and jump under the covers—just as it
was time for Marc to get out of bed and begin his day.
Marc rolled out of bed and attempted to head her off before she dressed
and made it to the bed. He was hoping that somehow he could have her,
that he could enjoy the physical pleasures of his sexy wife. This had not
been planned but the moment was presenting itself and he wanted her. Marc
hoped Aimee would want the intimacy, too.
Aimee slipped on some bright blue bikini panties just as Marc stood in
front of her and said, “Hey you’re really looking sexy this morning.”
“Oh Marc, I’m so exhausted, you seem to have the world’s worst
timing.”
“Oh come on Aimee, wouldn’t it be fun?”
“Trust me Marc, it wouldn’t be fun right now. I just need some sleep.”
“So when, in this whole summer, would you suggest I make love to
you?”
“Marc,” Aimee said with resignation, “I’m begging you to not start right
now.”

Giveaway!

Greg Messel is offering readers a chance to win 1 of 2 print copies of his wonderful book The Illusion of Certainty! US Addresses only please. To enter please fill in the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Midnight, January 21st!

Good Luck, Everyone!

*This edition of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways is also part of Pump Up Your Book! Virtual Tour stop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post ~ Nicolette Dumke

2012-01-15T23:50:00.001-06:00

2012, Here I Come!

One advantage of middle age is the awareness of being much closer to the end of life than the beginning. This motivates me to make my time really count. I want to get as much as I can from 2012, and especially to never miss an opportunity to let my family and friends know how much I care about them.

The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight according to an article about weight loss in the January issue of “Yellow Scene,” a local Colorado magazine. The writer describes her experience of losing 20 pounds by joining a gym and working with a trainer. For the last several months she has spent the first hour of her day, six days a week, doing cardio and weight training at the gym. Achieving a healthy weight is a worthwhile goal and may even give us a more years in our lives, but exercise, when taken to the extreme described in this article, can make us less likely to permanently maintain a healthy weight. Walkers have the best track record for achieving and maintaining weight loss. See this page for more about how to exercise in a way that leads to permanent weight loss:
http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/exercise_right.html.

I am not making a resolution to diet or join a gym in 2012 because over 30 years ago I began a healthy eating plan designed to control hunger and insulin levels which has resulted in permanent healthy weight. To read more about my experience with weight loss, read pages 12 to 14 of this file:
http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/assets/InsideFGWL.pdf. To read about other people’s experiences, see the review at the top of page 2 and the letter on pages 5 to 6 of the file. To discover the principles behind easily-achieved self-maintaining healthy weight, see this page: http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/controlling_hormones.html.

In 2012, I would like to spend the time I don’t have to spend at a gym on fun activities such as these:

1. I would like to take more walks on the bike path that runs through our neighborhood. I’m planning to walk all the way to the west edge of the mesa we live on and spend time looking at the spectacular panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains. Not only is walking the best way to become and stay slim, when one walks surrounded by natural beauty, it is also very enjoyable!

2. I intend to finish a counted cross stitch project that was supposed to be a Christmas gift in 2011. It is a mantle clock with a stitched face, a fancy edge, and a verse. The kit includes a wooden frame (which I did actually stain and finish in 2011) and a clock mechanism. I love doing counted cross stitch because it is relaxing, creative, and says “I love you” to the recipient of the gift in a way that will outlive me.

3. I plan to make a piano bench cover for my husband. We recently had his piano tuned for the first time in ten years, and he wants to play it more than he has the last few years. I hope this gift will help motivate him to unwind with enjoyable piano practice often.

4. I want to make a long curtain for the patio-type door of my older son’s music room (small spare bedroom). The former owner left a thin curtain, but the one I plan to make with music-design fabric and an insulated backing will fit the theme of the room and decrease his utility bill. Like the previous two projects in this list, the curtain will be a gift that I hope reminds him that I love him every time he looks at it.

5. I’m hoping to re-learn to play the euphonium (tenor tuba) and be ready to participate in Tuba Christmas in December 2012. My two sons and I played in the Denver Tuba Christmas outdoor concert together for five years. Then I played by without them the year when my younger son was a freshman in college and my older son was a grad student at Purdue. (As an undergrad, he was 125 miles away and came home from college every year for Tuba Christmas). Playing without my sons was not as much fun and I got very busy with my business – too busy to practice – so I didn’t touch my horn for five years! A few weeks ago, we spent a whole day at the 2011 Tuba Christmas rehearsal and concert and watched our older son play. That day I decided that for the next Tuba Christmas I want to be sitting with my older son on the floor of the gym where they rehearse, where I will feel the whole building vibrate in time to the music. My younger son unstuck my horn valves for me, and I’m working on getting the muscle tone back in my lips and relearning the fingerings. There is a lot of work to do before I will be able to really play again. It’s coming back slowly because I didn’t learn this instrument when I was young. I was an adult beginner on euphonium at age 47!

Here are five health and work-related goals I hope to achieve in 2012:

1. I am going to continue attending a warm water exercise class one morning a week and, if time permits, would like to go twice a week. In addition to keeping me flexible and strengthening my muscles, this class is a wonderful time spent with friends. Although I attend the class for arthritis, moderate exercise such as this is ideal for weight loss.

2. I’m gradually increasing the resistance on my stationery bike, and hope to keep bumping up the number as the year progresses. I bicycle for arthritis, but leisurely to moderate-speed bicycling is also great for weight.

3. I am going to continue promoting my newest book, Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss: Control Your Body Chemistry, Reduce Inflammation, and Improve Your Health. My goal is to get the website for this book, http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/, up to page one on Google searches. The book is currently on an online virtual tour which includes this blog post.

4. I am going to finish a revision of one of my older books, The Low Dose Immunotherapy Handbook. (More information about this book and treatment and food allergies in general can be found here: http://www.food-allergy.org/). There have been changes in sources for some of the very exotic foods people eat around the time of their low dose immunotherapy treatment for food allergies, so new recipes were needed. The revision is in the final edit stage now.

5. I plan to start my next book, a sequel to Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss. In the last ten months since that book came out, I’ve talked to people who are following the eating plan. The thing that amazes me is how little some of them have to do to lose weight. A minor change in the timing of their eating pattern can lead to amazing results! I talked to a woman made one change – she began eating breakfast – and she lost ten pounds in a couple of months time. Another woman has not given up sugar but is diligent about eating protein-containing snacks and has gone from a clothing size 24 to a size 18. For these people, minor changes have obviously made their insulin levels low and stable and put their bodies into the “burn fat” mode as discussed on this page http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/controlling_hormones.html. Also, I have new recipes ideas to add fun to the eating plan. I want to develop these recipes and include them in the new book.

With all these things to accomplish this year, it’s time to get started. Here I come, 2012!

Nickie Dumke enjoys helping people with food allergies and gluten intolerance find solutions to their health and weight problems. She began writing books to help others with multiple food allergies over 20 years ago and the process culminated in The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide. She says, “This book contains everything I know to help with food allergies,” and it has helped many people come back from near-starvation. Her other books address issues such as how to deal with time and money pressures on special diets, keeping allergic children happy on their diets, and more.

A few years ago, while listening to the struggles of an allergic friend on the Weight Watchers™ diet, she remembered her own weight struggles* many years ago and thought, “There has to be a better way.” This was the beginning of a new quest, and she is now helping those who are overweight due to inflammation (often due to unsuspected food allergies) or high-in-rice gluten-free diets, as well as those who are not food sensitive but want to lose weight permanently, healthily, and without feeling hungry and deprived. Her unique approach to weight and health presented in Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss is based on body physiology and reveals why conventional weight-loss diets work against rather than with our bodies and therefore rarely result in permanent weight loss.

* (Nickie’s weight loss story, briefly, is that in her early 20s she could not lose on a calorie-counting diet in spite of repeatedly further reducing the number of calories she ate and swimming vigorously and often. Then she found a diet based on blood sugar control, lost weight without being hungry, and still weighs what she did in her mid-20s).

Nickie has had multiple food allergies for 30 years and has been cooking for special diets for family members and friends for even longer. Regardless of how complex your dietary needs are or how much or little cooking you have done, she has the books and recipes you need. Her books present the science behind multiple food allergies and weight control in an easily-understood manner. She has BS degrees in medical technology and microbiology. She and her husband live in Louisville, Colorado and have two grown sons.

You can visit Nickie’s websites at http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com and http://www.food-allergy.org.

Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss answers the question, “Why is it so hard to lose weight?” Because it’s hard to put a puzzle together if you’re missing some of the pieces. We’ve been missing or ignoring the most important pieces in the puzzle of how our bodies determine whether to store or burn fat. Those puzzle pieces are hormones such as insulin, cortisol, leptin, and others.

In addition, we’ve been given some puzzle pieces that don’t belong or fit in the weight-control puzzle. Much of what we’ve heard about dieting and exercise is incorrect and can cause loss of muscle mass instead of fat or even result in weight gain. The idea that weight is determined solely by “calories in minus calories out” is an assumption not based in reality. Most weight-loss diets require us to endure hunger much of the time, but hunger means that our blood sugar is falling or low and our insulin level may be rising. Prolonged hunger leads to the release of adrenal hormones, and the hormonal cascade which follows results in the inability to burn our own body fat as well as causing any fat we eat to be stored rather than burned to give us energy.

Another problem with most weight loss diets is that they strictly dictate food choices, lack the flexibility that those on special diets for food allergies or gluten-intolerance require, and deprive us of pleasure. Individuals with food allergies face additional weight-loss challenges such as inflammation due to allergies which can lead to our master weight control hormone, leptin, being unable to do its job of maintaining a healthy weight. Those with gluten intolerance often eat a diet too high rice. Rice is the only grain which is high on the glycemic index in its whole grain form; thus eating too much of it will raise insulin levels and cause the body to deposit fat. Although the recipes in this book were developed for those on special diets, non-sensitive people will enjoy them as well, and the weight loss principles in this book will help anyone lose weight. (A chapter of recipes made with wheat and other problematic foods is included for those on unrestricted diets).

The most frustrating deficiency of conventional weight loss diets is that they don’t work long-term. Low-calorie, low-fat diets can lead to loss of muscle mass, and with less muscle to burn calories, this type of diet effectively reduces metabolic rate so we need less food. Rare is the person who loses weight by counting calories and keeps it off after they liberalize their diet! However, continual dieting for the rest of your life is not the way you need to live, and you do not have to be deprived of pleasure in order to lose weight. Overweight is not due to a lack of willpower. Rather, it is due to a chemical imbalance in our bodies. Once we begin to correct that imbalance by applying the principles in Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss, we can lose weight without hunger or deprivation and can maintain a healthy weight permanently and easily by regaining normal self-regulating hormonal control of our weight.

Excerpt:

Why have we cut calories, nearly eliminated fat, exercised strenuously, and yet not lost weight or kept it off? It’s because we were not working with our bodies. Instead, our efforts were based on the faulty assumption that “calories in minus calories out” is the major or only determiner of weight. We were ignoring the most important factors in our bodies’ decisions about whether to store or burn fat – hormones such as insulin, cortisol, leptin, and others…
The hormone insulin has a major influence on weight and hunger. High levels of insulin make us feel hungry and activate the enzyme lipoprotein lipase which takes fatty acids from the blood and stores them as triglycerides in fat cells. Therefore, by preventing insulin spikes, you avoid storing recently eaten fat and leave it in your bloodstream to be used for energy.
Low blood insulin levels allow the enzyme triglyceride lipase to be active. This enzyme promotes the breakdown of the triglycerides stored in fat cells and liberates the fatty acids from them into the bloodstream to be used for fuel. Thus, by keeping your insulin levels stable and low, you can flip your fat control switch from “store” to “burn.”…
The most important hormone for long-term maintenance of a healthy weight is leptin. However, it can be made ineffective by inflammation. You may be thinking, “I don’t have any major problems with inflammation.” Read the next few paragraphs and then decide whether this applies to you.
Sometimes inflammation is obvious – it causes redness, warmth, and/or pain. However, chronic inflammation can be silent. If you are overweight, you may not know it, but you are experiencing silent inflammation. As we gain weight, our bodies do not add more fat cells. The fat cells we already have become larger and are filled with more fat instead. They may leak as they are stretched more and more. Then immune cells called macrophages come in to clean up the mess. The macrophages release inflammatory chemicals in the fatty tissues as they are cleaning up…
Your body counteracts this silent inflammation by producing anti-inflammatory substances. Some of these interfere with the function of the hormone leptin. In optimally healthy people, leptin is responsible for automatically maintaining weight at the right level. Some people do not gain weight no matter what they eat. If they overeat, their well-functioning leptin control system boosts their metabolism and decreases their appetite to restore them to their best weight. When leptin is made ineffective by inflammation, the dysfunction is called leptin resistance, meaning that even though you have normal or high levels of leptin, your leptin does not work to suppress appetite and speed metabolism, thus maintaining a healthy weight.
This may sound like a depressing vicious cycle. Excess fat leads to inflammation and the substances that counteract inflammation (which are necessary to keep silent inflammation from causing symptoms) make it impossible for the body’s weight-control hormone, leptin, to function properly. Don’t despair though – there is a way to break this vicious cycle. There is also good news: As you slim down, leptin resistance abates and when you reach a healthy weight, you won’t have to struggle to maintain your weight. Your newly-functional leptin system will control your appetite and weight.

Review: Love At First Sight by Vincent Zandri ~ Day 15 of 365 Days of Great Authors!

2012-01-15T00:01:00.002-06:00

Love at First Sight
By: Vincent Zandri

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 217 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: StoneGate Ink; 1 edition (October 27, 2011)

About Love at First Sight:

A young U.S. Army officer who’s served in Afghanistan finds himself suffering from intermittent bouts of “hysterical” temporary blindness due to impossible and deadly orders he was forced to obey by high command in the field. When he’s reunited with his fiancée in a military hospital in Germany after being separated for more than year, the couple are encouraged by doctors to travel to Venice, Italy together. There, amongst the canals and the cafes, they try to rekindle their love and fight off their personal demons while trying to comprehend the enormity of the heartbreaking role they now must play in love and war.

My Review: Love At First Sight is a unique and different look at an incredibly talented thriller author. Vincent Zandri has proven himself repeatedly with such thriller releases as Moonlight Falls and The Innocent, as well as the excellent psychological thriller The Remains. Now Mr. Zandri steps away from his comfort zone a bit and brings readers a delightful digital short of what life would be like after facing a tragedy and losing the gift of sight, as well as possibly losing the one that you love.

Often times people can be blind to what and who truly matters in the world around them. Perfect vision does not necessarily mean seeing perfectly.

When Nick is unexplainably blinded shortly after witnessing the fallout of an airstrike that he ordered on a Taliban stronghold, life takes a turn for the worse and he loses any sense of normalcy. His life becomes a darkened nightmare of sorts and his relationship with his fiance, Margo, is anything but stable. As a way to try and get their relationship back on track, Nick and Margo take a trip to Venice, a place of beauty and love. But can anything save and re-establish what they once had?

Love at First Sight is told in a lovely way that truly makes the reader feel as though they are in this exquisite place and feeling the tortures that Nick is going through. To be honest, there were times when I wanted to take something and smack both Nick and Margo upside the head for different reasons. Mostly, I was unhappy with the way Margo drew away from Nick because of his blindness. This was very frustrating to me and I wanted to yell at her to wake up and to move past this disability.

Though short, Love at First Sight is a very well developed, emotionally investing and descriptive story with characters who are very well brought to life. Vincent Zandri shows that his talent for creating stories is very diverse and no matter what genre he chooses to write in, his talent shines through. I greatly and truly enjoyed reading this story and look forward to future releases from Mr. Zandri - in various genres. I highly recommend Love at First Sight for anyone looking for an eye-opening story that will remain in both heart and mind long after the final word has been read.

About Vincent Zandri:

Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling author of THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD, THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT FALLS, CONCRETE PEARL, MOONLIGHT RISES and SCREAM CATCHER. He is also the author of the bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL and MOONLIGHT MAFIA. Harlan Coben has described his novels as "...gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting," while the New York Post called THE INNOCENT, "Sensational...Masterful...Brilliant!" In March, April and May of 2011, he sold more than 100,000 Kindle E-Book editions of his novels. In September 2011, he signed a major deal with Thomas and Mercer of Amazon for the publication of his new novel, Murder by Moonlight, and the re-publication of many of his back-list titles, including The Innocent and The Remains. Zandri's list of publishers also include Delacorte, Dell, StoneHouse Ink and StoneGate Ink. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri's work is translated into many languages including the Dutch, Russian and Japanese. An adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, IBTimes and more, he lives in New York. For more go to WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

Where readers can find Mr. Zandri:

· Website

· Blog

· Amazon Author Page

· Facebook

· Twitter

Follow Vincent Zandri as he visits the Blogosphere!

1/13/2012 Cheryl Grey Review http://the1940mysterywriter.wordpress.com/

1/15/2012 Cafe of Dreams Review http://www.cafeofdreamsbookreviews.com

1/16/2012 Brea Essex - http://clusallnightpreview.blogspot.com/

1/17/2012 Kate Tate Review - http://kayspringsteen.wordpress.com/

1/18/2012 Jenny Review of Love at First Sight - http://madsheepno1.blogspot.com

1/19/2012 Joanna Weiss Review - ( Amazon) Romancing the Book blog

1/20/2012 Brea Essex Interview - http://breaessex.blogspot.com/

1/21/2012 Barbara Mainga Review - Amazon and Goodreads

Chynna Laird Review and Interview - www.the-gift-blog.com

1/23/2012 Feature and Interview with Vincent Zandri sarahballance.wordpress.com

1/25/2012 Guest Post by Vince Zandri - http://jfjenkinswrites.wordpress.com

1/27/2012 Rachel Van Dyken Review http://deliciousromancebyrachel.blogspot.com/

1/28/2012 Meg Mims Review- http://www.double-crossing.com

1/30/2012 Elaine Cantrell Review - http://www.elainecantrell.com

Laura Reese Review - http://smartlit.wordpress.com

1/31/2012 Pavarati Feature and Poll - www.pavarti.com

2/1/2012 Review - sweetheart8181.blogspot.com

2/2/2012 Lindsay Downs Poll and Giveaway http://murdersandmysteries.wordpress.com

2/5/2012 Shannon review of Love At First Sight - cocktailsandbooks.com

2/6/2012 Delany Diamond Interview, Feature, Poll - http://delaneydiamond.com/

2/7/2012 Sherry Gloag Review - http://www.SherryGloag.com or http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blog...

2/14/2012 Misty Rayburn Review - http://www.the-top-shelf.com

2/15/2012 Molly Edwards Review of Love at First Sight - reviewsbymolly.com

Allison Bruning ~ Day 14 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways

2012-01-14T00:01:00.002-06:00

Who is Allison Bruning?

The Executive Director of the Kentucky Young Writers Connection, a non-profit agency of writers who promote young authors throughout the state of Kentucky, Allison originally hails from Marion, Ohio. Her father, Roland Irving Bruning, was the son of German immigrants who came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Her mother's family had been in the United States since the 17th century. Allison is a member of the Daughter of American Revolution, tracing her linage to Rueben Messenger of Connecticut. She enjoys family stories, history and genealogy. Her educational background includes a BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in Anthropology and a Texas Elementary Teaching certificate. Both acquired at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. She received National Honor Society memberships in both Theatre Arts and Communication. Allison was also honored her sophomore year with admission into the All American Scholars register. She holds graduate hours in Cultural Anthropology and Education. In 2007 she was named Who's Who Among America's Educators. She is also the recipient of the Girl Scout Silver and Gold Awards.

Allison lives with her husband in an 1882 Victorian home located in Carrollton, Kentucky. She is renovating it then plans to turn it into a Bed and Breakfast. Her first novel, Calico, is published through Page Turners from Evansville, Indiana. Calico is book one from the series, Children of the Shawnee. She is currently working on the sequel of Calico which features the twin sister of Calico, Rose. She has another series she is also working on. Heritage, which traces the life of her great great grandmother at the turn of the 20th century in Ohio. Allison's interest includes Ohio Valley history, anthropology, travel, culture, history, camping, hiking, backpacking, farm life, and genealogy. Her genres include historical fiction, paranormal, romance, and suspense.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love to read historical fiction, fantasy and adventure. I tend to write historical fiction.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

I really enjoyed writing about Calico’s uncle, Doctor Alexander James Turner. Alexander was physically abused and manipulated by his controlling father since childhood. He is trapped by King George to serve as his slave or face death. Alexander walks a fine line between good and evil. He is a master manipulator trained in the arts of murder, torture, and other devious ploys. He is a gifted physician who struggles with his heart and what he knows. His heart wants to help people but all he knows is blood, sex and pain.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Calico

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I have a Facebook Fan page

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Books and my computer. I love to read and write. I can’t imagine a life without the ability to read or write on a daily basis.

Book Spotlight:

Calico

"A man whose heart appears pure shall deceive you. The power he holds over you leads you to evil. You shall denounce the ways of Our Grandmother. Another man comes, whose pure heart beats for you alone, and who has a pure spirit devoted to Our Grandmother. He shall defeat the evil and set you free." A prophecy has been cast against her. In a harsh world deep within the western frontier of Ohio and Kentucky, Calico Marie Turner must learn to survive among the Shawnee and trust the one man who hates her the most, Chief Little Owl Quick as the Wind.

Giveaway!

Allison Bruning is offering one lucky winner a PDF copy of her book Calico! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below and please feel free to leave a question or comment for Ms. Bruning! Contest ends Midnight, January 21st!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

S.G. Rogers ~ Day 13 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-13T00:01:00.001-06:00

Who is S.G. Rogers?

In her former lives, S.G. Rogers was a lawyer and an actress, but she’s now grown up and settled down as an author. Drawn to fantasy literature, she’s lived in some of the most magical places in America, including La Jolla, California, Asheville, North Carolina, and currently Savannah, Georgia. She resides with her son, husband, and two hairless cats—which look and act quite a bit like dragons. When she’s not writing, she enjoys practicing martial arts.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love young adult fantasy. For some reason, the wonderment of youth seems to be most accurately reflected in YA fantasy…although I’m proof you don’t have to be a teen to enjoy it. Because I love to read it, that’s the genre I’m most often drawn to. Nevertheless, I like to write romantic fantasy occasionally, for its snappy dialogue and romantic tension.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

Oddly enough, it’s often a minor character that makes me laugh. In the Yden series, Fred has the best lines of dialogue. He’s a boy who starts out as a bully but has a HUGE character arc. Fred is often unintentionally funny and endearing, although you wouldn’t believe that if you just read the first part of The Last Great Wizard of Yden.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

If you like YA fantasy, read The Last Great Wizard of Yden. If romantic fantasy is your favorite, try The Magical Misperception of Meridian (February 2012, MuseItUp Publishing) or Clash of Wills (February 2012, The Wild Rose Press).

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

My blog and Facebook

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Tab diet soda. It’s probably a part of my DNA by now. I drink it instead of coffee for breakfast. Mmm.

Book Spotlight:

The Last Great Wizard of Yden

After his father is kidnapped, sixteen-year-old Jon stumbles across a closely guarded family secret–one that will challenge everything he has ever believed about his father and himself. A magical ring his father leaves behind unlocks a portal to another dimension, but in using it, Jon unwittingly unchains the forces of evil. A crisis develops when a malevolent wizard transports to Earth to kidnap Jon’s would-be girlfriend. With the help of some unlikely schoolmates, and a warrior princess from Yden, Jon embarks on a dangerous quest to free his friend and his father from the most vicious wizard the magical world has ever known. In the end, Jon will be forced to fight for his life as he attempts to rescue the last great wizard of Yden.

Excerpt:

One moment Jon was sitting at his drafting table. In the next, he was sprawled in the middle of a dirt road, having fallen painfully on his behind. His wrist was still tingling, as if he’d stuck his finger in a light socket, and his nostrils burned with the unmistakable scent of ozone.

“Get out of the way!” a man yelled.

A wooden cart, pulled by a team of enormous horses, was bearing down on him. Jon rolled to the side as the cart rumbled past, its wheels barely clearing his head. The driver dragged the team to a halt. “I should report you to the cygards,” he snarled.

Before Jon realized what was happening, the driver’s arm recoiled and he let loose a bullwhip. The popper cracked mere centimeters from Jon’s face. As he scrambled to his feet, the cart moved on, raising a cloud of dust in its wake. Jon stumbled backward, coughing, but then the tail of a strange animal snaked around his waist. The beast resembled a stocky horse, but it had stubby horns and hard ridges where the mane should be. The tail was reminiscent of a small elephant’s trunk. Jon shuddered and twisted out of the animal’s reach.

A plump woman hurried toward him, parcel in hand. “You there! Step away from my puleden!”

Puleden?

“S-sorry,” Jon stammered.

When the extraordinary creature wrapped its muscular tail around the woman’s parcel, Jon gaped in amazement.

“What’re you looking at, vagrant?” the woman snapped.

Without waiting for an answer, the woman unhitched her puleden from a rough-hewn post and led it away. Jon narrowly avoided the road apple the animal left in its wake.

As he took in his surroundings, his mind refused to accept what his eyes were showing him. Somehow he’d traveled instantaneously to a village plucked straight from the pages of a medieval storybook. People were shopping at a busy open-air marketplace nearby, which consisted of rustic wooden stalls, booths, and tents. No cars were on the road, nor could Jon see any modern machinery of any kind. Women were clothed in long, coarsely woven dresses, while men wore cloth shirts and trousers with hide vests. Everyone over a certain age seemed to be wearing a hat of one sort or another. The vendors at the food booths wore the same kind of two-cornered hat oddly similar in shape to ones Jon had seen at fast-food joints.

When a light rain began to moisten his skin, Jon focused his attention upward. To his astonishment he saw not one but two suns in between the streaky, gray clouds. One was nearly overhead and the other, much smaller sun was on the horizon. The realization he was no longer on Earth began to sink in.

I’m on Yden.

Giveaway!!

S.G. Rogers is offering one lucky winner an e-copy of her book The Last Great Wizard of Yden in either pdf or epub format! To enter, please simply fill out he Rafflecopter form and be sure to include your email address so that I may notify you if you are the lucky winner! Contest ends Midnight, Jan. 21st.

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here I Come by Cheryl C. Malandrinos ~ Guest Post

2012-01-12T19:44:00.000-06:00

My intentions for the month of January was to have a theme month centered around 5 fun things that you would like to accomplish in 2012 and 5 more serious things that you would like to accomplish in 2012. Then of course the brainstorm to do the "365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways" hit and things got a bit crazy so the Jan. theme month didn't go too terribly far. I am thrilled, however, that the wonderful and talented Cheryl C. Malandrinos put together a post centering around the above mentioned theme and she did an awesome job!!!

So please help me in welcoming Cheryl to Cafe of Dreams and feel free to share what you would like to accomplish this year!!

Here I Come by Cheryl C. Malandrinos

I loved being a guest at Café of Dreams so much in December, I figured I would come back this month. Hope you don’t mind. Oops, I’m here, not much you can do about it now.

My first list contains 5 fun things I would like to do. I am not an overly adventurous person, so please bear with me.

• Visit Hawaii. Lest you think it’s because I’m a hopeless romantic, please be warned that I only want to visit Pearl Harbor. I’m actually a history buff. If I have to bring my husband along, so be it, but there won’t be any long strolls on the beach holding hands or anything like that.

• Spend the summer touring the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. See above note about being a history buff. This trip I would have to take on my own, as the rest of the family thinks my favorite television show, Little House on the Prairie, is a big yawn, and any place with the word “site” or “museum” in it must be dreadfully boring.

• Spend the fall touring Civil War sites along the East Coast. I am a huge Civil War buff. The only book collection that rivals my Laura Ingalls Wilder one is my Civil War collection. I’ve read numerous titles and even taken a college course on the conflict. I figure I might learn something that could help me with the civil war that arises every afternoon at 3 PM when my girls arrive home from school—screaming at each other as they walk in the door.

• Color my hair. I hear blondes have more fun. I’ve always wanted to try out that theory.

• Get a boob job. I’ve nursed three kids. I deserve it.

Now, it’s time to get serious. I already have a head start on my goals for 2012, so this should be the easy part.

• Find a job outside my home. I don’t think the world realizes how hard being a stay-at-home mom is. You can’t calm down on your drive to the office. You can’t forget about the mess at home because it surrounds you. The work never stops: either it’s laundry, cooking, cleaning, playing chauffeur for your kids or playing referee so they don’t kill each other. My husband and I don’t agree on this issue. He swears he would trade with me in an instant. I love that man, but he wouldn’t last a week in my shoes.

• Complete my two works in progress. I have a ghostwriting project that is almost done and I’m over halfway through a middle grade historical that I love. I feel like I’ve been working on that middle grade novel forever. What can I say—my ideas need a long time to brew.

• Review Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving to see if it needs to be revised before I submit it to another agent. This week I received my second rejection in the span of three months. I feel like I’m dating again.

• Self-publish A New Home. I’m not sure about this one. The story is with a friend who has an art degree. He’s going to draw up a storyboard and we’ll see where it goes. Part of me wants to hold out for an agent. The other part says I’m not getting any younger—actually it’s screaming: see all that gray hair!

• Write an inspirational romance. Depending on the job I find, I don’t know if this is possible. I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple of years now, but time is a huge factor. I don’t know why. I mean, I’m a stay-at-home mom so all I have to do is sit on my butt all day and eat bonbons.

LOVE Cheryl's list!!!

Who is Cheryl Malandrinos?

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer, children’s author and editor. Her first children’s book, Little Shepherd, was released in August 2010 by Guardian Angel Publishing. Her next book is due out in the fall of 2012. She is a member of the SCBWI, a book reviewer and blogger. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two children. She also has a son who is married.

Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com/

Obed is in the hills outside Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth. Can he trust the miracle of Christmas to keep his flock safe while he visits the newborn King?

Carole Eglash-Kosoff ~ Day 12 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-12T00:01:00.001-06:00

Who is Carole Eglash-Kosoff?

Carole Eglash-Kosoff lives and writes in Valley Village, California. She graduated from UCLA and spent her career in business, teaching, and traveling. She has visited more than seventy countries. An avid student of history, she researched the decades preceding and following the Civil War for nearly three years, including time in Louisiana, the setting for Winds of Change and her earlier novel, When Stars Align. It is a story of bi-racial love. It is a story of war, reconstruction, and racism, but primarily, it is a story of hope.

This is her third book. In 2006, following the death of her husband, she volunteered to teach in South Africa. Her first book, The Human Spirit – Apartheid’s Unheralded Heroes, tells the true life stories of an amazing array of men and women who have devoted their lives during the worst years of apartheid to help the children, the elderly, and the disabled of the townships. These people cared when no one else did and their efforts continue to this day.

Her second book, When Stars Align, chronicles the Civil War and Reconstruction through the love affair of Amy, a white girl, and Thaddeus, a colored man born of the rape of an eleven year old slave girl and the teen heir to Moss Grove.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

Both historic fiction

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My favorite characters are Thaddeus and Amy from When Stars Align. He is colored…born from the rape of a young slave girl by the teen scion of Moss Grove, a large Louisiana cotton plantation prior to the Civil War. Amy is white, freckled and tomboy’ish. She comes to live at Moss Grove during the war and she and Thaddeus fall in love. We follow them through the war and reconstruction, unable to consummate their feelings as equality and bigotry pore through the country.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

When Stars Align…my 2nd book but 1st novel. Winds of Change takes the children from When Stars Align and carries the story forward through the San Francisco earthquake, World War I, the introduction of airplanes, automobiles and movies.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

My personal email is ceglash@aol.com but readers can learn more at www.whenstarsalign-thebook.com and www.windsofchange-thebook.com.

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Tennis and writing…that’s two things.

Book Spotlight:

Winds of Change

The racially charged love and conflict of the critically acclaimed When Stars Align become more entrenched after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Amy had taken her daughter, nephew, and a son she’d had never been able to acknowledge, born from her love with Thaddeus, her colored lover, to San Francisco, as a refuge from the intense racial scrutiny of the South.

They are forced to return to their old home, Moss Grove, a successful Mississippi River cotton plantation, as young adults. They discover facts about themselves that refute everything they believed regarding both their parents and their racial background. It changes the lives of each of them. Bess and Stephen’s love is thwarted. Josiah struggles with echoes of his past.

It is a tumultuous time in American history that includes the inventions of airplanes, automobiles, telephones and movies midst decades of lynchings and economic turmoil. It is the Spanish-American War and World War I. Racial biases complicate lives and relationships as newly arrived immigrants vie with white and Negro workers all trying to gain a piece of the American dream. Winds of Change is a soaring historic fiction novel that stands alone but follows the next generation from those we came to know in When Stars Align into the 20th century. It is a socially relevant, historically accurate, saga of decades often overlooked in American history.

Excerpt:

There is a dance that accompanies the rhythm of our lives. It has a logic…a pattern…a beat. Different sections of the orchestra blending into a single melody that defines who we are. I’m a man; you’re a woman. I’m white. I’m tall. I’m a Christian. And then… wait a minute. It seems I’m not white. I have some Negro blood coursing through my veins that I’d never known about. The beat of the music suddenly changes as one section, maybe the woodwinds, puts their instruments away. The new rhythm is discordant…a rhythm with which I’m unfamiliar. It’s a different tune, a genre I don’t know how to play. I’ve lost the beat. The other orchestra members are staring at me in a different way. I’m not sure what it all means. This isn’t the South. It’s already 1883. Slavery’s been gone for nearly twenty years and the country has moved forward. I had a baby sister who was born colored. I’d never known and it’s interesting, but it happened too long ago for me to feel sad. She died, my parents are both dead, and I’m still me. But that’s the problem. In my head I suddenly feel like a different me.

*This 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways is also part of a virtual tour with Pump Up Your Book!

Giveaway!!

Carole Eglash-Kosoff is offering one lucky winner a print copy of Winds of Change (US addresses only please). Please fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter! Contest ends January 21st at Midnight!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jennifer Comeaux ~ Day 11 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-11T00:01:00.003-06:00

Who is Jennifer Comeaux?

Jennifer Comeaux earned a Master of Accounting from Tulane University and is a Certified Public Accountant in south Louisiana. While working for a Fortune 1000 company, she sought a creative outlet and decided to put on paper a story that had played in her head for years. That story became Life On the Edge, her first published novel.

When not working or writing, she is an avid follower of the sport of figure skating, travelling to competitions around the country. Those experiences allow her to see another side of the sport and serve as an inspiration for her writing. Jennifer is blessed with a wonderful family and many friends who have encouraged her to pursue her dream of being a published author.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love to read Young Adult books, and I enjoy writing both Young Adult and sweet romance.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

Chris from Life On the Edge has been one of my favorite characters to write because of his sense of humor. He always knows how to lighten the moment.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Well, Life On the Edge is my first book, so readers will have to start there! I hope to continue this story in another book soon.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

My blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

My Blackberry!

Book Spotlight:

Life On the Edge

Nineteen-year-old Emily is new to pairs skating, but she and her partner Chris have a big dream–to be the first American team to win Olympic gold. Their young coach Sergei, who left Russia after a mysterious end to his skating career, believes they can break through and make history.

Emily and Chris are on track to be top contenders at the 2002 Winter Games. But when forbidden feelings spark between Emily and Sergei, broken trust and an unexpected enemy threaten to derail Emily’s dreams of gold.

Purchase at: Astraea Press ~ Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble

Excerpt:

The wind picked up, rustling the trees and sending my empty cup skittering over the table. Sergei snatched it and noticed the time on his watch.

“Oh, wow, it’s two thirty. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stay this late.”

“No worries. I can sleep till noon tomorrow.”

He rose from his chair, stretching his arms. “Do you think they all killed each other downstairs?”

“My guess is they played so hard they passed out at some point. That’s been known to happen.”

I got up and smoothed my skirt. I’d kicked off my sandals hours ago, and the weathered wood of the patio was cool under my bare feet.

Sergei took a step toward me. “Thanks again for the great meal. And the even better company.”
“You’re very welcome. I’m so glad you came.”

I stood on tippy-toes to give him a quick hug, but Sergei’s strong arms held me against him, enveloping my small frame. His body exuded warmth. I closed my eyes and breathed in the woody scent of his cologne. We’d shared plenty of hugs at competitions, but this felt so different, like we belonged nowhere else but in this embrace.

After what seemed like both an eternity and a split second, Sergei pulled away, his hands brushing down my back. He glanced downward and gestured to the door.

“I can let myself out.”

My head bobbed weakly. “Okay. I’ll see you Monday.”

“See you.” He held my gaze a moment longer than necessary. Then he was gone.

I stood paralyzed, listening to the blood pulse in my ears. My heart beat so fast I thought it might pound out of my chest. I couldn’t have imagined the electricity I’d felt in Sergei’s arms. It was too real. And I had no idea how I could ever forget it.

Giveaway!!

Jennifer Comeaux is offering one lucky winner a PDF copy of Life on the Edge! To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter form and please be sure to include your email address so that I can reach you if you are the lucky winner! Contest ends Midnight, Jan. 21. Winner will be contacted via email.

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chris Shella ~ Day 10 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-10T00:01:00.000-06:00

Who is Chris Shella?

Author Chris Shella is a graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Texas Law School and started his legal career in Long Island, New York at the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. He is admitted to the practice of law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina. Shella is also admitted to the federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Middle District of North Carolina, U.S. District of Columbia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eastern District of New York, and the Southern District of New York.He is also admitted to the Bar Of The United States Supreme Court. He and his cases have been covered on Court TV, CNN, and in the New York Times, and other media outlets across the globe. He has represented everyone from lawyers to major drug traffickers to a serial killer in Baltimore. His two most famous case are the Vegan Baby Case and his defense of the Duke Lacrosse Case accuser for the alleged murder of her boyfriend.

Chris now resides in Durham, North Carolina with his wife and son.

Chris still actively represents clients up and down the East Coast

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love writing about legal thrillers because it is what I experience everyday.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

I love Jasper Davis the protagonist in Reasonable Facsimile. Like a lot of people, Jasper is unhappy with who he is and where his life is headed. Unlike many folks, he decides to confront his decisions and take control of his life.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

I think Reasonable Facsimile is a good primer to my writing. My other book is a non-fiction law practice book called Grinding It Out: How to Create A Six-Figure Law Practice. That book is really focused on lawyers.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Blog ~ Twitter ~ Website

Reasonable Facsimile may be purchased at the following links:

Amazon ~ Kindle ~ Barnes and Noble

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

My wife, She makes me a better man. She and my mom are the reasons I’ll never be like JD.

Book Spotlight:

Reasonable Facsimile:

AN ELDERLY MAN IS BEATEN TO DEATH OVER HIS CAR AND IT'S JASPER DAVIS'S JOB TO DEFEND THE ACCUSED. THE QUESTION IS CAN HE (BETWEEN HIS WOMANIZING AND LIQUOR DRINKING AND HIS GENERAL LIFE OF DISREPUTE) FASHION A DEFENSE THAT CAN NOT ONLY SAVE HIS CLIENT BUT KEEP HIS OWN LIFE FROM BEING WASHED DOWN THE DRAIN?

Reasonable Facsimile catches Jasper while in the middle of a first degree murder trial. His client, Billy, has beaten and shot a 72 year old man over a car worth less than a thousand dollars. Jasper while aided by infusions of Jack Daniels, is trying to do his best in representing Billy while his trial skills evaporates before his eyes. To add insult to injury Jasper becomes a murder suspect himself and risks losing everything.

The question is will Jasper redeem himself and save Billy or will he spend his life as a reasonable facsimile of a human being.

Giveaway!!

Chris Shella is offering one luck winner a print copy of Reasonable Facsimile (US addresses only please). To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Contest ends Midnight, Jan. 21st.

Good Luck, Everyone!

This post is also part of the Pump Up Your Book Tour for Chris Shella and his book Reasonable Facsimile.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nicolette M. Dumke ~ Day 9 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-09T00:01:00.001-06:00

Who is Nickie Dumke?

Nickie Dumke enjoys helping people with food allergies and gluten intolerance find REAL solutions to their problems. Her quest to help others with multiple food allergies began 20 years ago and culminated in The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide. This book has helped many people come back from near-starvation; her other books address issues such as time and money pressures on special diets, keeping allergic children happy on their diets (Allergy Cooking With Ease), and more.

She is now also helping those who are overweight due to allergic inflammation (often due to unsuspected food allergies) and/or high-in-rice gluten-free diets. Her unique approach to weight and health in Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss is based on body physiology and reveals why conventional weight-loss diets work against rather than with our bodies and therefore do not result in permanent weight loss.

Nickie has had multiple food allergies for 30 years and has been cooking for special diets for family members for even longer. Regardless of how complex your dietary needs are or how much or little cooking you have done, she has the books and recipes you need. Her websites and books present the science behind multiple food allergies and weight control in an easily-understood manner. She has BS degrees in medical technology and microbiology and lives in Louisville, Colorado.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I like to read non-fiction. I just finished a fascinating book, The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, MD, that I almost couldn’t put down. It is about how our brains can re-route with the right management of input. The science in this book has been used to help prevent cognitive decline in older people, to treat mental illness, to restore the sense of balance, to help stroke victims recover to near-normal and regain function vastly better than predicted from their brain scans, and it many other amazing ways.

The books I have written are all non-fiction, but they include a bit of “human touch” such as the story of why I wrote the book and personal anecdotes.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

I have never created a fictional character, but my newest book, Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss, begins with a chapter called “Grandma.” I didn’t know my paternal grandmother because she died when I was six months old, but a recurring theme in all the stories I heard about her was, “She was really a character.” I included some of these stories in the first chapter of the book, such as this one about her force of will: “Grandma, in her ‘determination,’ didn’t let anyone push her around. When a salesman came to the house, she would open the door, say, “No speak-a the English,” and slam the door in his face. She was an independent thinker, and some things just had to be done her way.” This story relates to weight loss because the book encourages people to eat their way, in accordance with their preferences as well as needs such as for a gluten-free or food allergy diet.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Which book they start with depends on what kind of help they need. For people who are allergic to many foods, I would recommend The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide. Those on a gluten-free diet might be best helped by Gluten-Free Without Rice. If they feel overwhelmed by following or cooking for a special diet, Allergy and Celiac Diets With Ease helps them get organized to stay on their diet, simplifies the cooking, and gives advice about commercially prepared special-diet foods and eating in restaurants. If they need to lose weight, Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss is the book I’d recommend, even for people who do not have food allergies or gluten intolerance, because it is based on body chemistry rather than on “calorie math” dieting which has keep Americans heavy for years.

For more about losing weight by working with your body rather than against it, see these pages:

http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/why_are_we_overweight.html
and
http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/controlling_hormones.html.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I have two websites:

(1) http://www.foodallergyandglutenfreeweightloss.com/ which tells you how to lose weight easily and without hunger and how to decrease inflammation. This website features my newest book, Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss.

(2) http://www.food-allergy.org/ which contains everything a person needs to know about living with food allergies including information about diagnosis, treatments, cooking for allergy or gluten-free diets, etc. This website features eight books about food allergy and gluten-free diets.

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Because of my food allergies, everything I eat is made from scratch, so I literally couldn’t live without my kitchen. In addition, I find cooking relaxing and enjoyable and I connect with my roots when I spend time in the kitchen. It’s my favorite place to be.

Book Spotlights:

Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss: Control Your Body Chemistry, Reduce Inflammation, and Improve Your Health

Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss gives definitive answers to the question, "Why is it so hard to lose weight?" It is because we have missed or ignored the most important pieces in the puzzle of how our bodies determine whether to store or burn fat. Those puzzle pieces are hormones such as insulin, cortisol, leptin, and others. Individuals with food allergies or gluten intolerance face additional weight-loss challenges such as inflammation due to allergies or a diet too high in rice. This book explains how to put your body chemistry and hormones to work for you rather than against you, reduce inflammation which inhibits the action of your master weight control hormone, leptin, and flip your fat switch from "store" to "burn." It includes a flexible healthy eating plan that eliminates hunger, promotes the burning of fat, and reduces inflammation and tells how to customize the plan so it fits you, your allergies or intolerances, and your need for pleasure in what you eat. Information about cooking for special diets, 175 recipes, a list of sources for special foods, and extensive appendix and reference sections are also included.

The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide

The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide: How to Cook with Ease for Food Allergies and Recover Good Health gives you everything you need to survive and recover from food allergies. It contains medical information about the diagnosis of food allergies, health problems that can be caused by food allergies, and your options for treatment. The book includes a rotation diet that is free from common food allergens such as wheat, milk, eggs, corn, soy, yeast, beef, legumes, citrus fruits, potatoes, tomatoes, and more. Instructions are given on how to personalize the standard rotation diet to meet your individual needs and fit your food pr eferences. Contains 500 recipes that can be used with (or without) the diet. Extensive reference sections include a listing of commercially prepared foods for allergy diets and sources for special foods, services, and products.

Giveaway!

Nicolette Dumke is offering one lucky winner their choice of one of the following print books (US addresses only, please: The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide or Gluten-Free Without Rice or Allergy and Celiac Diets With Ease or Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Weight Loss. To enter please fill out the Rafflecopter form below and please be sure to include your email address! Contest ends Midnight Jan. 21st!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post for 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways is also part of :

Lynn Hubbard ~ Day 8 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-08T00:01:00.001-06:00

Who is Lynn Hubbard?

I have been writing for over ten years and published for two. I have a twisted sense of humor and try to impart that into my writing. I am a sucker for happy endings. Unfortunately I don't have much time to read, but when I do, I enjoy non-fiction books as well as fiction. I am currently reading a book on K2, the second tallest mountain in the world.

My favorite book series is Trixie Belden. Trixie was my best friend growing up and we still visit from time to time. I have two very creative and talented sons, and three dogs.

I live in rural Georgia and love it!

1) What genres are your favorites to read?

I go through phases but I love History, True adventure stories, true crime stories depends on my mood. How about to write in? Well, Romance of course! I am trying to add more history into my settings so it’s slow going, lots of research!

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written?

That would be Sabrina. She is in Run into the Wind and Chase the Moon. She’s very feisty and head strong. (Poor Brock)

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

If you like some heat in your books I would say Run into the Wind It has a good mix of romance, action and humor. Return to Love is treat for all ages if you need something softer.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Best place to start is www.LynnHubbard.com They can track me down from there!

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Pen and Paper. I have an office supply fetish and have to have some at hand in case I get inspired! Most of Run into the wind was scratched out on a wire notebook.

Book Spotlight:

Run into the Wind

Western Singer Cindy Smith has just created a song based on my book Run into the Wind! It is amazing. Listen now at lynnhubbard.com

A Historical Romance for today's woman.

Determined to take charge of her own life after her family is slaughtered before her eyes, Sabrina Lovett heads west and disembarks from a train to start anew. Hiding from her affluent brother she takes on the guise of a boy. Everything is going well until the exasperating new Sheriff comes to town. His name is Brock Stafford and he's used to being in control. He's irritated to no end by the stable boy, Will, who challenges him at every turn. Aggravated by his own reaction to the boy, he tries to ignore him completely until tragedy brings them together. Sabrina trusts Brock with her life; but can she trust him with her secret?

"Right up there with Charlaine Harris." The intimacy scenes were pretty gratuitous and HOT!!! The book definitely held my interest. Overall, It was a very good story, right up there with Charlaine Harris (True Blood series). I was a little disappointed at the end because I was wanting the story to continue but isn't that the test of a good book; always leave the reader wanting more !!! ~Myra D., Book Fanatic

Normally I don't care for romances or westerns, but I loved "Run into the Wind". It was wonderfully written, contains mysteries, satisfying, and unforgettable... It is a novel you can fall into and get lost. Readers are going to enter a richer world. I envy them the trip. ~Cathy Yoder Farmer, Artist

Excerpt:

Prologue

Mississippi, 1882

She stared intently at the still water, not daring to whisper. A soft breeze blew, spilling several stray strands of her long brown hair into her face. Impatiently she whisked them away as they tickled her nose. She could see shadows through the murky water as she sat on the bank. A flow of bubbles erupted from the depths and she smiled slightly as she saw more, then felt a slight tug on her line. Realizing its mistake the fish flailed around, haplessly trying to get free. Its erratic movements caused the surface of the water to quiver. Patiently she waited just a breath longer, letting the fish tire out a little, as she had been so carefully taught.

“Ha!” she exclaimed into the still morning, as she jubilantly pulled her line out of the water. The large bass dangling from her hook was the biggest one yet.

“Sabrina!” a deep voice growled from nearby, “You’re supposed to be quiet. You just scared away the one near my line.” She looked over at the large ebony-skinned man sprawled next to her in the tall grass at the edge of the river. Although he was only two years older than she was, he was three times her size.

“Oh Samuel, you’re just jealous. Besides we already caught enough fish this morning to practically feed the whole town.”

“Yeah, and you caught most of them,” Samuel grumbled good-naturedly.

“Guess you taught me too well.”

“Guess you’re right. We better be headin’ back be-fore your father starts looking for us. ‘Sides you gotta get ready for the festival,” Samuel said, not bothering to hide his grin.

Sabrina groaned; she hated town functions, mostly because she was forced to dress up, and Samuel, her best friend, was not allowed to go. She looked down at her mud-soaked britches and sighed. The town was having a dance and a fish fry at the town hall. Since her pa was a Marshall, she had to go.

Reluctantly, they clambered to their feet and pulled up their strings of fish from the water. Sabrina was struggling with her heavy load but Samuel knew better than to offer his help. He tossed his pole over his shoulder and the two headed toward Montgomery, their home. Montgomery was her mother’s maiden name, her father built the beautiful manor and named it after her mother out of devotion.

When Samuel was not working on the ranch he spent much of his free time with Sabrina, and loved her like a sister. His own sister had died from yellow fever years ago, and the only true family he had left was his mother. Samuel’s mother worked for Sabrina’s family also. She and Samuel had a small house set back behind Montgomery. Since Sabrina’s whole family was going into town, the help was given the day off to enjoy the festivities.

Sabrina sighed as she slowly picked her way along the well-worn path through the woods. It was no fair; Samuel wanted to go to the festival but his mother would not allow it, and she didn’t want to go but was forced to go anyway.

So bitter was Sabrina’s mood, she paid no attention to her surroundings even though it was a lovely morn-ing. It had been an especially brutal summer, but the light breeze hinted that fall may come sooner than ex-pected. The two traipsing through the woods were an unusual pair to behold but they both had the same passion for life and adventure, and this, especially, made them compatible.

As they neared the edge of the woods, they started to smell an odd scent. It lingered on the air for an instant and then it was gone. However, its effects were not. The brief whiff of smoke stopped them cold. Alma, Samuel’s mother, would have already had the wood stove up and running by this time, but it was not the sweet scent of the chicory wood that they smelled but something more frightening. Dropping the fish and equipment, they did not dare glance at each other as they quickly made their way up to the top of the knoll. At the peak, Sabrina stopped dead at the horrifying sight. Her home was on fire. She started to run but Samuel caught her and pulled her back down behind the tree line.

She started to fight him at first until she saw what he did: two strange men pulling Lydia, her older sister, from around the back of the house. She was kicking and screaming. Lydia kicked one of the men hard enough to gain her freedom. As she headed in Sabrina's direction, a single shot rang out, dropping her to the ground as the men chasing her caught up.

Sabrina gasped and covered her mouth with her hands to keep from screaming as she watched in horror. Her struggle with Samuel ceased as she sat in silent shock in the bushes. The scene was so surreal. The men seemed to be arguing among themselves. There were five in all, she would later recollect, but right then she did not notice. Her blood had turned to ice as she spotted the other body lying lifeless in the yard. She could make out her mother’s favorite yellow dress, now ruined from the red stain creeping across it; and her heart nearly stopped when she saw her father’s body softly swaying from the grand oak in the front yard. Then her world went black.

Giveaway!!

Who is ready to win a copy of this awesome looking and sounding book!? Lynn Hubbard is offering 1 lucky winner a coupon for Smashwords to pick up her book Run Into the Wind in the format of their choice!! How do you enter? Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form and you are set! (Note: for whatever reason, I am noticing that you have to click on "read more" to get the full post and the form for Rafflecopter to show up. So please be sure to do that) Contest will end Midnight, Jan. 14th with the winner being drawn and notified shortly thereafter. Please be sure to include your email address so that I can find you!

Good Lucky, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Joselyn Vaughn - Day 7 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-07T00:01:00.001-06:00

Who is Joselyn Vaughn?

I live in the Great Lakes state with my husband, three rambunctious children and two barking Beagles (I suppose that is redundant.) When not suffering the woes of potty training three toddler/preschoolers, I enjoy reading, running (sometimes it's fleeing the craziness at home), reconstructing clothing, thrift store shopping and surfing Pinterest.com. (I spend way too much time there and am getting all kinds of exciting ideas for projects for my husband to do. He is less than thrilled by this.)

I love writing romance because I enjoy stories where everything works out all right in the end and the main characters have a happily ever after. My stories are set in small towns with quirky characters that take on a life of their own.

1) What genres are your favorites to read?

How about to write in? I love reading contemporary and historical romance. I also love the classics and try to mix it up between the two. A couple romances, then a classic. I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas, so I’ve been able to read a lot more since then. It is so much easier to read a page or two on that between my children’s potty breaks than to find my page in a book.

I am currently writing sweet, small town contemporary romances. It is fun to work with characters that have known each other forever and have all kinds of interwoven history.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My favorite character is definitely Minnie Schultz. She actually appears to one degree or another in three of my books: CEOs Don’t Cry, Sucker for a Hot Rod and Hauntings of the Heart. However, Hauntings of the Heart is her love story. Minnie is the woman I would like to be when I’m 74. She’s energetic and does what she wants to do without carrying what other people think. She has found a place that makes her happy. In fact, she doesn’t realize something is missing until it shows up on her doorstep.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Chronologically, Sucker for a Hot Rod is the first story involving Minnie, her friends and their matchmaking schemes. Hauntings of the Heart is my favorite story.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

My website is http://joselynvaughn.com. I’m also on Facebook (http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/joselynvaughn).

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

If we’re going with something fun, it might just be my Kindle. I have barely put it down in the two weeks I’ve had it. I get a little twitchy when it’s on the charger.

Book Spotlight:

Hauntings of the Heart

When lost love shows up on your doorstep, what do you do? Minnie Schultz slams the door in his face. She and Gordon Anderson have a history—close to ancient history, given the fifty years since their last encounter. After all that time, it might seem like water under the bridge. But the water pours from the plumbing in Minnie’s bed and breakfast, the Lilac Bower, uncovering all the secrets and heartache between them. With the help of some paranormal investigators, an Elvis impersonator and a couple of nosey friends, can Minnie and Gordon find the future they were meant to have?

Songs that inspired the story:

“Wildwood Flower” by June Carter Cash
“Stuck Like Glue” by Sugarland
“Stuff That Works” by Guy Clark
“Always On My Mind” by Willie Nelson
“Fever” by Michael Buble
“There Goes” by Alan Jackson
“Last Dollar” by Tim McGraw
“Another Try” by Josh Turner and Trisha Yearwood
“Shape I’m In” by Joe Nichols

Giveaway!!!

Who would like to win their very own copy of Hauntings of the Heart? Joselyn Vaughn has generously provided one free ecopy in PDF form to one lucky winner! Please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter! Giveaway ends Midnight, Jan. 14th!

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

M. Edward McNally - Day 6 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveways!

2012-01-06T00:01:00.004-06:00

Who is M. Edward McNally?

M. Edward McNally is a North Carolinian of Irish/Mexican extraction. Grew up mostly along I35 northbound (KS, IA, MN) and now resides in the scrub brush surrounding Phoenix, AZ, where the scorpions and the javelinas play. MA in English Lit from ISU and Russian/East European History from ASU, though both date from an earlier era when there was a lot of Grunge on the radio and Eddie wore entirely too much flannel, even in the summer.

Deus impeditio esuritori nullus.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

While I mainly write fantasy (and some “contemporary” short stories), I probably still read more history books than I do fiction.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

Tilda Lanai is the MC of the series beginning with The Sable City, and it is really her fault I’m writing the whole thing. It started with an image of a young woman holding an apple, approaching a wounded warhorse, and I’ve been figuring out who she is ever since. ;-)

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

The Sable City starts a series that continues in Death of a Kingdom and The Wind From Miilark. I also have several volumes of short stories out, which are free most places, titled “Eddie’s Shorts – Volume #.”

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

@medwardmcnally on Twitter, thesablecity on facebook, or the blog: http://sablecity.wordpress.com/

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Coffee. I don’t know how anybody can get out of bed in the morning without it, let alone write a book. ;-)

Book Spotlight:

Volume One of the Norothian Cycle. Muskets, Magic, and Matilda Lanai.

Tilda Lanai has trained for years to take her place among the Guilders of the Miilark Islands, but now the Trade House she is to serve is imperiled by the absence of a legitimate Deskata heir. Scenting blood in the water, rival Houses begin to circle. The desperate search for an exiled heir takes Tilda across a war-torn continent and to the gates of the Sable City, where centuries ago dark magic almost destroyed the world. Along with a sinister sorceress, a broken-hearted samurai, and a miscreant mercenary long on charm but lousy with a crossbow, Tilda must brave the demon-infested ruins. Only then can she find John Deskata, who may not want to be found at all.

(Only one thing worse than reading short blurbs for long books, writing short blurbs for long books. ;-) The above is very nuts and bolts: "Tilda must go here to do this," but of course it is all a lot more complicated than that. I love the fantasy genre and respect its classic elements. That said, this series is to some extent about playing with what might be expected, and bringing some humor, mystery, and a bit of flirty banter to what can easily turn only too grim, when the stakes are so "fantastically" high. It isn't "Dark" fantasy, but nor is it slapstick. It's basically a character piece about Tilda Lanai, trying to hold down a job, help out her friends, and survive the day-to-day. With a couple dragons thrown in, of course. - Ed McNally)

Giveaway!

M. Edward McNally has offered to giveaway 1 ecopy of his book The Sable in the winner's choice of format! To enter, please leave a comment below along with your email address and any questions for comments you would like for Mr. McNally! Contest ends Midnight Jan. 14th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck, Everyone!

Rachel Van Dyken - Day 5 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-05T00:01:00.003-06:00

Who is Rachel Van Dyken?

Rachel Van Dyken is a Graduate of Northwest Nazarene University, with a degree in Social Sciences with an empahsis industrial psychology and a minor in Spanish. She is also a Post Graduate of California Coast University receiving a MBA with an emphasis in Human Resource Management. She resides in Nampa, Idaho and counsels children.

Starbucks is a daily must, spiders make her scream, and she loves chocolate but is allergic, of course. Nate, her husband makes her laugh so hard she cries and they share their home with a very loud snoring boxer named Sir Winston Churchill.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I am obsessed with historical romance.

It is also my favorite to write though it takes a lot of research! Contemporary romance is a lot easier because you just write what you know, but I love the challenge of Regency.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My favorite character I’ve written is Sebastian. He’s the Duke of Tempest in “The Seduction of Sebastian St. James,” not only is he known for his “fallen angel” looks but his overall outlook on life is so optimistic. I was getting tired of writing about men who felt the world owed them something just because they were titled or attractive. Sebastian is a wonderful example of a hero who has a great heart.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

I would recommend starting with “The Ugly Duckling Debutante,” it’s the first book in my Renwick House Series. It would provide more back story for the sequel, but each book can be read by themselves as well. ;)

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Facebook! I am always on Facebook. They can find me by typing in Rachel Van Dyken Author, I’m also on Twitter though my brain still hasn’t figured it completely out yet! (@RachVD) and they are always welcome to stop by my blog: deliciousromancebyrachel.blogspot.com.

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Other than my family? It would have to be Starbucks. I start to panic when I don’t see the green and white sign ;)

Book Spotlight:

The Seduction of Sebastian St. James (Book 2 in the House of Renwick series)

When the angelic Duke of Tempest, Sebastian St. James, appeared unexpectedly at his boyhood friend’s home, he had but one goal: Find a suitable wife as soon as possible. However, his impeccable reputation made him a prime target for ambitious mothers of debutante daughters. He needed a plan.

Help came in the form of an unlikely alliance with Miss Emma Gates, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy viscount, who has deemed herself on the shelf, and only wants to marry in order to appease her parents. Together they could sort through the mire of would-be mates to find their perfect matches. That is, if they could keep their hands off each other long enough to pursue likely candidates.

When a man from Emma’s past makes a play for her hand, the truth about her life threatens to destroy Sebastian’s reputation, a reputation he has carefully guarded since his youth. In the end, the Angel Duke has to make a choice that will end up changing his reputation forever.

Excerpt:

Lost in thought he had almost missed Emma when she had sauntered by. And now she was leaning into him like some bloody wanton.

Oh, how he wanted to give in.

His hands had a mind of their own as they traced upwards from her perfectly shaped waist. He only paused when her eyes began to close. Lust pounded through his veins as her smell invaded his senses. Perhaps one kiss. How could it further complicate things? Yes, one kiss and once the night was over he would go about finding a suitable bride. But he was a man, and although given the title of angel duke, it was deuced hard not to take advantage of this advantageous situation. Blood pounded his ears as he watched the way her breathing become laborious. Watched in utter fascination as her breasts strained against her bodice. Just this once then, he would satisfy his desire and hers. Tomorrow was another day altogether.

And then Emma was moving closer, leaning further as his back touched the edge of the wall.

Swallowing the sudden dryness which had taken permanent residence in his throat, he braced his senses for impact. All five of them, for she was mauling him with her scent, her presence, her body – everything about her made him want to cry out in frustration.

“Emma,” he choked out her name, trying desperately to sound more in control than he felt.
Her body continued to sway in front of his.

A tendril of hair bounced out of her coiffure.

And it was his undoing.

Giveaway!!

Ready to learn how to win your very own copy of The Seduction of Sebastian St. James?! Rachel Van Dyken has graciously offered 1 print copy (US addresses only please) and 1 ecopy of her book to 2 lucky winners! To enter, please leave a comment below as well as your address where you can be reached in case you are a winner. Also, please indicate if you are interested in the print copy, ecopy, or either one. Please feel free to leave a question or comment for Rachel as well! Contest open until Midnight, Jan. 14th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck, Everyone!

Ruth Madison - Day 4 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-04T00:01:00.002-06:00

Who is Ruth Madison?

There isn't enough fiction out there with characters who have disabilities. Ruth Madison aims to fix that.

After years of combing through the dusty back shelves of libraries looking for her elusive, imperfect hero, she started writing her own.

Ruth's romantic tales are full of wounded heroes: men physically challenged by life, but not defeated. These men overcome the difficulties of amputation, paralysis, or cerebral palsy to find acceptance, happiness, and heroines who love them exactly as they are.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I like a wide variety of books! I read a lot of chick lit and I enjoy the light tone of those works, but I also like heavy literary fiction and also thrillers. Young Adult is always a section I take a look at in bookstores because those books are often pushing interesting boundaries. In terms of what I write, it's romance and some short erotic stories. I try to stretch the boundaries with my romance and push it in new directions. What I'm known for is writing male leads who have some kind of physical disability to challenge them.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

Stewart Masterson is my favorite character. He started out as the love interest in my first novel, (W)hole, and he is in Breath(e) briefly. Even though he was originally intended to just be a stock "perfect" romance hero, he grew beyond those bounds and became someone that I'm really fascinated with. He has the quiet stoic nature that makes him difficult to unravel. He has featured in two spin off stories now and will probably have many more of his own stories.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

Even though (W)hole is the first in this series, I think Breath(e), the second, is better written. I grew and learned a lot as a writer in between these two books. I purposely wrote Breath(e) to not require reading (W)hole first, so I would probably suggest starting with that and if you like it, read (W)hole to fill in the background on Elizabeth and her struggles.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I have a website, www.ruthmadison.com. I'm also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RuthMadisonDev. You can find me at Goodreads as well or on twitter as @RuthMadison82

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Milkshakes. Of all the vices for an author to have, mine is pretty tame I guess. I don't drink or smoke or do drugs or even drink any coffee, but I love milkshakes and will drink them even on the coldest winter day.

Book Spotlight:

College freshman Elizabeth Foster is beginning to come to terms with her attraction to disabled men but she fears others might judge her harshly if they knew.

And that's exactly what happens.

When her mother learns the truth, she does everything in her power to stop Elizabeth from finding the only kind of man she could love.
Now Elizabeth must learn to trust herself and reject her parents' vision for her future.

The book is a sequel to my first book, (W)hole, but can also stand alone.

It is available in print at Amazon and also for Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and AllRomance.

Giveaway!!

Now for your chance to own your very own copy of Breath(e)! Ruth Madison is offering 1 lucky winner a print copy of Breath(e) U.S. mailing addresses only, please. To enter, please just leave your name and email address below and please feel free to leave a comment or question for Ruth! Contest open until Midnight, Jan. 14th with the winner being chosen randomly and contacted via email shortly thereafter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck, Everyone!

Review: Blind Date, Checkmate by Veronica Blade

2012-01-03T14:29:00.000-06:00

Blind Date, Checkmate
By: Veronica Blade

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 186 KB (approx. 100 pages)
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Crush Publishing Ink (December 24, 2011)

About Blind Date, Checkmate:

BLIND DATE, CHECKMATE

Should a woman who’s unable to forget her first love give “happily ever after” one more try?

Shelby Winters’ one great love went sour. If she can’t feel that way about a guy again, why bother? When Shelby’s best friend sets her up on a blind date with Logan, the guy who broke her heart, he pursues her relentlessly, forcing her to make a choice: give her heart what it’s always desired and risk total devastation or shut Logan out and lose her only shot at happiness. To Shelby, it’s a lose-lose situation. Or is it?

Excerpt:

“I never stopped loving you,” he said as we both got to the door.

Liar. I whirled around and glared. “I was seventeen and it’s been nine years. We’ve both grown up. I’m not the same stupid kid and I won’t be so gullible this time.” Why did he keep drawing me into these conversations? “So far, Logan, you’re all talk and no action. The story of your life. No follow-through.”

I tried to get past him but he blocked the door. I backed up when I noticed his eyes ablaze, thinking maybe I’d pushed him too far. As if I were his prey, he caged me against the wall with his arms. I pressed my back into cold plaster so I wouldn’t feel his thighs brushing mine. He only moved closer, a breath away, the friction of our bodies sending an inferno through me.

Oh, yes, that had definitely been missing in my life.

“You want me to follow through, I’m ready right now,” he growled softly.

Me too. But Logan was the last guy I’d go there with. Although it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship re-enacting certain moments with someone that gorgeous, deep down I was still bruised by his past rejection.

But I couldn’t deny I was tempted.

I’d never had a relationship that lasted. If I was doomed to a life of loneliness, it almost seemed justifiable to take happiness where I could find it, even if only temporarily.

Logan inched toward me, his lips at my temple. My pulse spiked as he sucked my earlobe between his lips and I shuddered.

“I knew you still loved me,” he whispered in my ear.

His words slapped me back to reality. A temporary fling with him would only bring me a lifetime of more pain. No. Way.

“Oh, honey, you’re confusing love with lust.” I patted his cheek a little harder than necessary and pushed on his chest. “A guy like you should know better. Let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”

I sailed past him knowing I’d thrown him a nice curve. I’d just taken his bishop. Score one point for me.

My review:

Remember that first heart-pounding, sweat-inducing and thought-overtaking love of your life? You both swore you would be together forever and nothing would come between you. Now, do you remember what happened to that love? Did it last or did fate intervene and crush those hopes and dreams? For Shelby and Logan, their deep and all-consuming love story was brought to a halt, long ago, leaving Shelby reeling and broken. Logan has become a big time writer and a magazine cover drool-inducing celebrity, while Shelby has become a successful Realtor who has put together a decent life. Career-wise, both are shooting toward the moon, heart-wise, they are diving into the Bermuda Triangle.

Little does Shelby know what she is about to encounter when her best friend sets her up on a blind date. Never in a million years would she fathom who her eyes behold waiting for her in the restaurant as her date. Sparks are about to fly and they are not necessarily the good kind - yet.

Blind Date, Checkmate is a lovely and fun story to sink into. Many readers will be able to relate, on some level, with the characters of Shelby and Logan - of their story. I totally fell in love with Logan who is thoughtful, caring, hot and goes after what he wants. He is also on the sensitive side, which is a delightful addition to such a hottie. Shelby is an intelligent, strong and stubborn woman who wants to keep Logan as far away from her as possible. The problem? He will have none of it. I do have to admit that there were a couple of times that I wasn't so sure how I felt about Shelby. Overall I really liked her, but wanted to thump her a couple of times throughout the story.

Veronica Blade is an incredibly talented story teller. I fell in love with her work with her YA novel Something Witchy This Way Comes and greatly enjoyed this novella of the "adult" nature. The story she weaves is delightful and tight, excellent characterization and an intriguing plot. To be able to span different genres so effortlessly says a lot about an author and I eagerly await more from Ms. Blade - in all genres! If you haven't checked her out yet, you are truly missing out! I highly recommend Blind Date, Checkmate for anyone looking for a fun and relaxing read that will suck you in from beginning to end!

About Veronica Blade:

Veronica Blade lives in Southern California with her husband and children. By day she runs the family business, but each night she slips away to spin her tales. She writes stories about young adults to relive her own childhood and to live vicariously through her characters. Except her heroes and heroines lead far more interesting lives -- and they are always way hotter.

That's the official bio. The unofficial bio is that I, Veronica Blade, am an addict. I love all things vampires and witches and werewolves -- the stranger, the better! My favorite shows are The Vampire Diaries and True Blood. And, okay, I admit it, I'm still a huge Buffy fan. But with The Secret Circle coming out, I may switch priorities. We'll see...

Something Witchy This Way Comes is my debut novel. In November 2011, I have two Young Adult novellas coming out -- a modern Cinderella story with vampires and werewolves called A Bite's Tale: A Furry Fable. Also in November will be Thrown to the Wolves, which is the prequel to the Shapes of Autumn series. Then in January 2012, My Wolf's Bane releases. This is the first book in the Shapes of Autumn series and is all about werewolves and other shifters.

I answer all my emails personally. If you'd like to contact me, you may do so at veronica@veronicablade.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Lauren Clark - Day 3 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-03T00:01:00.007-06:00

Who is Lauren Clark?

Lauren Clark has been a voracious reader since the age of four and would rather be stranded at the library than on a desert island. In her former life, she worked as an anchor and producer for CBS affiliates in Upstate New York and Alabama. Lauren adores her family, yoga, her new Electra bike, and flavored coffee. She lives near the Florida Gulf Coast. Visit her website and blog at laurenclarkbooks.com.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

Chick Lit, Literary Fiction, and Thrillers. Ecletic combination, I know! I also read some non-fiction. I have Condoleezza Rice's newest on my bedside table.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about her and what book they are in.

STAY TUNED centers on Melissa Moore, producer for the six and ten o’clock news. Unlike many female heroines of today, Melissa’s life is not perfect—far from it. While I loved writing Melissa’s character, and watching her grow and develop, the real fun was creating the supporting cast: Over the top, high-maintenance news anchor Alyssa Andrews and best friend-extraordinaire Candace Daughtry.

Alyssa is gorgeous and deliciously evil—think reality TV diva—blithely oblivious to the fact she’s completely self-absorbed. She’s a stereotypical news anchor, perfect on camera, mean as a snake as soon as she’s off the set. In real life, the anchors I worked with are down-to-earth, real people who care about their jobs and viewers. Still, it was great fun to make Alyssa a Paris Hilton look-alike with a serious jealous streak and a mean right hook!

Candace Daughtry is based on my best friend, Lisa. I took all of her wonderful qualities, turned her into a hair stylist, and made her (a little bit) obsessed with Dr. Phil! Like Lisa, Candace is the best friend a girl could ever have—someone you can call at midnight, the person you laugh the hardest with, the person who knows your worst faults and loves you anyway. My friend Lisa has beaten some of the toughest obstacles in life a person could face, and I wanted to draw on that same tenacity and inner fire in Candace. She’s a true friend—I hope everyone is blessed to have a Candace (or Lisa) in her life!

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

STAY TUNED

Dancing Naked in Dixie (stand-alone novel) should be out in September 2012!

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Social Media:

Twitter: Twitter
Facebook: Facebook
GoodReads: GoodReads
The Readership: The Readership
Website: Stay Tuned Website

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Flavored Coffee, My Keurig Coffee Maker, and my children :)

Book Spotlight:

STAY TUNED (debut novel)

Behind the Scenes in the TV News Biz: Deadlines, Divas, & Danger

For TV producer Melissa Moore, crisis management comes with the job. From employee meltdowns to her high-maintenance boss, there’s not much she hasn’t seen or can’t handle. But no one—including Melissa—expects a fistfight during the ten o’clock news. When sexy-but-crazy Alyssa Andrews lands a punch on her co-anchor’s face, Melissa jumps on set to help. She’s determined that WSGA’s reputation won’t be destroyed on her watch.

Both anchors are fired and Melissa agrees to fill in—but not before polishing her look from haircut to heels. While the new Melissa wows WSGA viewers, her personal life begins fraying at the edges. Melissa’s husband is away more than he’s home, leaving cryptic Post-it notes in his wake. Her mother’s antics spiral out of control at the nursing home, a friend’s daughter disappears, and a stalker makes Melissa her next target.

What happens next? Stay Tuned…

Where to find Stay Tuned:
Amazon: Paperback and Kindle

Giveaway!!

Who is ready to win their very own copy of Stay Tuned?! Lauren Clark has graciously offered to giveaway 1 print copy (U.S. addresses only, please) and 1 ecopy (.mobi, .pdf or .epub) of Stay Tuned! To enter, please leave a comment below with your email address (to contact in case you are the winner), your preference of print copy, ecopy or either, and please feel free to leave a question or comment for Lauren! Contest is open until Midnight Jan. 14th. Winners will be randomly drawn and notified by email shortly thereafter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck, Everyone!

Review: Radiant Desire by Inara Scott

2012-01-02T13:36:00.000-06:00

Radiant Desire
By: Inara Scott

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (October 4, 2011)

Like a long luxurious bubble bath, Radiant Desire is a sinful and indulgent story that you wish would never end. A contemporary fairytale, this is a story that will take the reader beyond the land of the Fey, beyond rational thoughts and beliefs and bring a world of glorious romance, hope, forgiveness and beauty to wrap itself around the reader.

When I began reading Radiant Desire, I was a bit taken aback by the idea of the Handmaid’s job as using men and then leaving them to suffer. Granted, this is a delightful idea, at times; however as a constant, I wasn’t quite sure. I do have to say that after getting into the story a couple of chapters, the overall theme took a change. Instead of a sex packed story filled with “use’em and leave’em hurting”, Radiant Desire took on a theme of true humility as well as providing an excellent story line that continues to ring within my mind.

Kaia Verde is sent on a mission to seduce Garrett Jameson, by the Queen of the Fey, Zafira. For whatever reason, Zafira holds Garrett in the utmost level of distaste and disregard. She wants nothing more than to see him utterly humiliated. Right from the start, however, Zaia knows that there is something different about Garrett. To begin with, her Faerie beauty is not having its normal effect on Garrett, for another he is not blown away by her charm and is seemingly able to resist her and all that she has to offer. Then, when things just begin to look up for Kaia, she finds herself deliciously pleasured and satisfied by Garrett – which is a BIG Handmaid’s no-no. It is for this reason that Kaia is punished and sent back to the humans, without the ability to use her powers to make Garrett fall in love with her and then crush him.

Sounds simply enough, right? Well, this is just a tiny bit of the story. As readers get into Radiant Desire, they will travel along with Kaia as she learns about real life in the human world, a world where humans are not as horrid as she was taught. Kaia also learns what it is like to witness helpful hearts, friendships and relationships in blissful form. Though not all rosy gloriousness, Radiant Desire is a brilliant roller coaster ride of deep emotion. I have to honestly say that this is a book that made my heart ache in places, soar in others; had a smile breaking out upon my face as well as tears welling up within my eyes. Yes, this truly had that much of an impact on me. Inara Scott has such an amazing talent for using words to create a story that will draw the reader in completely – heart and soul. I adored Kaia, found her to be amazing, strong, brilliant and steadfast. Garrett is an amazing leading male character. Not only is he sizzling, but the fact that he holds his heart behind such a solid wall makes me just want to cuddle up with him and wipe all of his pain away. Kaia and Garrett are excellent characters who play upon one another to perfection. Not only that, but they have some intense chemistry that is apparent from the very beginning. Though not overly packed with sex, there are a few tastefully steamy and sizzling scenes that will get the blood flowing, as well as the heart racing.

Radiant Desire is an incredible read that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a delicious and heartwarming, engrossing and impossible to put down read. I truly cannot wait for the next installment of this series to come out and eagerly await more works by this amazing author!

Favorite Quote: Kaia the Human turned out to be strikingly similar to Kaia the Faerie. Perhaps a little more independent. A little less obsessed with her looks. And a little more concerned with the lives of the beings around her.

*My review originally published at Romancing the Book

About Radiant Desire:

The object of every man’s fantasy just lost her wings…

Kaia Verde is one of the four Faerie Handmaids of Zafira, Queen of the Fey. To redress an ancient wrong done to Zafira by a human king, the Handmaids make sport of mortal men, seducing and humiliating them. When Kaia sets out to seduce Garrett Jameson, but ends up being the one surrendering to pleasure, Zafira is furious. Kaia’s punishment is simple: make Garrett fall in love with her by the summer solstice, then break his heart, or face eternity without her wings—or her soul. To make the task harder, Zafira tells Kaia she cannot use her faerie magic or charm to lure Garrett into her bed.

…and now she’s losing her heart…

Kaia thinks her task will be relatively easy—as a faerie, she understands lust, and can love be much different? But once she is living among the humans, Kaia discovers the race she once disparaged is far more complex and beautiful than she imagined. She learns before she can break Garrett’s heart, she must find a way to heal it. And eventually, discovers that losing her wings may be a far easier price to pay than losing her heart.

About Inara Scott:

Inara was born in the winter wonderland of Buffalo, NY. She promptly commenced complaining about being cold, and didn’t stop until she moved to Durham, NC, to attend college at Duke University. After graduating with a degree in History and Women’s Studies, Inara wandered around the country teaching outdoor education and writing bad poetry. She eventually obtained a Master’s degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies from the State University of New York at Cortland, where she wrote her thesis on the effects of wilderness programs on the body image of female participants.

Given Inara’s love of argument, it was really only a matter of time before she ended up in law school. The mossy forests and volcanic beauty of Oregon led her to Lewis and Clark Law School and Portland, where she finally decided to settle down. Inara rediscovered her love of writing fiction while trapped in a hotel for a hearing in Anchorage, Alaska. It took another five years for Inara to screw up the courage to quit her lawyer job and devote herself to writing and teaching. Today, Inara writes anything and everything, including children’s books, young adult fiction, and adult romance. She also does frequent school visits, and loves teaching writing to students of all ages. Her debut novel, DELCROIX ACADEMY: THE CANDIDATES, published in 2010 by Disney-Hyperion Books for Children, was a 2010 Oregon Spirit Book Award Honor Book. THE CANDIDATES will be released in March of 2011 in paperback under the title THE TALENTS. A follow-up, THE MARKED, will be released in April of 2011. Inara’s first adult romance, RADIANT DESIRE, released in October 2011 from Entangled Publishing.

Wenona Hulsey, Day 2 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways

2012-01-02T00:01:00.007-06:00

Who is Wenona Hulsey?

Author Wenona Hulsey spends her time scaling roof tops, kicking bad guy tail and rescuing small kittens from tree tops. But during the time when she isn’t asleep, she’s a mother of two beautiful children and works a full time day job. She lives vicariously through great books and creates magical worlds in her spare time. She is also an avid social networker, who loves to meet new people.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I love paranormal romance, the swoonier the better. Shape shifters make me melt along with hot, hard bodied vampires. So of course I write mostly paranormal romances though my books do have a good mix of suspense and humor in them. I also have a crime thriller in the works because I love the challenge of writing outside my comfort zone.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My favorite character I've written would have to be Nicole Keenan. She's tough yet caring and gets to say all the things I only wish I could say in real life. Nicole also has some awesome powers that I would give anything to have along with a hot warrior just begging for her attention. She's in both Blood Awakening and Burden of Blood.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

I would say start with Blood Awakening. You can read Burden of Blood without this novelette and understand everything but Blood Awakening gives you a much better look at who Nicole was before her powers start to emerge and also what triggers the chain of events that changes her life forever.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

Facebook: (http://www.facebook.com/WenonaHulseyAuthor)
Twitter: (http://twitter.com/#!/WenonaHulsey)
Blog: (http://wenonahulsey.blogspot.com/)

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Right now I would say my Kindle Fire. That jewel ROCKS!! I do everything from it, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Angry Birds and sometimes I actually use it to read.

Book Spotlight:

Blood Awakening

Nicole, a small town Alabama girl, and her best friend Kat take a weekend trip to Panama City, Florida. Kat looking to have a good time and Nicole hoping to escape the pain of losing her mother for a little while. Little did Nicole know, the escape would awaken a ancient power that is hidden in her blood. A power that evil wants for its own and will do whatever it takes to have it.

This short story is a look into best friends', Nicole and Kat, life before a centuries old grudge and Nicole's emerging powers rips them apart. A power that Nicole wants no part of as it brings her to her knees and forces her to walk away from her small town life and everyone she loves.

*Buy on Amazon

Burden of Blood

No one wants to know everyone’s darkest secrets, especially not police officer, Nicole Keenan. All she wants is a blissfully normal life in the small, Alabama town where she was born. But as generations of power running through her veins start to wake up, an ancient grudge is ignited that threatens to push her over the edge. She can hardly believe in what she is, let alone that a dark force will not stop until she's joins them. Or is dead.

Nicole Keenan's life enters into a dangerous dance with warriors and gothic fairies. Southern tradition collides with Irish folklore as she learns about love, heartbreak, and The Burden of Blood.

*Buy at Barnes and Noble Buy at Amazon

Giveaway!!

Wenona Hulsey has graciously agreed to giveaway one ecopy (Kindle, Nook or pdf format) of her book Blood Awakening! To enter, simply leave a comment below with your email address where you can be reached if you are the lucky winner. Also, please feel free to leave a question for comment for Wenona! Contest open until midnight Jan. 14th. Winner will be drawn randomly and contacted via email.

Good Luck, Everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Paul Bishop - Day 1 of 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.002-06:00

I am thrilled to welcome Paul Bishop to the kick off of the year long promo event here at Cafe of Dreams - 365 Days of Great Authors and Giveaways!! I hope to make this tons of fun for everyone and along the way introduce readers to some fabulous and new authors. Also, be sure to read the entire post to learn how to get your chance to win a book/s that many of the authors have graciously agreed to giveaway to lucky winners!

Now, without further ado, please help me to welcome Paul Bishop!!

Who is Paul Bishop?

Paul’s latest novel, Felony Fists (written as Jack Tunney), a fast action boxing tale inspired by the fight pulps of the ‘40s and ‘50s. It is part of the Fight Card series co-created with author Mel Odom. There are currently three titles in the series – Felony Fists (Bishop), The Cutman (Odom), and Split Decision (Eric Beetner). 2012 will see a new 25,000 word Fight Card novelette published each month – under the unifying pseudonym of Jack Tunney – featuring yarns from both established authors and rising writing stars.

Paul’s full-length novels include Hot Pursuit, Deep Water, Penalty Shot, Suspicious Minds, the short story collection Running Wylde, and five novels in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series – Croaker: Kill Me Again, Croaker: Grave Sins, Croaker: Tequila Mockingbird, Croaker: Chalk Whispers, and Croaker: Pattern of Behavior. All his novels are currently available as e-books.

A thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul has twice been honored as Detective of the Year.

As a nationally recognized interrogator, he appears regularly on the hit ABC reality series Take The Money And Run. As well as numerous novels, he has also written scripts for episodic television and feature films.

1) What genres are your favorites to read? How about to write in?

I’m very eclectic in my reading, but for pure pleasure I read mostly in the pulp and mystery genres. Because of my professional background, I feel most comfortable writing tales with a strong police procedural element. However, I’ve written across a wide spectrume, including westerns, sports novels, and non-fiction.

2) Who is one of your favorite characters that you have written? Please tell us about him/her and what book they are in.

My personal favorite among my novels is Penalty Shot – a thriller set in the world of international soccer. It was the first novel I wrote in the first person, and the Character of Ian Chapel is closest to my own personality.

3) For those who have not read your work yet, what book would you recommend starting with?

For pure fun start with my latest stand-alone novel, Felony Fists. Then check out Croaker: Kill Me Again and Hot Pursuit, both series starts.

4) Where can readers find and connect with you on the web?

I blog regularly at www.bishsbeat.blogspot.com and can be found on Twitter @bishsbeat.

5) What is one thing that you could not live without?

Stories. Notice I didn’t say, “books.” In this day of e-readers, I’ve quickly made the adjustment. I still love physical books, but I have come to find it is the stories that resonate and are important to me.

Book Spotlight:

Fight Card: Felony Fists

Los Angeles 1954

Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St. Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.

And his fists are going to give him the chance.

Gangster Mickey Cohen runs LA’s rackets, and murderous heavyweight Solomon King is Cohen’s key to taking over the fight game. Chief Parker wants wants Patrick “Felony” Flynn to stop him – a tall order for middleweight ship’s champion with no professional record.

Leading with his chin, and with his partner, LA’s first black detective Tombstone Jones, covering his back, Patrick Flynn and his Felony Fists are about to fight for his future, the future of the department, and the future of Los Angeles.

Croaker: Kill Me Again – The first Detective Fey Croaker LAPD novel

Los Angeles homicide detective Fey Croaker must solve the recent murder of a pretty, forty-something woman whose fingerprints surprisingly identify her as a previous murder victim from eighteen years earlier.

At 43, Fey Croaker has survived three dead-end marriages, a severely abusive upbringing, and the relentless resentment of her male colleagues on the force. Now, because of a streak of unsolved murders, she feels extra pressure to solve the murder of a mysterious woman who had multiple IDs in different names, a million dollars in cash, and only new clothing and furniture in her equally new condo at the time of her death.

Fingerprints inexplicably reveal the woman had already been murdered – 18 years earlier in San Francisco. Despite this twist, the case appears to be open and shut – the woman's ex-husband, convicted of killing her the first time, was released on parole weeks before her second murder. However, the victim has many more surprises for everyone involved – especially for Fey, who finds herself becoming one of the suspects when her investigation takes a turn for the deadly.

PRAISE FOR CROAKER: KILL ME AGAIN

“Throughout the story, what seems obvious is contradicted in labyrinthine ways in this complicated, compelling thriller.” – Publishers Weekly

“Bishop not only writes with humor and wit, but with keen insights into flawed heroes and deadly killers.” – Faye Kellerman

Hot Pursuit – The first Calico Jack Walker / Tina Tamiko LAPD thriller

A Calico Jack Walker / Tina Tamiko L.A.P.D. novel . . .

It’s 1977 and veteran L.A.P.D. cop Calico Jack Walker and his rookie partner, Tina Tamiko, are planning to make Calico’s last shift on the job something special – but plans, as they do, come apart because Walker and Tamiko are good cops no matter what the cost . . . even if they're L.A. cops, in uniform, in their patrol car, on duty, and way out of their jurisdiction on the Las Vegas Strip.

When a major crime is going down, good cops never hesitate.

PRAISE FOR HOT PURSUIT

“The closest equivelent to Joe Wambaugh yet . . . Hot Pursuit could hardly be better.” — The Los Angeles Times

"A full-throttle reading experience that sweeps you aboard with its opening sentences, speed shifts into high gear, and doesn't give you a chance to catch your breath until you've reached The End . . . the most exciting caper you're likely to find in print this year." — Wayne Dundee, Editor, Hardboiled

Giveaway!!

Okay, who is up for getting a chance to win some goodies?! Paul Bishop has graciously offered one copy of each of the three spotlighted books in the e-format of your choosing! To spread the talent around, I have decided to offer each of the books to an individual winner - meaning there will be one lucky winner per book, so 3 winners total!

How to enter? Simply leave a comment below, along with the book of your choice (Hot Pursuit, Croaker: Kill Me Again or Fight Card: Felony Fists, or any of the three), your email address where you can be reached in case you are the winner and feel free to ask Paul a question if you like! Winners will be chosen at random and notified via email. Contest ends midnight Jan. 8th.

Good Luck, Everyone!

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

2011-12-29T16:27:00.000-06:00

Matched
By: Ally Condie

Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Speak; Reprint edition (September 20, 2011)

About Matched:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My Review:

Brilliant, engrossing and amazing. Matched is a book that I read a few months ago and kept putting off reviewing for whatever reason. However, I have to mention that the story is still incredibly fresh in my mind and I honestly think back to it often. I loved everything about Matched - from the story line to the characters. I found myself truly amazed repeatedly throughout the story as I read about the possibilities of a "perfect"/dystopian world and how very different from our world it would be. The scary part is that I can truly imagine this happening in the not so far future. The idea that people did not know how to actually write (only key in on touch screens) amazed me, ideal pre-made foods sent to each home made specifically for each individual person to "fuel" their bodies rather than for flavor or taste and the fact that everything was narrowed down to "100" (only 100 poems, 100 songs, etc exist - everything else disposed of) blew my mind. Also, the year of one's death is predetermined and illnesses no longer exist - incredible. The fact that every person is matched to their perfect mate at a certain age is intriguing, but sad, and is the basis for Matched.

Cassia is the main character and has always known a stable life and never questioned the Society, nor their motives. That all changes, however, when the night of her match, a different face flashes before her, than the one that she was told she was matched with. Xander was been announced as Cassia's perfect mate for life and both were thrilled by this revelation - since they had been the best of friends since childhood. It is when Cassia looks at the chip that she has been given with her mate's information that another boy's face comes into view - that of Ky. When the Society assures her that this was just a blip in their system, questions begin to arise and life forever changes for Cassia - and Ky.

I cannot stress how much I loved this book. I loved Cassia - her strength, courage and refusal to fall in line were excellent. Ky also quickly knit himself to my heart. The story development and character development is excellent and I truly had a hard time putting this down. I have the second in the trilogy - Crossed in my TBR pile and will be diving into it very soon. I highly recommend this to lovers of YA and just plain great stories!!

About Ally Condie:

Ally Condie is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel MATCHED, and its just-released sequel, CROSSED. She is also a former high school English teacher who lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, running, eating, and listening to her husband play guitar.

Review: Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

2011-12-29T15:59:00.000-06:00

Sizzling Sixteen
By: Janet Evanovich

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (June 21, 2011)

About Sizzling Sixteen:

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a “lucky” bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn’t specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck….

BAD LUCK:  Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs.

GOOD LUCK:  Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie. If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash.

BAD LUCK:  Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Vinnie’s messing up local stoner Walter “Moon Man” Dunphy’s vibe and making Stephanie question genetics.

GOOD LUCK:  Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, a plan that makes Mooner’s Hobbit-Con look sane, and Uncle Pip’s mysterious bottle, they just might raise enough money to save Vinnie and the business from ruin.

BAD LUCK:  Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a Turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles.

GOOD LUCK:  The job of bounty hunter comes with perks in the guise of Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky—the only question is . . . with whom?   Sizzling Sixteen . . . so hot, the pages might spontaneously combust!

My Review:

Okay, this is one of those books that I read a while ago and never sat my behind down to write a review for. I have been a long time fan of Janet Evanovich and have loved the Plum Series from the very beginning. I know that many people say that this series is losing its "steam" and may be heading toward the "silly" way, but honestly, I am still loving it. Each year I look forward to the newest Plum book to see what Stephanie gets into - as well as how things are brewing between the yummy Ranger and hottie Joe! (psst, I am pulling for Ranger - no offense Joe, lol). For me, Sizzling Sixteen was just as fun, laugh-out-loud, head slapping entertaining escapism! The perfect way to dive out of a day of stress and just sink into some fun.

The characters are still uproarious and the plot still in form to the typical Stephanie Plum adventure. In this installment readers go along as Stephanie and the gang try to rescue Vinnie before he visits that little place in the sky. This time around, Stephanie has a little help from her Uncle Pip via a "lucky" bottle that he has left to her.

Is Sizzling Sixteen brain science? Absolutely not. Is it fun? Absolutely, without a doubt! Do I recommend reading Sizzling Sixteen? I really and truly do. You will laugh, giggle and shake your head in the predicaments that Stephanie gets herself into!

About Janet Evanovich:

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in LaLa Land. La la Land is like an out-of-body experience –while your mouth is eating lunch your mind is conversing with Captain Kirk. Sometimes I’d pretend to sing opera. My mother would send me to the grocery store down the street, and off I’d go, caterwauling at the top of my lungs. Before the opera thing I went through a horse stage where I galloped everywhere and made holes in my Aunt Lena’s lawn with my hooves. Aunt Lena was a good egg. She understood that the realities of daily existence were lost in the shadows of my looney imagination.

After graduation from South River High School, I spent four years in the Douglass College art department, honing my ability to wear torn Levis, learning to transfer cerebral excitement to primed canvas. Painting beat the heck out of digging holes in lawns, but it never felt exactly right. It was frustrating at best, excruciating at worst. My audience was too small. Communication was too obscure. I developed a rash from pigment.

Somewhere down the line I started writing stories. The first story was about the pornographic adventures of a fairy who lived in a second rate fairy forest in Pennsylvania. The second story was about …well never mind, you get the picture.

I sent my weird stories out to editors and agents and collected rejection letters in a big cardboard box. When the box was full I burned the whole damn thing, crammed myself into pantyhose and went to work for a temp agency.

Four months into my less than stellar secretarial career, I got a call from an editor offering to buy my last mailed (and heretofore forgotten) manuscript. It was a romance written for the now defunct Second Chance at Love line, and I was paid a staggering $2,000.

With my head reeling from all this money, I plunged into writing romance novels full time, saying good-by, good riddance to pantyhose and office politics. I wrote series romance for the next five years, mostly for Bantam Loveswept. It was a rewarding experience, but after twelve romance novels I ran out of sexual positions and decided to move into the mystery genre.

I spent two years retooling –drinking beer with law enforcement types, learning to shoot, practicing cussing. At the end of those years I created Stephanie Plum. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Stephanie is an autobiographical character, but I will admit to knowing where she lives.

In ’95 my husband and I moved to New Hampshire. We bought a big ‘ol house on the side of a hill, not far from Dartmouth College. I have a nice view of the Connecticut River valley from my office window and there’s a couple acres of land around the house.

It’s a good place to write a book … and would be even better if we just had a decent mall. You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take Jersey out of the girl.

When we moved to New Hampshire we realized there was more to this writing stuff than just writing, so we formed a family business, Evanovich, Inc. My son, Peter, a Dartmouth College graduate, assumed responsibility for everything financial. He’s the guy who pulls his hair out at tax time and cracks his knuckles when the stock market dips.

In ’96 my daughter Alex, a film and photography school graduate, came on board and created the website. Alex does it all … the E-mail, the comics, the store, the online advertising and the newsletter. Both Peter and Alex work full-time for Evanovich, Inc. I’m their only client.

My husband, Pete, has his doctorate in mathematics from Rutgers University and now manages all aspects of the business and tries to keep me on time (a thankless, impossible job!) … plus he does a little golfing and skiing.

It turns out I’m a really boring workaholic with no hobbies or special interests. My favorite exercise is shopping and my drug of choice is Cheeze Doodles.

I read comic books and I only watch happy movies. I motivate myself to write by spending my money before I make it. And when I grow up I want to be just like Grandma Mazur.

Review: The Real Saint Nic by: Drea Becraft

2011-12-29T15:33:00.000-06:00

The Real Saint Nic
By: Drea Becraft

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 156 KB
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Synopsis:

Aimee’s life changed one night, not long ago, when she staked a vampire to save another. Still reeling from that life changing night, Aimee decides to go home with Brenda, her best friend, for the holidays. She never expected Brenda’s brother, who comes off more like the Grinch then Santa, to have so many saint like qualities. Years spent alone, with no family or friends, plays heavy on her mind but Nic could possible be the one who changes it all.

Christmas has always been a sore spot for Nicolai. He’s the real saint Nic, but society has him all wrong. He’s no saint. In truth, he’s a vampire. Over the centuries, Nic has spent the holidays fighting off the ridicule from his younger brother and giving to those less fortune, not seeing his own worth. Until one mortal, brought home by his sister Brenda, changes the holiday and his outlook on life for eternity.

Is it possible that Nic has finally found his Mrs. Clause? When worlds meld, can Aimee find the happy ever after she once asked Santa for so many years ago, or is she doomed to spend forever lonely on Christmas?

Excerpt:

With a flick of his hand, the lights next to the bed turned on as did a few lamps across the room. Once my eyes adjusted, I got a better look at the amount of presents. Hundreds, littered the room. The only space not filled was around the bed and a path to two doors in opposite directions. Red, green, and golds splattered the room in a festive show of color.

“You really are Saint Nic.” Astonished I tried desperately to keep my mouth closed.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Why not?” Turning away from the presents I turned my gaze to Nic’s in question.

“Because I’m nowhere near a saint.” Brows furrowing Nic stared intently at the computer screen.

“Then how did you get the name?”

“That would be Jaysen’s doing. One day, not to long after I started giving the gifts, we got into an argument. I don’t remember most of what was said, after all, it was quite a while ago, but I do remember the comment was rather snide. To this day neither of us knows how it ended up outside our argument, but it still reminds me of that comment. Besides saints are deemed so because of the greatness they do for mankind all I do is give a few toys to some kids.”

Moved by the noticeable hurt in his eyes, a relentless knot twisted in my stomach. Though I still didn’t know him, the connection between us grew with each passing moment. Whether it was hormones or the fact that we were supposed to be mates, I didn’t know, but I couldn’t stand to see him sad.

I scooted out of the bed and made my way to him, wrapping paper shuffling under my feet. Then, as if it were the most natural thing to do, I lowered myself into his lap and hugged him close.

“To those kids you are the world.”

“That’s why I do it every year. Though not in the grand scale that everyone thinks. I try to help at least a few orphanages and hospitals each year.”

“See, you are a saint. Every year you create the biggest rush of hope and joy to the children across the world. Though you can‘t help them all, the small sacrifices you have made over the centuries have helped to shape our world and helps friends and families learn the true meaning of giving. Without you there would be no hope of a perfect Christmas. If that isn‘t the act of a saint, I don‘t know what is.”

With a grunt in my ear, Nic’s arms tightened around me as he buried his head in the hair between my shoulder blade and ear.

Pulling away slightly, I raised my hands and held of each side of his head. My fingers ran though the silken strands of his hair using that leverage I brought his head up until our eyes met. Leaningdown I kissed his full lips with a slight brush of mine. You are the best mate anyone could ask for. Speaking while our mouths were still fused, Nic sipped from my lips slowly.

My Review:

A very unique twist to the legend of Saint Nick/ Santa Claus! The Real Saint Nic is such a fun, quick and steamy read that will delight and entertain! This is a short read, but packs one heck of a punch. I absolutely loved the paranormal twist, the characterization and the story line. This is one that I read in one sitting and greatly enjoyed. I can't wait to read more by Drea Becraft!

About Drea Becraft:

Growing up Drea Becraft wanted to save the world one dead body at a time as a homicide detective. After high school her dreams turned to the wayside when she found out she was going to be a mother. Eight years later she is now the mother of three beautiful girls, who are a handful, and married to her high school sweetheart. When she is not frantically getting two kids to and from school, to cheer practice, or cleaning up the after a full household she enjoys reading anything and everything she can get her hands on. After a few years of simply reading for enjoyment she began to get excellent ideas for stories of her very own and began to write them as much as time will allow. Watching as her dreams and characters become solid on paper has been exciting to say the least. Drea can’t wait to share every dream one story at a time. Until then she enjoys tons of conversation and laughs on twitter, facebook, and yahoo loops and would love to hear from you on any or all of them.

Review: Secret Santa by Kristine Cheney

2011-12-29T14:56:00.000-06:00

Secret Santa
By: Kristine Cheney

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 439 KB
Print Length: 85 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Enchanted Muse Press; First Edition edition (October 18, 2011)

Synopsis:

Holly Gordon’s estrangement from her family makes loneliness of the Christmas season hit close to home. Volunteering for the annual Ashton Falls Secret Santa Program is more than a comfort, it’s a blessing. Just knowing she’s able to help another hurting soul experience the joy of a heartfelt Christmas makes her own reality a tiny bit sweeter, that is, until Marcus Jenner ends up on her list.

Marcus Jenner is more than a bronze, muscled looker. This Chickasaw loner isn’t happy being placed on the town’s Secret Santa list. Suffering from the blow of a devastating loss, he has chosen to withdraw from living almost completely. For the life of him, he can’t figure why this pretty little blonde keeps bumping into him, calling him by name, and insisting on giving him presents. Unfortunately for Marcus, every time she does, a billowing cloud of havoc seems to ensue. Why can’t this uninvited vixen leave him alone?

They say time and fate have all of the answers. Holly, in all of her innocence, is drawn to Marcus like a moth to the flame. But Marcus has no intentions of submitting to the threat of his newfound feelings. A painful exchange pushes their lives into a pendulum chaos. His demand for privacy is granted by Holly’s hidden illness. Her sudden absence hits him hard, especially when the arrival of a stranger delivers the rest of his gifts. Right away, he knows something’s horribly wrong.

Love and selfless giving can rouse a wounded, sleeping heart. But sometimes a Secret Santa gets a few unexpected gifts of her own.

My Review:

Sizzling, sweet, spicy and everything nice! Secret Santa by Kristine Cheney is a delightfully fun and heartwarming story that many will quickly and easily fall in love with. Though short, this is a story that offers so many delightful aspects. There is excellent character development, true caring and unselfishness, great story line and a liberal dose of steaminess that will curl reader's toes.

I absolutely fell in love with Marcus and Holly. Their chemistry steamed from the pages and I adored both of their personalities. Secret Santa is a definite hit! I read it in one setting and can't wait to read more by Kristine Cheney!

About Kristine Cheney:

Kristine Cheney is an award winning author of paranormal and contemporary romance and an Arizona native, now living in Surprise. She has been married twenty-two years to her high school sweetheart, Brett, and is the mother of Taryn, Brett Tyler, and Zackary, and is Grammy to Parker, Ivy, and Evely'nn. A huge labrador lover, she is mom to yellow lab Magnus and to the very naughty (and huge) white Labra-doodle puppy Brody.

Hobbies include writing passionate love stories that involve chivalrous characters, dashing adventure, forked humor, and the ever-true good vs. evil dilemma. Her favorite place to relax is anywhere within close proximity to a beach or wooded lake. A huge history buff, she plans to one day make a trek across the US to get her fill of American wonder (with hubby, labs, and lap top in tow).

She loves a good hot cup of coffee with Creme Brule liquid creamer and sugar. A maestro with a bag of frosting, Wilton cake decorating lessons only fueled her artistic fire. She's pretty darn awesome at creating a deluxe wedding, baby shower, or themed birthday cake that will make your toes curl.

Review: The Christmas Note by Donna VanLiere

2011-12-29T14:02:00.000-06:00

The Christmas Note
By: Donna VanLiere

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (October 25, 2011)

Blurb:

Gretchen Daniels has recently moved into a condo with her two children to be closer to her mother, Miriam. As they build a life together in their new community, they notice a mysterious young woman, Melissa McCreary, who lives next door. She has few possessions, little personality, and keeps to herself. One day a local landlord who is looking for Melissa knocks on Gretchen’s door for assistance. Melissa’s mother has died and in the coming weeks the landlord needs Melissa to empty her mother’s apartment. Gretchen reaches out and offers to help Melissa, but the apartment is a gut-wrenching shamble of a home. There is little worth saving except for a few photos and a note that is discovered on the crate beside the bed. It is unfinished, but in the two scribbled lines, Melissa discovers secrets about her family that she never could have imagined. Can two very different women embark on a journey that explores a long-buried need for forgiveness, hope, and redemption?

My Review:

Donna VanLiere is one of my very favorite authors. I have happily sank within each and every one of her tales with absolute abandon and eagerly await the next release. When I saw The Christmas Note, I quickly grabbed it and put it in my happy little hands. I can honestly say that this title has now been added to my list of favorites!

In The Christmas Note, we meet two very different women - Melissa, a not-so-happy single woman living on her own, without family or friends. Her mother was never what one would call "loving" and when she passes away, Melissa feels next to nothing. Even though her mother was never that wonderful, she has left Melissa a precious (though mysterious) gift: a note indicating that Melissa actually has two siblings that she never knew about. Can Melissa break apart the walls she has built around herself and her heart to find the courage to find these long lost siblings?

Gretchen is Melissa's new neighbor. She has just moved in with her two young children and now lives closer to her mother. Gretchen's heart is heavy with sadness from a tragedy, yet she remains uplifting. She takes note of her new neighbor, Melissa, and before she realizes it, has worked her way into the sad woman's life. These two women form a close and wonderful bond that helps both of them through life's ups and downs and proves that friendship can repair many aches.

Both Gretchen and Melissa are excellent characters. I adored them both and quickly bonded with them from the very beginning. Their stories are believable and are ones that are shared vast and wide by many. Through The Christmas Note, Donna VanLiere reminds readers that miracles are never too big nor too small and always possible! Ms. VanLeire has an amazing talent for delivering stories of real life, real heart and real miracles. I have yet to walk away from one of her works without a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart. I truly and highly recommend The Christmas Note to everyone and for any time of the year. This is an author with a true talent for touching people and I feel so blessed to have discovered her years ago!

Favorite Quote:

Page 87: Sometimes you meet people, total strangers, who feel like home. Even if that home is filled with noise and dysfunction and silence that is beyond bearing, it's still home, with its secondhand furniture, worn comforters, and smiles from people who love you despite your lopsided personality and crooked moods. Gloria and Miriam make me feel like I'm home.

About Donna VanLiere:

Donna VanLiere is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author and gifted conference speaker. She has published ten titles including The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing, both of which were adapted into movies (starring Rob Lowe, Kimberly Williams-Perry and Neil Patrick Harris) and garnered big ratings for CBS television. LifetimeTelevision adapted The Christmas Hope (starring Madeline Stowe) and premiered it December 2009 to stellar ratings as well. Donna's non-seasonal novel, The Angels of Morgan Hill, has captured the same warmth as her Christmas books and continues to please loyal and new fans alike.

Donna is the recipient of a Retailer's Choice Award for Fiction, a Dove Award, a Silver Angel Award, an Audie Award for best inspirational fiction, a nominee for a Gold Medallion Book of the Year and was recently inducted into the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence joining such luminaries as Coretta Scott King, Hugh Downs, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Senator John Glenn. Donna is an in-demand conference speaker having appeared at countless women's and family events, including select Women of Faith and Extraordinary Women conferences.

Donna's latest book, The Christmas Journey (October 2010) is a retelling of the story of the Nativity told through Donna's signature voice and accompanied by moving and beautifully rendered watercolor illustrations throughout. The eighty-mile journey of a common carpenter and a simple peasant girl is one of the most powerful stories in history. As books go out of print and stories fade from memory, the journey of Joseph and Mary and her delivery inside a common barn continues to bless and inspire hope in people around the world.

Donna lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with her husband, Troy, and their children, Grace, Kate and David.

Quickie Year End Reviews

2011-12-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

I am behind on a few reviews of books that I have read the past couple of months. Because of that, I wanted to at least mention them and give my overall thoughts on the them. Therefore, I will be posting a couple (or a few, lol) quickie reviews. I hope that everyone had a fantastic year of wonderful books and reading!!

Guest Post - Letter to Santa by Cheryl Malandrinos

2011-12-20T23:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa,

I know it has been years since I’ve written to you, but don’t think it’s because I’ve forgotten. It’s just, there’s only so much writing time and it’s spent creating stories. Does it help that my first published book is about the first Christmas? And in my second—which will be released next year—you’re at your merriest, making some little boy’s Christmas very special. See, I truly haven’t forgotten you at all.

It’s been a busy year, Santa. I don’t know about you, but I am definitely looking forward to some down time. Since Little Shepherd released last year it’s been one non-stop workfest. I’m not complaining, mind you. I couldn’t have been more excited when I held the first copy of the book in my hands. It’s just, as a wife and mother, my days are already overloaded. Then add in my work as a tour coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, and there’s hardly any time for me and my writing. I still don’t know how I managed to write six picture books this year, never mind make time to attend writers conferences and meet with two agents (still praying about that one.)

The thing is, in order to keep up with promoting my book, writing new ones, and taking care of my family, I haven’t gotten much sleep lately and I’m feeling a bit run down. So, if it isn’t too much to ask, I was hoping you might place a gift certificate for a writer’s retreat under my tree this year. I don’t mind if it’s a local one. In fact, if you find one in the Berkshires, that would be perfect.

What? More work? Seems like I should be asking for a vacation on a deserted island, doesn’t it? The way I figure it, though, if I have a week to concentrate only on my writing, I can finish up the two projects I’ve been working on this year and come back to my family relaxed and feeling ready to tackle the daily grind again.

And since I’m asking, if you could find a way to keep the girls from arguing too much on Christmas Day, that would be a bonus.

I better stop while I’m ahead or I’ll consider asking you for world peace or something unattainable like that.

Thanks for listening, Santa. I hope Mrs. Claus has a warm foot bath and a hot cup of cocoa ready for you when you arrive back home on Christmas.

Fondly,

Cheryl

About Cheryl Malandrinos:

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer, children’s author and editor. Her first children’s book, Little Shepherd, was released in August 2010 by Guardian Angel Publishing. She is also a member of the SCBWI.

Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. She is also a former contributor for the Writer2Writer eZine. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two children. She also has a son who is married.

Visit Cheryl at her newly redesigned website or visit the Little Shepherd book blog

About Little Shepherd:

Obed is in the hills outside Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth. Can he trust the miracle of Christmas to keep his flock safe while he visits the newborn King?

Excerpt:

“Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us,” Father said to the men.

“What about the sheep?” Obed’s brow furrowed.

Father’s smile drew deep lines into a face well worn by many days in the sun. He set his gaze on the sky, then down into Obed’s curious, brown eyes. “Somehow, I think they will be safe.”

Obed’s eyes widened in amazement. “Father, surely we mustn’t leave them alone.”

“The angels must want us to see this Savior. Come now, let us not waste any more time,” his father said.

Guest Post - Letter to Santa by Joel M. Andre

2011-12-19T19:19:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa Claus,

I think everyone is anticipating this letter to begin by my saying that I am sorry that I killed you. Yes, you were brutally murdered in, A Death at the North Pole, but to be fair I think your demise was premeditated years before I ever got ahold of you.

Take for example the sugary treats children leave you, complete with the glass of milk. Over the course of a night you take in millions of cookies and gallons of milk. You might not know this, but that level of sugar can significantly increase your chances of type 2 diabetes. But even if you ignore that concern, there is still the problem with your cholesterol levels. Just how many Lipitor pills do you take before you head out on Christmas Eve?

Now, beyond your health concerns, we need to address a few other items I would like you to explain. Since I am pretty sure I am never getting off the naughty list, I don’t mind asking them. To begin with, why are you always so jolly?

Let’s look at the facts here, you have the munchies, you laugh a lot and you are relaxed. It is because of this that I would conclude those charges to Willie Nelson’s bakery wasn’t just for the free CD that came with a purchase. If it was, why was your final total, $12,250?

Moving on, let’s talk about all these free items that you give away yearly. The actual value of these items has to be in the billions, but you don’t actually purchase any of these items. Instead, you force millions of tiny elves to work on assembly lines and take the credit for their work. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the elves tried to take a stand in, Occupy the North Pole. Clearly, that didn’t end well.

Something else I would like to talk about is the fact that certain objects are noticed missing on December 26. While everyone is excited about seeing the presents that you bring them on Christmas Day, why do so many people find items are missing the following day? Since your magical sack is never empty, does this mean that you are regifting? Or is Santa Claus a kleptomaniac?

Now, I am fully aware that I have brought up some items that could possibly upset you, but I do believe you are the forgiving kind. So I will now ask you for a few things that I would like for Christmas. Keep in mind, I don’t play fair.

This Christmas, I would like to see an end to the war and for all our soldiers to come back home. These men and women are remarkable individuals who have given us so much and I think they need to be back with their families.

My next gift would be the one where people realize that giving shouldn’t just stop when Christmas is over. People go hungry every day and while it’s nice that food banks see more food during the holidays, the demand for this food doesn’t just suddenly go away after Christmas Day.

While I am thinking about it, maybe it’s time you can enlighten people that we are all the same. Our blood is universal and the organs of one person can still save another’s life. When people look at others, couldn’t you just make them realize we’re all the same? When someone needs blood in the hospital, they don’t go and say, oh that’s Muslim blood, that’s homeless blood or this blood came from a homosexual. Instead, it all boils down to a blood type that matches the person. This Christmas, let people keep that in mind as they try to judge others.

That’s all that I want for Christmas. While I may always be on the naughty list, my heart is usually in the right place. My chest and according to human anatomy that is where it belongs.

Love,

Joel M. Andre

About Joel M. Andre:

Originally, Joel wanted to be a poet growing up….but then things began to change for him. People took notice of his off the wall tales, and encouraged him to go in a new direction. That is why he is proud to deliver some of the most unique tales to date.

From, A Death at the North Pole, (a new revised edition is coming in 2011) to, Kill 4 Me, and his newest addition to his books The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen, Joel has taken readers across the world, and painted worlds that are dark, sometimes comical and always exciting.

If you haven’t had the chance to read anything by Joel M. Andre, then pick up the new book today…..it will be a tale that plays with your fear and opens your mind.

You can check out Joel at his website and Facebook

Guest Post - Letter to Santa by Kai Strand

2011-12-18T21:08:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa,

I’m writing a letter to you for the first time in…well, forever. However, I’m not writing this letter for myself. You see, Santa, this is my first Christmas without my mom. And yes, of course I’m very sad, but for the first time I truly understand what it feels like to face this beautiful magical season after losing a parent. I don’t feel sorry for myself, and no one else should feel sorry for me, because I had my mom for a nice long time.

Santa, I’m writing to you on behalf of those who didn’t get to have their mom or their dad or their brother or sister or some other beloved person for a standard length of time. See, when I feel sad, I can look back on years upon years of Christmas memories. I can remember slipping my hand into my mother’s, skipping alongside her and yammering ceaselessly about what was on my list to you that particular year. I can remember her going into the basement, alone, for hours on end to wrap presents. Every so often, she’d toss a freshly adorned package to the top of the stairs and my sisters and I would rush over to put it under the tree. I don’t know if we were more excited to see her latest wrapping masterpiece (she really was a gifted wrapper) or to read the gift tags, which always said something outrageous like, “To the youngest crew member of the Starship Enterprise from Dr. Spock.”

Santa, this year my special request of you is to take extra care of the little ones who are dealing with grief. Help them to know that even though they have fewer memories than people like me, their memories are still precious, unique and belong only to them. And those beautiful memories will always keep their loved one alive in their hearts and their minds. Teach them to recognize that the pain that accompanies the memories isn’t completely bad, because it means they still love the one they lost. Last, but not least, help them to learn that it is okay to be happy and to feel joy even as they grieve. Living well is a tribute to the one they lost.

Merry Christmas, Santa, and safe travels.

About Kai Strand:

Kai is a children's author of middle grade and young adult novels. Her debut tween novel, The Weaver, is available now and her second middle grade novel, Save the Lemmings! will be published in 2012. She is a (very lucky) wife and the mother of four amazing kids. The most common sound in her household is laughter. The second most common is, "Do your dishes!" Obviously she likes to write. She reads a lot as well and calls it research. She loves to garden, though she doesn’t consider herself very good at it. She loves to sing; you might very well find her singing in Latin while browsing at Target. Most of the time she doesn't realize she’s singing aloud. She and her family love to hike and geocache in beautiful Central Oregon.

You can find out more about Kai and her writing on her website: www.kaistrand.com.

About The Weaver:

In a town of word weavers, Mary suffers through her third year of Novice Word Weaving. Mary thinks her troubles are over when she meets a gnome-elf who grants her a wish. But instead of weaving a better story, she's weaving strange yarn charms to accompany her still pathetic tales.

The Weaver is a lyrical tale that offers a little magic and a lot of storytelling, for children 9 – 12 years old. The Weaver is a finalist in the EPIC eBook Awards.

Excerpt:

Chapter 1
A Mother’s Shadow

Given ample sun and water, a flower grows strong and blooms full
But grown in shade it is spindly, weak, and off color

     Tucked in a lush valley between two snow-capped mountains was the village of The Tales. Those who lived in the village were known as Weavers. Each person in The Tales could tell stories about anything at anytime, and they often did. Prose, poetry, limericks or yarns; they told stories of all types and styles.

     On a balmy spring morning, Mary Wordsmith and her mother, Abigail, made their weekly visit to the produce market.

     Thumping an acorn squash, Abigail said, “At last, here’s one that isn’t going soft.” She handed the squash to Mary who absently dropped it in the basket on her arm.

     “Mother, must I recite today?” Mary grimaced at the thought.

     Abigail placed a bunch of fresh spring carrots in Mary’s basket and offered a reassuring smile before turning back to the vegetable displays.

     “A child once stood at the side of Main Street watching carts and horses pass her by. On the far side of the street the front window of the candy shop gleamed and beckoned, and her pocket strained with the weight of coins.”

     Mary blinked back tears and shifted behind Abigail, who scooped snap peas into a brown bag as she wove her story. A knot of shoppers stopped to listen.

    “Yet, the child never ventured across the street for fear of the traffic. Her pocket eventually tore, its contents trampled, kicked and snatched away. And her tongue never knew the sweet salty taste of fresh pulled taffy.” Abigail placed the bag of pea pods in the basket and lovingly lifted Mary’s chin. “You can do it, dear.”

    Mary felt sure her mother was oblivious to the appreciative murmurs of the dispersing crowd.

PARTY!! A Chance to Win Close to 100 Prizes!

2011-12-16T12:16:00.000-06:00

Pump Up Your Book’s 1st Annual Holiday Extravaganza Facebook Chat Party Friday Dec 16!

WE’RE HAVING A FACEBOOK PARTY!!!!

Pump Up Your Book will be hosting the December 2011 Authors on Tour on Friday December 16, 2011 at 4 – 10 p.m. (eastern time – adjust to your time zone)! Tell your book friends that not only will this give them an opportunity to chat with their favorite authors BUT…

WE’RE GIVING AWAY ALMOST 100 PRIZES!!!!

All you have to do to be eligible to win any of our almost 100 prizes is to visit our Facebook page where the chat will be held. Ask an author a question and you’re in!

YOU CAN CHAT WITH OVER 60 AUTHORS!!!!

To find out which authors will be featured, click here.

SO WHERE IS THIS CHAT????

To access the chat, click here. Be sure to leave a comment to let us know you’re coming!

SEE YOU AT THE PARTY AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM PUMP UP YOUR BOOK!!!!

* 4 p.m. eastern * 3 p.m. Central * 2 p.m. Mountain * 1 p.m. Pacific *