Guest Post : Her Dear & Loving Husband by Meredith Allard

The inspiration behind Her Dear & Loving Husband happened by accident, quite frankly. One of my students had given me Twilight to read, though I had no intention of reading it since I wasn’t into vampires at the time. Silly me. I did read it, and I enjoyed it enough to begin seeking out other vampire novels. I was opened up to the world of paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and for the first time, I saw vampires as romantic, even sexy. As I filled myself up on vampire stories, I started seeing these visions of a vampire so in love with his long-dead wife he couldn’t move on. At first, I put the idea aside as silly. I don’t write vampire books, I told myself, and I went about my life. But the vision of this vampire and his wife wouldn’t go away. Finally, I decided to see what was going on with this preternatural hottie named James.

What drew me to write about James is his devotion. He’s been alive for 349 years, and his wife died 319 years ago. Even after all this time, she’s always on his mind. No other woman will do for him. Then I began to wonder…could he ever fall in love again? If so, who would she be? Daydreaming is a common past time for fiction writers, and I began daydreaming about James finding love again. As he takes his first look at her he realizes she looks just like the wife he’s been mourning for over three centuries. Of course, he feels connected to her right away—it’s like having his Elizabeth home again. Then I began to wonder what it would be like to be a vampire living in our world today. With social media and smart phones, I think it would be hard to hide, but hide a vampire must unless he wants to unleash hysteria. James knows all too well what happens in a society when people are confronted with things they don’t understand. I decided that James must stay hidden in order to live among humans.

What else served as inspiration for this story? The setting. At first I thought this was going to be a straightforward novel set in the present day. When I decided to set the story in Salem, Massachusetts the history lover in me took over and I knew I’d have to incorporate the Salem Witch Trials somehow. As I wondered how to fit in the history, I realized that James was in Salem during the witch hunts and he suffered terribly because of them. I enjoyed doing the historical research. The Salem Witch Trials are a frightening look into human nature. To this day, we don’t know why those girls accused innocent people of witchcraft. We only know that those accusations resulted in hysteria and madness.

What kept me fascinated with James and Sarah is the budding romance between them. Focusing on the softer side of this vampire, the loving, tender, devoted side, makes James a different kind of romantic hero. Before I started reading vampire stories, I never would have expected to write a vampire romance. I’m glad I opened myself up to this new genre, though, because sharing James and Sarah’s story is one of my great joys.


Author Bio:

Meredith Allard is the Executive Editor of The Copperfield Review, an award-winning literary journal for readers and writers of historical fiction. She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from California State University, Northridge. She has taught writing to students aged 10 to 60, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction workshops at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference. Her writing has appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Moondance, Wild Mind,Muse Apprentice Guild, The Maxwell Digest, CarbLite, Writer’s Weekly, and ViewsHound. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.


Links:

Website
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Author Interview: Frozen Heart by Annabelle Blume

Little Blurb about yourself:

Annabelle is a Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy Romance author, that is, when she's not checking homework or begrudgingly cooking dinner. Wife, mother, and creator of alternate worlds, Annabelle has a penchant for that which is outside the norm.

1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

I’ve always been an avid reader. Writing was something that grew naturally out of my general love of reading and books.

2. How long did it take you to write Frozen Heart?

Frozen Heart was my first venture into writing longer than a short story. I spent 6 weeks writing it and twice that doing revisions and edits with my two critique partners.

3. While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?

The plot of Frozen Heart didn’t change much at all from it’s inception. There were scenes that changed, some minutely and some drastically, but the story remained the same for the most part.

On the other hand, my current work-in-progress went through 3 plot revisions before I even began writing the book. I think every book and every story has it’s own journey and until your in the trenches with it you can never be sure what’s you’re really in for as far as the writing goes.

4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?

My husband dreads visiting bookstores with me. I can browse for hours and hours. I usually find about 10 books I swear I absolutely must have right then and there. It’s maddening for him. I’m not sure there’s one part I head to first. Sometimes I start in the Romance section, other days I may go straight back to the YA section. If my kids are with me, I’m most likely going to the children’s section first.


5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?

It varies quite a bit. I have 3 kids, I write freelance for magazines and write a sexual health and relationship advice blog as The Bombshell Mommy. If I’m bogged down with deadlines and karate tournaments, I may only read 4 books in a month. Then there are times when I read four books in a week.


6. In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?

One? I’m supposed to pick ONE? Okay, I pick Claudia from Interview with the Vampire. She’s strong and smart. Not afraid to speak up for herself and fight for what she wants out of life. She’s also a nearly hundred year old vampire trapped in the body of a five year old little girl. The juxtaposition of those two character traits is some of the most powerful writing I’ve ever experienced.

7. State 5 random facts about yourself.

I love Alfredo sauce
I carry at least 5 different shades of red lipstick in my bag
I have over 10 hours of tattoo work on my body
I love dogs
I hate bugs

8. Your favorite Genre?

Romance. Specifically paranormal and urban fantasy.

9. What are you currently reading?

Mermaids by Tiffany Reizs

10.What is the best book you've read?

The Great Gatsby and The Picture of Dorian Gray are my two favorite books.

11. Any new projects coming up?

I’m currently writing a new book, but it’s still in the first draft stages. Cressenda and Beckett have been taunting me with the idea of a sequel, so we’ll see what comes out of that.

Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?

Cressenda is a strong woman. She’s fought to survive alone for a decade. It takes a special man, one who meets her toe-to-toe on opinions, beliefs, and stubbornness, to crack her hard exterior. She isn’t swayed from her beliefs by a bunch of muscle and a good jaw line. If you like heroines who stand up for what they believe in and don’t wilt at the sight of a handsome hero, you’ll love Cressenda.

About the Author:

Annabelle is a Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy Romance author, that is, when she's not checking homework or begrudgingly cooking dinner. Wife, mother, and creator of alternate worlds, Annabelle has a penchant for that which is outside the norm.

Her Sociology degree did nothing to progress her writing skills, but has given her the ability to construct worlds that exist only in her head and translate them passionately to the page. The time spent studying individuals, interpersonal relationships, and particularly, women, within the constraints of our society led to Annabelle's unabashed ability to talk about sex as it fits into our modern lives.

She's also the author/personality of The Bombshell Mommy at Vitacost.com, where she expounds her knowledge of being a vixen clad in sweatpants.


Where you can find Annabelle Blume:

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Author Interview: Wild Point Island by Kate Lutter

Little Blurb about yourself:

I wrote my first novel in eighth grade, but then almost burned down my house when I incinerated my story in the garbage can because I couldn’t get the plot to turn out right. Now I live in NJ with my husband and five cats (no matches in sight) and spend my days writing paranormal romances, traveling, and hanging out with my four wild sisters. My novel Wild Point Island has just been published by Crescent Moon Press. I’m writing the sequel. I also write a travel blog entitled Hot Blogging with Chuck, featuring my rascally almost famous cat.


Who or what inspired you to become a writer?
Wow. That’s a great question. My earliest memory is eighth grade when I used to wake up at the crack of dawn and write. Back then I was writing a hot and steamy romance between a nun and a priest because I went to Catholic school, and I guess I was curious about a nun’s life. I was a voracious reader—the usual classics—Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice—so I guess it was a combination of being surrounded by great literature and being born with the gene to write, if there is such a thing.

How long did it take you to write Wild Point Island?
It took me a good six months to write the first 100 pages because it was tough for me to do the world building of Wild Point Island. I had, for the first time, created a new kind of being—a revenant—a different life form. Plus I needed to create a new world with rules and a different kind of society. So that took awhile to pull together. Then I went to a conference and pitched my 100 pages as if it were a completed novel (a real no, no) to a top New York editor to see if the idea I had was marketable. When she requested the full manuscript, I went home and wrote the rest of the novel in a month. She ended up rejecting the book, but I later sold it a few months later to another publishing house after I had done more editing.


While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?
Wild Point Island is the fifth novel I’ve written so this plot came fairly easy. But before then, I did a combination of plotting and writing a bit by the seat of my pants, so I’ve been known to go back and re-adjust my plot. I like to write page-turners, so if I find that the middle is dragging, I’ll cut it there. I truly believe that revision is the key to success so let’s say that most books go through at least four plot edits.

You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?
Typically, to the romance section to see my competition. I like to see what’s out there, how it’s being marketed—the cover, the blurb, etc. But, I’m also an eclectic reader so I always keep my eye on the NY Times Bestseller List, and I do read across genre.

How many books in a month do you tend to read?
Before I made the transition from writer to author—and by that I mean started writing seriously—sending out manuscripts, working with critique partners, joining writing groups—I read voraciously, at least two books a week. As a writer, I spend so much time writing and promoting and blogging, my reading has suffered. That is probably the ugly little truth about writing—it takes so much time.

In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?
I’ve read Pride and Prejudice so often and just love the character of Ellzabeth Bennett. She’s strong yet flawed. She also has a slew of sisters in the story (I have four sisters myself), and I’ve always identified with her plight.


State 5 random facts about yourself.
*I am a world traveler.
*I’ve been studying Italian for at least the last five years—obsessed with learning the language and speaking it.
*I have five cats and volunteer at a cat shelter. Just love cats!
*I love the fact that I’m an author.
*I love animals, love seeing them in the wild or in their natural habitat. My best time was on safari in Africa when I saw lions first hand and heard them roar. Second best time was in Yellowstone National Park with the wolves and heard them howl. And then, of course, I was at the Beijing Zoo in China and saw the Panda Bear eat bamboo.

Your favorite Genre?
I would have to say romance. But I also love mysteries.

What are you currently reading?
I’m finishing up The Hunger Games.

What is the best book you've read?
This question is so hard because I don’t have one favorite book.
I can honestly say that when I was younger and used to do so much reading and when reading meant the world to me—I used to fall in love with authors and I would read everything they had written. So, for example, Jane Austen was a particular favorite. The Bronte sisters. Louisa May Alcott was another author who delighted me with her Little Women and Little Men and Jo’s Boys. On my website I compiled a list of the top ten Romances all girls should read. Those titles all come from the heart—and number one was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte so maybe that is my favorite after all.


Any new projects coming up?
I’m in the process of writing the sequel to Wild Point Island. It will be Lily’s story. She’s the heroine’s sister, and she provides an enormous amount of conflict in the story. I felt she deserved her own book.

Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?
The easiest way to describe Wild Point Island is to share the blurb from the back of the book:

Banished from Wild Point Island as a child, Ella Pattenson, a half human-half revenant, has managed to hide her true identity as a descendent of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Thought to have perished, the settlers survived but were transformed into revenants--immortal beings who live forever as long as they remain on the island.
Now, Ella must return to the place of her birth to rescue her father from imprisonment and a soon to be unspeakable death. Her only hope is to trust a seductive revenant who seems to have ties to the corrupt High Council. Simon Viccars is sexy and like no man she’s ever met. But he’s been trapped on the island for 400 years and is willing to do almost anything for his freedom.
With the forces of the island conspiring against her, Ella must risk her father, her heart, and her life on love.

What made the book easy to sell was its tie to a real historical event. I needed a backstory to explain why these revenants were on Wild Point Island. I decided to use what happened back in 1590. English colonists landed on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, and then vanished. For years the colony was believed to have perished. I decided to go with the little believed theory that the colonists may have relocated somewhere else, and in my fictional world—to Wild Point Island. Once there, they ate a local plant and were transformed into another life form.
Ironically, approximately a month ago, the NY Times and Huffington Post reported that clues were discovered on a map that has been in the British Museum for over 100 years verifying that the colonists did, indeed, relocate somewhere else. Too bad Wild Point Island is only a figment of my imagination!

About the Author

Kate Lutter believes she was born to write. She wrote her first novel when she was in eighth grade, but then almost burned her house down when she tried to incinerate her story in the garbage can because she couldn’t get the plot to turn out right. Now, many years later, she lives in NJ with her husband and five cats (no matches in sight) and spends her days writing contemporary paranormal romances, traveling the world, and hanging out with her four wild sisters. She is happy to report that her debut novel, Wild Point Island, the first in a series, has just been published by Crescent Moon Press. She is busy writing the sequel and her weekly travel blog entitled Hot Blogging with Chuck, which features her very snarky and rascally almost famous cat.

Website

Facebook

Blog

Twitter

Guest Post: Elise Douglas

Looking For Work
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.
—Henry J. Kaiser

I worked as a graphics computer consultant while also working on a novel. An agency called and asked if I would handle a “difficult and challenging assignment.” It was at a leading investment banking firm on Park Avenue. I said yes. I dressed appropriately—corporate casual: khakis, button down shirt, loafers.

I entered the soaring-to-the-heavens building, going through 5 minutes of grueling security, but was respectively called Mr. Pennington, because I looked akin to investment bankers who are important and prosperous.

I played the part, carrying an impressive shoulder bag that had nothing in it except a protein-packed peanut butter bar and edits for a new women’s fiction novel entitled, Wanting Rita, that my wife, Elyse, and I were writing.

I was whisked to the upper floors that looked out over the impressive, gleaming towers of Manhattan. I stepped across gold carpeted hallways and passed shimmering enclosed offices, where determined men and women worried and jousted over important financial issues.

I was led across the trading floor, around islands of printers and computers, down corridors that opened, vast and wide, to more cubicles and computers, with even more people, dressed like me, hunched over keyboards, working assiduously. I was about to be involved with powerful people doing important work and I was ready for it. I was ready for the difficult and challenging assignments that lay ahead.

I was shown my desk, my computer and my printer. I lowered my shoulder bag with a dramatic sigh, aware that curious eyes were watching, and pretended to strain under its weight. Let them think I have important documents inside, I thought to myself. Let this first impression be one of “this guy has come to do difficult and challenging assignments.”

I sat, adjusted my ergonomically designed chair—one that was so carefully and skillfully designed that I could have been shot to the moon in ease and comfort. I booted up the computer. I logged on, using the highly secret passwords. I waited.

A tall, focused supervisor arrived, quiet and serious. “Welcome. Good to have you with us. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

He drifted away into the endless corridors and cubicles and glass-enclosed offices. I waited.

The district supervisor soon arrived. She was easy, friendly and attractive. “We have so much work to do. So glad you’re here to help us, Douglas.”

“Good to be here,” I said earnestly.

She soon ambled away, to some distant shore, where security doors released you through a hallway that led to more security doors and corridors and stairs and a bank of elevators.

I waited… At 1pm, I was told to go for lunch and return at 2pm. I did. At 6:30, I was kindly instructed to go home. Being the last worker on the floor, I did, shutting down the computer on which I had stared longingly for stale, protracted hours. I then wandered through the maze of cubicles and silent offices until I arrived at the bank of lonely elevators. They seemed to speak to me.

“Ah…Douglas, the vicissitudes of life: up and down, down and up.”

A week passed—one day looping into the next—each following the same familiar and grueling pattern. I never was given any work to do. Often, in quiet desperation, I worked on Wanting Rita.

One night, as I prepared to leave after a particularly fallow day, a co-worker drew up, flushed, perspiring and weary. “What a kick-ass day, huh? I’m beat.”

I mopped my brow with a tissue. “Oh, yeah. A real pressure cooker.”

On another evening, I left the hushed, empty cubicles, slouching my way to the elevators. I stood in an awkward silence. The CEO of the company was standing beside me. He stood aloof, dressed smartly in a suit and tie. No doubt he’d spent endless challenging hours wrestling with problems, financial quagmires and near life-and-death issues.

I, on the other hand—for nearly three months—had done absolutely nothing.

He eyed me suspiciously. I could hear him thinking: “Humm…last man out. Obviously, a dedicated employee. No doubt he’s been working on difficult and challenging assignments.”

I left the building with all the other essential people. I kept my head held high, but my shoulders a little slouched to show that I, too, had done important work and I was weary from it.

I never saw the supervisor again. I returned several times a week for about a year and was rarely given any work. When work gratefully arrived, it was elementary at best. Anyone could have done it.

Whenever I asked if there was any work for me, I was told “Oh, yeah, we’re going to be busy today.”

Then the day finally came: the assignment came to an end. Not with a bang but a whimper. “Good job,” I was told. “Thanks for all the hard work.”

Two weeks later, I received a call from the agency.

“Douglas, they want you back. They said you’re the only one they trust to handle the workload. Are you available?”

Copyright © 2012 Elyse Douglas
Elyse Douglas’ contemporary romance novels are entitled The Astrologer’s Daughter and Wanting Rita.

www.elysedouglas.com

AUTHOR BIO:

Elyse Douglas is the pen name for the married writing team Elyse Parmentier and Douglas Pennington. Elyse grew up near the sea, roaming the beaches, reading and writing stories and poetry, receiving a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Columbia University. She has enjoyed careers as an English teacher, an actress and a speech-language pathologist. She and her husband, Douglas Pennington, have completed three novels: The Astrologer’s Daughter, Wanting Rita and a Christmas novel to be released later this year.

Douglas grew up in a family where music and astrology were second and third languages. He attended the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and played the piano professionally for many years. With his wife, Elyse, he has helped to pen The Astrologer’s Daughter and Wanting Rita.

When asked how they write a novel together, Doug often answers, “Well… If Elyse is dismissive and quietly pacing, then I know something’s not working. If I’m defensive, dramatic and defiant, then I know Elyse will soon be scowling and quietly pacing. We remind ourselves of Rita and Alan James in our novel, Wanting Rita. How the books get finished, I don’t know.”

Elyse Douglas live in New York City.To learn more about Elyse Douglas, go to their website
To get your e-copy of Wanting Rita by Elyse Douglas at Amazon
Visit Elyse Douglas on Twitter

Lazy Days of Summer Hop

Lazy Days of Summer Giveaway Hop
July 27th to August 1st


Hosted by Colorimety & I Am A Reader, Not A Writer

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After losing everyone she loves, concert pianist Liesl Bower has nowhere to go but to escape into her music. Searching for the peace she usually finds in her concertos and sonatas, Liesl can't shake the feeling that she is being haunted by her past . . . and by someone following her. When she spots a familiar and eerie face in the audience of a concert she's giving for the president in Washington, DC, the scariest day of her life comes back to her with a flash. It has been fifteen years since Liesl watched her beloved Harvard music mentor assaulted on a dark night in Moscow and just as long since the CIA disclosed to her that he'd been spying for Russia. She had seen that man-that eerie face-the night Professor Devoe was attacked. And now he's back-and coming for her.


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Book Promo : Preservation by Rachael Wade

Book Excerpt

On Monday I missed Ryan’s entire lecture, zoning in and out as he spoke, trying to make sense of everything that had happened with Carter. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the way he’d blown up over something that was nonexistent. I wasn’t involved with Ryan, I wasn’t planning on getting involved with Ryan, and I definitely had no interest in pursuing a
relationship at all, let alone with my professor. Didn’t Carter know me at all? Hadn’t I made myself clear?
The truth began to gnaw away at me, the silence in my mind revealing my most inner realities—that I did like Ryan. I did let him flirt with me, and on some level, I enjoyed it. But so what? I wasn’t going to let it go anywhere. Certainly not after what I’d heard about him, even if I couldn’t believe everything I heard. And knowing he was dating the redhead? And likely romancing another blonde? Forget it. I wasn’t that girl, no matter how much he raised my blood pressure. So why was all this eating away at me so much?
Surely I wasn’t attracted to Ryan because I knew he was bad for me. And if I was, what kind of person did that make me? Knots formed in my stomach and I sank further down into my seat while I pondered the potential truth of Carter’s comments.
Before I knew it, class was over, and as everyone began piling out of the room, Ryan leisurely rested against his desk, rolling his pencil between his fingers as he watched me walk down the stairway to meet him, a cocky, expectant grin on his face.
I decided to keep things formal.
“Mr. Campbell, you wanted to see me?”
“Why yes, Ms. Parker, I did.” His grin turned to a frown when he heard my address, his tone uncertain. He stopped toying with the pencil and turned to grab a piece of paper. The room filled with silence as the last student shut the door.
“There’s something I wanted to show you, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in going with me.”
Going with him? Crap. “Okay...”
“It’s a writer’s conference in Portland, a month from now. I’ve had two spots reserved for months now, just in case one of my students wanted to attend. It’s a great chance to network and improve your craft.” He handed me the flyer.
I didn’t take my eyes off of it.
“No pressure or anything, just thought I’d offer.”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Sorry?”
“I mean, why me and not one of your other students?”
“Because I have faith in your work and I’m excited to see where it’s going to take you.” His eyes turned cold, his jaw set. “Is that sufficient for you?” He lifted himself from the desk, standing now.
“No, Mr. Campbell. I don’t think it is.”
“Is there a problem, Ms. Parker? Something you want to say to me?” Reaching for his tie, he began to loosen it, unraveling it with his fingers, angry eyes still locked on mine.
“I’m not sure I like being your pet. Or your science project, I don’t know which.”
“You have a smart mouth.”
“You make smart observances.”
“You’re going to make this invitation difficult, aren’t you?”
“If you’re dishonest with me, yes.”
“You’ll regret it if you don’t accept.”
“Is that a threat?”
“That’s a promise.”
I pursed my lips and peered out the window.
“Dishonest with you about what, exactly?”
My head snapped toward him again. “Are you inviting me to this because you sincerely want me to go to the conference or because you like me?”
“Like you? What is this, third grade? My answer is both. And that’s a problem because?”
“I’ve heard things about you.”
“Oh?” He plopped down onto the ledge of the desk.
“That you sleep with your students and cheat on your girlfriend.”
“Excuse me? I don’t have a girlfriend. And who I sleep with isn’t any of your damn business.” He walked around to the other side of his desk, removed his gray tweed jacket and flicked it onto his chair.
“I think it is my business if I’m going to be spending time with you off campus. And isn’t the redhead your girlfriend?”
“I’m assuming you’re referring to Alisha, and no, she is not my girlfriend. Not anymore. Damn it, Kate, who the hell do you think you are? You’re my student, I’m offering you a chance to go to this conference, and you’re going to take it. That’s it, nothing more.”
“Excuse me?”
He veered around the desk to stand in front of me again, our faces inches apart, nose to nose. “You heard me. You’re going to go because you deserve it. You’re going to go because it’s an excellent opportunity for you, and nothing you hear about me on this damn campus or elsewhere is going to deter you, understand?” He licked his lips and rubbed his jaw, glare stone cold.
My fists balled at my sides and I could feel my face flush, a combination of fury at his audacity and nervousness from standing so close to his mouth again. I didn’t trust myself around that mouth.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know your writing.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It’s more than enough.”
“Are you attracted to me, Mr. Campbell?”
“Ryan.”
“Ryan. Well are you?”
“Of course I am, Kate. What, are you not used to men finding you attractive? Do you need me to display it on a parade float for you? Do you want me to do a song and dance?” He spoke quieter now, an angry whisper. “I won’t screw you over like the other female students I have in the past, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“So it’s true.” I breathed, my eyes bouncing from his lips back to his smoldering, caramel eyes.
“I’m not proud of it and I can’t take it back. So take it or leave it.” He shifted forward and his fingertips grazed mine. “I won’t feed you lies and bullshit, Kate. I’ve messed around with my students and I was a complete asshole about it. But you’re too good for me. I wouldn’t hurt you. And from here on out, I won’t say or do anything that will make you uncomfortable. You can go to the conference without me, please just go.” Too good for him? What? Why is he talking as if he knows me? Damn it, where is this going?
The tips of his warm fingers sent a jolt through me and I involuntarily moved closer to him, understanding the weight of what I was about to do—right here in his classroom. A hypnotic thrall reeled me in, calling me to his touch, toward the current that passed from his fingertips to mine.
I peered up at him with frustration, trying to grasp his effect on me. It was so beyond my comprehension and yet so crystal clear. We shared similar defenses, just different mechanisms. He scared people off with his sleazy reputation and haughty persona, and I scared them off with the scars of my past and my workaholic nature. I could see right through him. Was I just as transparent?
“I won’t touch you unless you drop my class. And only if you want me to,” he shut his eyes and leaned in further, his lips barely touching mine as he tilted his head. “I can’t fuck up again, Kate. I won’t. Not with you.”
I rested my hand on his chest and felt it constrict, his heat pulling me in closer. “So if I’m not your student...” I whispered and brushed my lips over his, feeling his hand slip around and rest on the curve of my back. His stubble was so close and his heartbeat raced under the palm of my hand. He swept a few strands of hair away from my eyes and cupped my cheek in his palm, lightly brushed his lips against mine again, this time pressing down to capture a kiss.
The sound of the classroom door slamming against the wall caused us to jump apart.
“You son of a bitch.” There stood Alisha, the redhead, arms crossed and fury present. Damn. I thought I threw Ginger off the boat.

About the Author:

Rachael Wade is the author of the Amazon #1 best-selling paranormal romance series, The Resistance Trilogy, and the best-selling contemporary romance, Preservation. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and her work has been published in The Storyteller, A Hudson View International Poetry Digest, and Amulet Poetry. When she's not writing, she's busy learning French, watching too many movies, and learning how to protect wildlife and stop animal cruelty. The first title in her post-apocalyptic sci-fi romance series, The Keepers Trilogy, is set for release winter of 2012.

Web and social media links to include in your media kit, be sure to include links to youtube book trailers if you have them:

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New York Statehood Giveaway - That New York Minute by Abby Gaines

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Rachel Frye plays to win. And this time the prize is a partnership at her Manhattan ad agency. She's up against some stiff competition—including Garrett Calder, aka The Shark. Only one of them can win. Everyone else is out of a job.Despite the stakes, suddenly Rachel's fantasizing about being on Garrett's team. Dying to find out what's under the brilliant executive's I-don't-need-anyone facade.The attraction is entirely mutual—a fact neither of them can ignore. And what started as corporate rivalry is about to get a whole lot more personal!

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Author Interview: The Flower Bowl Spell by Olivia Boler

Little Blurb about yourself:

Thank you so much to Books Books the Magical Fruit for the interview today. What fun! Okay, a little about me: I’m the author of two novels, YEAR OF THE SMOKE GIRL and THE FLOWER BOWL SPELL. By day, I’m a freelance writer, and I earned my master's degree in creative writing from UC Davis. I’ve published short stories in the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) anthology Cheers to Muses, the literary journal MARY, and The Lyon Review, among others.

1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

My father, who is a retired teacher. When I was a kid, he was always working on something in his spare time, a novel or short stories in his corner of the living room where he kept his desk and typewriter and books.

2. How long did it take you to write The Flower Bowl Spell?

I started it in the fall of 2004, finishing a rough draft for National Novel Writing Month. Over the next 7 years, I worked on it on and off with different degrees of intensity, putting it aside for almost a year a couple of times to let it simmer, so to speak.

3. While writing, how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?

Hm, I haven’t thought about this very thoroughly. I’m not a very plot-oriented writer—I start with a character and let that person lead the way. But I’m trying to think about plot more concretely. I’d say the plot is pretty fixed from the inception of a project, but I will probably tweak it two to four times as the story unfolds organically.

4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?

These days, the kids’ section, LOL! I have two children, so most of the books I buy are for them. But I’m also interested in writing for children—I recently finished a draft of a chapter book/middle grade novel—and the plot came easily! But for me? I usually head to the new general or literary fiction. This whole genre writing (my novel is paranormal fiction) sort of just happened because I decided to write about a witch and make it magickal. I hadn’t read a lot of paranormal, sci-fi, urban fantasy, etc. before writing the book.

5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?

Two or three. I wish I had time for more, but with writing, work, taking care of my kids, I just don’t. If I read something I really enjoy, I will suck it up like sugar through a straw. That’s how it was with The Hunger Games trilogy. I have no problem making time for good writing, excellent plotting, and strong characters!

6. In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?

It’s a weird tie between Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, and my own heroine Memphis Zhang.

7. State 5 random facts about yourself.

I’m mixed race, half Chinese and half Caucasian.
I love chocolate chip cookies.
If I don’t sit on the couch each night and watch TV with my husband after the kids are in bed, I get cranky.
My favorite TV show of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I’m a terrible housekeeper.

8. Your favorite Genre?

Probably upmarket fiction.

9. What are you currently reading?

Anya’s War by Andrea Alban, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (with my daughter), and Insatiable by Meg Cabot.

10. What is the best book you've read?

All the works of Jane Austen.

11. Any new projects coming up?

Loads! The aforementioned children’s chapter book, a sequel to The Flower Bowl Spell, a YA prequel to The Flower Bowl Spell, and an upmarket woman’s fiction novel about the romantic adventures of two twentysomething sisters who own a San Francisco tearoom.

Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?

The Flower Bowl Spell is about a San Francisco Wiccan, Memphis Zhang, who, after a personal tragedy, decides to abandon her magickal powers. Two years later, a fairy shows up in a Metro subway tunnel, and crazy things start to go down. Memphis is reluctantly pulled back into the world of magick, and along the way, she has to come to terms with her own guilt while trying to save the lives of the people she loves. A fan favorite character is Tyson Belmonte, a rising rock star, who is also someone from Memphis’s past. She has a boyfriend, yet she can’t help finding herself drawn to Tyson, even though he might be dangerous in more ways than one.

If you love witty dialog, a smart kick-ass heroine, and an unpredictable plot in the vein (ha ha) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, pick up The Flower Bowl Spell. I seriously doubt you’ll regret it!

Author Bio

Olivia Boler is the author of two novels, YEAR OF THE SMOKE GIRL and THE FLOWER BOWL SPELL. Poet Gary Snyder described SMOKE GIRL as a "dense weave in the cross-cultural multi-racial world of complex, educated hip contemporary coast-to-coast America...It is a fine first novel, rich in paradox and detail."

A freelance writer who received her master's degree in creative writing from UC Davis, Boler has published short stories in the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) anthology Cheers to Muses, the literary journal MARY, and The Lyon Review, among others. She lives in San Francisco with her family. To find out about her latest work, visit http://oliviaboler.com

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Author Interview/Giveaway:The Divorce Girl by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

A Little Blurb About You
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is the Poet Laureate of Kansas, and the author of 14 books, including a novel, The Divorce Girl (Ice Cube Books), a non-fiction book, Needle in the Bone: How a Holocaust Survivor and Polish Resistance Fighter Beat the Odds and Found Each Other (Potomac Books); The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community & Coming Home to the Body (Ice Cube Books); the anthologies An Endless Skyway: Poetry from the State Poets Laureate (co-editor, Ice Cube Books) and Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems (editor, Woodley Press); and four collections of poetry. Founder of Transformative Language Arts – a master's program in social and personal transformation through the written, spoken and sung word – at Goddard College where she teaches, Mirriam-Goldberg also leads writing workshops widely. With singer Kelley Hunt, she co-writes songs, offers collaborative performances, and leads writing and singing Brave Voice retreats. She blogs at www.CarynMirriamGoldberg.com


1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

I grew up drawing like a maniac, always needing to make something to feel alive and connected, but when I was 14, two things happened. One is that I watched a friend spend six hours on the corner of a pen-and-ink drawing and thought to myself, “If that's what being an artist is, I don't have the patience,” and the other is that my parents had a long, horrendous and dramatic divorce followed by equally dramatic and difficult years in different family configurations. I started writing at the start of my parents' divorce, and this novel is actually based on the story that turned me into a writer.

2. How long did it take you to write The Divorce Girl?

I began writing the novel in my mind when I was 14, narrating strange and quirky events to gain the distance necessary to get through big losses. I told myself that such moments were worth remembering and turning into part of a novel one day. I began the novel on paper when about 16 years ago, writing and revising extensively until the time was right to try to get it published. Then I spent many years looking for the right publisher, and eventually found Ice Cube Press.

3. While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?

That's hard for me to answer because I don't keep track, and I tend to work on books -- whether it's a book of poetry, fiction, memoir or non-fiction -- for years. I tend to write fast and sloppy, and then revise up one side and down the other until the cows come home and go back out again (to use a Kansas expression).

4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?

Usually, I look at fiction first, then self-help and spirituality, then memoir, and eventually poetry, but I tend to just wander also, waiting for something to catch me and call out, “Take me home!”

5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?

Because I read several books at once, it's hard for me to keep track, but probably between 3-6 any given month, depending on my teaching schedule (when I'm reading the work of my students, and if MA theses count, then a bunch of books that way!) and the workshops, readings and other events I participate in as I travel around. I read a lot of magazines too.

6. In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?

I love the main character/narrator in Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone -- Delores Price. She's imaginative, courageous, visionary, down-to-earth, and willing to take powerful risks, and she also finds great healing through all her strength and vulnerability.

7. State 5 random facts about yourself.

a. I live with my family as well as a love cat named Miyako and two large dogs -- a very old labmation named Mariah, and a very young (read: energetic) chocolate labaraner (Weimraner/lab mix) named Shay.
b. I fell in love with yoga in my 40s and now teach it.
c. I play the cello badly and piano a little better, but I want to learn how to play jazz piano.
d. I love taking baths, and on a bad day, I might take three.
e. I love Kansas and find it outrageously beautiful.

8. Your favorite Genre?

Whatever I'm writing or reading at the moment.

9. What are you currently reading?

Anne Patchett's State of Wonder, Harriet Lerner's The Marriage Rules, and A God in the House, edited by Katherine Towler and Ilya Kaminsky

10. What is the best book you've read?

I have so many books that I love, kind of like my children, that I couldn't possibly choose a best, but I would say in the best category are Toni Morrison's Beloved, Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone, Stephanie Kallos' Broken for You, The Collected Poems of William Stafford, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson and Pema Chodron's When Things Fall Apart.

11. Any new projects coming up?

I have another book I've been writing for some years -- a non-fiction book on the Holocaust -- coming out in November, and it's called Needle in the Bone: How a Holocaust Survivor and Polish Resistance Fighter Beat the Odds and Found Each Other. I'm also revising a novel about Miriam from the bible in contemporary times, and writing poetry for a collaborative book with photographer Stephen Locke (www.tempest.com) on tornadoes, storms and other wild weather.


About the Author:

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is the Poet Laureate of Kansas, and the author of 14 books, including a forthcoming non-fiction book, Needle in the Bone: How a Holocaust Survivor and Polish Resistance Fighter Beat the Odds and Found Each Other (Potomac Books); The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community & Coming Home to the Body (Ice Cube Books); the anthologies An Endless Skyway: Poetry from the State Poets Laureate (co-editor, Ice Cube Books) and Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems (editor, Woodley Press); and four collections of poetry. Founder of Transformative Language Arts – a master's program in social and personal transformation through the written, spoken and sung word – at Goddard College where she teaches, Mirriam-Goldberg also leads writing workshops widely. With singer Kelley Hunt, she co-writes songs, offers collaborative performances, and leads writing and singing Brave Voice retreats.


Author’s Website

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Author Interview: The Redemption by Susannah Sandlin

Little Blurb about yourself:
I’m a Southerner who’s lived in Alabama, Texas, California, Illinois and Louisiana—a long, long time in Louisiana. It’s left me with a taste for cypress swamps, SEC football, fried gator on a stick, and all things paranormal!


1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?
I don’t remember a time I wasn’t enamored of books. I grew up reading Stephen King and Anne Rice. But I was first and foremost a journalist and had no plans to write fiction—until Hurricane Katrina hit my hometown of New Orleans, threw me for a loop, and, somehow, I came out on the other side of that experience writing my first novel. So I guess my answer is Stephen King and Hurricane Katrina!


2. How long did it take you to write Redemption?
All told, about eight months. I also write an urban fantasy series under another name and had to drop this book for a while to do edits on the other series, then come back to it.


3. While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?
I rewrite scenes but rarely rewrite the plot because I am a hardcore plotter—I have the basic plot in outline form before I ever start writing. Otherwise (I learned the hard way with my first book, which was written without an outline), I wander around in circles and have to do a lot of cutting and rewriting.

4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?
I look for the science fiction and fantasy section and try to figure out where they’ve stashed the paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Go geeks!


5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?
If I’m not actively working on a manuscript, I will read one or two books a week. I’m trying to turn around three manuscripts this year, though (plus a full-time day job), so lately it’s been more like one a month. My TBR stacks are getting seriously insane!


6. In all the books you’ve read. Who is your most favorite character and why?
Wow. All the books, of all time? Hm…In the paranormal realm, probably Zsadist from JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. He’s such a deep, rich character—so damaged and yet so honorable. In urban fantasy, it would be Harry Dresden. Love Harry!

7. State 5 random facts about yourself.
1. I grew up in a really small town. My graduating class of 74 was largest in school history.
2. I have two rescue dogs named after professional wrestlers (don’t ask), and their claim to fame is running away from home and ending up at a fancy hotel in New Orleans, enjoying happy hour….without me.
3. I’m a music junkie with really eclectic tastes. These days, I’m listening to a lot of French-Canadian pop.
4. I’m the reigning spelling bee champion in my county. (It’s a charity, event, okay?)
5. I hate licorice. I hate to even think about licorice. Ick.

8. Your favorite Genre?
The intersection of urban fantasy and paranormal romance—my favorite books have both elements.

9. What are you currently reading?
Stephen King’s Wizard and Glass, for an online read, but JR Ward’s Lover Awakened is staring at me from my bookshelf.

10. What is the best book you've read?
Stephen King’s The Stand is probably my all-time favorite book. He’s a master storyteller, and that book has it all.

11. Any new projects coming up?
The second book in the Penton Legacy series, Absolution, comes out on October 9, and I’m working on the third book, Omega, which will come out in December.

Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?
Bottom line: it’s a good read with not only romance but a compelling storyline! Redemption is a paranormal romance that pits brother against brother, vampire against vampire, with one human woman caught in the middle of a brewing vampire civil war. It’s about leaving the past behind and taking a chance on an uncertain future. And it’s about what happens to the world of vampires when the blood of all the humans who got a pandemic vaccine turns poisonous to them. The vampire world’s on the verge of collapse, and it’s going to get dangerous.


About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night! A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch, and always fancied herself living in Cornwall (although she’s never actually been there). Details, details. She also is a fan of Stephen King. The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana. Her novel Redemption won the paranormal romance category in the 2011 Chicago North RWA Fire and Ice contest, and is the first of three in a series that debuts this year.

Website/Blog: http://www.susannahsandlin.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susannahsandlin

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/susannahsandlin

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828129.Susannah_Sandlin

Indie Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781612183541


Giveaway

5 Print or ebook copies of Redemption (winner’s choice)tour-wide- open internationally (to be chosen from all tour entries)

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Author Interview: Married by Monday by Catherine Bybee

Little Blurb about yourself:

I’m a wife, a mom…and a wine drinker. Oh, yeah, and I’m a writer. A NY Times Bestselling Author who will never bore of saying that! 

1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

Me. I know that sounds pompous but there wasn’t anyone who said…wow, you should be a writer. I’ve just always loved to read and there have been books I wanted to throw against the wall because they could have been better. So the writer in me wrote the books the way I wanted them.

2. How long did it take you to write (title of book you're promoting)?

About three months…no, actually more like four and a half. Promotion has taken a big chunk out of my time.

3. While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?

I don’t unless I get stuck, or my character seem out of character.

4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?

The romance section!

5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?

Not enough. Maybe two.

6. In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?

Wow, I don’t think I can answer that. I like different characters in different books for different reasons.

7. State 5 random facts about yourself.

I’m outgoing
I talk too much
Public speaking is my gig
I’m a RN
I make killer jam from scratch

8. Your favorite Genre?

Romance!

9. What are you currently reading?

Nothing. I’m on a deadline.

10. What is the best book you've read?

I don’t think I have a ‘best’ – I have authors I reach for when I want to escape and know they are going to deliver.

11. Any new projects coming up?

Yep! Plenty… Not Quite Dating is the first book in my Montlake series that will start rolling out in October of this year. I have several more Weekday Bride titles coming…and a couple more books in my time travel series. I’m super busy these days.

Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?

Married by Monday is a contemporary romance perfect for a day at the beach. Carter Billings needs a wife to further his political career and Eliza Havens needs someone to protect her from her past. This marriage of connivance has some unexpected twists and turns and a measure of suspense. Brimming with humor and hot with attraction, I’m sure my reader are going to enjoy this next installment of the Weekday Brides

Author of New York Times Bestseller, Wife by Wednesday presents, Book Two in the Weekday Bride Series
\
New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Catherine Bybee has been addicted to romance since her teens. After spending a decade of her life working as an RN in urban emergency rooms, Catherine is now dedicated to writing happily-ever-afters for the world to love. Catherine is married and raising two sons in Southern California.

She loves hearing from her readers so feel free to visit her at:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Author Interview: Beta Test by Eric Griffith

Little Blurb about yourself:

I’m a full-time writer/editor in the tech publishing industry — that means I write about Web sites and phones and computers. I will not do your tech support. I get to work from my home in Ithaca, New York, where I live with my girlfriend and anywhere from three to five dogs, depending on the day.

1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

Probably the first time I realized stories were written was noticing Stan Lee’s name in reprint books I had of the original Spider-Man comics. Since then I’ve been inspired (or intimidated) by everyone from Neil Gaiman to Ed McBain.

2. How long did it take you to write BETA TEST?

From the start to end of the first draft, I worked on BETA TEST for about seven months. Then there was a year of revising to make it not suck. Which seemed to work!

3. While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?

I don’t tend to re-plot much. I’ve written books both without knowing how it ended (which was fun because I had no idea where it would go) and also plotted to within an inch of its existence. I like both methods, but neither is really about going back to re-plot, so much as watching characters do things you didn’t expect and adjusting expectations for the ending accordingly. That said, I do seem to always add an entirely new character to books after I finish them. Shoe-horning in someone who wasn’t there before, makes me very George Lucas and the “Special Editions”-esque.


4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?

The bathroom.


5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?

Between audiobooks, graphic novels, and prose novels, probably about six a month, usually with three going at a time. It’s easier in the summer when there’s less good TV to distract me with its shiny goodness.

6. In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?

I’ll go back to comics and say that I believe Hellboy to be one of the greatest characters of all time. How do you beat an actual devil come to earth who renounces his destiny to destroy the world so he can fight monsters? You don’t.

7. State 5 random facts about yourself.

1) I like cold pizza as much as hot. Maybe more.
2) My foot hurts. Did I pull a tendon? I think I pulled a tendon.
3) All of my books have a dog, usually a Labrador, in them. Sometimes they talk.
4) My least meal on death row would be toast, McDonald’s fries, and some chocolate cake.
5) I’ve owned four houses. I should be a realtor.

8. Your favorite Genre?

To write, fantasy and sci-fi. To read: crime novels, in particular police procedurals.

9. What are you currently reading?

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly (audiobook) and 7th Sigma by Steven Gould (autographed hardcover).

10. What is the best book you've read?

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

11. Any new projects coming up?

Later this year I’ll be putting out an ebook version of my young adult novel, tentatively entitled KALI. It’s about a girl with a serious ghost problem.

Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?

BETA TEST was called “an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale” by Publishers Weekly. It’s the story of Sam Terra, who loses the girl he loves when she disappears. Literally. Along with 10 percent of humanity in a single moment in a Rapture-esque worldwide event. He makes it his mission to find out what happened, and when he does, it turns out Sam gets saddled with the mission of saving the rest of humanity. To do that he has to travel to the other side of the world and find the one being who can save them: God. Seriously.

Those who like a mix of comedy with their sci-fi, maybe with some big ideas about creation, religion, dinosaurs and platypuses, will love it.


Where you can find author: Eric Griffith

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Goodreads

Website:

Blog

Author bio:

Eric Griffith is the author of the sci-fi novel BETA TEST from Hadley Rille Books, which Publishers Weekly called “an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale.” By day he works as the features editor for PCMag.com. By night he sneaks out of the house to write fictions. He currently lives in Ithaca, New York.

Author Interview: Ella Bella by Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons

Little Blurb about yourself:

To paraphrase Laura Bush: I write, I read, and I wonder.

1. Who or what inspired you to become a writer?
Nancy Drew. Thirty years ago this summer, I read one Nancy Drew after another. One day I realized that I wanted to be like Carolyn Keene. I wanted to write, tell good stories. Of course I didn't know there wasn't a Carolyn Keene, but I was already on my way making up all these stories. I thought I'd have a book published by the time I was eleven. Nope, nope, nope.


2. How long did it take you to write Ella Bella?
Seven years, although I came up with the idea nine years ago when my mother's job was outsourced. However I didn't put words onto paper until I arrived at Mills College, where it became my senior project. I wrote my first draft one summer when I was house sitting a teacher's home and I just kept revising, revising, revising.

3. While writing how many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?
Constantly. The problem with my early drafts plot is not a strong suit of mine. I once spent five years working on a novel that had no real plot. I read a rare interview once where Anne Tyler told young writers to revise all the time. Sometimes I worry I revise too much, but I want to make sure that the story that comes out is a good one.


4. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?
New books, for sure. Then the Young Adult section to see if there's anything good there. I also check out writing books, then arts and entertainment to see if there's any dishy celeb memoirs I might like. If the store has magazines I tend to look at Poets and Writers, Entertainment Weekly, and if they have it Glimmer Train.


5. How many books in a month do you tend to read?
It depends on the month! I tend to read two to three books a week, plus I'm usually listening to something on audible.

In all the books you've read. Who is your most favorite character and why?
That's a hard one!!! I love Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She has such a resilient soul and never ever gives up wanting a better life for herself and her family.


7. State 5 random facts about yourself.
a. I worked for my local library system for ten years.
b. I graduated from college when I was thirty-three.
c. I also write essays. This year I put out an essay collection titled Take What You Got and Fly With It which is available on Amazon.
d. I have two cats: Ida B and Opal. Ida B is named for Ida B. Wells, one of the first African American activists in American history. Opal is named for Opal from the comic strip Pickles.
e. I love classic movies; one of the reasons why I keep my cable is for Turner Classic Movies.

8. Your favorite Genre?
I truly don't have one!

9. What are you currently reading?
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle

10. What is the best book you've read?
I can't pick!!! My favorite novels are To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, East of Eden, She's Come Undone, and the Tales of the City novels by Armistead Maupin. I loved anything Judy Blume has written.

11. Any new projects coming up?
I'm going to start revising a YA novel I wrote three years ago for NaNoWriMo. All I can say about it is it's Great Gatsby meets the sixties. I'm also hoping to have another essay collection out soon as well; this time focusing on Christmas Carols. Deck those halls!

12. Here’s your chance to market your book. Describe it. And why readers should pick it up?

Ella Bella is a story about what happens when the worst happens to a family, how do they pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and start all over again? Ella tries to stay strong, but she can't do it alone. With the recent economic downturn, I think she's a character people can relate to, and be inspired by.

Where you can find author Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons:

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Blog

Red Room page


About the Author:
Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons is the author of the Smashwords bestseller I Woke Up In Love This Morning and the essay collection I Woke Up In Love This Morning. She lives in Lafayette California and is working on a novel.


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Vacation Reads Giveaway Hop

Vacation Reads Giveaway Hop
July 19t to 25th


Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & The Bookish Mama

What are you favorite summer reads? I like Agatha Christie because they are quick fun reads and you can never get enough of either Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot.

I'm offering a copy of Cat Among the Pigeons (a Hercule Poirot mystery).

GoodReads
Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious flashing light in the sports pavilion, while the rest of the school sleeps. There, among the lacrosse sticks, they stumble upon the body of the unpopular games mistress - shot through the heart from point blank range.

The school is thrown into chaos when the 'cat' strikes again. Unfortunately, schoolgirl Julia Upjohn knows too much. In particular, she knows that without Hercule Poirot's help, she will be the next victim!


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Promo: Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison

Date to be Published: ebook Release June 2012


Synopsis:

Mormon girl Leesie has life figured out until devastated Michael lands in her small town high school. He needs her like no one has before. A rare journey into a faithful LDS teen’s intimate struggle.

"[Morrison] handles the topics of religion and premarital sex gracefully without passing judgment. The message has less to do with religion than learning to respect and cherish others while staying true to one’s own beliefs.” – Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

Brand new paperback and reformatted ebook with fully scalable fonts. Includes bonus, never-before-published scene, "Airport Good-bye!"


10 Year Anniversary
Ten years ago this week, Taken by Storm's scuba-diving hero, Michael, swam out of Angela's brain and onto her page. Join the anniversary celebration! Win your own copy of the brand new paperback! Snag Taken by Storm's Kindleebook for only $ .99! Unbroken Connection (Book 2) and Cayman Summer (Book 3) are free on Kindle! Hurry. The promotion ends Friday, July 20th. Don't own a Kindle? Download free Kindle apps for your laptop, tablet, iTouch, or phone.

Excerpt

Meet Leesie:

from Leesie's Most Private Chapbook, Prologue, Taken by Storm, "What does it Matter?"

What does it matter if
another jock pinches me
as I walk down the hall to Physics
and high fives Troy, celebrating
like he just scored
the season’s first touchdown?

As I stalk past Troy,
architect of my torture,
I’m frozen, a block of ice—
not a single drop melts.

All hail the Mormon Ice Queen.

What does it matter?

I know the commandment,
but I don’t even consider
turning the other cheek.

And, yes, it hurts, but
life without pain
isn’t much of a test.

This feeling can’t be lonely—
I’m not alone.

I walk with His hand on my shoulder,
His voice whispering in my soul,
His love soaring in my heart,
His suffering
my
salvation.

What else could possibly matter?

Author Bio

Angela Morrison is the award-winning YA author of Taken by Storm (Books 1-3) and Sing me to Sleep. She graduated from Brigham Young University and holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She grew up in Eastern Washington on the wheat farm where Taken by Storm is set. She's an advanced NAUI, Nitrox certified scuba diver. The hurricane that kills Michael's parents was inspired by a real-life diving accident.

After over a decade in Canada, Switzerland, and Singapore, Angela and her family are happily settled in Mesa, Arizona. She enjoys speaking to writers and readers of all ages about her craft. She has four children--mostly grown up--and the most remarkable grandson in the universe.

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Opposite poems for younger readers

Links to Buy:

Amazon Author Page
Taken By Storm
Unbroken Connection (Book 2)
Cayman Summer (Book 3)

Book Promo : Firedancer by SA Bolich

Excerpt:

Fire rose that night. Jetta jerked awake to a deep booming horn shivering the glass in the windows and Nuurn's voice shouting, "Fire, Jetta ak'Kal! Fire at the storehouses!"

She scrambled out of bed, throwing a harried look out the window. She could not see the fire but she saw a glow, the size of which turned her stomach to knots. Ruthlessly she suppressed it and charged down the hill. Clouds had rolled in since sunset; it was black as the inside of Wind Point between the houses, forcing Jetta to slow down on the uneven streets. Then a huge shadow loomed out of the night and Rununn said breathlessly, "Follow me, ak'Kal!"

His great hand caught hers and tugged; she followed, trusting his night vision as he wove around hummocks and ruts. Her feet were wet and numb from the chill dew on the ankle-deep grass by the time they dashed over the slight rise and came to the first of the storehouses. Delvers with shovels, with buckets and picks, some half dressed, others barefoot, milled around between her and the fire, determined to catch any spark.

"Let me through!" she shouted, pounding both fists on the first broad back. Rununn cleared a path with indelicate shoves of a broad shoulder and many a, "Pardon, master. Please step aside." that would have set Jetta giggling at any other time. One Delver turned with a sharp, angry protest, planting himself in Rununn's path. Jetta almost shrieked at sight of Burrood.

"Remember yourself, a'Kam!" he snapped at Rununn.

"B--ak'Kal--"

Jetta, trapped amid a towering forest of giant Delver bodies, lost all diplomacy. "Move!" she screamed at Burrood. "The fire--"

Burrood opened his mouth, but what he might have said, Jetta never found out. Rununn wrapped both strong young arms around the older Delver and simply lifted him out of the way, his face averted from Burrood's astonished outrage. Jetta darted through that convenient hole and halted, appalled.

Not one, but three separate fires burned on the road and in the spring grass on the uphill verge. Settak faced the largest, an inferno in the middle of the road roaring shoulder high with a yellow-white core. The other two were spinning threads into the damp and verdant grass, finding it tough going but racing to combine arms of knee-high reddish flame.

"Dancer, what do we do?" a panicked Delver shouted at her.

Jetta gathered her wits. "Clear a line around those two!" She pointed at the lesser fires, which would not spread quickly in that lush grass. "And stay back!"

She ran to join Settak. Outmatched, still he bravely stood his ground. As she came up beside him he thrust his hands out in the move that had worked so well yesterday. The fire shied back but none of its flickering branches sank or died. Jetta saw the failure hit him like a blow to the gut and shouted, "Show no fear, Dancer! Take position on the other side!"

He turned his head and saw her. Relief washed into his face. He nodded and spun away, terrified but still game. Jetta stepped instinctively into the Dance, straight to the fifth movement.

No retreat.

The fire roared at her, malicious to its core. She felt its hostility as she had felt it at Firehome, at Setham. Heat blasted toward her and recoiled; she saw it withering the grass even where fire had not yet taken hold. Sweat glistened on Delver faces at the edge of the light. She set them from her mind, concentrating on the ground underfoot, reaching for the pulsing power under Earth Mother's skin. She planted both feet in the dying heat of ruined grass, uncomfortably warm for a terrifying, endless instant in which she could not feel the run of the fire even with it towering in front of her. And then it came, the sweet, staggering relief of the Dance connecting her to...everything. Everything worth protecting.

The heat faded. The searing brightness dimmed as the air seemed to thicken into a shield around her. The acrid bite of smoke and scorched grass no longer afflicted her nose. Jetta scarcely noticed, for the center of the fire faded to palest yellow and then to white, and a hysth burned there, cunning vanguard of the Ancient, defying the Dance, the Mother. Her. Jetta set her jaw and began to dance.

The hysth roared at her, divided itself and tried to advance on her flanks; she stopped it with an improbable leap and twist that took her level with shocked Delver eyes. On the edge of her awareness danced Settak in brief glimpses of random movements, out of step with her own, disconnected, though she saw that somehow he was keeping the fire from spreading on his side. He was not Kori; she could not expect his efforts to lock smoothly with hers, but still it distracted her on levels she barely sensed save in tiny jolts to the smooth flow of the energy pouring through her.

Then a malevolent intelligence assaulted her, a driving need deep underground. The Ancient. The hysth lunged at her, breaking out of its circle to attack the ground at her feet, burning downward, striving to dump her into the arms of the Ancient. Dimly she heard Settak's frenzied "Jetta!"...


Author Bio:

S. A. Bolich is a full-time freelancer who writes on a wide range of topics ranging from travel to horses to web design—and of course, fantasy and science fiction. A native of Washington state, she resides there again after serving six years in Germany as an army military intelligence officer. She graduated summa cum laude from college with a degree in history, which she confesses was greatly aided by devouring historical fiction of every era and kind through her formative years. She is also a lifelong horsewoman and shares her knowledge in the popular "Horses in Fiction" blog series at blog.sabolichbooks.com, in which she helps writers keep their equines from falling into the trap of Hollywood clichés.

Her first novel, Firedancer, Book 1 of the Masters of the Elements series, was released in September 2011 by Sky Warrior Books, with Book 2, Windrider, appearing in May 2012. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, On Spec, Damnation Books, and many other print magazines and ezines, as well as the steampunk anthology Gears and Levers 1, the military SF anthology Defending the Future IV: No Man’s Land, and the wolf-themed fantasy collection, Wolfsongs 2. Currently she is working on Seaborn, Book 3 of Masters of the Elements.

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Blog

Twitter: @sabolichwrites

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No Strings Attached Hop

This is another hop for all the people who hate jumping through hoops to enter giveaways. This is a no strings attached, no requirements to enter hop.


July 17th to 22nd

Those hosting a giveaway will be giving away something a reader, blogger or author would enjoy. The only requirement to enter their giveaway will be to leave your name and a way to contact you if you win. Blogs may choose run their giveaway via comments, a google form or rafflecopter.


I will be giving away a $10 Barnes and Noble Giftcard

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What Are You Reading Monday? #62 & 63

Actually I’m posting for the last 2 weeks I missed last week and wanted to make sure I updated

Books I completed in the last week are:
*Reading a lot of children’s book – I’m going to make a challenge of the titles found in 1001 Children’s Books to Read before I Grow Up (just need help with a button)


Crabs: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)
Birds: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)
Cars: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)
Musical Instruments: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)
Ocean Animals: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:
*Reading a lot of children’s book – I’m going to make a challenge of the titles found in 1001 Children’s Books to Read before I Grow Up (just need help with a button)



Cut, Crop & Die by Joanna Campbell Slan (ebook – Kindle)
The Last Boyfriend (The Inn Boonsboro #2) by Nora Roberts (p183)
Now You See Her James Patterson (audio) (CD4/6)


Up Next:


Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George (p70)
Deadly Notions by Elizabeth Lynn Casey (Southern Sewing Circle #4)
The Long Stitch Good Night (An Embroidery Mystery #4) by Amanda Lee
The Scarlet Pepper (A White House Gardner Mystery ##2) by Dorothy St James


Reviews posted this week:


Crabs: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)
Birds: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)
Cars: Discover Series Picture Book for Children by Xist Publishing (ebook)


Author Guest Posts/Interviews:


Book Promo(Reading Addiction Blog Tours) - Never Too Far by Thomas Christopher (July 15)
Book Promo (Bewitching Book Tours): Firedancer by SA Bolich (July 17)
Book Promo(Reading Addiction Blog Tours) Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison (July 18)
Author Interview (Bewitching Book Tours): Ella Bella by Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons (July 19)
Author Interview(Bewitching Book Tours): Beta Test by Eric Griffith (July 20)
Author Interview(Bewitching Book Tours): The Redemption by Susannah Sandlin (July 21)
Author Interview/Giveaway: (WOW) The Divorce Girl by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg (July 23)
Book Promo (Bewitching Book Tours): Preservation by Rachael Wade (July 26)
Author Interview(Bewitching Book Tours): Wild Point Island by Kate Lutter (July 27)
Author Guest Post(Pump Up Your Books) Wanting Rita by Elise Douglas (July 27)
Author Interview (Bewitching Book Tours): Frozen Heart by Annabelle Blume (7/28)
Author Guest Post (Bewitching Book Tours): Her Loving Husband's Curse by Meredith Allard (July 30)
Promo Blitz (Reading Addiction Blog Tours) Destiny Unveiled by Laura Deluca (August 1)
Author Guest Post/Giveaway(Pump Up Your Books)Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy by Kevin B Burke (August 7)
Author Guest Post(Pump Up Your Books) Spider Brains by Susan Wingate (August 14)
Author Guest Post (Pump Up Your Books) Voluspa: A Magical World (August 15)
Author Guest Post(Pump Up Your Books) Final Approach: Northwest Airlines Flight 650 Tragedy and Triumph by Lyle Prouse (August 20)
Preview Tour (Black Lion Tours) Tame A Wild Bride by Cynthia Woolf (August 24)
Guest Post: (Black Lion Tours) Zane: The McKades of Texas by Kimberly Lewis (August 30)
Review/Giveaway:(Pump Up Your Books)? A Leprechaun's Lament by Wayne Zurl (August 31)
Author Interview (Black Lion Tours) Tame A Wild Bride by Cynthia Woolf (September 20)
Review Tour (WOW): The Hungary Heart by Brenda Gale (October 3)
Blog Review/Giveaway:(Pump Up Your Books): A Texan's Choice by Shelley Gray (November 21)

Special Blog Hop Giveaways



Summer Lovin Giveaway Hop (Co-Hosted by Tifferz Book Review) (July 11 – 17) Winner -

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):


My Lucky Life In And Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke (audio)
Devil’s Food Cake Murder by Joanna Fluke (Audio)
Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords (audio)
Zapped by Carol Higgins Clark
Fireside (The Lakeshore Chronicles) by Susan Wiggs (Audio)
Adorable Animals by Jackie Jeffrey (ebook)
Achoo & The Fireglobe by David Jacks (ebook)


Giveaways on the blog this week and in coming weeks:


Wyoming Statehood Giveaway - Wyoming by Dana Fuller Ross (July 10 – 17) Winner –
New York Statehood Giveaway - Than New York Minute by Abby Gaines (July 26 – 31) Winner –
Montana Statehood Giveaway - Montana Creeds: Dylan by Linda Lael Miller (Nov 11 – 18) Winner -

Giveaways Winners


xFreebie Friday - To Die For by Linda Howard (May 11 – May 18) Winner – Tammy Ramey
Freebie Friday – The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffery (May 25 – June 1) Winner - Beverly Couzens Archer
Freebie Friday – Fine Things by Danielle Steel (June 8 – June 15) Winner –
xFreebie Friday - Crossings by Danielle Steel (June 15 – June 22) Winner - Phoenix Carvelli
xFreebie Friday - Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hilldenbrand (June 22 – 29) -Winner