Enchanted by Books

Winners!!

2011-12-30T22:36:00.001-05:00

The winner of A Discovery of Witches is Terzak!

The winner of Shatter Me is Linda: Book Ninja!

The winner of Glow is Adrianne Cruz!

Winners please email me through the email address located under the Contact tab at the top of this page. I will give you 3 days to contact me since it's a holiday weekend. Please write me with your name and address. Thanks. Congrats!

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi Giveaway!

2011-12-17T02:16:00.000-05:00

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

CONTEST: Post in the comments section why you want to read Shatter Me

RULES: US Only
              One entry per person/household
              Contest ends December 27th
              Winner will have 48 hours to respond to claim prize

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan Giveaway!

2011-12-16T22:15:00.000-05:00

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

Glow is the most riveting series debut since The Hunger Games, and promises to thrill and challenge readers of all ages.

CONTEST:
I have a copy of Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan to giveaway to one lucky reader! Enter by leaving a comment on why you would like to read this book. Above is a summary from the author's website.

RULES:

US Only
One entry per person/household
Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be selected
~~Contest will end on December 20th~~ Contest is extended until Dec 27th

A Discovery of Witches Giveaway

2011-12-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well.

A Discovery of Witches will be released in paperback for the first time on December 27th. I am pleased to have a copy to give away to one lucky reader. Also here is a video sponsored by Harkness’s UK publisher which features Harkness giving a walking tour of Oxford with commentary about her inspiration for the book.

For more information about the book and what Deborah Harkness has been up to, you can check out her website here or her facebook page here.

CONTEST:

Leave a comment telling me something you learned about Deborah Harkness or A Discovery of Witches from visiting her website.

Rules:

US Only

One entry per person/household

Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be selected

~~Contest will end on December 20th~~ - Contest is extended until December 27th

Winners!

2011-11-20T11:27:00.001-05:00

Thank you everyone for visiting and giving me your opinion on the new design. I did have my About the Author lightened per a suggestion so I appreciate the feedback.

As for the people who said my blog looks enchanted or magical now, that is EXACTLY what I was going for and thank you so much! I am so glad everyone likes the new design! My Review Archive is now complete, so check it out if you get a chance.

Random.org picked the winners and they are:

athlios said...
I just finished The White Road by Lynn Flewelling. I really like how the different blog entries are clearly separated by the background. It makes it very easy to navigate. Found your blog through a retweet from Kelly Meding

Na said...

Thank you for the great giveaway. I am currently reading The Outsider by Penelope Williamson. This is the first time on your blog and the heading is beautiful. It looks magical and enchanting with the purple and sparkles. I came here via a retweet :)

Winners please email me, email is under the Contact tab on the top of this page. I will then buy the B&N giftcards and your $10 will be sent right away to your email by B&N.

Welcome Back Contest!

2011-11-17T01:54:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! I decided to do a contest to thank everyone for visiting my blog again despite my long absence. To be entered please answer the following three questions in the comments:

1. What book are you currently reading?
2. What do you think of my new blog design?
3. How did you find my blog?

Prizes: B&N online giftcard
$10, 2 winners

THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED. WINNERS ARE POSTED IN THE ABOVE POST.

Welcome to the New Enchanted by Books!

2011-11-16T20:49:00.003-05:00

As you may have noticed, my blog had a huge makeover done! Please check out my About Me profile and my Review Archive! Everything is now complete!

But this absolutely beautiful design was made and installed by the brilliant Hafsah from Icey Designs. This girl knows her stuff! I am so thrilled with the job she did and I would HIGHLY recommend her if you are looking for a great designer to do your blog for you!

I hope to be posting again reguarly soon after the very long break that I had from blogging. I missed it all terribly and I still read a ton, just haven't reviewed in a while. I knew if I came back that I would want something beautiful to look at it and thanks to Icey Designs I now do.

Shadowland Winner!

2010-09-13T01:15:00.001-04:00

The winner of Shadowland is Ladytink_574! Please email me through the link in my profile to claim your prize! Congrats! I hope you enjoy the book.

Shadowland Contest!

2010-09-02T19:14:00.002-04:00

I recently received Shadowland from St. Martins for it's upcoming release in paperback on September 14th. I already own it in hardcover and reviewed it last year, so I thought I'd give this extra copy away to a lucky reader! Shadowland is the third book in the Immortals Series and I strongly recommend reading this series in order. It just won't make sense read out of order.

This contest is open to the US Only. To be entered please tell me the last book that you read that blew you away. Also leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. This contest will end on September 10th at 6:00 pm EST. Have fun!

PS: Please no spoilers!!

Winner of My Darcy Mutates + Keychain...

2010-09-02T19:01:00.002-04:00

The winner of an e-book of My Darcy Mutates plus a keychain is

hangnhu! Congrats! I will email you and forward your address on to Enid. Thanks everyone for participating and thanks again Enid for being a great guest!

EDITED: I emailed you and haven't heard back. You have until September 4th at 6:00 pm EST to claim your prize or I will pick a new winner.

EDITED: The new winner is Meredith! Congrats! I will email you now through the address you provided.

Guest Author Enid Wilson + Giveaway!

2010-08-26T19:23:00.005-04:00

Please welcome back author Enid Wilson! Her newest book was just released on August 10th and is titled My Darcy Mutates. Here is a summary:

What if old Mr. Darcy was still alive... What if Mr. Darcy had a rakish soul? What if Netherfield Park was haunted? What if action of Pride and Prejudice had played out in Egypt? This collection of 14 short stories contains sexy, over-the-top "pick-me-up" stories across the historical, fantasy and modern genres. They are not for the faint-hearted. Some may call the stories wild and say that they bear no resemble to the original, but Wilson finds Miss Austen's characters timeless and inspirational.

Dear readers,

I’m happy to be back at Enchanted by Books. First I want to thank Rachael for having me back. And I want to congratulate Enchanted by Books and her on winning an award for being one of the Top 50 Romance Book Blogs for 2010! It’s such a great honour and Rachael deserves it.

My latest book, My Darcy Mutates, has just been released. It’s a collection of 14 Pride and Prejudice-inspired steamy story stories. A blog host asked me once why I wrote different genres when my second novel Bargain with the Devil attained the top 50 best selling historical romance ranking in Amazon.

I fell in love with Pride and Prejudice when I was around 12. But reading it again and again didn’t seem to be enough. I wish Jane Austen was alive and wrote more sequels. I started to think of all kinds of “what-if” to continue my fascination of Austen’s work.

Of course, it’s not enough to put Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Regency era. In My Darcy Mutates…, I’ve put them in future and modern times. Some may call my stories wild and say that they bear no resemble to the original, but I find Austen's characters timeless and inspirational. But be warned, the book is not for the faint-hearted.

Below is an excerpt of My Darcy Mutates…

What if Netherfield Park was haunted?

“I like to listen in on the lives of the living, from time to time. Mr. Hurst likes to drink and sleep. His wife is called Lousia. They seldom spend their nights together. In fact, they have not done so once since they moved to Netherfield. But you are right, my dear. Matchmaking is my favourite. I know what I shall do.” With a quick turn, Emma Knightley disappeared, leaving nothing but a puff of white.

Luckily, George could find her anywhere. With a fast swirl of the air and another puff of white, he joined her in another bedroom, where she was perched on a chair beside a bed where a handsome young man lay sleeping.

“George, young Darcy here loves the lively lady staying in the guest chamber, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Unfortunately, he has the laughable notion that, since she has no connections or money, and has a mother and sisters who are improper, he should not show her any sign of admiration. Shall I make him confess to her?”

“How can you do that? We do not possess the magical power to make the living speak as we want!” Knightley rolled his eyes and shook his head. After so many years of marriage, he still did not understand how his wife could unerringly find all the gossip of the world.

“All things are possible. I can put him and Miss Elizabeth in the same room, and I can turn quite scary every time he does not reveal his true feelings to her. Let me wake him and take him to his heart’s desire.”

Knightley put his hand on her arm. “Wait, Emma. You might well scare them both to death.”

“Well then, if you do not like that plan, I suppose I could strike him on the head every time he does the wrong thing.”

“You will knock him witless then. Do you want to do that to a sensible young man?”

“What would you have me do, then? It is only on this night that I can play at matchmaking for the living,” Emma said, pouting again. But then her face brightened. “I know! I shall simply put him in her bed. I know how much he loves to gaze upon the form of the fair maiden. He will not be able to resist her, when he lies so close beside her. He will simply have to marry her, after tonight!” She clapped her hands, congratulating herself on the brilliant idea.

***
CONTEST:

Well, what kind of what-if story do you want to see for Pride and Prejudice or Emma? Please leave a comment here and you will be entered to win a lovely key ring with Aboriginal design and a copy of my ebook in pdf format. Earn 10 extra entries for posting about My Darcy Mutates on Twitter or Facebook and leaving a link in your post with it. Contest will end on September 2nd, 6:00 pm EST with the winner announced shortly after. Please leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Have fun!

Visit Enid Wilson's blog at
http://steamyfantasy.blogspot.com/

Dark Flame Review

2010-08-13T13:58:00.001-04:00

After almost losing her best friend Haven in the previous installment, Ever is transitioning her friend into the life of an Immortal. The only problem is Haven is acting crazy with her new found power and can not be trusted to keep their secret. She’s turned into a completely different person and Ever is scared of what will happen to her and Damen if their secret gets out.

In the mean time, Ever has screwed up once again with dark magic. She is now bound to Roman and finds herself drawn to him constantly. Like a zombie, she floats over to his house wanting to be with him despite Roman being an evil Immortal who tried to kill her boyfriend Damen. Because of the spell Ever finds herself physically unable to communicate what is going on to Damen or to anyone else for help. The only place she can find solace is in Summerland.

Without any other options, Ever decides to trust in her boss Jude and takes him to Summerland with her. Jude has no knowledge of the Immortals and trusting in him could result in exposing herself to the world. Can Jude be trusted and will he find a way to help Ever break the spell that is binding her to Roman?

Will Roman figure out that Ever is under a spell and use this to his advantage? Will he ever give Ever the cure so she can be with Damen? How will Haven adjust to her new life?

Dark Flame is the fourth installment in The Immortals which is a YA paranormal series featuring an immortal teenager named Ever Bloom. As always there are plenty of exciting moments but this time I was able to almost predict what would happen in the end. It wasn’t as much a surprise to me as previous books but that may just be because I have figured out how Alyson Noel writes.

It’s definitely an interesting premise and I am intrigued to find out what happens next for Ever and Damen. The writing was solid and as always there wasn’t a dull moment. Haven was transformed into a rather bitchy and ignorant girl whom I didn’t particularly like, but becoming Immortal changes people I guess. It would have been interesting for Ever and Haven’s friend to be around a little more, so maybe he could catch Haven acting weird now and drinking the Immortal drink also, but I guess he had to go to Italy for a reason.

I enjoyed reading about the magic spells and all the little rituals Ever did when performing them. My only main annoyance is the same one I had before about the ‘’no touching or we die’’ thing. I hate how they found this easy solution around the problem. I just think it would have been a great idea for magic NOT to be the solution this time and to leave them in love but unable to even touch each other’s hand without the fear of dying.

I know a lot of people hate that Ever continues to make mistake after mistake in this series. But if everything went right, then there would be no tension and suspense to see what happens in the next book right? In all fairness the blame in this installment isn’t necessarily on Ever at the end, it’s on someone else. But Ever caused the problem once again so I guess she doesn’t learn; again though she’s a teenager and teenagers make mistakes over and over! I guess the predictability of Ever messing everything up can get tiresome but I believe in the end she will save the day and turn out the hero in all of this. I have faith that will happen and hope I am not let down.

I did find a lot more to my liking in Dark Flame and I think this book made up for the previous one, Shadowland. The next book, Night Star, (due out November 16, 2010) is actually the final book in the series so I am interested to see how Alyson Noel will wrap everything up. Alot like the Twilight series, people either love it or hate it, and I for one love it. More please?

Read my reviews of the previous books in this series at the following links:
Evermore - Book 1 Review
Blue Moon- Book 2 Review
Shadowland- Book 3 Review

Winner of Crave!

2010-08-11T23:24:00.001-04:00

Thank you so much Melinda and Laura for being the most awesome guest authors this past week! You guys were so active with answering questions and it was so much fun reading about your new book Crave. It sounds like a fabulous book and I am really excited for it to be released!

Now for the winner of their own copy of Crave!

The winner is....

Sandy6265
Congrats! I will email you through the address you provided and forward it on to the authors for your prize. Thanks again to everyone who posted!

Winner of Immortal

2010-08-06T14:46:00.000-04:00

The winner of a copy of Immortal by Gene Doucette is.....

Jasmine1485

Congrats! I will contact you through the email you provided. Thanks Gene for a great interview and to everyone for posting!

Guest Authors Melinda Metz & Laura J. Burns + Giveaway!

2010-08-01T23:42:00.001-04:00

Please welcome Melinda Metz and Laura J. Burns, authors of the YA paranormal novel Crave which is due out September 21, 2010. They have worked together for numerous years co-writing for TV shows, movie tie -ins and a middle grade mystery series, Wright and Wong.

They’ve written novelizations for a lot of famous TV shows such as Buffy, Everwood, and Charmed. They were both staff writers on the TV show Roswell and Melinda’s YA series Roswell High was even the basis for the show! Laura writes the YA series called the Chloe Gamble Series and together they are an unstoppable team!

Back Cover Summary:

Shay has always been different—and she is about to find out why.

Shay could never do the things her friends could—never try out for sports, never go to parties, never fall in love. Because of the mysterious and incurable blood disorder she was born with, she can barely make it through three days of school a week.

But now, her doctor-turned-stepfather has a brand-new treatment that he thinks will change everything. And it does. As soon as the new blood starts pumping into Shay’s veins, she has visions of a different life…Gabriel’s life. She sees an orphanage, loss, fangs, blood, and lust that she can’t explain.

Is Gabriel real? And if he is, could he really be what she thinks he is?

INTERVIEW

Welcome Melinda and Laura!

1. Please tell us about your new co-authored YA paranormal novel Crave?

LJB: Crave is a vampire romance, but we went in a slightly different direction with it. Our heroine is introduced to the vampire world in an unusual way, through blood transfusions. She's been sick all her life, and is basically being kept alive by other people's blood. When she begins having visions during a new type of transfusion, she thinks it's probably just a side effect, a hallucination.

MM: Those visions she starts having—they're of the life of a vampire. She sees through his eyes, feels his emotions, and the power of his body. When the transfusions end, she continues to have his strength for a little while, and she's able to live more fully than she ever has before.

2. How did you come up with the idea for this novel?

MM: We both have a love of vampires, and we kept looking for a way to put a spin on a vampire romance. We got intrigued by the idea of a girl falling for a vampire by seeing his life through visions—visions that might or might not be true.

LJB: We also liked examining the personality of a chronically ill teen—people have always treated Shay as if she is fragile and sweet, as if she should be handled carefully, when all she really wants is to be strong and normal, and to do the regular (and not necessarily smart) things that her friends do.

3. How did you go about writing this book together?

LJB: We've been writing together for years, so we have our method down pretty well! At the beginning, we spent a lot of time just talking about CRAVE--about Shay, our heroine, and what her life has been like. About Gabriel, our vampire, and his history. We figured out the things that they want, what their personalities are, that sort of thing. Once we felt as if we knew them, we outlined the book together. Only when we know everything that's going to happen do we split up. Each of us writes about half the book, then we edit each other's halves.

MM: We do talk a huge amount before we start writing any book! Some of it on topic, a lot of it off, as we slowly piece together the story.

LJB: By the time we’re done writing and re-writing, we never know anymore who wrote which part.

4. What made you decide on the YA genre? What is it that you like about writing YA books versus Adult books?

LJB: We were both YA book editors before we became writers. It's a genre that we feel very comfortable in. Personally, I don't see much difference in writing for teens versus for adults. Teen characters are every bit as complex and interesting as adult characters, and teen readers are, too. I think it's more of a distinction in the way books are sold than in the way they're written.

MM: I think I like writing about teen characters because they are going through so many things (falling in love with a vampire, for example) for the first time.

5. Who are some of your favorite authors? Did any of them inspire you to write?

LJB: I always tell people my two favorite authors are Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien, and everyone acts like that's weird! I think, as a paranormal writer, I learned the absolute most important lesson from Tolkien's books--to make sure that the mythology of the world you've created is rich, textured, and fully thought-out. It's the details that really make a fantasy book great.

MM: Stephen King is one of my faves. I must have read The Stand six or seven times when I was a teenager. I don't think he inspired me to write exactly. But I admire the way his "bad" characters don't become cartoons of evilness. Like in Cujo, you never forgot that down deep, Cujo was a good dog. His layered characters (even the animal ones) inspire me.

6. Is Crave going to become a series? How many books are projected for it?

LJB: It's always been planned as a two book project. We're working on the second one now.

MM: We're all done with the plotting and on to the writing. We left Shay and Gabriel in a pretty horrible place in the first book. I think we managed to get them out in an interesting way. But then things quickly got bad for them again!

7. What are you currently working on?

LJB: The second CRAVE book--we don't have a title yet--and a new paranormal book proposal.

MM: We have a new policy where we devote one day a week to working on our proposal. We're so psyched about it, it's hard not to let it take over the whole week.

8. If you had to pitch Crave to readers in one sentence, what would you say?

MM: Transfusions of vampire blood give a dying girl a second chance at life—but a life that's nothing like she ever imagined.

LJB: Hey, that’s pretty good!

9. What was it like writing for all of those famous TV shows?

MM: It was fun—and kind of surreal. Laura and I shared a trailer on the Paramount lot when we were on the writing staff of Roswell. It was right near the fake New York street, which made us feel right at home, because we'd both just moved from NYC to L.A. to work on the show. At one point, the opening musical number for Austen Powers 3 was being filmed right next to us, so close there was an elephant in the next trailer over. Also, in case you're wondering, those cute Roswell actor guys? Even cuter in person.

LJB: It’s basically about as much fun as you can imagine a job being.

10. If Crave was to become a movie, who would you have play your characters?

LJB: I picture Ellen Page as Shay, but I guess she's too old!

MM: Maybe Mia Wasikowska for Shay. Love her! And for Gabriel—well, the model on the cover looks a LOT like Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Why not just go with him? ;) He's not too old to play a vampire.

LJB: Or we can just find the model from the cover, and get him to do it!

11. If you could run away with any hero from any YA paranormal novel, who would it be and why him?

LJB: Have you ever read the Vampire Diaries books? I'd run away with Stefan, because he's so passionate!

MM: I'd run off with Pudge from Looking for Alaska. Okay, he's not from a paranormal novel. He has no paranormal powers, except that he's able to keep all those "last words" quotes in his head. But he's smart, funny, and willing to think about the really big life questions. Also, he's romantic. Um, he'd have to be older than 15, though, or I'd have to be younger, otherwise there would be, at the very least, some legal and moral questions.

12. Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers?

MM: Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream is realllly good.

LJB: I can’t argue with that.

CONTEST:
Melinda and Laura are giving away one copy of Crave to a lucky reader. Contest is open WORLDWIDE so everyone is elgible to enter. Please leave a comment or question to be entered. Also leave an email address so I have a way of contacting you if you win. Contest will end on August 9th at 7:00 pm EST.

Pre-order on Amazon or B&N!

Guest Author Gene Doucette + Giveaway!

2010-07-30T17:44:00.003-04:00

Please welcome Gene Doucette, author of the novel Immortal which is an adult book that is a mix of science fiction, contemporary fantasy, and historical fiction, with elements of action/adventure and humor tossed in. Immortal will be released on October 1, 2010 and sounds like a really unique book!

Welcome Gene!

1. Please tell us about your novel Immortal?

Immortal is, as you described it above, a mashup of a few different genres: a little sci-fi and contemporary fantasy, some historical fiction, and a few other genres. The story is narrated by Adam, a man who has been around for roughly sixty thousand years. And in a lot of ways he isn’t anything special: he doesn’t get older and he doesn’t get sick, but other than that he’s fully capable of being wounded and—in theory—killed. So almost more important than the long lifespan is the fact that he is highly intelligent—smarter than I am, at least—and very clever.

The book flits between the present narrative—in which Adam finds himself in a fair bit of danger—and stories about his past that inform the present circumstances. We all draw from past experiences to help us understand current events. With Adam, that experience spans nearly all of modern human history.

2. How did you come up with the idea for this book?

I’m not all that sure, actually. The first draft of Immortal was finished a little over six years ago. All I remember is that I wanted to write a novel—this would be the third one I’d completed—and I wanted to write it in first person. Playing the role of immortal man as author just seemed like something fun to try. I had also been publishing as a humorist, and a lot of that was in first person, so it was a natural voice for me.

3. What are you currently working on?

That depends on what day it is. I have two novels that have been completed and are sitting around waiting for me to look at them again. Neither of them will be going anywhere until after Immortal is out, for different reasons. I’ll have to revisit both of them at some point. I also have a feature screenplay that’s won a couple of awards—based on one of the novels I wrote before Immortal, called Charlatan—that is done until someone else tells me it needs a rewrite.

The one thing I’m doing that does involve immediate writing has to do with a film project I’m not at liberty to discuss because of a non-disclosure agreement. (In my other life I’m a screenwriter, if you hadn’t guessed.) It’s a fun project, and should take up enough of my time while waiting for Immortal to debut that I don’t go insane staring at the calendar.

4. Who are some of your favorite authors?

I am simply in awe of Neal Stephenson. I don’t actually read a tremendous amount of fiction—perhaps unsurprisingly I spend much of my reading time buried in books on history and science—but when I do I like to pick up something that I simply can’t imagine writing myself. Stephenson is like that; he’s on an entirely different plane from the rest of us.

I’m also a fan of quirkier works that kind of fit into contemporary fantasy, except not really. Christopher Moore is a great example. Eric Garcia, too—he wrote a series of detective novels starting with the premise that dinosaurs didn’t go extinct, they’re just hiding. Good stuff.

5. What makes Immortal different from other books?

I think the narrative structure of Immortal is fairly different. Adam is an extremely informal, albeit not entirely reliable narrator. His take on history is interesting because he was there for so much of it, and if you asked him, he’d tell you that a lot of the stuff we consider epic in hindsight really wasn’t much of a big deal when it was happening.

But I’m cheating. What really makes the book different is that it’s a contemporary fantasy with the usual allotment of non-human creatures, but without any magic. Adam’s world is exactly like the world we live in because it IS the world we live in. It’s just that he’s been around for so long he’s managed to encounter some of the less common species most of us would have to live five lifetimes to come across.

6. What made you decide to not have any magic in your books despite it being a fantasy type story?

I don’t know if I can call it a decision, so much as a series of incremental steps. Fairly early into the book I realized I wasn’t going to get far in an immortal man story without some other fantastic elements, but it was important to me that this be a guy who simply lived for a long time. I didn’t want him to be a wizard or an alien or a god or anything that would somehow make his life experiences less applicable to us mortals. I needed him to be a version of you or me, just older. I also wanted the history he lived through to be our history as much as possible. If you throw magic into history, it affects a lot of things that I didn’t want to see changed.

One particularly cool consequence of swearing off magic is that it has helped me to avoid some of the tropes one sees in most fantasy novels. Fantastic beings are a little less fantastic, a little more down-to-earth, a bit more real than they might be otherwise. A place can be found for them in our world.

7. How long did it take you to write Immortal? What is your writing process like?

The first draft took only a few months, but there were rewrites so I guess I can’t really answer the “how long did it take” question definitively. And my writing process is a bit insane. I began Immortal with Adam, and with a vague idea of what the ending was going to be like. Beyond that I made it up as I went along. And I’ve approached everything that way: start at the beginning, keep going until I reach the end. I don’t take notes or outline or write sections outside of the order they appear in the book. And since I’m “the reader” I have to keep myself interested while I’m writing, so my first drafts tend to be propulsive and breathless; I only put in space to exhale and assess in later drafts. Basically, I write from the seat of my pants… while falling down a flight of stairs.

8. Will there be a sequel to Immortal? Will this be a series?

There is a sequel to Immortal, which is one of the novels I alluded to earlier. It’s called Hellenic Immortal, and it’s basically done, although since I’m the only one to have read it, that conclusion may be premature. And there will be a third book. I’m doing research for that book right now, a process that may take some time because I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen in it yet. It has to exist, though, because there are questions raised in the first book that are not answered in the second book and will have to be addressed in the third.

Beyond that? I don’t know. There might be more books in Adam.

9. Who would you have play Adam the Immortal in a movie?

Hah! That’s a tough question. Adam looks thirty-two, so it would have to be an actor that could play that age. Both Robert Downey Junior and Johnny Depp project the kind of intelligence the role would need, but I don’t think either of them can pull off thirty-two any more. Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice could probably do it.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers?

How about some links? You can read more about Immortal at genedoucette.me/immortal including a sample chapter. And genedoucette.me/category/immortal will give you a summary of my blog posts on writing it, plus some shorter book excerpts.

Immortal will be available from Amazon on 10/1/10. Your proverbial local bookstore will have it too, but probably not right away—hopefully before Christmas.

CONTEST:
Gene is giving away one copy of Immortal to one lucky reader. Contest is open WORLDWIDE so everyone is elgible to enter. Please note that he doesn't have ARC copies yet so there will be a slight wait to receive your prize. Contest will end on August 6th. Leave a comment or question for Gene about his book to be entered. Please leave your email address with your post so I can contact you if you win.

Demon Princess: Reign Check Review

2010-07-30T17:30:00.007-04:00

Nikki Donovan is sixteen years old and just discovered two weeks ago that she is half demon, her father is a King in the Underworld, and therefore she is a demon princess! As if that wasn’t a lot to handle, she has to keep her identity a secret from everyone she loves.

When Nikki returns to school to see Rhys (king of the faery realm) is the new foreign exchange student; she fears that her secret will be discovered. He is Mr. Popular and all the girls are interested in him, little do they know he isn’t even human. Nikki finds him cute but his constant distrust of her because she is a demon is becoming kind of annoying.

King Rhys is visiting Erin Heights High School to investigate Princess Nikki since learning of her prophecy. Apparently she is going to destroy the world but they both doubt the validity of this prophecy. After all, how could a girl as sweet and innocent as Nikki hurt anyone?

Nikki misses her Shadow servant Michael and is upset that a relationship between them is strictly forbidden. Her best friend Melinda is acting really strange and then there’s that guy Chris who saw Nikki turn into a Darkling and hasn’t talked to her much since. Will Nikki be able to win the trust of King Rhys and put an end to all this prophecy talk? Will Michael find a way to visit Nikki despite their union being forbidden?

Demon Princess: Reign Check is the second book in a YA paranormal series written by the fabulous Michelle Rowen. Nikki is stuck in a love triangle between two boys who are complete opposites. She has strong feelings for Michael (her Shadow servant) but Rhys (the Faery King) is here in her world and is dateable.

Her relationship with Michael is so forbidden that it could possibly get him killed if anyone found out about it. But with Rhys, there are no laws about demons and faeries dating. Unfortunately Rhys has an intense hatred for Nikki’s kind and she isn’t someone he would want to date. But despite their differences, they have a chemistry together that is undeniable.

I enjoyed Rhys’ presence making things a little more complicated for Michael and Nikki. Although I am a fan of Michael, Rhys comes off as more mature and wise beyond his years. I think the fact that Nikki and Rhys didn’t like each other made me root for them to be together even more.

The story moved along at a fast pace with secrets to be discovered around every turn. I loved learning more about Demon Princess Nikki Donovan and I greatly look forward to the next installment in the series. Overall, Demon Princess: Reign Check is a fantastic, suspenseful, paranormal that kept me up all night reading until its exciting conclusion and I highly recommend it to YA readers!

Winner of Liz Strange e-books!

2010-07-22T13:47:00.000-04:00

The winner of the e-books My Love Eternal (book 1) and A Second Chance at Forever (book 2) by Liz Strange is.....

♥s.shapeshift_ Congrats! Please email me through the link in my profile and I will forward your email on to the author for your e-book prizes!

Thanks Liz for guest blogging and to everyone for participating in the post!

The Book Blogger Hop!

2010-07-16T14:17:00.000-04:00

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event hosted by Crazy For Books where bloggers and readers get the chance to discover new blogs! This is my first time participating and it looks like alot of fun with over 200 new blogs to discover.

This week's question from Crazy for Books is:

RIGHT THIS INSTANT, WHAT BOOK ARE YOU DYING TO GET YOUR HANDS ON (PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE)?

Since I just finished reading Dark Flame - the fourth book in Alyson Noel's Immortals series, I am dying to read Night Star which releases November 16, 2010. That's a bit of a wait but two books a year is awesome, rather then only one!

Watch for my review of Dark Flame coming soon!

Welcome new readers! Below is an interview and giveaway with paranormal author Liz Strange. I have lots of reviews and interviews to read through so feel free to browse through my site. Thanks for visiting! And please leave a comment, I love comments!

Interview with author Liz Strange + Giveaway!

2010-07-14T18:51:00.000-04:00

Please welcome my guest author for this week, paranormal author Liz Strange! Liz is the author of the Dark Kiss Trilogy which currently consists of Book 1: My Love Eternal, Book 2: a Second Chance at Forever, and not yet released Book 3: Born of Blood and Retribution. She also has stories in two anthologies, Bonded by Blood II and coming soon, Unspeakable. Please welcome Liz Strange!

Hi Liz, thank you so much for guest blogging!

1. Please tell my readers about your books.
The Dark Kiss Trilogy is a dark paranormal romance series, which follows the “lives” of Rachel and Giovanni, and their circle of friends, allies, and enemies. The books primarily focuses on the relationship of the two main characters and those in their inner-most circle, but there is also a back-story involving a centuries old vendetta and the search for the first vampire.

2. What are you currently working on?
I am working on an erotic fantasy novel involving some of the secondary characters from the Dark Kiss.

3. Who are some of your favorite authors?
I enjoy Charlaine Harris, Tanya Huff, Michael Slade, Anne Rice, Kathy Reichs, and Karin Slaughter. I read mostly horror, fantasy, and mystery/forensic novels.

4. If you could be turned into a vampire by any famous person, who would it be?
Oh, that’s so hard. I’d love it to be some powerful woman like Cleopatra, or someone really brilliant like Oscar Wilde.

5. If you could write a book about any subject and it would sell no matter what, what would you write about?
Well, in honesty I’ve already written about something that completely fascinates me – vampires. I guess I’d have to turn to my inner geek here, and say I’d love to write a story involving ancient cultures, and perhaps a historical mystery. I’d love to have a story set on Easter Island.

6. What inspired you to become an author?
I get asked that I lot and it never seems to get easier to answer. It’s just something I’ve always had in me, ever since I was a little girl. I have so many things churning around in my brain, if you could see them, you’d understand that I need to write them down.

7. Do you have any weird phobias?
I do. I don’t like people touching my feet. It completely freaks me out. I also don’t like driving over bridges, clowns, and the idea of alien abduction.

8. You write paranormal, fantasy and horror books; what are the major differences in writing in each of these three different genres?
These genres all fit together nicely, but I think it’s the tone that sets them apart. Writing horror can be exciting, but also draining because it’s so dark. With paranormal and fantasy its lighter, for me anyway, though I do find that my dark tendencies do drift into most of my works. I enjoy all three because you can stretch your imagination, and create creatures and circumstances that do not exist in reality.

9. If you could have any magical power, what would it be and why that power?
I’d love to be able to turn invisible. It would be so fun to be able to eavesdrop on situations I would normally never see.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers?
I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their interest and support. Happy reading everyone!

CONTEST:
Liz is giving away an e-book of My Love Eternal (book 1) and A Second Chance at Forever (book 2) to one lucky reader who leaves a comment or question for her. This contest will run for one week and will end on July 21st at 7:00 pm EST. Open to everyone, everywhere!

Waiting on Wednesday

2010-07-14T11:52:00.001-04:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating!

This is my first time participating in Waiting on Wednesday! Here is my pick!

When Blood Calls (book 1) by J.K Beck

August 31, 2010

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble

Attorney Sara Constantine is thrilled with her promotion—until she finds out that she must now prosecute vampires and werewolves. The first defendant she’ll be trying to put away? Lucius Dragos, the sexy stranger with whom she recently shared an explosive night of ecstasy.

When Lucius kisses a beautiful woman sitting next to him at the bar, he’s hoping only to avoid the perceptive gaze of the man he’s planning to kill. But what starts as a simple kiss ignites into an all-consuming passion. Charged with murder, Luke knows that Sara is determined to see him locked away—unless he can convince her that he’s not a monster. And that might mean making the ultimate sacrifice.

My thoughts:
J.K. Beck is the alter ego for Julie Kenner whose urban fantasy trilogy I adored. I am so excited for this new trilogy by her and I can't wait to get my hands on this first book! I've already been hearing great things about it and I want to read it SO bad!!

Winner of e-book of Once Bitten

2010-07-13T19:48:00.000-04:00

The winner of an e-book of Once Bitten by Trina M. Lee, a signed post card, and a vampire bite tattoo is.....

CECILE! Congrats! I will email you through the address that you provided. Thanks everyone for stopping by and stay tuned for my interview with author Liz Strange coming soon! Thanks Trina for guest blogging!

Blood of the Demon Review

2010-07-13T16:59:00.001-04:00

Detective Kara Gillian has another case to solve and her abilities as a demon summoner who can see the arcane becomes useful once again for her investigation. Victims are turning up dead by what appears to be suicide but Kara knows the truth once she sees that their soul was sucked out of them.

What kind of creature would do this to people and why? With her aunt out of commission since losing her soul, Kara has no one else to turn to for advice so she summons her sometime lover and demon, Lord Rhyzkahl.

Kara has feelings for Special Agent Ryan Kristoff since working side by side with him on The Symbol Man case. He is well aware of demons and what Kara can see since he met a demon up front and personal last time.

But there’s something more to Ryan then Kara knows and even the demons know the truth. When one of them calls out Ryan, Kara isn’t sure if she can truly trust him anymore. She longs for affection from a human being but right now Lord Rhyzhal might just have to do.

The case becomes sinister when Kara realizes all of the people turning up dead are connected somehow. Will Kara be able to solve the case before another person’s essence is stolen from them? Will Ryan prove to be trust worthy or has he been lying to Kara all along? Can Lord Rhyzkahl be trusted and will Kara decide if she will become his personal summoner or not?

Blood of the Demon is the second book in a series by paranormal suspense author Diana Rowland. I was blown away by her debut book Mark of the Demon and could not wait to get my hands on this next installment.

Rowland pens a fantastic mystery with enough twists to keep readers guessing until the final showdown. The suspense is relentless and add in just a touch of romance to keep things interesting, made Blood of the Demon a sure winner for me. This was a fantastic book and I can not wait to see what happens next with Kara! The third book in the series is titled Secrets of the Demon and is due out January 4, 2011.

Winter's Passage Review

2010-07-12T00:15:00.003-04:00

Winter’s Passage is a free novella available online that takes place right after The Iron King ends. When we last left Meghan, Prince Ash had showed up at her door to take her back to The Winter Court, according to the oath that he promised to the Queen.

Never one to not keep her word, Meghan willingly goes with Prince Ash in the hopes to look for the injured Puck on her way there. But once again they are met with evil beings in the Nevernever who want to snatch Meghan away and bring her themselves to the Queen. Will Prince Ash be able to protect Meghan or will someone kidnap her before he can safely deliver her to the Queen?

Winter’s Passage starts off with some backstory of what happened in the previous book and then the action begins once again! After finishing The Iron King, I was so glad to have this novella on hand to read immediately afterwards.

Anything written in this world is a welcome escape and it was great to run away with Meghan once again. I eagerly look forward to The Iron Daughter, the second book in this series. Overall, this is a fun novella but make sure to read The Iron King first because this will spoil it for you if you haven’t read it.

Download your legal free copy of Winter's Passage at this link. Offer ends July 31st so don't delay!

Thanks Net Galley for providing me with this e-book copy for review!

Don't forget to enter my contest with Trina M. Lee for a free e-book at this link!

Contest for The Dark Divine on Squeaky Books!

2010-07-11T23:04:00.001-04:00

Enna Isilee over at Squeaky Books is having a contest giving away Bree Despain's The Dark Divine! Head on over to Ennalee's blog (Click Here) to find out how to win. In the meantime, check out this awesome trailer for the book!

Originally from this link

The Iron King Review

2010-07-11T22:31:00.001-04:00

Meghan Chase has always realized something was different in her life. When she was six years old, she watched her father walk into a body of water and then disappear forever from her life. For some reason, her family tends to forget about her and she only has one friend, a guy named Robbie.

Meghan hopes for a great 16th birthday, but instead comes home to her four year old brother not being himself anymore. He’s been replaced with a changeling and her real brother is off in the Nevernever or Faeryland. This is what she is told by her friend Robbie who happens to be Puck from a Midsummer’s Night Dream.

Robbie aka Puck offers to take Meghan to the Nevernever through a closet door so she can search for her brother and bring him home. But along the way they run into goblins, trolls and other supernatural creatures that all see Meghan as an odd specimen in their world. Will Meghan and Puck be able to save her brother or will Meghan lose Puck and get trapped forever in the Nevernever?

The Iron King is the first book in The Iron Fey Series, which is a YA fantasy series by author Julie Kagawa. I wanted to read this book for a long time for numerous reasons.

1. The cover is absolutely gorgeous

2. The summary sounded really interesting

3. EVERYONE was talking about how great this book is

4. There are a ton of fantastic reviews highly recommending this book

5. It was published by Harlequin Teen and I have loved every book I’ve read from them so far

So based on these reasons, my expectations for The Iron King were through the roof. I would classify this book as fantasy and not a paranormal at all. It definitely has that ‘’take you away into another world’’ aspect to it and to me that is pure fantasy. The story starts off with introducing us to Meghan Chase and I had my first déjà vu moment.

A lot of reviewers complain a subject matter is too similar to other books, but I’ve rarely hard that happen to me. But it happened to me with this book. The first book I thought of was Michelle Rowen’s Demon Princess Series. There are a lot of similarities and I kind of felt like, ok I’ve read this already…but then it got really good and I forgot about how similar it was to Michelle Rowen’s book (which is a great book by the way!).

Every scene is so picturesque and I really felt like I was right there with Meghan on her journey to the Nevernever. This was such a cute story and I can see now what everyone was raving about. It’s easy to read, sweet, exciting, imaginative, suspenseful, and just a joy to read.

Sometimes I’ll read a book and I just get this warm feeling in my chest, like contentment, happiness that the book is so good. I had this feeling with Twilight, and now I’ve gotten it with The Iron King. I was so sad for this book to end and can not wait for my next escape into the Nevernever . Overall, I adored reading The Iron King and I will be without a doubt reading The Iron Daughter next!

Thank you Net Galley for providing me with this e- book copy for review!

Winner of Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker

2010-07-09T11:58:00.000-04:00

The winner of a copy of Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker is......

SANDY JAY!

Congrats! I will email you through the address you provided. Thanks everyone for posting and thank you Marla for guest blogging!

Make sure to check out my interview & giveaway with Trina M. Lee, below this post!

Guest Author Trina M. Lee + Giveaway!

2010-07-05T22:57:00.001-04:00

Please welcome my guest author for this week, urban fantasy/paranormal romance author Trina M. Lee! Trina writes the Alexa O’Brien Huntress Series which currently consists of Once Bitten, The Wicked Kiss, and coming soon, Only Vampires Cry Blood. Also by her is The Gray Falls Trilogy which has one book out so far titled Lyric’s Gift. AND Trina also has a stand alone book titled Love in Death’s Embrace!

Thank you so much for being here today Trina!

1. Please tell us about your series, trilogy and stand alone books.

The Alexa O’Brien Huntress series is my main series. It’s my baby lol. Alexa is the main character. She’s a werewolf with mental abilities that she’s had since birth, before becoming a werewolf. There are two men in her life, a werewolf and a vampire, each of them part of her in a different way. There is a lot of romance but also a lot of action and drama.

The Gray Falls Trilogy currently has just one book: Lyric’s Gift. It’s a bit of a sweeter romance about a vampire that saves the life of a psychic. She later has a vision that he’s in danger and goes out of her way to warn him.

Love in Death’s Embrace is a stand alone story about a vampire hunter that must kill a certain vampire and his entire bloodline in order to escape a curse. Falling in love with a vampiress of that bloodline makes that a tad complicated.

2. What influenced you to become a writer?

I started writing at a young age. I won my first writing award at the age of 9. I started writing so that I could be part of fictional worlds. Reading was always a big part of my life but I wanted to make my own worlds. By the age of 12 my writing was focused primarily on vampire type stuff. The movie The Lost Boys really got me into vampires.

3. What is it about vampires that readers find so alluring?

I’m not sure. I think it varies by reader. For me it was the darkness, their power and even their limitations, like being unable to walk in the sun. It set them apart from humanity, made them so much more than the rest of us, but a terrifying mystery as well. They are dangerous but I can’t help but be drawn to them. Some of the newer vampires, the ones that don’t drink human blood, they hold no appeal for me whatsoever.

4. What is your favorite book?

Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden. That book actually made me cry. It’s a fantasy setting, the main character is an elven vampire. I love several books but this one remains a favourite.

5. If you could be any supernatural creature what would you be and why?

I think I’d have to go with vampire. I love werewolves too but vampires were always my first love.

6. If you could have one magical power, what would it be?

The ability to manipulate energy. From moving things with my mind to healing with energy, that kind of thing.

7. What are you currently working on?

Currently I’m working on a few things. A short story about two werewolves from opposing packs and their forbidden love. Also the 4th book in the Alexa O’Brien series and a new book that isn’t part of any series yet about a fallen angel and his reunion with a woman he’d once saved who is now a vampire.

8. If you had to describe your stories in one sentence, what would you say?

These are not your daughter’s vampires and werewolves.

9. What is a typical writing day like for you?

No day is ever really like another. I’m usually busy with promo, family and writing, there is a lot to juggle. Pretty much every day involves all three of these, though some more than others.

10. Who are some of your favorite authors?

Kim Harrison: Her Hollows series kicks ass, I love it.
Anne Rice: Her vampire chronicles were a big part of my world in my teen years.
Richard Laymon: His horror is the best. I’m picky with horror novels but his always freaked me out but kept me eagerly turning pages.

11. What genre would you love to write a book in but haven’t yet?

Horror. I really want to try my hand at it and plan to do so in the future, hopefully sooner than later.

12. What is your favorite TV show?

It was Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and I still watch the DVDs a lot lol) but for newer shows I’d have to say Castle for a drama type show and Two and a Half Men for sitcom.

13. If you had to describe Trina M. Lee in 3 sentences, what would you say?

Hmm that’s a tough one. Trina M. Lee spends more time with vampires and werewolves than the average person. She has a blunt, in your face attitude but is caring and compassionate. She loves animals and is a sucker for anything furry with four legs.

14. Do you have any plans for another series?

At this point my Huntress series still has a lot ahead. I plan to do some spin off books with secondary characters taking their turn in the role of main character.

15. What can we expect next from you?

Book 3 in the Alexa O’Brien Huntress series, Only Vampires Cry Blood, is coming out in the fall.

16. Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers?

There is a free read on my website, a prequel story to my Huntress series. There is also an excerpt for each of my books on my site http://www.trinamlee.com./ I look forward to meeting new readers and paranormal fans so feel free to email or contact me on twitter. Twitter.com/TrinaMLee

CONTEST:

Trina is giving away an e-book of Once Bitten, a signed post card, and a vampire bite tattoo to one lucky reader who leaves a question or comment for her on this post. The contest will end on July 13th at 7:00 pm EST. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. Contest is open to everyone worldwide!

Guest Author Marla Martenson + Giveaway!

2010-06-30T21:29:00.000-04:00

Please welcome my guest author for this week, Marla Martenson! Marla is the author of two self help books titled Excuse Me, Your Soul Mate is Waiting and Good Date, Bad Date. Her newest book is a memoir about her life as a matchmaker in Beverly Hills and it’s titled appropriately, Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker.

In this book which I recently reviewed, Marla dishes about the celebrities she has run into while working and what life is really like working in the town that was made famous in Pretty Woman. Please welcome, Marla Martenson!

Hi Marla! Thank you so much for being here today to talk to my readers! I loved your book and I have so many questions for you!

1. What made you decide to write a book about your job as a matchmaker?

Since I had written two self -help books already about dating, I really had nothing left to say on the subject as far as giving advice, so I was thinking about what I could write next. I really enjoy reading Jen Lancaster’s memoirs and I am a big fan of the chick lit genre, so I decided to write a memoir about my experience as a matchmaker, which is a very unusual job. It turned out so well and was so much fun to do, that I am now writing the sequel to Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker.

2. Please tell me about your worst client experience and your best experience.

I guess the worst client experience was the story in the book about Frank Stein, a lawyer who was screaming at me over the phone, threatening to sue me because I tried to match him up with a 48 year old woman. “I don’t date 48 year old women, they don’t look good!” He barked at me before he threatened to sue me.

The best experience I had was when I was invited to the wedding of a couple I matched up (that story is in the book as well) I felt like I really made a difference in someone’s life.

3. Do you still work as a matchmaker?

I do still work as a matchmaker, however I now have my own boutique company called Cupid For Hire, visit me at http://www.cupidforhire.com/

4. How many of your clients have ended up married as a result of you matching them together?

I have been a matchmaker for almost nine years now, so there have been countless couples that have gone on to get married, I have no idea how many.

5. Do you have any plans to write a fiction novel?

Funny you should ask, because I have a novel that is halfway finished. I started it about five years ago and I got stuck in the middle and busy with my other books. I was just thinking about it today though and how I really need to get back to it because it is very funny. It is about a single waitress in Chicago and all of her dating disasters and adventures.

6. What are you currently working on?

I am currently trying to finish up the sequel to Dairy of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker. It will be published in spring of 2011. There are more outrageous stories and funny situations that I deal with so stay tuned.

7. If you could match any two celebrities up, who would it be?

I would love to be able to find Jennifer Aniston a good guy since she is always going for the bad boys. And if Rod Stewart was single and I was single, I would like to match the two of us up together. J

8. How do you stay so positive even when things are going wrong in life?

That is a good question. It’s not easy these days with the economy so bad and hearing about the oil spill, and day –to- day stresses that we all deal with. I tend to be a very cheery and upbeat person in general, but I find myself getting down sometimes like everyone else. I am usually able to pull myself out of it pretty quickly by thinking about all that is good in my life, starting with my health and having a place to live. I really do recite affirmations and pray and am grateful for what I do have instead of focusing on what I don’t have, and it helps me keep a positive attitude.

9. What is your #1 piece of advice for couples?

My # 1 piece of advice would be to have a short memory. My husband and I get into squabbles and become aggravated with each other, but luckily we let it go and forget about it very quickly. Don’t bring up something your other half did last week, month or last year, its over and done with, move on and be happy.

10. If your book was a movie, who would you have play yourself and your husband?

My book is actually being shopped as a film or TV series and there are several fabulous actresses that I could picture playing me, such as, Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Sara Jessica Parker, Sandra Bullock or Kristin Davis. I only have one man in mind to play Adolfo, and that is Antonio Banderas!

11. What authors do you enjoy reading?

I read a lot and there are so many amazing authors out there. As far as chick lit goes, I love Jane Green, Jen Lancaster and Caprice Crane, I like to read anything by David Sedaris and Laurie Notaro, they are incredibly witty and brilliant. I also adore Rohinton Mistry, Khaled Hosseini and Elizabeth Gilbert. And as far as self help goes, I enjoy Wayne Dyer, Dan Miller, Deepak Chopra and Eckart Tolle to name a few.

12. What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading several books on marketing, since I am in the middle of promoting Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker and need all the advice I can get.

13. How long does it take you to write a book?

I have been putting out a book per year. It generally takes me anywhere from six to nine months to write a book, but that is not sitting down everyday all day like a full time job, since the first three books were all written while I was working full time at the matchmaking company. If I could just write, I imagine I could finish a book in three months.

14. What is a typical writing day like for you?

I never have a typical writing day, some days I write for a few hours, some an hour and some days not at all. But I write on my MacBook Air at a little desk in the living room, or snuggled up in my bed with a pillow as a desk. Since I have been writing memoirs, sometimes I have to wait until something interesting or exciting happens to me so that I have something to write about. I often will plan to do something different or crazy in the hopes that a good story will come out of it.

15. If you could have one wish, what would it be?

Oh boy… just one? I would wish that Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker makes it to number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

16. Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers?

I love and appreciate all of you and I want to encourage you to go for your dreams. I wanted to be a published author since I was about eight years old. I finally got the courage to go for it a few years ago and got published at the age of 45. So, it’s never too late for a dream to come true!

CONTEST:

Marla is giving away one copy of Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker to a lucky reader who leaves a comment or question for her on this post. Please include your email address so I can contact you if you win. Contest will end on July 8th at 7:00 pm EST and is open to US residents only.

Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker Review

2010-06-30T17:19:00.000-04:00

Marla Martenson works as a matchmaker in Beverly Hills by day and writes self help books about love by night. Beverly Hills is an extremely superficial place to be with rich, bald, fat men only wanting gorgeous stick thin women with big breasts who are 20 years younger then them.

It is Marla’s job to find true love for two complete strangers and hope that the matches she makes work out. But her clients never make it easy on her. They have crazy demands such as only wanting women with a certain type of breasts (specifically no one with large areolas!), no one older then 35 even if they are 60 years old themselves, dictating exactly what the woman’s past should be, what hobbies she should have, and worst of all, calling anyone over 110 pounds fat and anyone under 5’3 too short.

Marla herself is a beautiful woman but with living in Beverly Hills, she can’t help but to feel fat (at only 120 pounds) or not perfect enough at times. She recites affirmations at the end of every chapter of things she wants to be true because she believes if you speak it out loud you will speak it into existence. Marla’s positive attitude and upbeat personality shine through the pages of this book and you can’t help but read with a smile on your face.

Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker reads like a fiction novel told in first person point of view, but is a memoir. The emails scattered throughout the book from Marla’s clients are a lot of fun to read and always hilarious. Marla’s interactions with her Latin musician husband Adolfo, are so funny that I had to bookmark certain parts. They call each other Lucy and Ricky and you can definitely see why. Marla has red hair but more brains then Lucy and Adolfo is Latin and a musician just like Ricky Ricardo!

My favorite part of this book was the part where Marla would sneakily run to the garbage shoot to throw her husband’s unpaired socks away behind his back so he wouldn’t know about them. I read Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker in two days and couldn’t put this book down for a second.

I felt completely satisfied upon finishing this book since Marla’s great energy can’t help but rub off on you! Overall, I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a humorous memoir that will keep them laughing and entertained. I look forward to reading anything and everything else Marla Martenson writes since I am now hooked on her writing. I would love for her to write a fiction novel since she definitely has the talent to write a great story.

Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker is available for order on Amazon
Visit author Marla Martenson's website

Winner of Enid Wilson Contest!

2010-06-24T20:40:00.000-04:00

The winner of an e-book and necklace from Enid Wilson is

♥s.shapeshift_

Congrats! Please email me through the link in my profile with your name and address and I will forward it on to Enid Wilson to get your prizes out to you! You have two days to contact me and if I don't hear from you, I will pick another winner. Thanks everyone for joining in the fun!

My Soul to Keep Review

2010-06-24T14:32:00.001-04:00

When Kaylee discovers that somehow Demon’s Breath has found its way into our world and teenagers are using it to get high, she is horrified. It’s a highly addicting substance and it can lead to insanity or death. Together Nash and Kaylee try to save their friends from taking the drug before they lose their minds. Their secret life as bean sidhes are very close to being exposed if people find out where this drug really comes from.

In the mean time Kaylee is terrified to go to sleep after waking up in the Netherworld in the middle of the night. Somehow, because of her constantly traveling back and forth between the two worlds, her body has become accustomed to going to the Netherworld. The only time she can sleep is when someone is in the room to wake her if she starts singing her song, so Nash is there to protect her from traveling again.

Kaylee and Nash embark on a desperate search for answers to find out what Netherworlder is dealing to the kids at their school. But not everything is what it seems. When Kaylee finds out Nash has been keeping secrets from her, she has no idea how far he’s gone. These secrets could potentially end both of their lives and it is up to Kaylee with the help of Nash’s reaper brother Tod, to save a town of people before it’s too late.

My Soul to Keep is the third book in the Soul Screamers Series featuring bean sidhe/banshee Kaylee. With each new book, I am further impressed and blown away by how wonderful this series is. My Soul to Keep is by far the darkest of all of the books and is scary at times.

The world that Rachel Vincent has created in this YA series is so realistic but horrifying at the same time. Whenever Kaylee travels to the Netherworld, I feel her terror and I’m right there by her side living it all through her. I feel her heartache, her pain, her fears, all of it.

Kaylee is a strong relatable character that doesn’t need someone to save her. She is only sixteen but thinks things through beyond her years and doesn’t fall for the sneaky tricks Netherworlders try to fool her with. There is always a shocking surprise in these books and I love that it’s not predictable.

I read for hours and when I woke up this morning I was still thinking about this book. My Soul to Keep is haunting and it really captured me, mind, body and soul. I am completely in love with The Soul Screamers Series and I will follow Kaylee Cavanaugh wherever she goes, to Hell and back. I am a complete and utter fan girl now of Rachel Vincent’s books and eagerly await the fourth book, My Soul to Steal due out January 1, 2011.

Thank you Net Galley for providing me with this e-book copy for review!

Winner of The Summer of Skinny Dipping....

2010-06-23T12:20:00.000-04:00

The winner of a copy of The Summer of Skinny Dipping is.....

Jessilyn!

Congrats!! I will email you through the address you provided. I hope you enjoy this book. I loved it so much! Thanks everyone for commenting. And if you want to snag your own copy of this book, it is available for order:

Barnes and Noble (free shipping on any order as long as you have a membership card!)
Book Depository (free shipping anywhere. It takes a while to get to you but it's free shipping!)

The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove Review

2010-06-22T20:18:00.004-04:00

Jane Garcia is sixteen years old and wants what every young girl wants, love. After growing up in a neglectful group home, Jane receives an opportunity of a lifetime. She’s offered a full scholarship to a private girl’s school where only the prestigious attend. But everything comes at a price.

After a short time at the school, Jane starts to wonder about the headmistress and her family. There are strange occurances at Birch Grove and Jane is determined to find out the truth about this school. The last scholarship student disappeared and was never heard from again. Will Jane become another casualty or will her new life at Birch Grove be a happy one?

The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove is the first Young Adult book by the very talented Marta Acosta, author of the Casa Dracula Series. The story is told in a strong first person narrative that is heart breaking yet up lifting as the reader follows Jane and sympathizes with her struggles. At times, The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove is reminiscent of the popular Twilight Series with the similar themes of angst ridden teenage love between two unlikely people.

The writing is absolutely addictive and I could not put this book down for a second. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. The suspense, mystery, romance and paranormal all together make a very exciting book that is sure to impress readers of various genres. Overall, The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove is a breath taking, beautiful novel that should not be missed.

Read The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove for free on Scribd at this link
Visit Marta Acosta's website

Guest Author Enid Wilson + Necklace & Ebook Giveaway!

2010-06-18T00:00:00.002-04:00

Please welcome my guest author for this week, Enid Wilson! Enid is sharing an excerpt today from her book In Quest of Theta Magic. Make sure to read to the end to be entered in a very cool giveaway!

Finally, the wedding day came!

When the bride's wedding party arrived on the ceremonial premises, they all gasped out loud. In the center of the busiest plaza in Cosmos, a huge balloon floated in midair. The balloon was in rainbow colors and seemed to be made of semi-transparent material; they could vaguely see people moving around, inside of it. Even with her eagle sight, Elana Bailey could only make out silhouettes of the people in there; she couldn’t make out every movement or shape. Her sister Jana, with her bat hearing, could hear that they were Dean Williams’s servants, making final preparations in the bridal chamber.

Below the balloon, the plaza had been transformed into a carnival-like space. There were marquees for all kinds of activities, including fortune telling, body painting, carousels, and candy stores. It was blocked off at the moment but Elana knew that it would be opened once she and Williams were led aloft to the ceremonial chamber.

After the brief wedding ceremony, the preost pronounced Elana and Dean ready for the first day of celebration. They wouldn’t be pronounced husband and wife until the eighth day. For now, the preost tapped their chairs three times, and they began their ascent to the balloon.

Cheers and music started to ring in the plaza. They could see the marquee area open, and the revelers start to go in.

When their chairs reached the opening of the balloon, Williams signaled for Elana to go in first. Separating her quarters from his was another semi-transparent partition, but it was more see-through than the material that made up the outer wall of the balloon, permitting her to see more of Williams’s shape and movement, especially when the light was on. She could also hear him moving around.

The eight day celebration which included Singing and Dancing Ceremonies were witnessed by people in the plaza. For example, the third day, they held the Provision Ceremony, where Williams made Elana a strong box by hand, to symbolize his ability to provide for her. Elana chose to cook him a delicious meal, which was taken to his quarters by a servant. For the guests below, handicraft and cooking demonstrations were conducted.

During the remaining days, they carried out the Religious, Management, Art, and Grooming Ceremonies. The Religious Ceremony consisted of reciting various tracts of Theta learning. The Management Ceremony included both amusing and more serious games about how to manage teuros. The Art Ceremony was all about body painting. On that day, the diaphanous partition was slid aside, and Williams and Elana were allowed to be together during the day. They painted each other’s hands and legs with love symbols, using henna. Similar activities were also available to the guests at the marquees.

Elana and Williams found that the proximity of their bodies during the delicate painting process proved to heighten their longing for each other. The next day, the Grooming Ceremony involved them helping with the other’s hair and bathing. Williams enjoyed combing and plaiting Elana’s hair in different styles, while she massaged his head as she washed his hair. The bathing was extremely stimulating and frustrating; they undressed each other, shared the bath, and lathered each other clean. However, they were not allowed to take their pleasure yet; there was no kissing or stroking of the places where they most wanted to be touched. This truly tested their control, and raised their anticipation for the consummation of the marriage to a fever pitch.

Well, how do you like the wedding ceremony in this Theta World? The above is an excerpt from my sexy fantasy novel, In Quest of Theta Magic which is available in paperback and as an ebook.

CONTEST DETAILS!

To celebrate the release of the book in Kindle format, I am delighted to give away a beautiful necklace with a kangaroo design to one of Rachael’s lovely readers. Also I will be giving away a PDF e-book of one of my books.

To be entered:

1. Tweet about In Quest of Theta Magic on Twitter

2. Or post about my website on Facebook or on your blog
3. But make sure to also comment below about an exotic wedding you’ve heard of.
4.Contest is open to Rachael’s followers only, so if you haven’t followed her, do it now!
5. This is open WORLDWIDE so everyone is elgible to enter!
6. Contest closes on June 24th at 7:00 pm EST.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping GIVEAWAY!

2010-06-15T12:34:00.000-04:00

I absolutely loved this book and I am so happy to announce that Carrie from Sourcebooks Fire is providing a copy to be given away to one lucky reader! You can read my review for The Summer of Skinny Dipping at this link.

Book Summary from publisher:

Sixteen year-old Mia has sworn off romance for good in the wake of her breakup with a cheating boyfriend. She is hoping that a summer on the Long Island shore with her glamorous cousins will take her mind off her troubles and allow her to relive idyllic childhood memories. But when she arrives in Southampton, her cousins are distant, moody, and caught up with a bad crowd…and Mia soon finds herself lonelier than ever.

That's when she meets her next-door neighbor, Simon Ross. Simon isn't like the snobby party boys her cousins are obsessed with. He is funny, artistic, and utterly adventurous. And from the very first time he encourages Mia to go skinny dipping, she's caught up in a current impossible to resist.

Contest Rules and Details:
US Only
Must include an email address in your post
Contest will end Tuesday June 22nd at 8:00 pm EST.

To be entered, post in the comments section your response to the following question:
If you could have the most romantic summer ever, who would it be with, where would you go, and what would you do?

For extra entries:
+1 Leave a meaningful comment on my review post
+1 Tweet or blog about this book and contest
+1 for being a google follower or becoming a new follower of my blog

Please make sure to include in one post what you did for the extra entries. If you tweeted or blogged about the contest please include a link. Have fun!

Winner of Nancy's Theory of Style

2010-06-14T22:14:00.000-04:00

The winner of Nancy's Theory of Style by Grace Coopersmith is....

Natasha!

Congrats! I will email you through the address you provided and forward it on to Marta/Grace to get your book right out to you!

Thank you so much Marta/Grace for guest blogging this week and for answering my questions!

Lord of Misrule Review

2010-06-13T16:14:00.002-04:00

Morganville is being destroyed. There’s death and destruction everywhere you look and it’s thanks to Mr. Bishop, the founder Amelie’s father. He has started an all out war with his daughter and he won’t stop until everyone is dead. Houses are being burned down, there’s looting, vampires are running amok, and it’s just the end of everything.

Claire Danvers is terrified and doesn’t know what to do since she has lost contact with her Protector Amelie. There is a war to be fought and vampires are trying to work alongside the humans but it’s not working out too well. Claire’s friend Myrnin warned her of the sickness that will consume every vampire in Morganville and it is happening now.

With a tornado coming and nowhere safe to hide, Bishop is at his most powerful and one by one vampires are dropping dead. Will Claire and her friends make it out alive? When it comes time to take sides, which side will they take? Will having vampire friends hurt her or help her in the end? Will the town of Morganville cease to exist once Bishop is done?

Lord of Misrule is the fifth book in The Morganville Vampires Series and by far the best book to date. All of the other books were exciting but they were just a build up to get to this point. If you thought Morganville was scary before, it is nothing compared to this latest installment. There is nowhere safe to go, no one who can truly be trusted, and everything is coming to an end. Lord of Misrule is absolutely thrilling and terrifying with a horrible war that won’t stop until everyone is killed.

I was absolutely blown away with this book and I am beyond hooked now with this series. The action is relentless, the villains are evil to the core, and just the overall story is so nicely fleshed out that it makes Morganville feel all too real to me. The world that Rachel Caine has created in this series is so unique and one of the best series that I’ve ever read.

I am very thankful that I bought books six and seven early on so I can pick up the next book right away. Lord of Misrule ends with a killer cliff hanger so make sure to have the next book, Carpe Corpus right on hand to continue. Overall, Lord of Misrule is chilling, intense, scary, and a roller coaster thrill ride of excitement from the first page to the last and I am very happy to have read it.

Reviewed for Night Owl Romance

REMINDER: Don't forget to enter my contest with Marta Acosta for your chance to win a copy of her new book under her pen name Grace Coopersmith, titled Nancy's Theory of Style! Contest will run until June 14th at 7:00 pm EST.

The Dark Hunters Volume 2 Review

2010-06-12T11:55:00.001-04:00

After fooling around with his girlfriend Amanda, Dark-Hunter Kyrian is shocked to discover he has lost his powers. The more he is intimate with her, the more his powers deplete. Now he is on a mission to regain his soul but with Desiderius after him, this is going to one tough battle to beat.

Amanda uses her psychic abilities to help when Kyrian goes missing and along with his squire Nick, the two of them try to save Kyrian before it’s too late. Will Kyrian regain his soul and find true happiness or will Desiderius win this battle and put an end to the once immortal Dark Hunter?

The Dark Hunters Volume 2 is the second graphic novel in The Dark Hunters Series based off of the novels by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I’ve never read her books so my knowledge of the series is minimal. I enjoyed reading the first graphic novel and was very excited when the second one showed up at my door.

There are plenty of laugh out loud scenes and thrilling suspense that made this graphic novel extremely enjoyable. I started and finished this book within 3 hours and couldn’t put it down for a second. I haven’t read many graphic novels but this one is just so good and I was shocked that it had me so hooked!

There is a good amount of story (versus mangas with less story and more pictures) and the artist really captured the feelings and the humor of the characters so well. I laughed hysterically over a couple expressions on the character’s faces and even the scary scenes were well drawn out too! Overall, I am a huge fan of The Dark Hunters graphic novels and I can not wait for Volume 3 to find out what happens next with Kyrian and Amanda!!

REMINDER: Don't forget to enter my contest with Marta Acosta for your chance to win a copy of her new book under her pen name Grace Coopersmith, titled Nancy's Theory of Style! Contest will run until June 14th at 7:00 pm EST.

Hunted by the Others Review

2010-06-11T21:11:00.002-04:00

Shiarra Waynest runs a detective agency along with her friend Sara in New York. After September 11th, paranormal beings came out to the public. Shiarra makes it a policy of hers to not take paranormal cases, after all she dated a werewolf and didn’t even know he was one until he went full wolfy on her. But when money problems cause her to have to take on a paranormal case, she sucks up her pride and goes for it.

An organization called The Circle wants to hire Shiarra to recover a magical artifact called a focus from a vampire named Alec Royce. The focus makes it so the owner can control werewolves or vampires with it and this is a very dangerous thing in the wrong hands. Shiarra has no magical abilities to protect herself, being a mere human herself. But The Circle thinks this will work to their advantage since a powerful vampire like Alec Royce would never suspect a simple human girl to be the one to go after him.

Unfortunately this case is way over Shiarra’s head and things turn sour rather quickly. This case has become very dangerous and she is messing with the wrong vampire. Will Shiarra be able to safely recover the focus or will her true identity be discovered by the bad guys?

Hunted by the Others is the debut urban fantasy novel by new author Jess Haines. I adore first person point of view novels and quickly found myself completely absorbed in this story. Shiarra is rather unconventional since she isn’t a strong kick ass heroine. She’s kind of clumsy and makes mistakes, but she’s only human so that’s ok! The fight scenes were action packed and I loved reading this unique story. Overall, Hunted by the Others is a fun read with lots of entertainment to keep readers intrigued until the exciting conclusion. I look forward to more books by Jess Haines!

Midnight Alley Review

2010-06-11T20:07:00.001-04:00

Ever since coming to live in Morganville, the town of vampires, Claire Danvers has been fighting to survive. Everywhere she turns people are always trying to kill her and if she actually makes it through college there it will be a miracle.

So when the Founder of Morganville, Amelie, offers Claire protection by having her sign a contract to pledge herself to her, Claire says yes. The gold bracelet is permanently attached to her wrist and now Claire is supposed to be protected but not everyone is respectful of the laws.

When young girls start turning up dead all around Claire, she starts to really worry. It doesn’t help that her roommate, newly turned vamp, Michael Glass is hard to trust lately. Claire and her other two roommates suspect he has something to do with the girls turning up dead but that is just speculation.

When Amelie orders Claire to attend nightly classes with a genius but ailing vampire, she has no idea what she’s getting into. This vampire is quickly losing his mind and Amelie wants whatever knowledge he possesses to be transferred to Claire, but there’s not enough time and it’s a huge task to undertake.

With girls turning up dead constantly, Claire worries for her life every time she walks down the alley to visit her friend late at night for their sessions. Will Claire become the killer’s next victim or is the killer someone closer to Claire than she thought? Will Claire succeed in Amelie’s mission or will one mistake cause catastrophic consequences?

Midnight Alley is the third book in The Morganville Vampires Series which is a YA series but can easily be enjoyed by adults as well. There is plenty of suspense, excitement and mystery in this series to keep readers completely fascinated and entertained.

It’s been quite a while since I read books one and two but I was easily able to slip back into the world of Morganville without any trouble. This is a series that MUST be read in order for full reading enjoyment. I originally started this series with reading book four, which although I enjoyed it, it would have been better read in order.

I would recommend this series to older teens since it is a bit scary at times with adult situations such as kidnappings, near deaths, murders, etc. There is a small amount of cursing and although there is kissing, there aren’t any real sexual scenes to make this inappropriate for teens.

I think adults will find a lot to their liking in this series since I absolutely adored this book. I was on the edge of my seat through the entire story and found it extremely difficult to put it down for a second. Overall, Midnight Alley was fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Reviewed for Night Owl Romance

Guest Author Grace Coopersmith/Marta Acosta + Giveaway!

2010-06-08T00:01:00.005-04:00

Please welcome my guest for this week, author of the Casa Dracula series, Marta Acosta! Marta has ventured out into the contemporary romance genre with the recent publication of her newest novel, Nancy’s Theory of Style written under the pen name Grace Coopersmith.

Fans of her Casa Dracula Series will remember Nancy as the main character Milagro’s good friend. Nancy has always had a lot to say, so it was about time for her to have her own book!

Marta also has a wonderful YA novel that is available online to read for free in its entirety. I had the pleasure of reading it and adored it. The title is The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove and you can read it at this link.

In October, the final book in the Casa Dracula series will be released, titled Haunted Honeymoon. Fans of Marta’s books will find three books this year to read, and I am beyond thrilled about that!

So without further ado please welcome Marta’s alter ego, the fabulous Grace Coopersmith!

________________________________________________
1. Please tell us about your new novel Nancy’s Theory of Style?

Nancy Carrington-Chambers is the girl you love to hate. She’s richer than you, prettier than you, went to better schools than you, and is invited to better parties than you. When her successful husband turns her dream house into a tacky McMansion, she escapes to the apartment she keeps in a family-owned building in posh Pacific Heights. Nancy decides to focus on her event planning business, Froth, and hires the perfect assistant, a gorgeous, stylish, gay man, Derek.

Nancy and Derek are hired to reinvent the city’s most important (and dreariest) fundraiser and everything’s going fabulously when her life-in-the-fast lane cousin abandons her four-year-old daughter with Nancy. Nevertheless, the three manage to form a sort of team, and Nancy finds herself growing very fond of her sexy and unattainable assistant and increasingly attached to the child. But when Nancy reverts to her old snobby behavior, her actions send her world crashing down. Will she risk everything she’s lived for to save those she’s come to love?

There’s a loony, affectionate, wonderful side to Nancy’s personality that comes out during the story.

2. How did you come up with the pen name Grace Coopersmith? What made you decide to write under a different name for Nancy’s book?

Coopersmith has long been one of my favorite names. I have a whole list of them. I liked it because it was simple, yet memorable, and would be shelved at a good place in bookstores. (Lots of good C’s! ) My editor and I thought it would be good to distinguish this novel from my Casa Dracula vampire series.

3. Will there be more books with Nancy? Is this going to be another series?

Actually, I don’t think in terms of series books. Happy Hour at Casa Dracula was supposed to be a standalone, but my editor kept asking me for more. I’m very happy to stay with my favorite characters, so if anyone wanted another Nancy book, I’d write one.

4. What is a typical writing day like for you?

My days are tragically dull. I start off by taking my dogs to the bayside off-leash park. They run crazy in the fields and I stroll around and enjoy the view to San Francisco. I come home and write my Vampire Wire blog, which takes way too much time. Then I have coffee, answer emails, and, finally, I get a chance to work on my fiction. I go outside and yank weeds and garden as breaks from the computer.

5. What are you currently working on?

I’ve got two projects. One is a young adult gothic set on a small island off the California coast. It involves a great crime that happened a century before. I’m also writing a contemporary novel about a pair of best friends who make a decision to radically improve their miserable lives.

6. What are you currently reading?

I’m reading a series of funny essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, by Sloane Crosley.

7. Who are some of your favorite authors?

I always name the same dead authors of classics, so I’ll name some living ones. Scott Spencer, Julia Spencer-Fleming, pretty much anyone with Spencer in their name. For humor, and I love to read humor, I think Katy Munger is one of the funniest writers around, but she doesn’t seem to be writing any more Casey Jones novels.

8. If you could write one book about any subject you wanted, and this book would sell no matter what, what would you write about?

I’d like to write a gritty, dirty, violent historical. There would be a lot of whoring, murdering, and nasty business by seriously bad characters.

9. If you were on a deserted island and could have only one book for the rest of your life, what book would you take and why that book?

I’ve been asked this so I already have an answer! The collected works (I’m sure there’s a collection somewhere) of Henry James. That would keep me occupied for a very long time.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share with your readers?

I hope they’ll pick up a copy of Nancy’s Theory of Style for a sunny day’s read! Readers can find out more at my Grace Coopersmith website, http://www.gracecoopersmith.com./

I’m really excited about Haunted Honeymoon, which will be released in October. I think fans of the series will be really thrilled (or, as Nancy would say, thrillified) with how it ties together the entire series. You can find out about my Casa Dracula series at http://www.martaacosta.com./

I blog daily at http://www.vampirewire.blogspot.com/, and I have free reads at Scribd. In fact, I just uploaded the first draft of my second Casa Dracula novel, Monster Motel, there. Those with OCD are welcome to count the typos.

Thanks so much, Rachael, for having me here at Enchanted by Books!

______________________________________________

CONTEST:
Marta is kindly giving away one copy of Nancy’s Theory of Style to a lucky commenter. US ONLY. Please post your comments or questions to her about her books or writing in the comments section. This contest will run until June 14th at 7:00 pm EST. Please include your email address in your post so I can contact you if you win.

Winner of Mind Games!

2010-06-07T21:44:00.000-04:00

The winner of Mind Games by Carolyn Crane is....

Dot S.! Congrats Dot! I will email you through the address that you provided and will forward it on to Carolyn to get your prize right out to you.

Thank you Carolyn for a great guest post and thanks to everyone for the huge turnout!

Stick around because author Marta Acosta/Grace Coopersmith will be here tomorrow talking about her new novel Nancy's Theory of Style! There will also be a giveaway of the book, so make sure to stop by!

The Summer of Skinny Dipping Review

2010-06-03T19:35:00.005-04:00

Mia Gordon is sixteen years old and dealing with the heartache of her first boyfriend breaking up with her. She’s on her way to her aunt and uncle’s summer house in the Hamptons with her family for the summer, hoping that hanging out with her cousin Corinne will help take her mind off her troubles.

But when Mia arrives Corinne has other plans. She’s become very stuck up and plans to spend her summer with her best friend rather then her cousin. This leaves Mia all alone feeling like a third wheel and eventually leads to her meeting a boy named Simon. Simon doesn’t make Mia’s heart skip, give her sweaty palms or give her that he’s the one feeling. But he’s a nice guy and she enjoys spending time with him, besides she doesn’t want another boyfriend, that’s the last thing she wants.

Simon tries his best to win Mia’s attention and this leads to a romance that is so sweet and heartfelt that it becomes a summer that Mia will never forget.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping is new author Amanda Howells' debut YA novel. From the moment I saw the book cover, I had a feeling this was going to be a great book. I love stories about teenage romance and having the story set at the beach only made it even more romantic. The writing is so beautiful that I had to reread many passages out loud because I loved it so much. The prologue to the story gives you a taste of what I mean. Tell me this doesn’t take your breath away!

There are summers you’ll always remember and summers you’ve forgotten even before they’re through. It’s never an in –between season. Whole months can slip by, and you don’t know what you did or where you were. June, July, August, they’re all the same

This is the other kind.

Long after that summer ended, I stayed stuck inside it, reliving that night, over and over, and everything that led up to it. Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish.

I know I am different, and yet also, in a way, I’m still the same, only more myself now, because that’s what happens when your life changes so completely. It takes pieces of you that you kept deeply hidden, even from yourself, and forces them to the surface like splinters working their way out of your skin.

But I’m jumping ahead, and to tell the story right, I have to go back to the very beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life.

My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything.

Upon finishing this book I ran to the bookstore hoping that Amanda Howell was just a pen name and that I could find more books by this author. Unfortunately, there aren’t anymore books yet, but if there were I would have bought them all immediately.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping is the perfect book to read on the beach this summer. The characters were vibrant and realistic, the romance was so touching, and overall this book was a solid A+ and I can not wait for more books by Howell!

Find The Summer of Skinny Dipping on Amazon.com or at Barnes and Noble at the attached links.

Guest Author Carolyn Crane & Giveaway!

2010-06-01T00:01:00.003-04:00

I am very excited to welcome debut urban fantasy author Carolyn Crane! Carolyn's first book in The Justine Jones: Disillusionist trilogy is titled Mind Games.

It was released on March 23, 2010 and the second book Double Cross will be out on September 28, 2010. Please welcome Carolyn Crane!!

Hey Rachael! Thanks for having me on your blog today! So, now that all the publishing mayhem is winding down, I was feeling like I wanted to look back on my newbie author experience. Because I’ve learned a lot of interesting things.

Top 6 cool things about being a series author that I never expected

You go from book loner to book collaborator

One thing about being a writer is that it is such a solitary endeavor (aside from CPs, of course). But, when you sell a book, suddenly, all these people you never met—people who have dedicated their careers to books and publishing—are in it with you. It’s so cool! An artist interprets your book into a picture for the front, and an agent, if you have one, is like your ally, and an editor gets in there and wrangles with your text, and somebody is thinking about publicity, etc. Suddenly you’re on a team.

You go from blog loner to blog collaborator

The team thing extends to blogs, too. Doing guest posts is so collaborative. Every one of them involves a bit of emailing back and forth, and sometimes direct creative collaboration, or else, just thinking about a person’s blog and what they’ve created and how to work in. And you get to know people a little through that. Or, in the case of Rachael here, who is one of my oldest and first blog pals, I got underwater with deadlines I was like, can we move the date! And she was gracious. It’s fun to collaborate like that.

Your houseplants suffer

OMG, my poor houseplants. All these domestic projects got mowed under as my book came out. Things are a bit messier. Wait, that’s not a good thing! That’s not a cool thing! My husband’s a writer too, and we used to have this joke where we’d look at our place and go, “oh, well, what can you expect? We’re artists!” But honestly, NOW it’s like, a crazy person’s place. We need a new joke.

Readers are creative partners

Before, when I was a book blogger and not a published author, I’d get excited about various authors and make a big deal about them, or discuss their books, but I didn’t understand how much it means to authors until I was on this side. Readers complete an author in a way. I still think it’s so amazing just that somebody would pay their hard-earned money to buy and read my book. Or check it out of the library and read it. Just that act alone is so huge. Even when people don’t like my book, I still feel that sense of goodwill, because they paid money and/or invested time reading it, gave it a whirl. And then if they wrote a post after, that’s even more time. Also, they brought their own sensibility and taste to it, so that makes them a kind of creative partner. It’s another type of collaboration, with the reader.

You are responsible for secrets

One of the things about writing a series is that you TRY to create questions for people: what will happen to this person? What decision will that person make? And it’s really really bad if you have a big mouth like I do, because you really want to tell. Sometimes, people beg you to tell. I have actually told two people in private some secrets of the series—people who begged, and they needed to know! But now I regret it. I am weak! Also, OMG, there are these big things coming up that I SO want to tell! But I am trying to turn over a new leaf on that and not have such a big mouth.

You learn new things about why you write

It’s easy to get hung up on the numbers. I did this whole post about watching Amazon rankings, because I was getting obsessed with them, worried that if the book doesn’t sell well enough, that the publisher will not buy book #3. And then, the trilogy will not be complete! And then no publisher will work with me! Etc. Writers, or at least this one, can fall into doom and gloom scenarios. Or, a week or so ago, there was this flurry of negative Amazon reviews and I thought, oh, no! (run doom and gloom scenario etc). But all that stuff is really out of my control—the book is in print. It’s out of my hands. It’s made me reach into myself and think about why I’m writing. And it’s a reason that comes from inside, and not outside. It was good to get clear on that after so many years.

CONTEST RULES
Carolyn is giving away one copy of Mind Games to a lucky commenter. The contest is open WORLDWIDE so everyone is elgible to enter. Contest will end June 7th at 7:00 pm EST. Please leave a comment or question for Carolyn about her new series to be entered.

Summary of Mind Games from Author's website:
Mind Games heroine Justine Jones isn't your typical kick-ass type - she’s a hopeless hypochondriac whose life is run by fear.

She's lured into a restaurant, Mongolian Delites, by tortured mastermind Sterling Packard, who promises he can teach her to channel her fears. In exchange, she must join his team of disillusionists - vigilantes hired by crime victims to zing their anxieties into criminals, resulting in collapse and transformation.

Justine isn't interested in Packard's troupe until she gets a taste of the peace he can promise. Soon she enters the thrilling world of neurotic crime fighters who battle Midcity’s depraved and paranormal criminals.

Eventually, though, she starts wondering why Packard hasn’t set foot outside the Mongolian Delites restaurant for eight years. And about the true nature of the disillusionists.

Contest Winners!

2010-05-26T16:35:00.001-04:00

The winner of a copy of The Demon in Me by Michelle Rowen is.....

Stella (Ex Libris)

The winner of a copy of and, Falling Fly by Skyler White for review on Enchanted by Books is.....

Book Whisperer

I will contact both winners through the email addresses they provided. Thanks everyone for coming by. June 1st debut urban fantasy author Carolyn Crane will be here so make sure to stop by for another fun contest!

Thank you so much Michelle Rowen for stopping by and answering readers' questions. It was a pleasure to have you here as always!

Guest Author Michelle Rowen & Giveaway!

2010-05-19T10:40:00.002-04:00

Please welcome my guest author for this week, Michelle Rowen! The first book in her new paranormal romance series Living in Eden titled The Demon in Me just hit the shelves on May 4th.

It’s a departure from the Michelle Rowen that we are used to in a sense that it is way darker then her Immortality Bites Series but still has the humor and romance that we have come to love in her books. I was blown away and thrilled by The Demon in Me and just had to have her come by to talk about this new series! Please welcome Michelle Rowen!!

1. Please tell us about The Demon In Me and how you came up with the idea for this new series?

The Demon in Me is about a psychic who’s possessed by a demon who claims to be “nice.” She’s not so sure he’s telling the truth, of course. Because of her psychic energy he can take form during the day although he’s bond to her side and must possess her body at night while they search for the means to break his 300 year old curse so he can regain his corporeal form full-time. It’s fun, romantic, scary, sexy, and yes...a little bit darker than my vampire stuff (although I’d argue that was trending darker near the end as well). I came up with the idea when I was watching horror movies, finding a strange parallel to paranormal romance in them if the character motivations were tweaked a little bit. I wanted to play with the idea that demons were automatically assumed to be evil (just as I played with the conceptions of vampires in my Immortality Bites series by making them the good guys and the hunters the bad guys).

2. Do you know how many books you will write in the Living in Eden Series?

As many as I’m given the chance to write. This depends entirely on how well the books sell, of course, and the decision to have a longer series is pretty much out of an author’s hands. I’m really hoping it does well since I have a lot of ideas for Eden and Darrak’s adventures together!

3. Who would you have play Eden and Darrak in a movie?

I had a very set idea of who would be perfect as Sarah and Thierry in my Immortality Bites books (Sandra Bullock and Hugh Jackman), but this one is a bit trickier. Ryan Reynolds has the humor and body for Darrak, but he doesn’t look like him. The model on the cover comes pretty close to what I had in mind, actually. For Eden... a Cameron Diaz type might fit the bill. Someone who can do both humor and drama.

4. What are your writing habits? Do you need music playing while you write or do you like complete silence? Do you plot everything out or do you just write and see where it takes you?

I need complete silence and I’m a plotter, aka: a control freak. I’m a little more flexible on the plots lately, but I find that the more time I spend in the brainstorming and pre-plotting stage, the easier the writing goes because I know my characters’ GMC (goal, motivation and conflict) going into each scene. However, if I’m writing and things veer off into a new and interesting direction I will follow it. That’s usually where the “magic” happens. :)

5. I saw some similarities between The Immortality Bites Series and the Living in Eden Series. Even though both series are completely different, in both you have a main character who is trying to adjust to her new life and situation. This seems to be a prominent theme in a lot of books. What do you think the appeal is to readers that we keep gravitating towards this same theme?

Yes, I’m noticing similar themes in my books as well. I write heroine-centric books, so it’s really all about the heroine’s journey for me. Usually she’s plunged into a world she never knew existed and does her best to find her way out of it, but along the way she realizes that this new path might not be so bad after all. I describe it as Alice in Wonderland if Alice decided to stay in Wonderland. Ditto Dorothy and Oz (they’re kind of the same story when you think about it). The appeal to readers, I figure, is that we all face change in life and sometimes it’s a bit of a rough transition. It’s comforting to see a character who is facing change that’s much, much worse than a lot of what we have to go through -- and that everything usually turns out okay. Well, eventually. ;)

6. I loved how you blended humor with the darker themes in The Demon in Me. Can you tell us why you always put humor in your stories? Is it to lighten the moment or because you always like to laugh yourself when you read?

I put humor in my books because it naturally comes out of my writing voice. I’ve tried to write much darker. In fact, my forthcoming Nightshade duology is super dark (I think!) but everyone who has read it says it retains my humorous edge. Basically, my writing is funny without any effort on my part. However, if I try to force the “jokes,” they don’t come. I think it might be because my characters have a wry outlook on life, therefore their observations of the world around them tend to be funny. The humor works best when it’s organic to the character rather than coming from an outside (slapstick humor) source.

7. Who are some of your favorite authors and books?

I’m reading a ton of YA right now, so some of my favorites are Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series, and I readily admit that I am a Twihard. I love all things Twilight.

8. If you could write one book in any genre about anything in the world and a publisher would take it no questions asked, what kind of book would you write?

That’s a difficult question since I get A LOT of ideas, so limiting myself to just one is pretty much impossible. I have a proposal for a space romp about the clone of a female assassin, a futuristic vampire, and a talking tattoo that I’d love to write. It’s way too campy and unmarketable right now, but a hell of a lot of fun. So probably that one.

9. What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on a novella that takes place in my darker, urban fantasy Nightshade “world” that comes between the two releases next year in an anthology featuring Lora Leigh. It’s about a woman who’s injected with a secret formula that turns her blood both irresistible and deadly to vampires, making her the perfect weapon to kill a vampire king. The first book is out February 2011 and the anthology is scheduled for April 2011.

10. Out of all the series books you have written, do you have a favorite book? If so which one and why that book?

My favorite will always be my first born, Bitten & Smitten. It was the book I wrote when I realized that to be a writer you need to love what you’re writing. I had a lot of fun with that book and it opened a lot of doors for me.

11. If you were deserted on a desert island and could take only one character with you from your own books, who would it be and why that character?

I think I’d have to say Darrak from The Demon in Me because he’s hot, funny, and has special supernatural skills that might come in handy for survival and general entertainment. :)

12. Do you have anything else you’d like to share with readers?

Just that I thank them so much for the support they’ve given me and my books over the last few years and that I really hope they enjoy the new world I’ve developed in The Demon in Me!

Contest Rules:
Michelle is giving away one copy of The Demon In Me to a lucky reader. This contest is open WORLDWIDE so everyone is elgible to enter. It will run until 7:00 pm EST on May 25th. Please post a comment for Michelle to be entered. Also provide your email address so I don't have to hunt you down for your prize if you win. Thanks!

And, Falling Fly GIVEAWAY for REVIEW!

2010-05-18T18:59:00.001-04:00

If you would like to review my copy of and, Falling Fly by Skyler White here on Enchanted by Books, please post in the comments section linking me to your book review blog where I can see other reviews you have done. This contest will run until May 25th at 7:00 pm EST. You will be properly credited for the review and I will link to your blog.

The Demon In Me Review

2010-05-04T21:48:00.000-04:00

Eden Riley doesn’t consider herself a genuine psychic but that didn’t stop her from working for a psychic phone line company. When she has a correct prediction and it leads to a job working for the police, Eden worries that she’s not as talented as people would like to think she is.

Her first job is to enter a house of a serial killer and try to sense where he’s disappeared to. But when she finds the killer and he ends up dead, the demon inside him slips out and into the first person he sees, Eden.

Later on when she hears a voice in her head, she assumes it’s someone in the room with her that she can’t see. But that’s not the case. Darrak, a demon, is now residing inside of her and somehow because of Eden’s psychic tendencies he is also able to take form during daylight hours as a very sexy man.

Darrak was cursed by a witch three hundred years ago and after losing his original body has been traveling host to host to survive. He has never been able to fully communicate and take form all of these years and he plans to use this to his full advantage. Darrak needs Eden to help him find the witch who cursed him and ask her to remove the curse.

The only problem is, Eden’s fingers are dialing an exorcist and she wants nothing to do with him. Sure he’s tall, dark and sexy as all hell, but he’s a DEMON! Will Eden help Darrak remove the curse and be set free or will she exorcise him before he can cause her any harm?

The Demon in Me is the first book in a new paranormal romance series called Living in Eden, by author Michelle Rowen. In this first installment we meet Eden and get to know the demon inside of her, Darrak. There is some humor but this series is a whole new Michelle Rowen that I’ve never met before! It’s darker, grittier, suspenseful, and so exciting!

I think readers will be absolutely delighted with this new series which is sure to become extremely popular. The Demon In Me has a little bit of everything that I love in it. The demon traveling host to host reminded me of the movie Fallen with Denzel Washington. The relationship between Eden and Darrak could be compared to Jezebel and Daun from Jackie Kessler’s Hell on Earth Series. Then the situation of having a demon inside of Eden made me think of Jenna Black’s Morgan Kingsley Series. With both series having come to an end, this new series is exactly what I was looking for and I couldn’t have asked for a better book.

Overall, Michelle Rowen is constantly creating something new and fresh and I can’t get enough of her books. She’s done comedic paranormal romance with her Immortality Bites Series, super suspenseful with Countdown under Michelle Maddox, Young Adult paranormal romance with her Demon Princess series, and now she has Living in Eden which is verging on urban fantasy I would say since it’s darker in theme.

I would HIGHLY recommend The Demon In Me to anyone who enjoys a fast paced paranormal that has enough twists and turns that will keep you guessing until it’s exciting conclusion. Look out for the second book in this series Something Wicked due out October 2010.

Books I bought in the last couple months....

2010-05-03T19:11:00.000-04:00

Since I've been away lately, I've bought a ton of books. Alot of them were recommendations from twitter, blogs, and reviews. I just HAD to have them! So I thought I'd share some pics of what I bought.

I thought this bookmark was gorgeous! I got it at B&N. It says:

Love is like
a butterfly.
It goes where
it pleases
and pleases
wherever
it goes.

Do you see any books in these pics that I HAVE to read RIGHT now? If so which ones? Have you enjoyed any of the above books? :) All of them came highly recommended so I know I have plenty of good ones to look forward to. I can't wait! I keep fondling them and admiring them. So pretty..my little bookies. :) LOL

The Wish List Winners!

2010-05-03T18:39:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who entered and commented on the Gabi Stevens Guest Blog! The two winners of a copy of The Wish List and a small vial of fairy dust are Bunny B and Angie! Congrats! I will email both of you using the addresses you provided. Thank you so much Gabi for coming by my blog and I can not wait until your next book in the Time of Transition Trilogy is released! For those that didn't win, don't fret...The Wish List is out now and you can order it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble (free shipping on any purchase with membership now!) or any other retailer!

Guest Author Gabi Stevens!

2010-04-25T23:24:00.007-04:00

It is my absolute pleasure to introduce debut paranormal romance author Gabi Stevens as my guest author this week! Gabi is here to talk about her new book The Wish List and the fish-out-of- water scenario.

I recently reviewed her book here and found it such fun to read. If you're looking for something romantic and magical you should definitely check out The Wish List. Please welcome Gabi Stevens!

The fish-out-of-water is one of my favorite types of stories. A character stumbles into a situation where they don’t know the rules or culture and has to learn to exist in a new situation. That’s the premise of THE WISH LIST. Kristin Montgomery is a CPA in San Diego. When she discovers her three aunts are fairy godmothers and she’s next in line for the job, her orderly world disappears like magic. No, not like magic; it is magic. Kristin not only has to cope with burgeoning powers, but also a whole new world that she never knew existed. And when a threat to that world emerges, she has to visit everything to do the right thing.

Not an easy decision. Laugh if you will, but it reminds me of the dilemma in Night at the Museum, a rather cute movie. In it Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) says to Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), “Some are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them.” Sometimes out course of action is less about our choices than the situation in which we find ourselves. How we react to those situations defines our character. I? Well, I’ve never really been faced with such major decisions, but I hope I’d respond like Kristin and Tennyson and do the right thing.

So combine the fish-out-of water with a difficult choice and you end up with a lighter paranormal that still has a message—THE WISH LIST. I love humor and find that a day without laughing is a wasted day. There is enough depressing news out there that for entertainment it’s rare I want something that will require Prozac when I finish. Confession time: I love Disneyland, fairy tales, roller coasters, cookies. Give me high adventure, romance and a few laughs.

So what kind of entertainment do you seek out?

Gabi Stevens’s latest book is THE WISH LIST. In it, she gives her characters the magic she doesn’t actually have herself. You can find it online or at a bookstore near you. Visit Gabi’s web site at http://www.gabistevens.com./

CONTEST : Gabi is kindly giving away two copies of The Wish List to two lucky readers along with two vials of fairy dust to go along with your book! To enter please ask Gabi a question about her new book or leave a comment on your thoughts about her book in the comments section. This contest is open worldwide and will end on May 3rd at 6:00 pm EST.

Gentlemen Prefer Succubi Review

2010-04-25T17:58:00.002-04:00

Jackie Brighton was a frumpy museum guide until a drunken night out with a blue eyed stranger left her waking up in a dumpster. All she remembers is being bitten and then having wild passionate sex with a blue eyed man , but apparently a tall, dark haired man deposited her into this dumpster like yesterday’s garbage.

Now Jackie’s body has completely transformed into a sexy succubus that men constantly are lusting after. The only problem is that she constantly needs sex to feed ‘the itch’ and it’s not easy to convince her to constantly hook up with strangers.

Jackie meets a fallen angel named Noah and a porn star succubus named Remy and the two of them guide her through her new life as a succubus. Romance blooms between Noah and Jackie since she needs to get her fix somewhere. Remy adds tons of humor to the story with her outrageous antics.

Everything is going fine until Noah somehow ends up captured by a vampire queen who is insisting on Jackie bringing her a halo that she knows nothing about. The vampire queen’s main man Zane becomes Jackie’s shadow while she searches for the one item that will set Noah free. But with Noah out of commission who will scratch Jackie’s itch?

Will love develop between Zane and Jackie or will she deny herself what she needs and stick to Noah as the man to feed her addiction? Will Jackie find the halo before Noah is killed by the vampire queen? Who turned Jackie into what she is and who is her vampire master?

Gentlemen Prefer Succubi is the first book in The Succubus Diaries Series featuring a reluctant newly turned succubus. I adore books about succubi particularly Jackie Kessler’s books so I knew I had to read this new series as soon as I heard about it.

The story starts off with plenty of excitement while the main character is trying to understand what has happened to her. The humor is hilarious and kept me laughing through the entire book. The romance triangle between Noah, Jackie and Zane was extremely sexy and I can’t wait to read the next book in this new exciting paranormal romance series! Overall, Gentlemen Prefer Succubi was a fun light hearted book that I couldn’t get enough of!

Reviewed for Night Owl Reviews

The Wish List Review

2010-04-25T15:22:00.001-04:00

Fairy Godmothers, Magic, and Happily Ever Afters are the work of fiction, at least that’s what CPA Kristin Montgomery always thought. She is most comfortable working with numbers and the idea that there is actual magic in the world is just so out there that she would never have believed it.

When Kristin’s three elderly ‘’aunts’’ tell her they’re retiring and going on a world cruise, everything changes for her very quickly. While rushing out the door, they explain to her that they are fairy godmothers and that it is The Time of Transition and now is her time to become a fairy godmother. Kristin dismisses all of their talk as lunacy and just picks a wand out when they offer her one, just to please them.

But when Kristin’s sorcerer arbiter shows up to judge if she is qualified to be a fairy godmother, she realizes magic is real and maybe her aunts weren’t lying after all. Tennyson Ritter enjoys his life as a historian but when he is asked to become Kristin’s arbiter, he must do it. He’s not very happy about the job especially since his charge is completely ignorant about magic or how to even do it. He’s not supposed to teach her, it’s just supposed to come naturally. But so far things are just not working out for Kristin.

Will Kristin pass the test to become a true fairy godmother or will she fail when innocents become involved? Will a forbidden romance bloom between Tennyson and Kristin or will her dislike for him blind her to the true love that’s standing right in front of her?

The Wish List is the first book in the Time of Transition Trilogy by new author Gabi Stevens. The genre is paranormal romance but there is a healthy dose of humor, suspense, and mystery in the story also. The Wish List is slightly reminiscent of Angie Fox’s debut The Accidental Demon Slayer, but Stevens puts a fresh new take on the theme.

In a lot of paranormals you come across a young woman who has discovered at a certain age that she is a witch, a demon slayer, a demon, a princess, etc, but in this book the main character is a fairy godmother which is different.

Kristin’s job is to grant wishes and to be the liaison between the Groundling (human) world and the Arcani (magical) world. Without much knowledge on how to perform magic, the dangerous situation that she finds herself in is intriguing and adds a nice layer of suspense to the story. The romance aspects are sweet, the humor is very funny and I just found The Wish List a joy to read.

The story ends with a little bit of a cliff hanger and I can’t wait to see what happens next with Kristin the Fairy Godmother. Overall, The Wish List is an outstanding debut that paranormal romance readers are sure to devour hungrily begging for more. The second book in this trilogy is titled Spellbound and is due out April 2011, followed by Toil and Trouble in March 2012.

Tomorrow Gabi Stevens will be guest blogging here at Enchanted by Books and giving away The Wish List to two lucky readers along with a little vial of fairy dust. So remember to stop by tomorrow for a chance to win! Contest will run for one week and will be open worldwide.

And the winners are....

2010-04-25T15:07:00.000-04:00

Thank you everyone for entering and for all the welcome back comments! I enjoyed reading all of your suggestions and plan to add many of these books to my wishlist.

The winners according to Random.org of a $10 giftcard to Amazon or B&N are:

Dawn Embers and Mama Bookworm!

Congrats ladies! Please email me through the link in my profile with your choice of Amazon or B&N as your online giftcard. Thanks everyone for playing! Stick around for a special guest author tomorrow!

Contest Time!

2010-04-23T19:24:00.001-04:00

Hello my loyal followers! Well to thank you for remembering me while my blog has been so quiet all this time, I am going to do a welcome back giveaway! Two lucky winners will each receive a $10 online B&N or Amazon Giftcard! Please tell me the last book that you read that you adored! I love hearing recommendations so the more the better. This contest will end on the 25th at 3:00 pm EST.

Ready

Set

Go!

Winner of ''and Falling, Fly''

2010-03-03T21:25:00.003-05:00

The winner of ''and Falling, Fly'' by Skyler White is Christa Holland!
Congrats Christa! I will contact you through the email address you provided. Thanks to everyone for entering and thank you Skyler for guest blogging!

My Soul to Save Review

2010-02-28T19:44:00.000-05:00

When people die, Kaylee screams. It’s what she does. As a bean sidhe/banshee Kaylee sings for the person’s soul as it floats out of their body. When she’s done with her song, the soul is gone. So when Kaylee attends a concert for a popular pop star and doesn’t start singing when the girl drops dead, she doesn’t understand what’s going on.

Apparently the pop star didn’t have a soul anymore, so there was nothing to sing for. Popular teenage celebrities are selling their souls to the Netherworld for fortune and fame and they have no idea what they’re getting into. Replacing their souls is Demon’s Breath and when it is time, a reaper will come to collect the Demon’s Breath and then the person is no more. Their soul will be tortured forever in the Netherworld and they will never be at peace.

But none of this is known to these young celebrities when they signed on the dotted line in a binding contract to make them famous. All they knew is that they would forever be popular and have all the money they could ever need.

Kaylee has seen firsthand what happens when someone sells a soul to a reaper. She doesn’t want to see anymore people suffer and is determined to retrieve the souls back to the celebrities before their time runs out. The only problem is this requires a trip to the Netherworld and Kaylee has never been there before. It’s an extremely dangerous place and without knowing what she is getting into, she might never come back. Kaylee, her boyfriend Nash, and his reaper brother Tod embark on a journey to save some souls but will they lose their own in the process?

My Soul to Save is the second book in the Soul Screamers Series featuring Kaylee Cavanaugh, a bean sidhe/banshee. This is a Young Adult Urban Fantasy series but is written in a way that adults can equally enjoy it as well. I fell in love with this series after reading the first book, My Soul to Take. This second book is much darker, grittier, and scary at times.

The suspense was exciting, the romance between Nash and Kaylee really heated up, and the reader gets to learn more about Tod, the reaper. This series has so many interesting layers to it and I am thrilled with each new development. Kaylee is no longer just standing by singing for people’s souls; she’s doing whatever she can to save them now. She is a determined, strong, brave, teenager that is on a mission to help people and refuses to quit even if it means risking her own life.

I read My Soul to Save all in one day and could not put it down for a second. I HIGHLY recommend this series to young adults and adults alike who are looking for something fresh and different to read. This is book two so if you are new to this series, I recommend reading it in order for full reading enjoyment. Overall, My Soul to Save is superb and bypassed all of my expectations. Rachel Vincent has really outdone herself with this new installment in the Soul Screamer Series. Look out for the third book, My Soul to Keep, due out June 1, 2010.

Guest Author Skyler White

2010-02-23T00:01:00.003-05:00

Please welcome debut urban fantasy author, Skyler White! Skyler's first book, ''and, Falling, Fly'' will be released on March 2, 2010.

Summary from Amazon:

In a dark and seedy underground of burned-out rock stars and angels-turned- vampires, a revolutionary neuroscientist and a fallen angel must put medicine against mythology in an attempt to erase their tortured pasts...but at what price?

Olivia, vampire and fallen angel of desire, is hopeless...and damned. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O'Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions. When his research and her despair collide at L'Otel Mathillide-a subterranean hell of beauty, demons, and dreams-rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to destroy them both.

In this fractures Hotel of the Damned, Olivia and Dominic discover the only force consistent in their opposing realities is the deep, erotic gravity between them. Bound to each other finally in a knot of interwoven freedoms, Dominic and Olivia-the vision-touched scientist and the earth-bound angel, reborn and undead-encounter the mystery of love and find it is both fall...and flight.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 1 here

Why I Love My Cover
By Skyler White

I’m a serial fretter. It’s something I’m working on. I try to worry less. But I end up worrying that I worry too much, so I with the intermediary layer and just let myself fret. So it wasn’t long after I learned that and Falling, Fly had sold that I started worrying about what it would look like. A book cover is someone else’s creation, but it will be your face – the first impression you will make on readers and future friends.

It’s worrisome.

And it’s a bit of an arranged marriage. Your editor, like a good mother, knows your book – not necessarily better, but more objectively than you know yourself. And you trust her. You trust her to see the weaknesses you may not be aware of, and compensate for them. You trust her to craft the back-cover copy in a way that is both true to your voice, and also a sales tool. And most match-making editors do consult their author-children, but we’re not privy to the back-and-forth, the conversations and debates. I turned in a twenty-slide PowerPoint deck with ideas and images from blogs, magazines and album covers. And I assume it mattered, but ultimately, the entire process is shrouded in mystery and possibly magic dark or entrails. As an author, you just don’t know; you can only imagine. And worry.

You’ll know your cover is on its way to you, but you won’t know when it will arrive, so while nervously anticipated, its actual presence in your inbox will inevitably come as a shock. I worried for months. I pestered my agent with questions and my real (and self-chosen) husband with the chronic fretter’s dark boogeyman: What If.

Now, in my defense, and Falling, Fly is a difficult book to render visually.

Olivia is the fallen angel of desire. Her appearance alters subtly to conform to the tastes of whoever wants her. If she looks in the mirror alone, she can’t see herself at all, so how could an artist render her face? He shadowed it heavily with her hair.

Olivia is a vampire, but her feeding teeth are retractable quills on her tooth and nail edges that allow her to feed from those who want her – and she would break her teeth against anyone who did not – without their knowledge. And because she can’t have fangs, she has a dagger. There’s not even a butter knife in the story, but the artist found a way to make her visually as dangerous as she is invisibly.

Olivia is sick of humanity. Everyone you don’t love tastes the same. In the course of the book, she returns to the secret, Irish, subterranean Hotel of the Damned to bury her hope with her severed wings. And the cover gives me the hopeless underground dark in a slanting beam of filtered light, and the Irish earth in the mortared stones behind her.

And then there are her wings. Olivia’s have been entombed for millennia, blood-caked and bone-broken, in a red rock sarcophagus. But her wings are part of the cover too, borrowed from a headstone or funerary statue, and rendered in stone. The symbol of flight in the one material you know cannot fly. And that captures Olivia’s spirit. It illustrates the book’s title. It encapsulates my book.

There’s been a lot of controversy about book covers recently, about images that aren’t just poor fits, but are actually counter to the intent of the book. I feel for the authors who I imagine must feel like an artistic child whose athlete-mother can’t remember she hates sports, and gives her to a jock in marriage. And some of the brides are just grateful to be married and too fearful of parental displeasure that they don’t feel safe asking for a better match.

I think that’s sad, because ultimately as an author you have to trust your editor to choose for you. You have to believe they’ll pick the right mate for you, the one you need. You want to learn to love him, this chosen-for-you spouse, who just shows up in your inbox one day as you’re dashing out the door already late for something else.

And there it is. The image that will hold your book in its paper arms. And the soles of your feet and fingertips start prickling, and the sip of coffee you were taking when you saw the subject line goes cold in your mouth. Because he’s gorgeous. He’s better looking than the boys you admired at the book store. And he’s yours.

At this point, it becomes difficult not to squeal and caper, to retain some dignity. You are, after all, about to be a wife and published author. Surely dizziness and giggles suggests an immaturity unworthy of what’s coming next, but what the hell. You’re too happy to worry about that. Or anything else. And when the worries surface about other things, about blog tours and print runs and reviews, you console yourself some with your good luck in husbands, real and paper-bound. And sometimes you blog about it.

CONTEST
We have one copy of ''and Falling, Fly'' to giveaway
Open to everyone, everywhere
Leave an email address in the comments if you don't have a blog
Contest will end March 2nd at 6:00 pm EST
Comment about book covers and how they affect your book buying
Leave a comment or question for Skyler White

Winners of The Bricklayer

2010-02-22T13:30:00.002-05:00

The winners of a copy of The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd are....

Sandy Jay

Amanda Leigh

Congrats! I will email you both through the addresses you provided. Thanks to everyone for entering. Stick around because on Tuesday, urban fantasy author Skyler White will be here guest blogging!

The Bricklayer Giveaway!!

2010-02-16T13:53:00.000-05:00

Book Description from Publisher's Website

Someone gives you a dangerous puzzle to solve, one that may kill you or someone else, and you're about to fail. . . . And there is no other option. No one who can help. No one but the Bricklayer.

The Bricklayer is the pulse-pounding novel introducing Steve Vail, one of the most charismatic new heroes to come along in thriller fiction in many years. He's an ex–FBI agent who's been fired for insubordination but is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become more unsolvable—and more deadly—by the hour.

A woman steps out of the shower in her Los Angeles home and is startled by an intruder sitting calmly in her bedroom holding a gun. But she is frozen with fear by what he has to say about the FBI—and what he says he must do. . . .

A young agent slips into the night water off a rocky beach. He's been instructed to swim to a nearby island to deposit a million dollars demanded by a blackmailer. But his mission is riddled with hazardous tests, as if someone wanted to destroy him rather than collect the money. . . .

Vail has resigned himself to his dismissal and is content with his life as a bricklayer. But the FBI, especially Deputy Assistant Director Kate Bannon, needs help with a shadowy group that has initiated a brilliant extortion plot. The group will keep killing their targets until the agency pays them off, the amount and number of bodies escalating each time the FBI fails. One thing is clear: someone who knows a little too much about the inner workings of the Bureau is very clever —and very angry—and will kill and kill again if it means he can disgrace the FBI.

Steve Vail's options —and his time to find answers—are swiftly running out.

Noah Boyd's The Bricklayer is written with the bracing authenticity only someone who has been a crack FBI investigator can provide. And in this masterful debut Boyd has created a mind-bending maze of clues and traps inside a nonstop thrill ride that is sure to leave readers exhilarated and enthralled.

GIVEAWAY:
If you'd like to win a copy of The Bricklayer, leave a comment telling me why you'd like to read it.

Two copies available = two winners.
US ONLY.
You must leave an email address in your comment.
This contest will run until February 21st at 6:00 pm EST.

Guest Reviewer Dannie

2010-02-16T13:27:00.001-05:00

Please welcome my Guest Reviewer, Dannie from http://readingwatchingliving.blogspot.com/

She has a great review site, check it out!

Dannie won the contest I had to review a copy of Cursed by Suzanne Sabol. Here is her review:

Very rarely do I come across a novel that I can't finish, and it is rarer still that I would give such a novel anything higher then a three out of ten. But here we are.

We open with Hannah, being goaded into something or another by the smexy Damien, accompanied by overusage of adjectives and adverbs (a la Twilight). Someone needs her, see, but she needs Damien and damnit he needs her! and she is "torn between duty and love" (a phrase which is just awkward if used anywhere but the official summary of a novel or the Underworld synopsis) and all this is stated quite clearly within two pages (actually, one and a half). You can see right away that the prose and dialogue is clumsy, but I press on.

Flashback some hundred years later (I think), with an old women banished from her native London and forced into midwifery in the young Americas. She is assisting with the ailing birth of a child with a strange mark. As the mother dies, Merideth informs Henry (the father) that she bears the witch's mark and she must be hid! she is a danger! her name is--Hannah!

Woah, okay. So now shes a child bringing home black cats to her wary father, who despite her witchyness admittidly loves her more then her much less witchy sister Martha and there's a vague feeling that Hannah is irrevocably being spoiled despite the fact that GUYS SHE'S A WITCH! I'm just kind of reeling at the thought that, if this really is early America, wouldn't everyone be up-in-arms about this? Even if it is her father, wouldn't she be thrown into a fire pit or something? Wouldn't Merideth the Midwife called for the nearest lynchers? Even if we could ignore all the fear and death that surrouned witches at the time period, even if I'm to believe Hannah was really hid and protected after her birth, I know she wouldn't have been favored over her signifigantly normal sister. This is so inaccurate with the time period I just kind of want to hit something.

I drudge my way forward several dozen pages, and the lines of time period become so blurred I can't even put a pinpoint on the century anymore. Is it early America, or is it fifties farmlife? Is it NY in the partay? What's happening? My head shouldn't be hurting! Goddamn! Even this wouldn't be a real issue if the writing was rewarding in its own sense, but at its best it comes across like information from a textbook on wicca or something, at its worst just the gratuitous ramblings of an English professor trying to break into the creative novelizations. And this, readers, is why, at page 102, as someones talking to a Reverand and I have stared longingly at my brand-spankin-new copy of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms for half an hour, I put Cursed down, and I do not pick it back up.

But the thing is...I can't give it a horrible review. I can't say it made my eyes bleed, or notably ridiculous, or one of the worst books ever written. Because it wasn't. It's main fault was that it wasn't notable at all. There's nothing that made it stand out from all the other boring/romantic witch stories out there. I couldn't finish it because the story and the characters were just watered down version of far superior offerings from far superior writers, and it was just painful at times. But it wasn't horrible. It was just there, bland and boring and awkward and not interesting enough to even be a zero out of ten.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Winner of Deadtown!

2010-02-16T13:10:00.001-05:00

The winner of a copy of Deadtown by Nancy Holzner is.....

John The Bookworm! Congrats! John I will email you through the addy you provided. Thanks everyone for coming by and thank you Nancy for taking the time to talk with readers all week long!

Guest Author Nancy Holzner

2010-02-08T00:01:00.002-05:00

Please welcome debut author of the urban fantasy book Deadtown, Nancy Holzner! Nancy will be here all week long talking with readers. I ADORED Deadtown and can't say enough great things about it. It kept me up all night reading and I highly recommend it. Here's a back cover summary to give you an idea of what Deadtown is about:

They call it Deadtown: the city’s quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders — but Victory Vaughn, Boston’s only professional demon slayer, isn’t exactly human…

Vicky’s demanding job keeping the city safe from all manner of monsters is one reason her relationship with workaholic lawyer (and werewolf) Alexander Kane is in constant limbo. Throw in a foolhardy zombie apprentice, a mysterious demon-plagued client, and a suspicious research facility that’s taken an unwelcome interest in her family, and Vicky’s love life has as much of a pulse as Deadtown’s citizens.

But now Vicky’s got bigger things to worry about. The Hellion who murdered her father ten years ago has somehow broken through Boston’s magical protections. The Hellion is a ruthless force of destruction with a personal grudge against Vicky, and she’s the only one who can stop the demon before it destroys the city and everyone in it.

And if that didn't convince you, check out my review here!

Book Two and Beyond: Creating a Series
By Nancy Holzner

Deadtown is the first book in a series featuring Vicky Vaughn, and currently I’m in the process of revising the sequel. When I wrote Deadtown, I wrote it as a self-contained book, but one whose story I hoped to expand. As a debut urban fantasy novelist, I knew that I had to prove myself with one book before I started thinking about writing a whole series. At the same time, though, I fell crazy in love with my characters and hoped other people would, too—at least enough to want to know what happens next.

So I was very, very happy when Ace offered me a contract for two books—I could write a sequel! And if readers liked those two books, maybe there’d be more to follow.
Writing Deadtown was the most fun I ever had writing anything. The world-building was absorbing, the characters felt like friends I knew well, and the conflicts they faced were both interesting and exciting to me. It wasn’t a book that wrote itself, but writing it—taking it from idea to sketch to finished manuscript—was a joy.

Writing the sequel has been fun, too. But a sequel presents a set of challenges that I'd never really thought about until one day I sat down to write and there they were, staring me in the face.

The first and biggest challenge, right there on page 1, is bringing readers into your world. In a first book, everyone starts from the same place: No one has encountered the characters or the world before, so you have to introduce those things while telling a forward-moving story. That’s hard enough in itself. But in a second book, you’re now dealing with two sets of readers: those who’ve read Book 1 and those who are stepping into your world for the first time in Book 2. You have to get your new readers oriented without boring those readers who liked the first book enough to come back for more. It’s a real balancing act.

And that’s not all. Because Book 2 builds from the events that happened in Book 1, you need to say just enough about what happened in the first book to make cause-and-effect clear, but without giving away the whole plot of that book. As a reader, I occasionally read series books out of order, and I don’t like it when the author summarizes the previous book before things get moving in this one. For one thing, summary is boring. For another, what if I wanted to go back and read the previous book later, even though I’m taking things out of order? Now that I’ve read the summary, there’s no point.
(And if I did read the books in order, the summary is less a memory-refresher than something to skim so I can find the place where this story gets going.)

The second challenge is continuity. When I was writing the sequel, my memory of the first book wasn’t always as crystal-clear as I thought it was. Shortly after I’d submitted the manuscript for Book 2, I received Deadtown’s page proofs so I could give them a final check before the book went to the printer. Re-reading Deadtown with its sequel still fresh in my mind was an eye-opener. Were Kane’s eyes really that color? And how did I get the name wrong of the politician with a zombie daughter? I had to make a list of things to correct in the sequel during revisions. I’ve started to put together a Deadtown “Bible” that will serve as a reference guide as I go forward in the series.

The final challenge is where to end. Now that I’m thinking in terms of a series—not just a single book that might lead to a series—the story arc has lengthened. I’m thinking further ahead. Situations that arise in Book 2 become seeds for complications and conflicts in Books 3 and 4. And that’s great, because the story becomes richer and more complex. But taking a longer view also means that you can’t give in to the temptation to write a book that’s little more than a bridge between two others. I like a good cliffhanger at the end of a scene, but not at the end of a book—especially if I’ve got to wait a whole year to find out what happens. I don’t mind when the end of a book glances toward the next one, but the story of this book must be wrapped up for the read to satisfy.

As a reader, I know what I like and don’t like in a series. I like a series that moves forward briskly, without a lot of repetition, and that deepens it relationships and conflicts while making each book its own story. As a writer, I’m just beginning to learn how to deliver that.

What are some of your likes and dislikes when reading a series? What makes you feel that a series has gone on too long? What series do you wish would go on and on forever?

Nancy is giving away a copy of Deadtown to one reader who leaves a comment answering the above questions.

Contest Rules:
This contest is open to everyone, everywhere!
Due to unclaimed prizes, you must leave an email address to be entered in this contest if you don't have a blog through which I can contact you.
The contest will run for one week, ending Monday February 15th at 5:00 pm EST with the winner announced shortly after.

Winner of the $20 giftcard....

2010-02-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

The winner of a $20 Amazon or B&N giftcard is.......

Jackie from Literary Escapism! Congrats! Just send me an email letting me know which you'd like, Amazon or B&N or even Book Depository if you'd like... (if you can tell me where you buy it on there..I can never find it!) ....or you know what...any online store you'd like for $20. Whatever makes you happy! So just email me and let me know. Congrats! Thanks to everyone who entered and for all the congrats on me hitting 100 followers. Stick around because The Fabulous Nancy Holzner, author of Deadtown is coming by on February 8th and it's gonna be pretty damn cool to have her here!

Contest Time!

2010-01-26T19:52:00.001-05:00

In celebration of my 100 google followers, I am having a giveaway! One person will win a $20 Amazon or B&N giftcard direct to their email to use online. To enter the contest tell me in the comments section:

1. The title and author of a book you are dying to read
2. The title and author of the last book you adored and why you loved it
3. Your email address and first name
Ok now tell me about some great books to add to my wishlist! Ready, Set, GO!

Rachel Vincent Contest Answers and Winner

2010-01-22T00:01:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone for entering the quiz contest. Here are the answers!

How well do you know Rachel Vincent?

In each category below, two of the three statements are false. Do you know which one is true?

Family
A. Rachel is the oldest of five children.
B. Rachel is an only child.
C. Rachel is her parents’ only daughter.

And the answer is… A. Rachel is the oldest of five children.

From Rachel: My middle sister is 15 months younger than I, and my youngest sister is seventeen months younger than the middle sister. Then, about fourteen years ago, my father remarried. He and my awesome stepmother have two sons, my much younger brothers. They’re both scary-smart and cute. One isn’t even in school yet. ;-)

Food
A. Rachel is a vegetarian.
B. Rachel is allergic to tomatoes.
C. Rachel’s favorite kind of pizza is Margarita.

And the answer is… C. Rachel’s favorite kind of pizza is Margarita.

From Rachel: The very thought of me as a vegetarian makes me laugh. Hysterically. It would make my family laugh harder. I’m a very picky eater. I love fresh greens in salad—with ripe tomatoes—but the only cooked vegetables I’ll touch are fresh corn on the cob (I hate canned or frozen corn) and fried okra. And since I try not to eat much butter or fried foods, those are rarely on the menu. However, I love Margarita pizza.

Music
A. Rachel secretly knows all the words to “Shoop.”
B. Rachel played the flute in her high school band.
C. Rachel once played Rock Band for nine straight hours.

And the answer is… B. Rachel played the flute in her high school band.

From Rachel: In fact, I was a section leader my junior and senior years. I do love my Rock Band, but so far, five hours is the longest I’ve ever played in a sitting. As for “Shoop,” that’s kind of an inside joke between me and my best friend—who knows every word, and will sing it on command. ;-)

Books
A. Rachel is a closet self-help junkie.
B. Rachel’s favorite author is Stephen King.
C. Rachel owns nearly 2000 paperbacks.

And the answer is… B. Rachel’s favorite author is Stephen King.

From Rachel: I’ve loved all but two of King’s novels, and most of his short stories, and I believe I own them all, about half in hardback. As for my paperbacks, I keep my keeper shelf pared down pretty strictly. If you’ve seen pictures of my office, you’ll know I only have three shelves. What doesn’t fit is given away or donated. But I keep the books I love, and I do love a lot of books.

As for self-help…I’ve literally never read one. Nor a single how-to. I prefer to read books with plots, and I refuse to believe anyone else knows how to run my life better than I do. Seriously. ;-)

Art
A. Rachel sketches her characters in charcoal when she gets stuck plotting.
B. Rachel once drank watercolor rinse water in elementary school on a dare.
C. Rachel’s lowest grade in college was in Art History.

And the answer is… C. Rachel’s lowest grade in college was in Art History.

From Rachel: I like art, and I like history. So it seemed natural that I’d like a combination of the two. But that turned out to be the hardest class I ever took, because I’m really bad with dates, and we had to identify pieces of art (shown on slides) by the name of the work, the name of the artist, the name of the period, and the dates the period lasted to and from. I just couldn’t do it.

After that, my electives were all in either English (even though that was my major), philosophy, or women’s studies.

Technology
A. Rachel is addicted to her iPhone.
B. Rachel makes her own book trailers.
C. Rachel doesn’t know her own voicemail password.

And the answer is… A. Rachel is addicted to her iPhone.

From Rachel: Number 1 makes my trailers. And though I did forget my voicemail password once, I remembered it. Without having to call tech support. ;-) But I am never out of reach of my phone. Without it, I feel disconnected from the world. Lonely and alone. It’s sad, really. ;-)

Fears
A. Rachel is terrified of spiders.
B. Rachel is terrified of drowning.
C. Rachel is terrified of large cats.

And the answer is… C. Rachel is terrified of large cats.

From Rachel: I get nervous around large cats (lions, tigers, etc…) even at the zoo. And my fear has been validated by various stories of mauled zoo workers over the past couple of years. But writing my Shifters series is a kind of therapy, if you can believe that.

Incidentally, I’m also phobic-ly afraid of wasps and tornadoes. I spent eleven years in Oklahoma (and plan to return at the first opportunity), where tornadoes are a very real worry, and came close to getting blown away twice. I was in my closet during the F5 in 1999, which passed less than a mile from my house, and killed more than 40 people. And #1 wasn’t there. It was me and my best friend (at the time) and my cat Tirzah (may she rest in peace), huddled beneath several pillows, listening to the weather man say we wouldn’t survive without an underground shelter.

Fortunately, he was wrong. I’m still here. And I still hate wasps. ;-)

Rachel’s novels
A. The very first (unpublished) novel Rachel ever wrote was a YA.
B. Several Soul Screamers characters are named after her friends.
C. Rachel first learned about bean sidhes from her Irish grandmother

And the answer is… B. Several Soul Screamers characters are named after her friends.

From Rachel: My grandmother isn’t Irish. Her family is German, and she knew nothing about bean sidhes until she read MY SOUL TO TAKE. And my first novel was a very adult high fantasy.

I refuse to kill off characters named after people I don’t like (and really, there aren’t many of those) on the theory that Karma then owes me a huge wallop. And I refuse to model characters after friends or family, because I don’t want them to be hurt by anything I write. However, several of my friends have asked me to use their names in a book, and I was happy to oblige—with the caveat that that character may someday die. You never know about those things.

Which friends?
Laura (Sophie’s best friend) is named for a friend I’ve had for the past seven years, and hated leaving behind in Oklahoma. And Lisa (Addison Page’s hotel alias) is named for another good friend from OK.

Incidentally, Kaylee’s chemistry teacher, Mrs. Knott, has my highschool chem. 1 & 2 teacher’s name. I’m not sure how that happened, but there you go. ;-)

Thank you so much Rachel. I loved reading your answers and it was alot of fun having you here!

Now to announce the winner!
The winner of a copy of My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent is.....
Beleth! Congrats! I'll be emailing you using the address you provided. Thanks for playing everyone!

Guest Author Rachel Vincent

2010-01-14T23:05:00.044-05:00

Please welcome my guest author for this week, urban fantasy and Young Adult author Rachel Vincent! Rachel is the author of the popular Shifters Series which currently consists of four books with the fifth book, Shift, coming out in March.

Recently she ventured out into the world of Young Adult Urban Fantasy with the publication of My Soul to Take, the first in her Soul Screamers Series. The second book, My Soul to Save was recently released. There is also a free prequel to the series called My Soul to Lose which you can download at this link.

Rachel has put together a fun quiz for her readers to see just how well you know her. Post your guesses in the comments section. Both right and wrong answers will be entered in a random drawining for one reader to win a copy of the second Soul Screamers book, My Soul to Save.

Put the name of the category and the letter of the answer you think is true next to it. Such as: Family = B Food = A...etc. The contest will run from today until January 21st. On the 22nd Rachel Vincent will come by to discuss the right answers and reveal the winner's name. This contest is open to worldwide readers so everyone is elgible to enter! Have fun!

How well do you know Rachel Vincent?

In each category below, two of the three statements are false. Do you know which one is true?

Family
A. Rachel is the oldest of five children.
B. Rachel is an only child.
C. Rachel is her parents’ only daughter.

Food

A. Rachel is a vegetarian.

B. Rachel is allergic to tomatoes.
C. Rachel’s favorite kind of pizza is Margarita.

Music
A. Rachel secretly knows all the words to “Shoop.”
B. Rachel played the flute in her high school band.
C. Rachel once played Rock Band for nine straight hours.

Books

A. Rachel is a closet self-help junkie.
B. Rachel’s favorite author is Stephen King.
C. Rachel owns nearly 2000 paperbacks.

Art

A. Rachel sketches her characters in charcoal when she gets stuck plotting.
B. Rachel once drank watercolor rinse water in elementary school on a dare.
C. Rachel’s lowest grade in college was in Art History.

Technology

A. Rachel is addicted to her iPhone.
B. Rachel makes her own book trailers.
C. Rachel doesn’t know her own voicemail password.

Fears

A. Rachel is terrified of spiders.
B. Rachel is terrified of drowning.
C. Rachel is terrified of large cats.

Rachel’s novels

A. The very first (unpublished) novel Rachel ever wrote was a YA.
B. Several Soul Screamers characters are named after her friends.
C. Rachel first learned about bean sidhes from her Irish grandmother

Winner of Really Angelic....

2010-01-14T23:01:00.003-05:00

The winner of Really Angelic by Enid Wilson is...

~~Thuy! Thuy~~ please email me through the link in my profile with your name and address within 48 hours to claim your prize. Congrats!

Thank you Enid Wilson for taking the time to chat with readers. It was great having you here!

EDITED: Since Thuy never claimed the prize I had to pick a new winner. Katiebabs you are the new winner. I will email you through the link in your profile now.

Looking for a Guest Reviewer to review Cursed

2010-01-10T12:31:00.005-05:00

Summary from Amazon:

From the moment of her birth, Hannah Worth bears the burden of a power that she does not understand and cannot control. Sheltered from the world, she grows up happily oblivious to the pain she causes others. Hannah doesn't know that she is despised and hated. At the height of her life, with everything she has ever wanted within her grasp, fate and the almighty impart a harsh lesson that will forever change her. Betrayed and cursed, Hannah will have to lose everything if she is to redeem herself, join the world and meet her destiny. The lines between good and evil are anything but clear in this epic dark fantasy that stretches from the witch trials of Salem to the onset of the French Revolution.

I am looking for an experienced reviewer to review Cursed by Suzanne M. Sabol as a Guest Reviewer on Enchanted by Books. I would need the review within two weeks of the person receiving the book. I would want the review in the same style as my own. Summary of the book and then your opinion of it, 300-500 words and properly proofread for grammar and spelling mistakes. I will properly credit the reviewer with their name, link to their blog, and even a bio if they'd like to write one for me to post with the review.

If you'd like to review this book, please post in the comments and leave me a link to your blog where I can see other reviews you've done. I will pick a person based on the reviews I read on your blog. I am not looking for someone to give a solely positive review, I am looking for honesty. So if you love the book, say so, if you don't, say so also. Ok that's it. Ready, Set, Go!

PS: Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win a copy of Really Angelic by Enid Wilson! Contest is running until the 15th.

WINNER WINNER! Dannie you are the winner of a copy of Cursed for review. I just emailed you so please write me back when you can with your name and addy so I can get the book out to you soon. Thanks for entering.

Nemi Review

2010-01-09T21:40:00.000-05:00

Summary from Amazon

Meet Nemi Montoya, the vegetarian, cynical/romantic, hilariously honest twenty-something goth, in this brand new collection from artist Lise Myhre!

Hang out in the pub with Nemi and her friends, including her flatmate, the blue-haired Cyan; hear her opinions on romance and dating; watch her watch TV in her untidy flat; learn how she feels about birch trees, spiders and blondes; and generally experience the highs and lows of being Nemi in the modern world!

A superstar in her native Norway thanks to the immense success of Nemi — also reprinted in the 1.35 million-circulation UK Metro newspaper — you too can enter Lise Myhre’s witty, wonderful world!

I have been on the look out for more graphic novels to read ever since I read The Dark Hunters and Lenore: Noogies. Both graphic novels were thoroughly entertaining so when I was offered Nemi, I was once again hoping for plenty of humor and some fun reading. Unfortunately, I don’t know if it’s because this book is a translation from Norwegian or what, but the humor is just not there.

I didn’t laugh once and I found the huge paragraphs in the bubbles to be way too much for a comic strip. Comics are supposed to be light reading and to have to squint to read so much in a bubble, took away from the the ease of reading a book like this. The art work was ok, nothing that blew me away and made me oooo and ahhh over it.

Overall, I am pretty disappointed in Nemi as I had high hopes for a really fun graphic novel but was instead kind of bored by it. Here’s hoping the next graphic novel I read will be more to my liking as I really do enjoy reading them.

Guest Author Enid Wilson

2010-01-08T00:00:00.003-05:00

Please welcome Enid Wilson, author of Bargain with the Devil and In Quest of Theta Magic. Her latest book, Really Angelic is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice but with a sexy paranormal twist to it. She writes sexy and erotic romance in a variety of genres such as modern, historical, paranormal and science fiction. Today Enid is here to share an excerpt from Really Angelic and to give away a copy to one lucky reader.

Angel in Training

“What do you want now?” She demanded with some annoyance. She reclined on the bed, not bothering to raise and greet the angel properly.
“I want to make sure you have been learning your way with the angelic quill,” Mihaela said.
“Well, I have learned a fair bit about Himins and my jobs from it. But I know not how I am to protect my ward, nor have I developed any angelic skills.”
“Then I will teach you some, now.”
“But I am tired and I have a headache,” she said with a sigh. “Can we not leave it for another day?”
“There is no skirting of your duties, young thing.” Mihaela said, turning into Michael and speaking in a deep, serious voice.
She recoiled, still uneasy over having a man in her room, even if he was an angel.
“Very well then, sir.” She put on a robe and said, “But can you change back to Mihaela?”
“You are an impertinent low-level angel.” He scowled but complied with her request, returning to his female form. “Nevertheless, I shall now teach you how to fly.”
She asked in awe, “So I have wings?”
“Yes, they are embedded inside your bone but you can only use them when you come to your ward’s rescue or request,” Mihaela said. “Simply roll your shoulders, left, right and left, then chant ‘Crosswind and Whirlwind, I trust Ventara, the God of Wind.’ Wings will then spring out from the back of your neck.”
She wanted to laugh at the silly chant but she could see that the Commissioner was losing patience. She did as she was told and to her complete astonishment, she felt a strong tickling at the base of her neck and suddenly her skin seemed to burst. She turned and saw the wings, at her back!
“You have but to concentrate on where you want to go, Lizzybell,” Mihaela said. “Perhaps you would like to try flying out of the window?”
“I could not possibly!” She exclaimed.
“Just fly across the bed then, if your faith is so frail.”
She focused on the other side of the bed and felt her feet lift off the floor. Startled, she looked down at the ground, losing her focus, which made her drop back to the floor with a loud thud.
From below, her mother’s voice screeched, “My dear husband, what was that sound? Are the French coming? I’m certain that it came from my daughter’s room! Oh my, have they come to kidnap her?” Then a succession of rapid footfalls was heard, ascending the stairs.

*****

The above excerpt was adapted from Enid Wilson’s latest Regency novel Really Angelic, a paranormal retelling of Pride and Prejudice (The book contains mature content). Enid has kindly offered a paperback copy of the book to ONE of you. Just tell us your thoughts by commenting below by January 14th at 6:00 pm EST and you will have a chance to win the book. Entry is open to worldwide readers. To read more about Enid ’s books, you can visit her website at this link.

Well, if you were to believe in the existence of guardian angels, what kind of skills do you expect them to possess?

Taming the Moon by Sherrill Quinn

2010-01-04T14:53:00.001-05:00

I was browsing Brava's website and thought I'd look up Sherrill Quinn to see when her next book is coming out. Well I found my answer! February 23, 2010 Taming the Moon (book 3) is released! I adore her writing and can't wait to read this one! Here's a summary from Brava's website:

Animal attraction is only half of the problem…

Olivia Felan has a wild side, all right. Even ignoring the fact that she turns furry and feral once a month, her natural style is take-no-prisoners, full-speed-ahead, come-what-may. But when it comes to her little girl, she doesn’t take chances. So when a big bad werewolf alpha steals her daughter, Olivia will do whatever it takes to get her baby back. And in this case, that means killing Rory Sullivan.

The trouble is, killing him would mean wasting one sexy beast. Sully is all man, all cop, and as of late, half wolf. When he meets Olivia, Sully’s a little glad he stuck his nose into his friends’ business and came out with animal senses—until he gets a whiff of the chaos following her around. Now he has to decide whether he can’t take his eyes off Olivia because she’s too beautiful—or because she’s too dangerous…

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:43:00.005-05:00

Myspace Happy New Year Comments & Graphics

Total Books Read in 2009

2010-01-01T00:29:00.002-05:00

Rachael's book montage

I read a total of 74 books in 2009. I read more urban fantasy then ever before with alot less mysteries and contemporary romances. Paranormals and Urban Fantasy dominated my reading pile and I can't get enough of them. I'm hoping to read a bigger variety in 2010 and to try to read more each week and watch less TV. How many books did you read for 2009?

PS: Each book in the montage is clickable so if you can't see what book it is, click on the cover and it will bring you to the title and author on Good Reads.

PPS: And if you want to check it out, here's last year's list

Deadtown Review

2009-12-31T23:51:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Deadtown, the quarantined city of paranormals who have almost no rights and are treated like animals. Werewolves are sent off on a three day retreat during the full moon, vampires are only allowed one pint of blood, shifters can only shift three times a month, and zombies must have a permit to go into most establishments.

When the plague happened in Boston, many residents died, only to come back as zombies. Now they are restricted to living in Deadtown and are not permitted to leave there. Victory (Vicky) Vaughn is a shifter and a demon slayer. She’s been trained since she was a kid on how to slay demons. After her father was killed by a Hellion, Vicky has been determined to put an end to his murderous ways.

Vicky’s boyfriend Alexander Kane is a werewolf lawyer and is never around to spend time with her. He wants her to use one of her shifts to go on his retreat with him as a werewolf. No matter how many times she tries to explain to him that she isn’t a werewolf and would feel like a fake and doesn’t want to do that, he just doesn’t get it.

But when Vicky takes on a job slaying demons for someone Kane despises, the arguments really heat up between them. When a sexy norm cop named Daniel starts paying Vicky some attention, she revels in it and doesn’t think twice about seeing him also.

When not training her apprentice, a zombie teenager, Vicky is training to slay the ultimate demon. The Hellion is back and he’s coming for her and Vicky will be ready this time. Will Vicky be able to put an end to The Hellion once and for all?

Deadtown is the first book in a new urban fantasy series by Nancy Holzner. Every paranormal entity that you could imagine is in this book; vampires, zombies, shifters and werewolves all in the same town. Most urban fantasy and paranormal books romanticize paranormals and have them live amongst humans and they are accepted and treated as equals.

But in Deadtown, the paranormals can’t even leave the town without being in fear for their lives. The police barge into their homes and treat them like monsters even though they abide by their laws. With an election under way, Vicky may lose even more rights if the wrong man wins.

There is great characterization in this novel with each person fully fleshed out. The zombies are like regular people, the vampires are self absorbed, the werewolf is a workaholic, and the shifter is a kind hearted demon slayer out to save the town. There’s plenty of action, suspense and humor in Deadtown that will keep you reading long into the night. I am thrilled with this first book and can not wait to return to Deadtown for more adventures with Victory Vaughn.

I Married a Demon Review

2009-12-20T18:49:00.002-05:00

Jennifer Randall works as a Protector for The Society protecting mortals from Otherworlders. But sometimes her radar for detecting Otherworlders isn’t always right. After numerous tragic mistakes, Jennifer’s boss sends her on a mandatory vacation for her to get her mind straight. Constantly thinking mortals are demons, ghouls, gargoyles or other creatures when they’re not and then attacking them is just not acceptable when working for The Society for the Protection of Mortals and Control of Supernatural Beings.

While on vacation Jennifer meets an extremely sexy man named Blake Barrington and quickly rushes off to marry him. She’s fallen in lust and love with him so quickly that she might have blinders on about who he really is. Despite the obvious signs, Jennifer ignores her instincts that her husband could possibly be a demon. Afterall, she has been wrong so many times, who knows if she can trust her senses anymore.

But when other people confirm her suspicion, Jennifer is in big trouble. Her job is to protect mortals from people like her husband. Protectors who work for The Society can’t marry demons! But without knowing for sure if Blake is a demon or not, she starts to investigate him a little closer to uncover the truth.

In the meantime, Jennifer is on a mission for The Society to find The Bracelet of Invincibility. It was somehow stolen and they need it back before it lands in the wrong hands. With the help of a smart-alecky, cowboy imaged, sidekick/electronic device - named Partner, Jennifer must get her hands on The Bracelet before the demons get it. Will Jennifer end up battling her own husband to protect the mortals or will her instincts once again tell her she was wrong and he is not a demon?

I MARRIED A DEMON is a hilarious, action packed, paranormal romance that I found impossible to put down. Jennifer is a sarcastic, self deprecating, kind of person that had me laughing so hard from the minute I was introduced to her. The story is told in first person point of view (my favorite point of view) and this gives the reader a close intimate place in Jennifer’s head and what she’s going through.

At the beginning of the book there was very little dialogue, a lot of erotica, and then the story seemed to turn Sci - Fi with Jennifer visiting The Society. I loved the author’s writing but I was starting to worry that this book was all over the place and almost stopped reading it. But I kept going and I am so glad I did. The story really found its place and flowed a lot better once Jennifer got going on her mission.

Partner’s character was written so well and was one of my favorite parts of the book. If you could picture a telephone with a screen saver of a cowboy that is animated according to what is going on, that is Partner. He’s Jennifer’s sidekick and a device The Society gave her to help her out. He acts like a real person and is always saying the funniest things and arguing with Jennifer.

All of the Otherworlders were a delight; every character brought something to this story. I would compare the humor, storyline, and characters to the style of Angie Fox and Dakota Cassidy. So if you adore books by those authors, I would definitely recommend I Married a Demon by Beverly Rae.

I was very sad to finish this book as I have been enjoying a little each day and miss it now that I am done. Overall, I Married a Demon is a wonderful, laugh out loud, suspenseful story that I absolutely adored and I think you will too!

Quickie Contest!!

2009-12-15T21:49:00.019-05:00

Since I never heard back from the person who won a copy of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, I am going to have a quickie contest for a new winner. ONLY the people who posted on the original post when Marta Acosta guest blogged are eligible.

So if you are one of those people and are the first person to post here in the comments with the words ''I was here, pick me!'' AND email me (through the link in my profile) with your name and address right away, you will win the book. Ready, Set, GO!

EDITED: This contest is now over. Linda Henderson is the winner!

Divorced, Desperate and Deceived Review

2009-12-14T14:00:00.003-05:00

Kathy Callahan wants a second chance at finding true love but she hasn’t had the best of luck lately. She’s had her eye on her plumber Stan Bradley for the last two years but despite all her attempts at seduction, nothing has worked on him.

Kathy’s best friends Sue and Lacy have both found love again after also being divorced. They’re both married to cops, pregnant, and over the moon in love. Kathy is the last one in her group of friends aka The Divorced, Desperate and Delicious club, to still be single and she isn’t happy about that.

When Kathy decides to finally ask Stan out, she picks the worst time to finally have the courage. Stan is a federal agent in the Witness Protection Program and his real name isn’t even Stan. There’s a mob of bad guys who would like nothing more then to silence him and Kathy is in real danger by being anywhere near Stan.

Before she even has the chance to get to know Stan better or even properly chat, things get crazy and they’re both on the run! With the cops assuming Stan kidnapped Kathy, things get hectic really fast. Will Kathy and Stan find romance while shacking up together on the run or will all of his secrets and lies cause her to not trust him?

Divorced, Desperate and Deceived is the third and final book in the series featuring women who are divorced and looking for love again. There are plenty of hilarious scenes as always in this series and the suspense is exciting. I loved the chemistry between Kathy and Luke aka Stan and was rooting for them to get their happily ever after. It was nice to have the main characters from the previous two books back and to see how their lives are now. Overall, Divorced, Desperate and Deceived is a fun thrill ride of adventure and I can’t wait to read the next Christie Craig book!

Reviewed for Night Owl Romance

Torn Review

2009-12-14T02:01:00.001-05:00

Lily Carlyle thought she was working for the light, the good guys, heaven, God, whatever you want to call it. But after completing her mission, her half demon- half angel friend Deacon Camphire informs her she has been lied to.

Lily has been manipulated and used as a tool to open the Ninth Gate even more, not close it and keep demons out like she originally thought. Without knowing how to properly handle this situation, Lily continues to work for Clarence pretending she is still ignorant of his true intentions. Besides she has bigger problems right now. Lily’s sister Rose is possessed by her rapist, Lucas Johnson.

Lucas refuses to leave Rose’s body and the only way to get rid of him besides asking nicely is to kill Rose. Of course Lily can’t do that so this leaves her with a sister who is only herself half of the time. But his possession is taking a toll on her and something has to be done before her sister ceases to exist.

Without any other options, Lily agrees to give Lucas what he wants, The Oris Clef. But Clarence has Lily on a mission to collect all three parts to give to him, not Lucas. What will happen when Clarence finds out that Lily is not working for his side anymore?

Torn is the second book in the Blood Lily Chronicles which is an adult urban fantasy series. The first book, Tainted, ended with an exciting cliff hanger that had me very anxious to get my hands on the next installment. When we last left Lily she had discovered the truth about who she was working for and her sister was possessed. Lily is no longer gullible and easy to manipulate. She is furious about the entire situation and is determined to take her life back. Her character is extremely strong and doesn’t need the help of a man but she will take help when it is offered.

The writing in this series is superb and has quickly become my favorite new series. I literally drool just thinking about these books. There is so much suspense, action, mystery, and excitement in Torn that I can’t imagine anyone disliking it. If you haven’t read this series yet, you really need to. The romance is sexy and the story is tightly plotted to the point where you will not be able to guess what will happen next.

I had a very hard time putting Torn down to go to sleep, it's just THAT good! These books must be read in order or you will spoil it for yourself. Overall, Torn is an outstanding, fabulous, urban fantasy novel that DEMANDS to be read. Look out for the third book, Turned, due out in January. Run out and get this series!! I am telling you it's amazing!!

Winner of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula!

2009-12-11T12:56:00.001-05:00

The winner of a copy of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula (book 1) by Marta Acosta is

angeleyesak

Please email me through the link in my profile with your name and address and I will forward it on to Marta to get your prize out to you. Congrats! Thanks everyone for posting and thank you Marta for guest blogging!

Edited: Angeleyesak I emailed you at the address you left in your comment on here but I never heard back from you. Please write me so you can claim your prize. If I don't hear back from you by 5:00 pm Eastern time on the 15th I am going to have to pick another winner.

Guest Author Marta Acosta

2009-12-01T23:00:00.008-05:00

Please welcome paranormal romance author Marta Acosta! Marta is the author of the Casa Dracula series which currently consists of three books with the fourth book Nancy's Theory of Style due out in 2010. She also has a YA book in the works and runs the fabulous paranormal news site Vampire Wire. Today Marta is here to talk about what holiday movies would be like if there were vampires in them.

Guest Blog by Marta Acosta

Someone recently asked me about my favorite holiday movie, and I realized that, although I don’t see myself as a holiday movie fan, I actually have a lot of favorites. All involve mishaps, most have romantic entanglements, and many feature angels. There wasn’t a vampire in the bunch.

Which begs the question, why aren’t there vampire holiday movies?

Because it would be a mistake.

“The Vampire Christmas Story”

All Ralphie wants for Christmas is a bb gun. But his parents insist that he’ll shoot his eye out. When his father’s prize leg-lamp breaks the front window, vampires swarm in for their holiday feast. Ralphie’s parents run to give him his present, but, alas, the steel pellets cannot harm the ravaging fiends. Ralphie realizes all too late that he should have specified silver pellets.

“The Vampire Miracle on 34th Street”

When Santa shows up drunk at a toy department, the new store manager quickly hires a man claiming to be Kris Kringle to replace him. The man seems to have amazing powers of persuasion, but she refuses to believe that he is the real Santa Claus. However, his influence over her sweet daughter convinces her to reject her skepticism. Sadly, she was right not to trust the man, who unleashes his horrific vampire appetite on throngs of helpless children waiting to tell him their gift list.

“The Bishop’s Vampire Wife”

A reserved bishop has lost his way, getting more caught up with fundraising for a new church than with the true meaning of Christmas. A mysterious and gorgeous man appears and says that he’s come to help the bishop. He spends most of his time charming people and macking on the bishop’s bored and neglected wife.

The stranger plays a song on the harp for a rich widow. “How did you know that old song?” she asks. “It was a big hit when I was still among the living,” he answers. She donates a fortune for a new church, and the hot stranger turns the bishop’s wife into his new vampire bride. Theological discussions and mayhem ensue.

The only one of the holiday movies that might work as a vampire story is “Elf” because the elf comes to save his father’s publishing business and then writes a bestselling novel. Bestsellers and blood-suckers? They go together like eggnog and rum.

Have yourself a very scary Christmas!

Edited: Sorry I had the question wrong. Everyone who entered prior is still entered.

What holiday movie do you think should NOT be made with a vampire theme?

Leave a comment answering this question for your chance to win a copy of the first book in the Casa Dracula Series, Happy Hour at Casa Dracula! This contest will run until December 9th at 6 pm ET. Good luck everyone!

US ONLY PLEASE
Thank you Marta for Guest Blogging. It's a pleasure to have you here today!

Winner of Divorced, Desperate and Deceived

2009-12-01T22:15:00.002-05:00

The winner of a copy of Divorced, Desperate and Deceived by Christie Craig is...

Linda Henderson

Congrats! Please email me through the link in my profile with your name and address and I will forward on your info to Christie. Thanks again to everyone for posting and thank you Christie Craig for taking the time to talk with readers!

Magic in the Shadows Review

2009-12-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

Allie Beckstrom works as a Hound using her powers to identify people who abuse magic. Life has been hard for her as every time she uses magic, it uses her back. She’s suffered illness, memory loss, and tattoo like markings on her body from casting magic. For every spell there is a price to pay.

But things are way more complicated now since Allie’s deceased father has somehow entered her mind. While fighting bad guys, it’s his voice guiding her to do spells she’s never even heard of before. The only bad part of having her father constantly in her head, besides how annoying it is, is that people who were after him while he was alive, might come after her now to kill him once and for all if they find out he is still sort of alive inside of Allie.

Allie’s magic is stronger then ever and completely out of control. With no formal training, she is at a loss on how to properly defend herself and how to control all the magic inside of her. Allie’s boyfriend Zayvion decides to take her to meet a woman named Maeve who will properly train her on how to cast magic.

But Allie still has a ton of responsibilities to handle when not training. She has her fellow Hounds to look after, a position as CEO of her father’s business to decide upon, a relationship that she can barely remember, and the crappy problem of constantly being attacked by all kinds of people and creatures who abuse magic.

On top of that she has to decide if she wants to work for Detective Stotts as a Hound for the police department. The same Detective Stotts who is sort of a bad luck charm since every time a Hound works for him they end up dead. Then there’s Nola who’s in town and trying to get custody of Cody and Zayvion knows stuff about the situation but he’s so secretive because it’s official Authority business and all. Things are getting crazy for Allie, how will she hold it all together and figure out a way to control her magic use?

Magic in the Shadows is the third book in the Allie Beckstrom series which picks up right where the last book left off. When we last left Allie, she had discovered her father was inside of her and we didn’t know how this happened or why. We still don’t really know how or why but Allie is learning to deal with the situation and trying to make the best of it. Things are different now though since Allie is being watched very closely by The Authority and her magic use is being questioned. Everything is becoming quite intense for her and the action really picks up in this installment.

Even though Allie’s memory loss put her kind of back to square one with Zayvion, their chemistry and connection heats up a bit in this book. We find out more about Zayvion and what he does for The Authority. Allie is becoming stronger but magic is still hurting her and she suffers because of this. Some interesting theories are revealed which may explain a lot about Allie.

The writing moves at a fast pace with plenty of exciting action sequences to keep readers riveted. Magic is a prominent theme in this book and I love that. This series just gets better and better with each new book and I can’t wait to see what happens next with Allie and Zayvion. Look out for the fourth book, Magic on the Storm due out May 2010.

Reviewed for Night Owl Romance

Guest Author Christie Craig

2009-11-23T23:00:00.009-05:00

Please welcome romance author Christie Craig! Christie's newest book, Divorced, Desperate and Deceived was just released today! This is the third and final book in her series featuring three friends looking for love. Christie's books are a mixture of romance, mystery with a healthy dose of humor that always cracks me up. She is here today to talk about five things you didn't know about her. Welcome Christie!

Five Things You Don’t Know About Christie Craig

1) The thing I mostly dreamed about being as a child was adopted.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t abused, or mistreated. I was just a misfit—the girl sandwiched between two brothers. I didn’t make farting sounds with my arm pits, I didn’t ask people to pull my finger, and I didn’t make weekly trips to the emergency room to get stitches. I’d catch Alabama toads and pretend they were princes; my brothers would catch them to blow them up with firecrackers. While I had my head in the clouds daydreaming, everyone else scratched their heads trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

2) The weirdest food I’ve ever eaten was toad soup in a dirt-floor restaurant.

Believe it or not, my brothers were not behind this. I was in China with my hubby and we were being treated to a fancy buffet. Hubby, a semi-germ freak, wouldn’t eat anything, so being polite I felt obligated to eat. They put just a spoonful of the unknown variety of soup in my bowl for me to taste, when I nodded my approval they dipped a huge serving into my dish and the drowned toad, cooked whole, head propped up on the lip of my bowl and its legs dangling over each side of my dish. I politely bypassed the soup to eat the fried snake. Hey…at least it didn’t look like a snake.

3) My favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon is with a fishing pole in my hand.

Yup, I’m a closet fisherman. Very few people know that I love to fish. But I have to tell you there’s something about sitting beside a body of water with a pole clutched in my hand that brings on story plotting. I’ve gotten so many book and scene ideas while waiting for my bobber to bob. The whole dead guy in the Porta-Potty scene in Divorced, Desperate and Deceived, well, I was sitting on a boat reeling in a fish when that idea hit. How I got from catching an ugly fish, to a corpse reading a bird magazine in the Porta-Potty is even beyond me, but I’ll betcha I was dying to pee at the time. Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t take the sport of fishing seriously. Hubby says I fish hard, because I demand silence because it will scare the fish away. Also, I’m never one to set my pole down. I mean, what if I got a bite, I want to have that pole in my hands. This is battle and no way am I’m going to let the fish win. This said, I don’t like to touch the fish, so I need hubby to take it off my hook. And then I have him toss the fish back in the water, setting it free. Oh, I love to eat fish, but not the ones I catch. I have a rule, if I have to look anything in the eyes, I can’t eat it—which was the big problem with that frog in China. That thing was looking right at me.

4) The three things I suck at mostly are wrapping gifts, sewing, and spelling/spotting typos.

Not only do I suck at wrapping gifts, I hate wrapping gifts. Don’t get me wrong, I love giving, I just hate wrapping. I swear, no matter how hard I try to make them look “department-store” pretty, when I’m done with them you’d assume a man wrapped the dang thing. Seriously, I’m wrapping impaired. I think whoever came up with gift bags should win a Nobel Prize. Now sewing? Oh gosh, I’d rather clean someone’s toenails than have to use a sewing machine. Even a needle and thread has a negative effect on me. I pay the dry cleaners to hem and sew on buttons. Spelling? Yup, I know I’m a writer and people assume that writers should be able to spell. But not this dyslexic writer. Spell check and I are best friends. Of course it often lets me down. My two biggest typo/spelling errors were: (pre-published) in a scene where my hero in DD&Delicious had been beat up, thrown over a bridge and shot in the shoulder and was hiding out behind a shed and I had him “look down at his bloody shirt.” But in an unpubbed contest, I accidentally left out the letter “r” in the word “shirt.” The contest judge made the comment: “So he has internal issues, too?” The second typing faux pas was in a blog where I wrote that I was going “public” with a confession. Well, I mistyped and left out the “L” in the word public and honestly, it was not a “pubic” type of confession.

5) The worse thing I ever did to my husband (according to him) was get an emergency hysterectomy six weeks after I demanded he get a vasectomy.

I swear, he was furious. You’d have thought I personally went after his Mr. Johnson and the boys with a pair of wire cutters. He acted as if I’d decided to have this procedure just for fun and to somehow lessen the significance of his little snip-snip. I mean, if I could have gone back in and unsnipped him I would have. Amazingly, it took him longer to recover from his quick out-patient procedure than it did for my “full-blown, gut her open and yank out body parts” surgery.

So there you have it, five things you didn’t know about yours truly. And today I’m giving away a copy of Divorced, Desperate and Deceived to one lucky commenter. What I’d like to hear is either, what you dreamed about being as a child, what’s the weirdest food you’ve ever eaten, what’s your favorite Sunday afternoon pastime, what you suck at, or what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done to your hubby or boyfriend. Come on, let’s share and laugh a little.

This contest begins today November 24th and will end December 1st at 10:00 pm (eastern time) with the winner revealed December 2nd. Sorry, US residents only please.

And since this is my release month, I’m holding contests, and guest blogging all over the place. Pop over to my own blog spot: http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/ and you’ll find a blog and contest there, plus links and information about where else you can find other contests and blogs.

Oh, and thank you so much Rachael for having me today.

~CC

Winners of Magic in the Shadows

2009-11-23T22:11:00.005-05:00

The winners of a signed copy of Magic in the Shadows by Devon Monk are throuthehaze and Bethie!

Congrats! Please email me through the link in my profile with your name and address and I will forward it on to Devon Monk. Thanks again to everyone for coming by! Thank you Devon Monk for guest blogging!

Tomorow Christie Craig will be here guest blogging and giving away her new book so remember to stop by!

Shadowland Review

2009-11-20T19:23:00.005-05:00

After making a devastating decision at the end of Blue Moon, Ever is living with the consequences. Her DNA is now poison to Damen and she can no longer have any physical contact with him or he will die. Determined to get her hands on the antidote, Ever dives deeper into magic then ever before searching for answers. She refuses to accept the possibility that Damen and herself will never be together and even runs to Roman trying to convince him to hand over the cure.

Damen has decided the reason for all of these unfortunate events is because of karma and fate. He feels that if he changes his ways, karma will work in his favor. He decides to get rid of the fancy items that he manifests because he thinks he has taken advantage of the universe in some way. So the BMW, the fancy clothes, the mansion, all of it will soon be gone. But will Ever still love him when all of the things that attracted him to her in the first place cease to exist? Will their love overcome all obstacles even the ‘’no-touching or you will die’’ problem Roman has given them?

Shadowland is the third book in a young adult paranormal series called The Immortals. This series must be read in order and I advise to avoid reading anything online about it because it will spoil it for you. There’s just no way to talk about these books without spoiling the previous one in the series.

When Blue Moon ended, readers were left with a killer cliff hanger that had them in suspense waiting for this new installment to find out what happens next. I was a little annoyed about the use of a force field to get around their no touching or die problem. It seemed like an easy way out and I kept hoping the force field would accidentally drop.

To have such a great cliff hanger and then to find a temporary fix to the problem, just left me disappointed. If Damen wasn’t touching Ever through a force field, then he’d use his mind to convey the touch. I disliked the temporary solution to their problem, wanting them to be starved for affection and maybe even cheating on each other rather then fixing it so easily.

I also have a problem with the whole concept of reincarnation in this book. It’s not very believable at all and I think that is a big problem. If you don’t believe in the fantasy, you won’t be able to enjoy it. The concept of Ever and Damen knowing each other for centuries with her in other bodies, is just so out there and too unbelievable for me to grasp.

Although the writing was easy to read and the story moved along at a fast pace, I found the lack of anything really happening, tiresome. The last 100 pages were suspenseful and exciting but the rest of the book really didn’t really have anything of substance to keep me interested. I kept going back to thinking about the first book Evermore and how much it captivated me that I read it all in one day. This book took me about three days to read and that same magical quality just wasn’t there for me.

Overall, Shadowland may appeal more to a younger audience this time around than adults who are looking for more substance to their stories. I did enjoy the last 100 pages but that wasn’t enough to convert my feelings on the whole book in general. I will still give the next book a chance because I am curious as to where the story is going and would like to feel the same enchantment again that I felt for the first book, Evermore. Look out for the fourth installment, Dark Flame in the summer of 2010.

Guest Author Devon Monk

2009-11-18T15:50:00.005-05:00

Please welcome my guest for this week, urban fantasy author Devon Monk. Devon is the author of the Allie Beckstrom series which currently consists of three books with the fourth book out May 4, 2010. The third book in the series, Magic in the Shadows was recently released and is available in bookstores now. Devon is here today to talk about her two main characters and how a short story became a series.

I’m very excited to be a guest blogger today! Thank you so much for having me!

When MAGIC TO THE BONE first hit the shelves, I received a lot of questions about it. Two questions that took my by surprise were: “Are you Allie?”and “Who is Zavyion Jones?” No one had ever asked me who any of my other characters in my published short stories were, so it took me by surprise that people would wonder where Allie and Zayvion came from.

First, a quick history of how Zayvion and Allie came into my life. I’d been asked to write a short story for an anthology. At the time I was writing a lot of fantasy and science fiction short stories and doing a pretty good job selling them to magazines and anthologies. I’d heard about this urban fantasy and paranormal romance wave that was hitting the publishing world, and while it intrigued me, I hadn’t really thought about writing in that genre. When the anthology invite came along, I decided to give urban fantasy a try.

Allie Beckstrom stepped forward for the job. She is a little bit of all the women I’ve known. Vulnerable, strong, willing to handle whatever challenge comes her way, even if she doesn’t know if she will survive in one piece. Allie is tough, and deals with pain and loss on a daily basis. Allie is headstrong, and knows who she is and what she wants. Allie is funny, and has a deep heart. She understands loving someone takes the most strength of all.

This story was all about Allie. I had no plans of adding a second, equally strong character to the plot. So there I had Allie, walking down the street dealing with some pretty bad magical stuff. Someone had just put a magical hit on a little boy, and he was dying from it. It was up to Allie to find out who was behind the magic. I knew there needed to be someone who would help her out, someone who would also get in her way.

And up strolled Zayvion Jones. Tall, mixed-race hottie, with a calm demeanor that hid anger, power, passion. When Zayvion hit the scene, the story between he and Allie exploded, becoming much more than a short story could hold. Still, I wrote the short story, and gave Allie and Zayvion as much as I could in a very small amount of words. The editor loved it.

And rejected it. I owe that editor a huge debt of gratitude. If he had said yes and published the short story, I probably wouldn’t have written the novel and I certainly wouldn’t have taken Allie and Zay’s story through six books, and hopefully, more.

Who is Zayvion Jones? I really don’t know. He came unexpectedly into the story and changed everything I had planned for Allie. Mysterious, powerful, loyal to a fault, he is a man who knows saving the world falls squarely on his shoulders, and will not buckle under that expectation. He’s funny, smart, and very, very private. He is no stranger to pain and sorrow, which makes love, the chance of it, the reality of it, something he’ll fight for, no matter the cost.

Writing the Allie Beckstrom series has been full of the unexpected for me. From a short story rejection came a novel. From two characters trying to find love, came a series. From the idea that magic costs anyone who uses it pain, came the question of who and what is worth hurting for. And as I’ve gone along, more unexpected characters have strolled onto the scene to change Allie’s life, to challenge her, make her laugh, make her cry. The third book in the series, MAGIC IN THE SHADOWS, introduces two new characters, Stone and Shame, who I absolutely love, and MAGIC ON THE STORM is full of unexpected twists and turns. Now that I’m writing book five in the series, I can’t wait to see what happens next!

So tell me, have you ever had something bad turn into something good? Has the unexpected ever opened up new doors and new experiences for you? Tell me about it in the comments, and I will send out two signed copies of MAGIC IN THE SHADOWS to two lucky winners.

This contest starts today November 17th and will run until 10:00 pm Eastern time on November 23rd with the winners revealed that night.

PS: I am still waiting for one of the winners from the Jennifer Rardin contest to contact me. Stephanie if you see this, please email me by the 19th to claim your prize!

PPS. Today is the 20th so I am drawing a new winner for the Jennifer Rardin book since Stephanie never contacted me. Alexia561 you are the new winner for Bite Marks!