It’s that time again. 🙂
Happy Release to a bunch of Wonderful authors!!!!!
I hope you all find something good to read this week.
Happy Release Day 6.5.12
Interview with Samantha Grace
Book-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome Samatha Grace to the blog.
1. Can you please share with us a little about yourself?
Samantha: I’m married to a child psychologist. We have two kids, a dog, and a cat. I think we’ve done a fairly good job of raising our kids so far, but the dog and cat are definitely going to need therapy. I would love to be a health food nut and marathon runner, but I’ll settle for eating mostly healthy and maybe running a 5K this coming November. That would involve me actually putting on my running shoes and heading out the door, however, and I just haven’t gotten that far yet.
2. Have you always wanted to be an author?
Samantha: I’ve dreamed of becoming an author since fourth grade, and I took creative writing classes all through high school. Yet, when it came time to go to college, I felt steered toward majoring in something “practical”. I needed to make a living to support myself, so I tried journalism. I quickly found out this wasn’t the type of writing I wanted to do. I switched my major to psychology with the thought it would help me with character development. Later I went back for my master’s degree and studied social work. I don’t regret the path I followed even though it feels like I took a big detour. I’ve learned a lot about life over the years, and it’s nice to have a steady income while I wait for my writing career to take off.
3. Who are some of your favorite writers?
Samantha: I enjoy Amanda Quick, Lauren Willig, Jodi Picoult, Sherry Thomas, Wally Lamb… The list could go on and on. There are so many talented writers. I just wish I had more time to read.
4. Who do you feel has influenced your writing?
Samantha: The ladies in my critique group have had the most direct influence on my writing. Aside from these marvelous women, I would add Larry Brooks for his book Story Engineering and Donald Maas for Fire In Fiction, particularly the chapter on using description. Dr. Irvin Yalom also deserves a shout out for his book Love’s Executioner. He wrote about his experiences in providing therapy to patients, but their stories are told with such heart and humility. It changed the way I think about others. I love that book.
5. How did you get into writing in this specific genre?
Samantha: It was accidental in a way. I hadn’t read romance in probably fifteen years when I rediscovered Johanna Lindsey at the library. I recalled liking her stories a lot in my younger years and picked up a book I hadn’t ever read. After I devoured the rest of her stories, I wanted more, but instead of looking for other authors who wrote historical romance, I thought, “Hey! I can write a romance, too.”
6. Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?
Samantha: I thought about it when I first began writing romance, but for now, I’m content. I’ve always been drawn to the developing romantic relationships in stories, but other genres don’t usually explore this element in enough depth for me. If I did write in another genre, it would probably be mystery.
7. What are some of your writing rituals?
Samantha: I need my hair up, quiet, and my glasses. Make that clean glasses. It drives me insane to have even the hint of a fingerprint on my lenses, so I always need a microfiber cloth at hand. Quiet isn’t always possible, so I like to listen to Pandora radio with my headphones, but it has to either be instrumental or in another language besides English. I love the exotic sounds of the Karsh Kale station. It’s very sensual music.
8. Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?
Samantha: Lady Amelia’s Mess and a Half is the second book in my Regency historical series. It’s basically a “second chance at love” story about two people who should have been together a long time ago, but there were too many obstacles that stood in their way. Now they have another chance to get it right. It’s also a story about longing for someone out of reach and the lasting power of true love. I tend to write a little humorous, and I think there are some funny moments in this book, but this book is from my heart. I hope others find it touching and romantic as well. Here is the summary from the back of the book:
Jake broke her heart by leaving for the country after sharing a passionate kiss.
Lady Amelia broke his by marrying his best friend.
When she returns to town a widow – pursued by an infamous rake, Jake’s debauched brother, and just maybe by Jake himself – Lady Amelia will have a mess and a half on her hands.
A sparkling romp through the ton, Lady Amelia’s Mess and a Half delivers a witty Regency romance in which misunderstandings abound, reputations are put on the line, and the only thing more exciting than scandal is true love.
9. How did you come up with the idea for this story?
Samantha: This is a difficult question to answer. Lady Amelia’s Mess and a Half basically evolved from two characters that appeared in my first book Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel. From the start, Jake was hostile toward Lord Andrew and I didn’t know the reason. It wasn’t until close to the end of writing the first draft of my first book that I realized he was heartbroken over losing his one true love, Amelia. Amelia was a big surprise to me when she first appeared. I thought she was “the other woman”, but she didn’t fit any of the clichés. She was kindhearted, sensitive, and genuinely concerned about Lana Hillary’s welfare. By the time I started revisions on my first book, I knew Jake and Amelia had a story to tell, so I let them tell it.
10. Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?
Samantha: I’m reviewing the galleys for book three Miss Lavigne’s Little White Lie to be released in October. The story is about a ship’s captain, Daniel Hillary, who agrees to carry a lovely Creole lady, her cousin, and her peculiar younger brother to England after she approaches him in a tavern. His rule has always been no women on ship, but Lisette Lavigne’s devotion to her family convinces him to change his mind. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful and could be good company for him during the long voyage. What Lisette doesn’t tell Daniel is they are fleeing from her criminal fiancé, because he wants to place her brother in an insane asylum to gain full control of his fortune. Unfortunately, her fiancé has much more at stake than losing access to the Lavigne family fortune, and he begins pursuing her across the sea, eventually placing everyone Lisette loves in danger, including Daniel.
I’m currently writing the fourth book in my series, which is yet to be titled. It’s about the oldest Forest brother, Luke, who has inherited a dukedom and a surprise marital agreement his father had negotiated on his behalf days before his death. At first Luke tries to talk Lady Vivian into speaking with her brother about dissolving the agreement, because Luke has a lot of stuff going on internally, not to mention a dangerous voyage planned in a few months. Lady Vivian is a big surprise to Luke, and he soon learns she is too stubborn for her own good. She refuses to talk to her brother, but she has several good reasons for not cooperating with Luke. One of those being she’ll be sent to a convent in Scotland if she messes up her betrothal. Luke actually grows fond of Vivian in a short time and proposes an alternate plan he thinks she can’t refuse. He’ll take her to his mother’s house party and help her find a replacement husband. She pretends to agree to his scheme, but all along she plans to win his heart before they reach the house party. It has been a fun book to write.
11. What would you be if you were not an author?
Samantha: Well, if I could go back and do everything over again, I’d become the bad girl of ballroom dancing. Why not? I already went the practical route by becoming a social worker. J
12. What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?
Samantha: I really can’t wait to get my copy of Erin Knightely’s debut book More Than a Stranger. That’s the one I’m most looking forward to reading.
BnK: Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
Samantha: It has been my pleasure. Thanks so much for having me as a guest at Books-n-Kisses. May I ask your readers the same question you asked me? What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for? No extra points given for saying my book. <wink>
Want to learn more about Samantha? You can find her here:
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Oh Paul is looking good on this cover…. Don’t you think SG?
Lady Amelia’s Mess and a Half
by Samantha Grace
Release day June 1, 2012
Amazon| B&N
Lady Amelia Audley and Jake Hillary have been in love with each other for years; unfortunately, a cruel set of circumstances and misunderstandings tore them apart. When Amelia marries Jake’s best friend, he vows to forget his love for her. But when she returns to town newly widowed, Jake must decide whether or not to let the beautiful lady back into his heart before fate intervenes and tears them apart forever.
Kelly’s ARC review of Mine to Hold by Shayla Black
Mine To Hold
Wicked Lovers #6
AUTHOR: Shayla Black
PUBLICATION DATE: 06/04/12
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A friend’s duty.
Tyler Murphy was an LAPD detective, single and happy—until a near-fatal tragedy crippled his friend, fellow detective Eric Catalano. While he supported Eric, he also became a shoulder for Eric’s wife, Delaney, to cry on. But with one naughty suggestion from Eric, a drunken night with Delaney spilled into erotic abandon. Before it was over Tyler saw his best friend’s wife as a woman and yearned for more. When Eric struggled to deal with the aftermath, Delaney begged Tyler to leave. Crushed, he fled to Louisiana, hoping to escape his longing for the one woman he could never have again…and unaware of what he’d left behind.
A lover’s desire.
After two years of living with regret, Tyler finds Delaney on his doorstep, her husband having abandoned her long ago. She’s protecting a shocking secret and desperately needs refuge from a killer determined to see her dead. As they fight to stay alive and catch the stalker, they struggle to resolve the guilt of their past pleasures. But they can’t deny that what was once a spark is now a flame burning out of control. To possess Delaney — body and soul — Tyler must heal her pain and thwart the evil that’s a mere breath behind her
REVIEWED BY: Kelly
4 ½ Stars
REVIEW:
Opening Line:
“Tyler, are you aware that all the girls at Sexy Sirens have nick named you Cockzilla?”
Oh what can I say about the very naughty Tyler Murphy. Tyler is every girls dreams and their worst nightmare all rolled into one. Tyler, is a sex god but not willing to comment to any one. So he spends countless nights on random hook ups, that mean nothing but a good time. But he has never really got to the root of his problems, that is until an unexpected visitor shows up at his door and everything in Tyler’s life changes.
Delaney, is one tough cookie, but not tough enough to keep survive all these death threat. Delaney has finally reached the end of her rope and has to seek out the help of the one person she never thought she would have to ask help from. The one person that will turn her life upside down again. The one person that can break her heart, but it will be worth it just to keep her son safe. Even if that means losing her heart again.
I LOVED!!!! LOVED!!!!! LOVED!!!!! this story. I have to say a HUGE thank you to Shayla & her assistant Christie for allowing me to read this story. I loved everything about it. Tyler is such a tough guy. He acts like he has no feeling, no emotions, nothing fazes him. But in reality he is a very sensitive, loving, caring and would die for the ones he hold close. Oh and Tyler is wicked talented in bed, he didn’t get the name Cockzilla for nothing. *wiggles eyebrows*
Delaney, I really liked her character. She is not overly tough or a pushover. She has a great balance of both. She really makes Tyler work hard for her and he does. These two are such a fun couple to watch. Now while their story may have started a little unconventionality the love that these two share is unbreakable.
Shayla has written another WONDERFUL story. If you have read any of Shayla’s other Wicked Lovers book you know just how wicked her writing is. Well Tyler has some tricks up his sleeves. Hint: It has to do with a wall.
I would highly, highly recommend this series to anyone (unless you are fate at heart). If you have not started this series you really need too. Each book can be read as a stand alone. But reading from the beginning will give you a better understand of all the characters. Which Shayla does a great job of bring back in each book.
Again HUGE thank you to Shayla & Christie for letting me read and review. And now I am dying for Xander’s book…This boy is going to be great fun to read.
Kelly’s review of Savage Awakening by JD Tyler
Savage Awakening
Alpha Pack #2
AUTHOR: JD Tyler
PUBLICATION DATE: 04/03/12
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
After one of their own is captured, the Alpha Pack must save him. With them is Psy Dreamwalker Rowan Chase. Her priority is her brother’s rescue. What she doesn’t bargain for is a scorching affair with a rugged wolf shifter. When his life is endangered, Rowan must ask herself what she’s willing to sacrifice in the name of love.
REVIEWED BY: Kelly
5 Stars
REVIEW:
JD did it again!!! She has sucked me back into the world of the Alpha Pack. I started to read this book Sunday morning and needless to say I got nothing done. I could not put this book down. And when I finished I wanted to start all over again. I was not ready to leave the world of the Alpha Pack. There is so much going on with the Alpha pack. I can’t wait for the next book in this wonderful series!!!
Savage Awakening picks up a few weeks after Primal Law ends with Aric still in captivity and not being treated well at all. This was the hardest part of the book for me. I didn’t want to know what happened to Aric, I wanted to reach in the book and drop kick the people that were hurting him. But I had to remember that Aric is a trooper, he presses on no matter what has happened to him or will happen to him. But it takes one very feisty cop to show this big tough wolf that sometimes you need to let those walls down and just learn to love.
Rowan, has been devastated by the loss of her brother. Deep down she believes he is alive and out there somewhere. When Rowan gets a tip about where her brother was or could be she races off to get answers. What Rowan never expected was to be welcomed by a wolf shifters and a panther? What Rowan learns from these men changes everything.
Like I said at the beginning… LOVED this book. Aric is stubborn to a fault. He might be this big tough warrior wolf, but deep down his is gentle, kind and loves with all his heart even if he can’t admit it. Rowan is fun, witty and can hold her own against some pretty tough guys. These two were great to read about. And OH the dream walking… Vegas anyone…. hehehehe. I am so looking forward to where JD is going to take us next. I know that Kalen’s book Black Moon will be released in December and I can’t wait. I have a feeling that Black Moon will be a very emotional book. I can’t wait to see what JD has in store for Micah too, man he needs a HEA more than anyone right now.
JD, Thank you so very much for writing a wonderful book!!!!
Kelly’s ARC review of Seduced by the Vampire King by Laura Kaye
Seduced by the Vampire King
Vampire Warrior Series #2
AUTHOR: Laura Kaye
PUBLICATION DATE: 06/01/12
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
American exchange student Kate Bordessa has fled to Russia to escape her family’s hopes that she’ll become one of the Proffered, human women who feed and mate with elite vampire warriors. But when she stumbles upon a wounded vampire in the streets of Moscow, she’s instinctively driven to protect him–and feels an undeniable spark of desire.
Grieving over the deaths of his brothers, Vampire Warrior King Nikolai Vasilyev has thrown himself into battling his enemies, focused only on vengeance. Until the attack that brought him to Kate. Their sexual attraction explodes into a night of uncontrolled passion–a night that marks them as mates. Is their connection strong enough to convince them to embrace a destiny neither of them was expecting?
REVIEWED BY: Kelly
3 ¾ Stars
REVIEW:
Seduced by the Vampire King is Laura Kaye’s second book in her Vampire Warriors series. This was a quick 90 page read. So because the book was short I won’t give too much away.
I will say that Nikolai is stubborn, damaged and is way too hard on himself. Kate is just the breath of fresh air that Nikolai needs in this life.
I enjoy Nikolai and Kate’s story better than book one In the Service of the Vampire King. I was able to connect with the characters more in this second book. That being said I hope that Laura will write follow up stories about these characters. I want to know how they are doing, how these big tough Warrior Vampires handle having feisty women in their lives If they finally win the war, what will happen after they do.
Huge thank you to Laura for allowing me to read your story and I am very much looking forward to the next installment in the Vampire Warrior series.
Zoe Winter’s Preternaturals Series
Blood Lust (Preternaturals #1)
First Book of the Preternaturals series.It’s all about the blood…Comprised of three novellas, Blood Lust gives readers a snapshot look at the world of the Preternaturals Series. KEPT: As a cat therian (shifter), Greta’s blood is already sought after to enhance spells and potions, but due to a quirk of her birth, her blood is potent enough to kill for. When her tribe plans to sacrifice her, Greta must ally herself with Dayne, the dangerous local sorcerer, and the only person strong enough to protect her.CLAIMED: For a vampire, Anthony isn’t a picky eater, but he’s drawn to Charlee’s blood more than any other. Like a fine wine saved for a special occasion, he’s denied himself this pleasure. But one night, high from the potent magical blood of another, he claims his prize and loses control. Ashamed of almost killing the one woman who means anything to him, he wipes her memory of the event. When Charlee awakens with complete amnesia, Anthony is the only one who can clean up the mess he’s made.MATED: Because of the vampiric blood that has run through her veins since birth, Jane has been a target for vampires who resent a human being “kindred.” She’s forced to disguise herself as a vampire groupie to appease them and safeguard her life. When she’s abruptly given to Cole, the leader of the werewolf pack, to satisfy a gambling debt, she discovers the blood running through her veins has a far greater impact on her destiny than she ever imagined
Cat Fight (Blood Lust #1.5)
Cat Fight takes place in Zoe Winters’ “PretVerse”. Greta is a cat therian (shifter). She’s been involved with Dayne, a local sorcerer since she sought his protection from her murderous tribe. After a fight, Greta shifts into cat form and refuses to come back out. The events of this story happen after the first novella in Blood Lust (Kept), but the story also works as a stand-alone.
Save My Soul (Preternaturals #2)
All he’s asking for is her soul.After buying the antebellum home she’s fantasized about since childhood, Anna Worthington discovers Luc, a dangerously seductive incubus who has been trapped in the house by a fifty-year-old curse. To rid herself of her problem house guest she’ll call on a priest, gypsies, ghost hunters, and the coven of witches from lust bunny hell. All she has to do is resist him long enough to break the spell so they can go their separate ways. If she doesn’t, she could die. And that would be the best case scenario.HEAT LEVEL: Some sexually explicit content. 3 out of 5 flames
Dark Mercy (Preternaturals #2.5)
1955, Las Vegas, Nevada
Angeline has been on the run from her sire, Linus, for centuries. She’s tired, and she’s lonely. High from mescaline-induced blood, she sees a sign—a church that seems to glow in the distance—and she knows. Her future mate is in that building.
Important Author’s Note:
Dark Mercy is the beginning of Hadrian and Angeline’s story, not the end. Their HEA will happen later in their own full-length novel. This story is important both for the overall series and for this couple, but it’s not their HEA. Just a mild disclaimer so no one goes in with false expectations for this story.
The Catalyst (Preternaturals #3)
It started with one lost, shivering pup; it may end in a war…
Panthers don’t do responsibility. They don’t do long-term relationships. They definitely don’t raise kids. But when Z discovers a young wolf in the forest, he takes him in, unaware of the powerful beings hunting the pup.
Fiona is a witch who can’t leave her house; the birds have told her something bad will happen. The mailbox is as far as she’ll go, but even that may provide more danger than she’s bargained for. When a wolf pup stumbles into her garden, her safe, wrapped-up world heads for a free fall.
But along with danger, the pup brings a chance at love—a chance an agoraphobic witch and a bachelor panther shifter aren’t likely to find on their own.
Guest Blog & Giveaway with Jamie Rush
Darkness Becomes Her
By Jaime Rush
Book Six of the Offspring Series
Avon Books, June 2012 (ISBN 978-0062018922)
A man beyond redemption. A woman beyond hope. And a battle that will either kill them…or bring them back from the edge.
Lachlan McLeod has a mission: find the beast who put his brother into a coma. He’ll start with Jessie Bellandre, his brother’s girlfriend, who’s harboring a dark, dangerous secret that could get them all killed. But as they plumb the depths of Darkness, and the light he didn’t know existed in the shadows of his heart, not falling in love with her will be as hard as staying alive.
SURPRISE CHARACTERS
One of the fun things about writing a series is when a character you envision being in the background jumps to the foreground. Or in the case of Cheveyo, jumps into the story unexpectedly. Lachlan McLeod was one of those characters, too. Poor chap’s been through a lot. But I’ll let him explain that in an excerpt from the book:
“My father was fascinated by slime molds, unclassified blobs of biological material. He especially loved when he found powdre ser where a meteor had landed. One day, he tracked what he thought was a meteor, collected the powdre ser, and brought it back to his lab, where he accidentally ingested a bit of it.
“My dad wasn’t only strange because of his affection for slime. He could astral project—send his soul to other places. The slime mold amplified his powers. Eventually, it fell into the wrong hands and was given to a group of people in a top secret government project. The offspring of those people inherited their parents’ enhanced psychic abilities. We all have psychic powers beyond the norm. The man behind the project, he was the one hunting my father. He hunted the Offspring down, too, but now he’s dead.”
“The reason your father kept you in hiding through your growing up years,” Jessie said. “The thing he thought was a meteor, I’m guessing that has something to do with this parallel dimension you mentioned.”
“Aye. One of those dimensions is called Surfacia. Sometimes a being from there slips through a crack between the dimensions. What my father saw wasn’t a meteor; it was an aircraft that crashed here. What he found that day wasn’t powdre ser; it was the pilot’s Essence. His life force. That is in us. And maybe you.”
While Lachlan had to grow up on the run, he made the best of his abilities … until he overused them and accidently caused the death of someone he loved. And now he lives a life of seclusion and self-punishment, a man without hope of redemption.
We writers do love to torture our characters; they have to earn their happy ending, after all. So he gets a chance to redeem himself: he sees a vision of his brother Magnus lying dead on the ground, a woman standing over him. When Lachlan discovers that the woman he saw is Magnus’s love interest, Jessie, he’s intent on saving Magnus from his own lust. Alas, he comes on scene seconds too late to prevent the attack. Jessie, however, is not his attacker, who turns out to be the man with supernatural powers who’s hunting her. Jessie uses her own ability, called Darkness, to save Magnus, putting him in a healing coma.
Foiled again, Lachlan vows to kill the man who can turn to Darkness before he can hurt Magnus or Jessie again. For the first time, he has a chance to regain his honor. Kill the bad guy, save the girl … and not fall in love with her. Because, as the two work together, they are drawn together in a way neither has ever felt.
Yes, the one woman who touches his soul and fires his body is forbidden to him, even though she has never even kissed his brother. Lachlan will have to make a tough choice. Will he risk honor to find love?
All of that from a character I thought would be a second-fiddle to Magnus’s story down the road. And his Scottish accent didn’t hurt!
I’m celebrating the release of DARKNESS BECOMES HER with my Kick Butt First Line contest. Shocking, suspenseful…make us want more! Cash prizes! Contest runs until July 1, 2012. For aspiring authors, it’s a chance to get your name out there and add a “win” to your bio. For readers, it’s a chance to play at being a writer. Even if you’re not inclined to write a line, check out the entries—they’re a lot of fun! For details, go to www.JaimeRush.com and click on the Contest link.
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GIVEAWAY TIME:
What kind of unexpected things have happened in your life that turned out to be a good thing? Or name a character that surprised you in a book you’ve read. Comment to win a copy of DARKNESS BECOMES HER! Please fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.
Spotlight Feature of Inamorata by Margaret Ethridge
Inamorata
by Margaret Ethridge
Release date June 4th
Order here
After twenty-five years of cooling his jets in a wall sconce, Frank DeLuca figured the afterlife owed him a break. Hadn’t he been a model ghost? He didn’t possess little kids, screw up the television reception, or throw random objects across the room just to get attention. Hell, he never even made creepy noises in the dead of night.
All he asked was a peaceful existence where someone would turn him on every once in a while. The light, that is. He needed just a little bit of light in his afterlife.
Instead, he got a sullen, silent little boy who cried for his mommy every night. The kid came with a set of hyper-tense grandparents whose marriage was crumbling under the weight of old insecurities and words left unspoken. As if that weren’t enough to drive a guy to hide out in his light fixture, providence tossed in a little a spitfire of a girl who flipped his switch in every way. Gina Ferro turned out to be the kid’s mother. She also happened to be a ghost.
Thrown together by Fate and bound by history, Frank and Gina must learn to trust each other with the keys to their pasts in order to unlock their eternity.
Excerpt:
Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.”
Frank DeLuca closed his eyes and prayed harder than he had ever prayed before. Considering the fact that he’d been trapped in some bizarre kind of purgatory on earth for the last twenty-five years, you can bet he’d done some pretty hard praying. But there was always room for improvement, and since he still hadn’t been sprung from this stupid fake-brass Brady Bunch wannabe light fixture, he gritted his teeth and tried again.
“Come on. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.” His fingers curled into his palms. He tightened his fists, trying to cling to his last shred of patience. “Just turn on the light.”
He opened his eyes. Not that it made any damn difference. Everything in his world was black. The way it had been since he last saw Cam. The way it had been since he pried the screwdriver from her hand and asked her to turn out the light. It seemed like the right answer at the time. Of course, with Cam popping in and out of his room, he’d never had to deal with such a dark stretch of eternity before. Lesson learned.
“Turn it on, turn it on, turn it on,” he chanted into the darkness. “Turn. On. The. Fucking. Light.”
His order went unheeded. He could hear someone moving around the room. Her. The woman who moved a bunch of crap into his place and chattered away endlessly to some kid too young to talk, but still wouldn’t turn on the goddamn light.
“Sorry, not goddamned,” he whispered to whoever might be listening. After a quarter century in never-never-land, and god-only-knows how long in the dark, he was willing to concede the belief in anything if it meant a little light. “I can’t take it. I can’t take it.”
The mumbling was nothing new. He’d been mumbling to himself for days, weeks, months, and possibly years. Time lost all meaning when cricket chirps of one evening bled into a thousand others. His half-life hadn’t been worth a damn since Cam walked out of his world and into the land of the living. Okay, so she’d never really belonged in his half-here, half-somewhere else world—seeing as how she was alive and all—but still, Cam knew him. She knew about him once upon a time. And with nothing but time on his hands, Frank couldn’t help but wonder if she remembered, or if she was too busy living her perfect little life with her perfect college boy. Stupid, living, breathing jerk-off….
“Is he okay?”
The question jolted him from his reverie. Frank clamped his mouth shut and perked up. A man. The woman who’d been tearing his room apart came with a man. That made sense if there’s a kid, he reasoned. Then again, a woman doesn’t need a guy around to raise a child. He was proof of that. It had been just him and his mother after Big Frank bought it in a convenience store robbery, and no one missed his flying fists one tiny bit.
“He’s fine. Aren’t you, Jay?”
There was no answer from the kid, but that didn’t stop the lady from running like a freight train. At least he assumed it was a kid. For all he knew, the chatty broad could have redecorated his old bedroom for her dog.
“I think he likes his room. Don’t you, Jaden? Do you like your new room?”
No response from this Jay person. He shook his head. Please, God, let it be a kid and not a dog. A dog would just be too damn annoying. Frank clenched his fists, trying to conjure up a little of the patience he’d honed over a couple of decades stuck between heaven and hell. At least, he hoped his stint in this god-forsaken wall sconce wasn’t the final destination, otherwise organized religion had sure as hell picked the wrong travel agent for booking accommodations in the afterlife.
“Do you like all your new toys and games?”
Frank sighed. Desperation wormed its way into her voice. He should know; he’d been listening to this broad’s rhetorical questions since the truck squealed to a stop out front. He sure hoped she was talking to a kid and not a dog. Either way, he couldn’t blame the pooch/tyke for keeping his trap shut. What was the point in trying to edge a word in sideways when she was happy to plow on regardless, or worse, answer for him.
“Do you want to hug the teddy bear? I can hold Bugs for you if you want,” she offered. “Or maybe Grandpa could hold Bugs. That would be cool, wouldn’t it? If Grandpa held your bunny?”
Frank snorted and rolled his eyes. The coaxing routine was a repeat as well. “No, lady. He doesn’t want to hug the bear, or the duckie, or the mother-fuh…stupid platypus. He doesn’t want you to hold his bunny for him. You know what? I think he wants you to turn on the light and read him a book. A book would be great, huh? You don’t want the kid to grow up illiterate, do you?”
“I’ll, uh, I’m going to…”
Frank frowned when the man’s explanation trailed off down the hallway. Whatever the guy planned to do sounded sketchy and more than a little vague, even to a dead guy living in the light fixture.
“Awkward.” He tried to imitate the wry, singsong tone Cam used to use, but it sounded flat. Lifeless. Like him. Before he could sink into a fresh bout of self-pity, a sharp clap of hands ricocheted through him like the report of a pistol.
“Okay! Grandpa’s busy unpacking, but maybe later.”
The woman’s brittle cheerfulness made him cringe. He squeezed his eyes shut again, trying in vain to stem the trickle of sympathy that made his fingers twitch. Biting his lip, he hoped for the metallic tang of blood even though he knew it wouldn’t come. Purposefully, he flexed his hands, stretching his fingers and spreading them wide. He didn’t need the light to know exactly how much oil and grease there was ground into his nail beds and the creases of his knuckles. The pattern had been exactly the same for too damn many years.
“A book.” His voice came out ragged, the order more of a half-plea. “Just read to the kid. Please.”
Silence hung heavy in the air, muffling the scrape of drawers opening and closing and the rhythmic zffft-zffft-zffft of a box cutter slicing through tape. The silence rang in his ears like an alarm, the blare so loud he almost missed the sigh of a swallowed sob. Almost, but not quite.
“Oh shit,” he whispered into the darkness. “Okay. Never mind about the book. Forget the light. Okay?” She hiccupped softly, and he groaned. “Come on, lady. Don’t do that…”
He flinched, bracing himself when she sniffled loudly and clapped her hands again. There was no need to see her. He could almost feel the impact of her forced smile through the darkness. If asked to give testimony, Frank would swear to the god who never listened to him that he heard this woman swallow her pride. His throat ached, tightening around the lump that rose there.
“Want to read a book?” she asked in that damn Mary Poppins voice. There were rustling sounds as she flitted about the room. “I got a new Thomas book. Want to read Thomas?”
“Aw, shit-shit-shit.” Frank pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, bracing for the inevitable.
“And look, Jay, look at this cool old lamp above your bed.”
The switch snicked and that soul-deep pull grabbed him by the throat. Light—warm, golden, gorgeous light—beckoned him. He knew she wouldn’t be there. Cam had probably long-since forgotten him and married pansy-assed college-boy Brad. She was in the land of the living where she belonged, and he was…here. Always here. Trapped in nothingness.
A fingernail tapped the faux-brass sconce. “Maybe Oma can find you a new one, huh? Something more up to date?”
He let go, allowing the soul-crushing pain to swamp him, plummeting to earth once more. He couldn’t crash and burn any worse than he had before. Twice before. Once when he was living, and once long after he’d been dead. Frank blinked the glare from his eyes and focused on the blank wall in front of him. The rosebud wallpaper was gone. The sheetrock had been stripped, sanded, and painted blue. A blue that was just a half-shade lighter than the blue that coated the walls in nineteen-eighty-seven.
He shook his head to clear it. Finally, his gaze tracked to the right where he spotted a bookshelf loaded with books, games, and stuffed animals. At the very top, a collection of trophies like the one he once kept in this very room was proudly displayed. Tiny gold men holding bats glistened in the soft amber glow of evening. He gaped at them perched atop their faux marble and fake brass pedestals.
He could see it so perfectly in his mind’s eye. A spotless trophy, gleaming bright gold in the light cast from the cheesy 70s directional sconce mounted on the wall. His mother running her fingertip over the engraved plate bearing his name.
“Francis DeLuca.”
The name rolled off his lips even though he hadn’t spoken it aloud in nearly two decades. Not since the night he introduced himself to the little girl who moved into his room. Not since he fell in love with Cam.
His eyes locked on the gilt batter glued to the top of the tallest trophy. He couldn’t look away. Obviously they didn’t belong to the little guy snuggled into the race-car shaped bed. But something told him they belonged here, just like him.
He stared hard at that trophy, seeing his mother’s wind-up, flinching just as he flinched when she hurled it across the room, smashing the bulb in the brass-colored wall sconce to bits, stealing the last wisps of breath from his lungs, and sentencing him to an eternity as the middleman.
On August nineteenth, nineteen-eighty-seven, he died. That was the day he broke his mother’s heart. That was the day his fate was sealed.
Interview with Susan Higginbotham
Books-n-Kisses is please to welcome Susan Higginbotham to the blog for the first time.
Q1) Can you please share with us a little about yourself?
I have been writing since I was about seven, when I used to write and illustrate stories about my cats. It wasn’t until a few years ago, though, that I tried my hand at writing historical fiction. I became interested in the reign of Edward II and discovered the story of his niece Eleanor de Clare, which I found so fascinating I decided to write a novel about her, The Traitor’s Wife. Since then I’ve published four other novels set in England, spanning the fourteenth century through Tudor England.
Q2) Have you always wanted to be an author?
Yes, I have. There have been some times when writing had to take a back seat to making a living or going to school, especially when I was in law school, but there’s never been a time when I gave up on writing altogether.
Q3) Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?
Some of my favorite authors are William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anne Tyler, Barbara Pym, and P. D. James. I think they’ve all influenced my writing to some extent. All are very strong in creating characters, and I aspire to emulate them (though I certainly don’t pretend to be on their level!). I also admire their wit, sharp in some cases and gentle in others. I try to add a touch of humor to all of my novels, even the ones that deal with grim subjects. For historical fiction in particular, I’ve learned a lot from authors like Sharon Penman, Margaret George, and Jean Plaidy about bringing the past to life.
Q4) How did you get into writing in this specific genre? Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?
As I said earlier, it was Eleanor de Clare’s story that brought me into historical fiction in a serious way, both as a writer and as a reader. I had read the occasional historical novel in the past, and even had dabbled in writing juvenile historical fiction, but it wasn’t until I began reading about Eleanor that I became fascinated by the genre.
As for whether I’ve thought about writing in a different genre, I’m actually under contract to write a nonfiction book dealing with the Woodville family, whom I encountered when researching the Wars of the Roses for my previous two novels. I kept bewailing the fact that there was no objective history of the family that’s been commercially published, and I finally decided to write one!
Q5) What are some of your writing rituals?
I really don’t have any, unless you can call checking my Facebook page when I should be writing and nibbling cookies when I’m at a loss for words rituals.
Q6) Can you please tell us about your latest book?
is the story behind the crowning and execution of Lady Jane Grey, told by her mother, Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, and her mother-in-law, Jane Dudley. Lady Jane is an important character in the novel, but the central characters are Jane Dudley and Frances, whose stories will be new to most readers.
Q7) How did you come up with the idea for this story?
When I read Leandra de Lisle’s biography of the three Grey sisters, The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, I was shocked to find how distorted the character of Frances Grey had become over time. Like most other people, I had always heard that she was a vicious woman who spent her days alternating between beating her daughter and killing sad-eyed does, and Lisle made me realize how badly this very ordinary mother has been maligned by history. I decided she would make an excellent subject for a novel. In researching Frances’s story, I came across a couple of documents written by Jane Dudley, Guildford Dudley’s mother, and they moved me so much I had to tell her story as well.
Q8) Can you share with us your current work in progress?
It’s a novel about Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, known mainly as being the mother of Henry, Lord Darnley, and the mother-in-law of Mary, Queen of Scots. Margaret was Henry VIII’s niece, whose romantic entanglements and intrigues landed her in the Tower on several occasions.
Q9) What would you be if you were not an author?
I work full-time as an editor for a legal publisher, so I suppose I would still be that! All my favorite jobs have involved working with words at some level—editing, writing legal briefs—so I don’t think I would stray far from the publishing industry.
Q10) What is in your To Be Read pile that you are dying to start or an upcoming release you can’t wait for?
Once I get past the part of my work in progress in which Anne Boleyn plays a part, I want to read Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies—I’ve been saving it as a reward. I’m also curious to see Philippa Gregory’s upcoming novel about the daughters of Warwick “the Kingmaker” and Alison Weir’s novel about Katherine Grey, Jane Grey’s younger sister. I have a biography of Eleanor de Montfort, Simon de Montfort’s wife, on order, which I’m very eager to read.
Thanks for interviewing me!
Website | Blog (History Refreshed) | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter
Kallypso Masters has taken over the blog!!!! She has Masters & Prizes!!!
Masters at Arms—behind-the-scenes & a GC Giveaway!
This is the traditional Memorial Day for oldies like me, and I wanted to make this announcement about my military romance here, because Kelly was the first blogger to review Masters at Arms (review HERE) when it first was published last August. Plus I just love her bunches! (Mwah, Kelly!)
When I wrote Masters at Arms last summer, I introduced readers to three very different men. In the first three vignettes, each was at a life-altering stage in his life. As the story progressed, some even felt their lives pretty well were over. Then fate brought them all together on a rooftop in Fallujah, Iraq, where they were forever bound as brothers.
I gave each one of my Marines the most honorable characteristics I could imagine—brave, protective, looking out for those who couldn’t fight back—plus a few characteristics they needed to work on. (As my readers know, I do not write perfect characters. And for these first four books in the series, I also don’t write stand-alone novels, so you pretty much need to start here in Masters and take them one at a time, even if you are tempted to skip ahead to Adam’s or Damián’s stories first.) As the managing owner of the Masters at Arms, the Denver BDSM/kink club these three men started after they left service, Adam Montague runs the show and is the rock for this adopted family of lost souls he’s brought together to help him start a new life. (By the way, my Minnesotan Dom pronounces his last name MON-tag, similar to how the French trappers he descends from would, rather than the English version, adding a “gyew” sound at the end.)
Well, I must have made Adam sound incredibly real, because Sandy, a reader and now a friend, wrote to me in February saying she knew I made up the name, but asking if Adam was based on a real person. I told her, “No, I’m sorry. Not at all. He’s totally a figment of my imagination.” I mean, come on! He is everything you’d want in a guy—except that his communication skills need work and he doesn’t think he can love anyone. Aside from that, he’s a hell of a lot more perfect than a lot of the guys we’ve all met out there! And you want this man to have your back, believe me.
Adam also is a very commanding and real presence in my head, dominating my thoughts in a way no other character ever has before. As my avid fans and blog visitors know, he was inspired by Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS. *shiver* See what I mean? Didn’t you just melt a little when I said that? But even Gibbs is nothing like Mark Harmon (who doesn’t strike me as a Dom in interviews I’ve seen.) He’s fictional!
So, imagine my surprise when less than a month after I replied to Sandy, “Adam” e-mailed me saying how much he loved my first three books (and lots of heady stuff about my writing), and that he loved the Corps and wanted to offer his help in getting those aspects of my stories correct. (He was a gentleman and didn’t say he was offering help because there were a couple things that smacked him in the face when he read them in the original.) I was to just call on him any time and if it was public info, he was at my service. Um, wow! Another Master Sergeant Adam at MY service! How lucky can a girl get?
Anyway, we started corresponding and I learned there are so many parallels between this retired master sergeant and “my” Adam that I’d love to spell out for you, but I promised not to identify him. I’m skirting getting myself spanked just telling this much, but I can’t explain why I revised the book without explaining this. (Darn him, but he sees helping me as one of those selfless acts he needs to do without claiming credit or fanfare. See? I told you! He is SOOOO Adam.)
Anyway, early in our ongoing conversation, I asked him if there was anything in Masters at Arms that needed to be corrected and he replied, “Well, now that you ask.” LOL. Luckily, they were minor things to most readers, but I’m sure they jarred other Marines (and Marine moms, like Sandy). So, they began nagging at me. Thank goodness these two readers didn’t put the book down because they’ve become not only readers, but friends.
But knowing there were some issues to correct, I was consumed with the idea of having it revised and re-released. (Have I mentioned before that I’m a perfectionist? Well, my Facebook friends and those who read those long Author’s Notes in the fronts of my books know.) When the online “Adam” offered to go over Section Four (Iraq and its aftermath) and make the needed corrections, I jumped at the opportunity. Then, being “Adam,” he decided to just go through the whole book because he knew he could help. And he did!
If you’ve read the book before, you may not even notice the changes. My fictional Adam was just made to sound even more like a Marine by the online one. Instead of saying words like craphole, dickwad, and pistol, we now have the three S’s: shithole, shithead, and sidearm. Frigging becomes fucking. (Master Adam’s favorite word of all time has always been fuck, but the ONE time I had him say something else, I’m busted and it’s changed to fucking.)
The most significant changes were in the firefight scene. I added that scene to the book late, just before publishing, and didn’t get feedback from my military experts as I should have. (It amazes me at the small number of things I got wrong!) But now the scene is more accurate and detailed. More realistic.
Oh, and over the weekend, I hired Liz Borino to edit Masters for me. She taught me some things that would strengthen the writing throughout the series, so, while I was at it, I also tweaked Nobody’s Angel and Nobody’s Hero.
I am excited to announce that these books were uploaded to my buy sites last night, but it may be a few days (especially at Amazon and B&N) for the price change and new files to take effect. I’ll leave a comment here when that happens, if you want to check back. Starting today at Smashwords and All Romance eBooks, though, you can get Masters at Arms FREE! Forever, not just for three days!
I also want to alert you that the price of Nobody’s Angel will increase to $3.99 soon, because, well, Master Marc is just as awesome as the guys in the $3.99 books. All three books are at least 115,000 words long—a bargain at $3.99! But the $2.99 price will disappear as soon as Amazon makes the change.
And hang on because the fourth and long-awaited happy ending for my two most wounded characters, Damián and Savi, is coming up in June. Nobody’s Perfect will be released by June 19, and I’ll be back here with a hot excerpt on June 22.
Now for a scene from the third edition of Masters at Arms, this one involving Damián, the young Marine who feels life is over for him after Iraq, and my “fictional, but real” Master Adam. One of the things my readers and I like most about Adam is that he is a straight shooter. Okay, so is the online “Adam”—I know because I’ve been on the receiving end of some of his straight talk a couple times.
In this scene, several months after the firefight in Iraq, Navy Corpsman Marc “Doc” D’Alessio and Master Sergeant Adam Montague are on a mission to rescue a depressed and near-suicidal Damián Orlando. Can’t you just picture “Master Gibbs,” as Adam in this scene?
Oh, to add a little humor from my online Marine, when I asked him what would have happened if Damián and Marc had seen Adam at that fetish club in LA (which is against the Marine morals code—but I needed a way for Adam to know they might be open to the idea of joining him in his kink club business), he wrote:
“In the club in LA, you handled that exactly right. Adam would have avoided them. If they had seen him, they would have first spit out the beer (or the redhead) and run. Of course they would have wondered why he was there; but they would have never asked in hopes that he didn’t mention it to them.”
God, I love Marines!
(Authorized excerpt from Masters at Arms, © 2011, 2012 by Kallypso Masters)
Adam nodded, and then entered the room to find the blinds closed and the room in near darkness. No wonder the kid was depressed. He marched to the window and opened the blinds full force.
“What the fuck? I’ve told you to keep them closed!”
Adam turned and came around the bedside curtain to see Orlando lying there, the white sheets bunched around his waist. Shirtless. His dog tags hung against his brown chest, buried in a diamond-shaped tuft of black hair.
“You talking to me, grunt?” Adam tried not to smile as the kid practically came to attention while lying flat on his back. God, he missed having that kind of power over people. Couldn’t wait to get his club started. At least, he’d have submissive women responding to him like that again. Even better.
“Master Sergeant Montague!
“What’s this I hear about you refusing to follow orders?”
Regaining his composure, the kid slumped back against the pillows. “The orders make no sense.”
“Come again?”
“There’s no point fixing me up.”
“Since when does a grunt decide which orders to follow and which to ignore?”
Orlando turned away. A new maneuver was in order. He remembered the night he’d seen them at the fetish club in L.A., getting a screaming redhead off on the St. Andrew’s cross, right before they’d deployed. Of course, when Adam had seen Doc and Orlando, he’d high-tailed it out as fast as he could. That would have been a real morale buster if the two could have held it over his head. Not that they had any business being there either.
“So, have you ever restrained a woman on a St. Andrew’s cross?”
Orlando looked back at him. If the man could blush, he would have. “Say again?”
“I asked if you were into kinky sex—tying women up, spanking them, that sort of thing.”
Orlando seemed unsure how to answer. “I tried it once—well, maybe a few times.”
Well, hell. Adam had seen them the one time, but didn’t know there’d been others. He’d just figured Doc had dragged him up there. This might be just the therapy the kid needed.
How the hell many Doms did he have in his unit, anyway? D’Alessio for sure. And he’d heard rumors Grant was a Domme, although he’d never been able to speak with her about it; sexual harassment regs and all. Serving with a female Marine was like dancing on eggshells and trying not to break one.
Right now, Orlando was the one needing a little dominating.
“Well, I can tell you one thing, grunt. I’d rather be with a sexy redhead right now making her round ass all nice and pink than to be looking at your ugly face.” He watched as the kid’s face did flame a bit at the mention of a redhead. Adam tried not to smile at the look of surprise on the young man’s face.
Orlando got over the shock of Adam’s words pretty quickly, though, and the defenses came up yet again. Stubborn wasn’t the word for this one.
“Guess I didn’t tie mine good enough. She got away.”
Fuck. What kind of woman would dump a man while he was recovering from something like this? If you asked him, good riddance to her. Adam would find the kid as many women as he needed to get over her. But obviously, she’d sunk her claws in him pretty deeply. He wouldn’t get over her very easily.
Joni would never have ditched him, no matter what had gotten blown off. That’s what she’d told him—and he believed her.
“Come back to Denver with me. You can help me out with a little business I plan to start.”
Orlando took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Adam could tell he was choosing his words carefully, afraid to disrespect his former master sergeant. “I don’t need your charity, Top. When I leave here tomorrow, I’m just going to hole up in a motel in Solana Beach and get a good drunk-on.”
Memories of his own two-week bender in Minneapolis after Joni died came back to Adam full force. He didn’t want to count the number of times he’d come close to pulling the trigger with his sidearm, rather than go on without her. Would Orlando have access to a weapon? If not already, he’d have little trouble getting one.
No way was he letting this kid leave here alone.
“It’s a BDSM and fetish club.”
* * *
Damián wondered if he’d heard the man right? “Pardon, Top?”
“You heard me. I’m starting a kink club—bondage, domination, discipline, sadomasochism, fetish—any kind of kink you want to get on. Doc’s joining me, but we can always use another good Dom.”
Damn. His dick went into a full salute just thinking about it. First hard-on since before the grenade blast. “I’m no Dom. I’m not interested.”
“Like hell you aren’t interested.” Montague grinned, and then directed his attention to the tenting of the sheets.
Damián adjusted the sheets to hide his hard-on, and then slid his leg out to reveal his bare, grotesque stump. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m missing a foot.”
“Well, last time I checked, most of the ladies at BDSM clubs are more interested in a firm hand and a stiff cock. You still seem to have both of those in your inventory. Sure, there may be some chicks with a foot fetish, but you still have a good one, don’t you?”
Damián was speechless.
Thanks for having me back again, Kelly! For those who don’t know, she believed in me even before I published my first book—and she gave it a great review (Here) back on August 11 just a couple days after it was released. She now heads up my Street Team and is just an amazing friend of authors everyone—and this one in particular.
Now for a giveaway! Monday is my 29th wedding anniversary with my imperfect, but oh-so-loveable hero, so I’m going to give away a $29 gift card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, or Smashwords (winner’s choice). Just leave your comment below telling me about the hero in YOUR life (and if he hasn’t come along yet, tell us about one from your favorite book you’d like to meet), and I’ll draw a winner on Monday, June 4. The lucky winner also will receive some cool Rescue Me series and Kallypso Masters swag, including the “Eyes on Me” hand fan (with Master Adam’s naked chest that will make you need an extra fan so you can look at one and fan with the other), a purple pen, the 2011 Romance Trading Cards (for the first three books in the series), and a smoking-hot bookmark.
BE SURE TO LEAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS and watch for an e-mail from Leagh Christensen, my awesome assistant, who will contact you for your mailing address and particulars so we can send you your goodies and find out where you want to spend your gift card. CONTEST OPEN INTERNATIONALLY, unless there are restrictions for such gift cards in your nation, in which case, we’ll have to find a creative way to reward you.
My RESCUE ME series is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords. For buy links to all of my books, go to http://kallypsomasters.blogspot.com/p/books-by-kallypso-masters.html. And check out my awesome Web site at http://kallypsomasters.com, where you can find out about the upcoming books in the series, go to links to reviews, interviews, character scenes, and such, find out which causes I support, and more!
Interview & Giveaway with Pamela Palmer
Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome back the wonderful Pamela Palmer to the blog today. We are getting to know Pamela a little better and helping her celebrate her new release A Blood Seduction (released May 29th). So please make Pamela feel welcome.
Q1) Can you please share with us a little about yourself
Pamela: Sure! I’m an ex-IBM engineer turned full-time writer. I live with my family in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (which is why all my stories are set around here). My official log line: I’m the New York Times and international bestselling author of three dark paranormal romance series – the Feral Warriors, Vamp City, and the Esri.
Q2) Have you always wanted to be an author?
Pamela: Not at all. Writing never even crossed my mind until after college. I grew up wanting to be an astronaut. Or captain of the Starship Enterprise. Okay, so I was always a dreamer. My first attempt at writing was an utter failure—I had no idea what I was doing and assumed that meant I had no talent. I finally realized it just meant I had a lot to learn.
Q3) Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?
Pamela: My favorite writers change all the time, but my current favorites are Larissa Ione, Karen Marie Moning, and Nalini Singh. As far as who influenced my writing, I never know how to answer this question (and I get asked it a lot). I suspect the correct answer is some literary icon, but I pretty much shunned anything that even looked like ‘literature’ when I was a kid. In college, my engineering curriculum was entirely devoid of literature. Freshman composition was it for ‘writing’ courses. But if I had to choose one author, I’d probably say Kathleen Woodiwiss since she was the one who turned me into a true romance fan.
How did you get into writing in this specific genre? Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?
I’ve always loved anything out of the ordinary. Sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal. Those are the things that excite my imagination, so as long as readers remain hungry for them, those are the kinds of books I’ll be writing.
Q4) What are some of your writing rituals?
Pamela: They’re always evolving, but my latest: When it’s time to write, I turn on a computer program called Freedom (http://macfreedom.com/, though I suspect there’s a Windows version, too. $10 download.). I locks me out of the internet for however long I ask it to, generally 60 mins. at a time. Then I set up my laptop in either the dining room or on the treadmill desk (which I adore). I crank up the music (either movie/game soundtracks like Twilight, Inception, Halo-3 or new age jazz like Keiko Matsui), and I’m ready to write!
Q5) Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?
Pamela: My latest (which just came out May 29th), is a bit of a departure for me. A Blood Seduction (a Vamp City novel) is book 1 in a five book vampire romance, which makes the book itself more of an urban fantasy since it doesn’t end with a happily ever after. The series will, though. I’ve been wanting to do a bigger story for awhile, one that doesn’t require the entire romance to come together in a single book. One that gives the characters a lot of room to learn and grow. And one that gives me lots of space to explore. The Vamp City series is that story.
From the back cover:
Vampires live only for lust and pleasure in the eternal twilight of Vamp City. But the city’s magic is dying. The only person who can restore it? A beautiful woman from the mortal world…one who knows nothing of the power she wields.
Quinn Lennox is searching for a missing friend when she stumbles into a dark otherworld that only she can see–and finds herself at the mercy of Arturo Mazza, a dangerously handsome vampire whose wicked kiss will save her, enslave her, bewitch her, and betray her. What Arturo can’t do is forget about her–any more than Quinn can control her own feelings for him. Neither one can let desire get in the way of their mission–his to save his people, hers to save herself. But there is no escape from desire in a city built for seduction, where passion flows hot and blood-red. Welcome to Vamp City…
Q6) How did you come with the idea for this story?
Pamela: I’d been playing with the idea of a dark urban fantasy vampire otherworld for some time, but with both the Feral Warrior shape shifter series and the Esri series for Nocturne, I didn’t have time to start a third. But with the Esri series completed, I decided the time was right to start exploring my vampire idea. I knew I wanted the otherworld accessible from our world (the vampires can come and go as they please…or they could until things started to go wrong). So I played with ideas, at first thinking I’d set it in Florida, or someplace different. Then I thought about Washington, D.C. (my go-to local). The moment I realized Vamp City would be Washington, V.C., I knew I had my place. I called my editor that morning to run it all by her and she loved the idea.
Q7) Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?
Pamela: I finished the seventh book in my Feral Warriors series, A Love Untamed, a couple of weeks ago. This one is Fox/Kieran’s and Melisande’s story as they search for Kara. A Love Untamed will be out December 26th. Now I’m starting work on Vamp City book 2, which is rather a daunting task. I figured out enough of the entire story to write book 1 with A Blood Seduction, but now I need to know the rest in detail so that I can be certain to set everything up correctly. When I write a book, I figure it all out, then write the first draft, then layer in important threads after that. With Vamp City, I’m writing one story that will span five books, which means there’s no going back to add things into earlier scenes after I’m done. If those earlier scenes are in earlier books, they’ll already be on shelves. It’s an exciting, nerve-racking way to write.
Q8) What would you be if you were not an author?
Pamela: I’d probably still be an engineer, but I’m much happier being an author.
Q9) What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?
Larissa Ione’s Lethal Rider and Nalini Singh’s Tangle of Need. I love both of these authors and both of these series.
Q10) Is there anything else you would like to add?
If you’d like more information about any of my books (including excerpts), or if you’d like to see the book trailer of A Blood Seduction, visit my website www.pamelapalmer.net. If you’re in the Chicago, Tulsa, Plano, Anaheim, or New Orleans areas, check out my Media and Events page for appearance information. I’d love to meet you!
Thanks for having me! I’m happy to give away a signed copy of one of my Feral Warriors novels (winner’s choice). To be included, tell us what books are on your can’t-wait-to-read list.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYS8ayK5B0M
Interview & Giveaway with Shayla Black
Books-n-Kisses is pleased to have the very, very, talented Shayla Black back on the blog today. We are super excited to talk to her about her newest release Embrace Me At Dawn, book 5 in the Doomsday Brethren Series (released yesterday 5/29) and her upcoming release of Mine to Hold, book 6 in the Wicked Lovers Series. So enough of my yacking…. Let’s get started.
Q1) Shayla, Can you please share with us a little about yourself:
Shayla: Sure! Here’s my official bio: Shayla Black (aka Shelley Bradley) is the New York Times bestselling author of over 30 sizzling contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances for multiple print and electronic publishers. She lives in Texas with her husband, munchkin, and one very spoiled cat. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading and listening to an eclectic blend of music.
Shayla has won or placed in over a dozen writing contests, including Passionate Ink’s Passionate Plume, Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, and the National Reader’s Choice Awards. Romantic Times has awarded her Top Picks, a KISS Hero Award and a nomination for Best Erotic Romance.
A writing risk-taker, Shayla enjoys tackling writing challenges with every book.
Q2) Have you always wanted to be an author?
Shayla: No. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I’d tried some other jobs so I knew what I didn’t want to do, such as work retail or at an amusement park. I also worked for a Fortune 10 company for nearly 20 years, spending the last 8 writing sales training. It wasn’t a terrible job…but it wasn’t my passions. I started publishing about halfway through my corporate career. I knew that that’s what I wanted to do.
Q3) What is your most interesting writing quirk?
Shayla: I have so many. Where to start? First off, I’m a multi-task queen. I’m always doing three things at once. Second, I really prefer to write with music in the background, and I will sometimes spend hours finding just the right songs that move me. I also move all over the house with my laptop, depending on weather, time of day, and whatever else is going on. Last, I always get my best ideas while driving or talking on the phone. My friends all know that if I’m calling there may be talk of plot involved. I plot out loud and interactively. Many writers are introverts, but that’s not me.
Q4) Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?
EMBRACE ME AT DAWN is the latest in the Doomsday Brethren paranormal romance series. I was so excited to finally tell the story of this love triangle that’s been brewing for the last four books in this series. I think the story is really powerful, as this heroine has been through hell and finds herself rising like a phoenix from the ashes of her previous life to create something new without while again finding the man she loves.
Embrace Me At Dawn~Nook order link | All Romance |Smashword
MINE TO HOLD is the latest in the Wicked Lovers erotic romance series. For those who have been reading, the anticipation to see mischievous manwhore Tyler finally fall for one woman has been great. He definitely has to take a hard look at himself and his life and decide what’s important—then protect it with his life. There’s a lot of action in this one, but with everything I write, it’s packed with romance, conflict, tension and hot sex.
Q5) How did you come with the idea for this story?
Shayla: As my husband says frequently, my brain is a scary place. There are always ideas rolling around in my head. The idea for both of these stories have been in my head for years. With the Doomsday Brethren series, I’ve had a rough outline of every book before I even started the first. So I had a decent idea of what would happen in EMBRACE ME AT DAWN long ago. With MINE TO HOLD, I’ve always known Tyler’s backstory. I simply had to put together the pieces of the suspense plot and let Tyler and Delaney go.
Q6) Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?
Shayla: I’ll be working on four new projects this summer. OURS TO LOVE (Wicked Lovers 7), THEIR VIRGIN CONCUBINE (Masters of Ménage 3), The first in my new Project Alpha series and I’ve taken on an editorial project that I’m really excited about. I can’t say a lot now, but look for more news about it this summer.
Q7) Who is the one author that you would love to meet someday and why?
Shayla: Jane Austen. She was so instrumental in creating the genre we see today and the first to really focus on women’s fascination with the condition of falling in love in a way that transcends time and place.
Q8) What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone that wants to get into writing?
Shayla: Run! No, just kidding. Mostly. J Persevere. If you believe in it passionately, others will, too. You can’t make everyone love what you do, so don’t try. Write what you know is right in your heart for the story in your head. Block as much of the negative as possible and move on.
Q9) Can you share with us something off your bucket list.
Shayla: Go to Italy. I’ve always wanted to spend a couple of weeks there and drink in the scenery, culture, and people.
Q10) What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?
Shayla: I’ve got a ton of books on my Kindle that I’d LOVE to be reading, but deadlines have kept me from enjoying them. I’m SO behind on my reading. Soon…
Q11) Is there anything else you would like to add?
Shayla: Thank you for inviting me here!
Want to learn more about Shayla and her books?
Check her out here: