Viviana, Enchantress of Books and I are happy to host a spotlight feature for Alice Clayton 

Alice Clayton worked in the cosmetics industry for over a decade before picking up a pen (read laptop).

She enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up, and finally convinced her long-time boyfriend to marry her.

Now, about that Bernese Mountain dog…

You can find Alice at Website | Facebook | Twitter  | Goodreads | Instagram | Audible

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Nuts

Hudson Valley #1

Audible | Amazon | B&N 

Roxie Callahan is a private chef to some of Hollywood’s wealthiest, and nastiest, calorie-counting wives. After a dairy disaster implodes her carefully crafted career in one fell ploop, she finds herself back home in upstate New York, bailing out her hippie mother and running the family diner.

When gorgeous local farmer Leo Maxwell delivers her a lovely bunch of organic walnuts, Roxie wonders if a summer back home isn’t such a bad idea after all. Leo is heavily involved in the sustainable slow food movement, and he likes to take his time. In all things. Roxie is determined to head back to the west coast as soon as summer ends, but will the pull of lazy fireflies and her very own Almanzo Wilder be enough to keep her home for good?

Salty. Spicy. Sweet. Nuts. Go on, grab a handful.

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Cream of the Crop

Hudson Valley #2

Audible | Amazon | B&N

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Don’t forget to enter our giveaway..

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Viviana, Enchantress of Books & I are pleased to welcome author Skye Jordan to Audio Book Lovin’.  We asked Skye to tell us what it is like to have her books come to life in the form of an audio book.  But before I turn the blog over to Skye, let me introduce you to her.

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Take it away Skye, the blog is all yours

“How it feels to have your books come to life as an audiobook.”

When you have the right narrator – and the narrator is key to the audiobook universe – it’s freakin’ awesome.

Really freakin’ awesome. I can’t lie.

I searched and searched for the perfect voice for my Renegades novels, and it was worth all the time and angst, because Piper Goodeve is an amazing narrator.

Listening to her read Reckless for the first time blew me away—because she didn’t read Reckless, she performed Reckless. Piper is a member of SAG, the Screen Actors Guild, for good reason. She is an actress. She didn’t just read the words I’d written, she read the emotion I’d sculpted into the story. She interpreted the character behind the hero, heroine and secondary characters on the page and made them actual living, breathing people. I can’t explain how different the story felt to me as I listened to Piper perform it – and I wrote the darn thing! Edited it over and over and over. It was pretty crazy. And I felt like that every time she performed one of the Renegades stories.

So, for me, having my work translated into audio was absolutely amazing.

Now, I know some people—even avid readers—aren’t audiobook fans. Some say they get bored. Some say their minds wander. Some say they “see” so much more of the story when they read than when they hear it. And I get that, because I’m an audio and visual learner and I visualize and learn much better when I hear or see something. So, I understand that audiobooks aren’t for everyone. But I also believe there is a bit of an enjoyment curve to audiobooks, a little like there is to wine. Something you develop an appreciation and love for as you come to understand the depth of what audiobooks can offer that reading can’t.

I see my books as movies in my head. Writing those books is a tedious exercise of translating those clips into words that convey the mood and emotion I visualize onto a two dimensional black and white page of nothing but words. A lot can get lost in that translation. An excellent narrator is like a skilled painter, drawing out the highlights and shadows of a work to add depth.

So, yeah… Having my books come to life as audiobooks is freakin’ awesome.

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Giveaway Time

Skye wanted me to let you know that she has Audible codes for all of her Renegades titles.   She is allowing me to give away a few codes.

Please leave a comment or questions for Skye.  Winners will be pick and announced next Tuesday.

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway..

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Viviana, Enchantress of Books and I are beyond excited to double team today’s post.  Not only am I hosting the amazingly talented Lorelei King Viviana is hosting Darynda Jones!!!!  These two make an amazing pair.  Darynda with her quick witted heroine Charley and the super hot out of this world hero Reyes.  Lorelei has lent her voice to this amazing story and has brought these characters to life in a way that I didn’t think was possible. If you have never listened to one of Darynda’s stories on audio I would highly suggest you go check them out.

If you missed Lorelei’s post from last year and want to know what we talked about please check it out HERE.

For those of you who don’t know her (yet) it is my pleasure to introduce you to Ms. King.

Lorelei King is one of the most successful and accomplished American actresses working in the UK today, appearing in numerous films from Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘Notting Hill’ and ‘The Saint,’ to British independent films, such as ‘House of Mirth,’ ’24 Hours in London,’ and ‘Suzie Gold.’Lorelei has appeared as regular and recurring characters in popular British television shows such as Chef, Cold Feet, Alistair McGowan’s Big Impression, Emmerdale and the saucy Mile High. She has also made numerous guest appearances in British comedies and dramas such as Jonathan Creek, Not Going Out, The Robinsons and Monarch of the Glen.

Once described as ‘the best known American voice on radio 4,’ Lorelei has recorded more than 200 programs for the BBC, including the Marx Brothers tribute, ‘Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel,’ super-hero ‘audio movies’ including ‘Superman,’ ‘Batman’ and ‘Judge Dredd and classic American drama such as ‘East of Eden,’ ‘Ethan Frome’ and ‘A Thousand Acres.’ She appears regularly as a panellist on shows such as ‘Where in the World’ and ‘Wordly Wise’ and has hosted her own talk show, ‘All About Eve.’

Lorelei is a multi- award-winning narrator of audiobooks, recording the works of best-selling authors Janet Evanovich, Darynda Jones and Patricia Cornwell among others.

Her work in animation is extensive, and in America she provides the voices for ‘Wendy’ and ‘Packer’ (among others) in Bob the Builder.

Lorelei is co-owner, with Ali Muirden, of a digital publishing company, Creative Content Ltd.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Los Angeles, Lorelei now makes her home in London, where she lives with her husband, actor Vincent Marzello.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads  | Audible | Creative Content Ltd

Lorelei was kind enough to share with us her Top Tips on how to record a sex scene.

Here are a few little clips to wet your audiobook palate.

Make sure to check out Viviana’s post today for an exclusive Charley Davidson read to you by the one and only Lorelei King (HERE).  And don’t forget to enter the giveaways below.

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway..

Viviana, Enchantress of Books and I are excited to have Tara Lain guest blogging on our second annual Audio Book Lovin’ series.   So with our further ado I turn the blog over to Tara.

Audiobooks – My Secret Heath Weapon

Hi! I’m so happy to be a part of this great audiobook event. My thanks to Enchantress of Books and Books n’ Kisses for inviting me. Audiobooks are my secret health weapon! Now, I know all of you are audiobook lovers, so this will be no revelation to you, but for me – well, I’m a johnny-come-lately in the audiobook health department.

A number of years ago, I used to go to an office every day and I loved to listen to audiobooks in my car. I especially loved the Great Courses and would work my way through amazing lectures on opera and the history of China and great authors of America with a smile on my face – even though I was caught in Southern California traffic! Then my life shifted and I got to work from home about 95% of the time. Away went the driving – and the audiobooks. I totally got out of the habit. One day a half year ago or so, I saw someone on Facebook extolling the virtues of listening to audiobooks while walking. Hmm. Sounded interesting, but I knew so little about audiobooks I wasn’t even sure how one got a book to a place where you could listen to it. I went to Audible. I figured I had a bunch of books on audio by this time and I should be supporting the audiobook market! I signed up. Chose a couple books. Presto, like magic they appeared on my phone. The next time I went for a walk, I plugged in my earphones, grabbed my phone and – cool! I enjoyed my walk a lot.

But many times, I walk with others so no book. Then I went back to the gym in a big way. Hey, if the books were amusing on a walk outside, maybe they’d be even better on the boring treadmill. That did it. I’m now a dedicated audiobook listener at the gym. I don’t have a fancy audio device. I just tuck my phone into my tights (admittedly, a little dorky) and haul butt around the weights, TRX, treadmill, rower, elliptical, et al. Only in my Pilates classes do I leave my earphones off. But, I have a Pilates reformer in my garage. I wasn’t using it because the garage is too boring – no TV, radio, or interesting sights aside from two Priuses – but the magic audiobook has changed all that. I head outside to the garage with a book playing and come back in an hour later exercised and thoroughly entertained. I’ve enjoyed Anne Tenino doing hundreds and Amy Lane through agonizing arm exercises.

I know you’re probably already aware of all this, but maybe I can jog your memory as that Facebook post did for me months ago. Audiobooks make everything better –especially at the gym!

Bk #1: Audio Book Sample – Knight of Ocean Avenue by Tara Lain

You can find Tara at Lain Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Audible

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway..

Viviana, Enchantress of Books and I are very excited to have Heather Killough-Walden back on Audio Book Lovin’ again this year.  We enjoyed having Heather in 2015.  If you missed her post last year please check it out here.   Heather wrote a guest blog for us.   But before we get to that please let me introduce you to Heather.

Heather Killough-Walden is a California native currently living in Texas with her husband and child. She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Big Bad Wolf series, The Kings series, the Lost Angels series, the October Trilogy, the Neverland series, and The Chosen Soul series. Heather’s educational background includes religious studies, archeology, and law. She has traveled all over the world but hopes to one day live in a town with a world-class hockey team. (Let’s Go Pens!)

You can find Heather atWebsite | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads |Pinterest | Audible | Tantor 

Because it’s what we all want. Isn’t it?

Have you ever noticed that when you’re reading a paranormal romance series dealing with an entire species of vampires or werewolves or what have you, and the author takes the time to describe the species’ societal hierarchy, you always find yourself wondering about the man who must be at the top of that hierarchy? Granted, a few of us wonder whether there’s already a woman up there too. Or perhaps there’s only a queen… but we secretly hope not. In short, what we’re hoping for is a king. A single king. A hot, powerful, single king – and we want to read his story.

At least, that’s how it always was for me. When I was younger, in every series I read, I wanted to know about the guy in charge. With Kenyon’s books, it was all about Acheron to me. In the Carpathian Vampires series by Feehan, it started off with the prince, but we all knew it was Gregori who held all the real power. So I wanted to read about him.

Finally, I realized that rather than read series after series in which I spend the entire time “ho-humming” through each book just so I can get to the last one – I could write a series myself that dealt with nothing but kings. What an idea! ALL KINGS. Does it get better than that? No waiting for the one in charge here. Right from the very beginning, we get to deal with the men who hold all the face cards. The ones behind the curtain. The power.

Because I love power. I do. I admit it. It’s attractive. It’s titillating. Hell, it just really turns me on. Mix that tremendous power with a deep-down kind (but tortured) heart, a gorgeous face, and a brilliant mind, and I’ve carved out my own little slice of heaven. And because I’m an author, I get to share that slice of heaven with all of you.

So enjoy your power – all thirteen books of it. (And know that there will probably be more to come when that’s finished. After all, in an infinite multiverse, there is no shortage of worlds who need kings.)

– Heather Killough-Walden

Let’s listen to a few of Heather’s books on Audio
Bk #1: The Vampire King (The Kings #1)

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway..