» Romance

Assassins In Love: Assassins Guild {#Book Review}

The Book Faery — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:55:47 +0000

When one killer falls for another

Agent: Misha
Profile: Highly trained in every method the assassins guild has to offer. Always goes by the book.

Agent: Rikki
Profile: Rogue assassin who kills only to rid the world of hardened criminals. Hates organizations. Always does it her way.

Love becomes a matter of life and death

Misha’s mission is to get Rikki to join the guild or give up her guns. He completely underestimated the effect she would have on him…and what heat and chaos they could bring to each other…

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; Original edition (March 6, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402262825
ISBN-13: 978-1402262821

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Kris DeLake is one of writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s many pen names. In addition to writing as Kris DeLake in romance, Rusch also writes romance as Kristine Grayson (who specializes in paranormals) and Kristine Dexter (who prefers romantic suspense). In mystery, Rusch writes as Edgar- and Shamus-nominee Kris Nelscott. In science fiction and fantasy, Rusch goes by her real name. Under that name, she’s a bestseller in many countries, and a double Hugo winner. To find out more about Rusch and her various names, go to her website, kristinekathrynrusch.com

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Oh is this one a mind(and body)-blowing futuristic hot tale filled with danger, passion, multiple identities, and discovered truths! Right from the beginning all the way to the end I wanted in on the action (all the action…heehee). Rikki is one bad-ass woman and Misha- well, let’s say I wouldn’t mind being tracked down by this hot assassin! Can two assassins from different backgrounds with different goals learn to trust the other in order to find out the truth? Could they ever give up all they’ve known and trust their hearts for their future? You’ll just have to read it. Oh yes, I recommend this fun and steamy adventure. And I’m definitely look forward to reading more about Rikki’s “Jack” when that’s ready which I believe is next in the Assassins Guild series.

READ AN EXCERPT

Chapter 1
Hands fumbling, fingers shaking, head aching, Rikki leaned one shoulder against the wall, blocking the view of the airlock controls from the corridor. Elio Testrial leaned against the wall at her feet. She hoped he looked drunk.Things hadn’t gone as planned. Things never went as planned—she should have learned that a long time ago. But she kept thinking she’d get better with each job.She completed each job. That was a victory, or at least, that felt like one right now.The corridor was wide and relatively straight, like every other corridor on this stupid ship. Every floor looked like the last, which had caused problems earlier, and all were painted white, as if that was a design feature. She didn’t find it a design feature. In fact, it was a problem feature. Because any dirt showed, and blood, well, they said blood trailed for a reason. It did.

So far, though, she’d managed to avoid a blood trail. Of course, she’d thought about avoiding it, back when Testrial really was drunk. And because she thought about avoiding it, she had.

But there was no avoiding this damn airlock.

Her heart pounded, her breath came in short gasps. If she couldn’t get a deep lungful of air, her fingers would keep shaking, not that it made any difference.

Why weren’t spaceships built to a universal standard? Why couldn’t she just follow the same moves with every piece of equipment that had the same name? Instead, she had to study old specs, which were always wrong, and then she had to improvise, which was always dicey, and then she had to worry that somehow, with one little flick of a fingernail, she’d touch something which would set off an alarm, which would bring the security guards running.

High-end ships like this one always had security guards, and the damn guards always thought they were some kind of cop which, she supposed, in the vast emptiness that was space, they were.

Someone had fused the alarm to the computer control for the airlock doors, which meant that unless she could figure out a way to unfuse it, this stupid airlock was useless to her. Which meant she had to haul Testrial to yet another airlock on a different deck, one that wouldn’t be as private as this one, and it would be just her luck that the airlock controls one deck up (or one deck down) would be just as screwy as the controls on this deck.

She cursed. Next spaceport—the big kind with every damn thing in the universe plus a dozen other damn things she hadn’t even thought of—she would sign up for some kind of maintenance course, one that specialized in space cruisers, since she found herself on so many of them, or maybe even some university course in mechanics or design or systems analysis, so that she wouldn’t waste precious minutes trying to pry open something that didn’t want to get pried.

She cursed again, and then a third time for good measure, but the words weren’t helping. She poked at that little fused bit inside the control, and felt her fingernail rip, which caused her to suck in a breath—no curse words for that kind of pain, sharp and tiny, the kind that could cause her (if she were a little less cautious) to pull back and stick the offending nail inside her mouth.

She’d done that once, setting off a timer for an explosive device she’d been working on, and just managed to dive behind the blast shield (she estimated) fifteen seconds before the stupid thing blew.

So she had her little reflexes under control.

It was the big reflexes that worried her.

“Need help?” Male voice. Deep. Authoritative.

She didn’t jump. She didn’t even flinch. But she did freeze in place for a half second, which she knew was a giveaway, one of those moments little kids had when they got caught doing something wrong.

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said without turning around. No sense in letting him see her face.

“Your friend doesn’t look fine.” He had just a bit of an accent, something that told her Standard wasn’t his native language.

“He’s drunk,” she said.

“Looks dead to me,” he said.

She turned, assessing her options as she did. One knife. (People were afraid of knives, which was good. But knives were messy, hard to clean up the blood, which was bad.) Two laser pistols. (One tiny, against her ankle, hard to reach. The other on her hip, obvious, but laser blasts in a corridor—dangerous. They’d bounce off the walls, might hit her.) Fists. (Might break a bone, hands already shaking. Didn’t need the additional risk.)

Then stopped assessing when she saw him.

He wasn’t what she expected. Tall, white-blond hair, the kind that got noticed (funny, she hadn’t noticed him, but then there were two thousand passengers on this damn ship). Broad shoulders, strong bones—not a spacer then. Blue eyes with long lashes, like a girl’s almost, but he didn’t look girly, not with that aquiline nose and those high cheekbones. Thin lips twisted into a slight smile, a knowing smile, as if he understood what she was doing.

He wore gray pants and an ivory shirt without a single stain on it. No rings, no tattoos, no visible scars—and no uniform.

Not security, then. Or at least, not security that happened to be on duty.

“He’s drunk,” she said again, hoping Testrial’s face was turned slightly. She’d managed to close his eyes, but he had that pallor the newly dead sometimes acquired. Blood wasn’t flowing; it was pooling, and that leached all the color from his skin.

“So he’s drunk, and you’re messing with the airlock controls, because you want to get him, what? Some fresh air?” The man’s eyes twinkled.

He was disgustingly handsome, and he knew it. She hated men like that, and thought longingly of her knife. One slash across the cheek. That would teach him.

“Guess I’ve had a little too much to drink myself,” she said.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” the man said as he approached her.

She reached for the knife, but he caught her wrist with one hand. He smelled faintly of sandalwood, and that, for some reason, made her breath catch.

He slammed the airlock controls with his free fist. The damn alarm went off and the first of the double doors opened.

“What the hell?” she snapped.

He sighed, as if she were the dumbest person he had ever met, then let her go. She did reach for the knife as he bent at the waist and picked up Testrial with one easy move.

She knew that move wasn’t easy. She’d used an over-the-shoulder carry to get the bastard down here, after having rigged the corridor cameras to show footage from two hours before. Not that that did any good now that this asshole had set off the alarm.

He tossed Testrial into the airlock itself, then reached inside and triggered the outer door. He barely got his hand back into the corridor before the inner door closed, protecting them from the vacuum of space.

“What the hell?” she asked again.

The man gave her a withering glance. “He was dead, you were going to toss him out, and then you were going to go about your business as if nothing happened. I just helped you along a little.”

“And now every security agent on the ship will come down here,” she snapped.

“Yeah,” he said. “But it won’t be a problem.”

“It won’t be a problem?” she asked.

But he already had his arm tightly around her shoulder, and he dragged her forward. The movement felt familiar, as if someone had done this to her before.

Except no one had ever done this to her before.

“C’mon,” he said. “Stagger a little.”

“What?” she asked, letting him pull her along. Her hand was still on her knife, but she didn’t close her fist around the hilt. Not yet.

“Do you know any drinking songs?” he asked.

“Know any… what?”

“Stagger,” he said, and she did without much effort, since he was half-carrying her, not allowing her feet to find a rhythm.

They stepped onto the between-decks platform, which she loathed because it was open, not a true elevator at all, and he said, “Down,” and the stupid thing jerked before it went down, and suddenly she was on corridor cameras.

“Do you know any drinking songs?” he asked again.

“No,” she said, ready with an answer this time. “I don’t drink.”

“No wonder you lack creativity,” he said and added, “Stop,” as they passed their third deck. He dragged her down the corridor to the airlock, and slammed it with his fist.

Another alarm went off as the inner door opened, and he reached inside, triggering the outer door.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked again.

“Is that the only question you know?” he asked.

“Just answer me,” she said as he turned her around and headed back toward the between-decks platform.

“Weren’t you ever a teenager?” he asked.

“Of course I was,” she said.

“Then you should know what I’m doing,” he said.

“Well color me clueless,” she said, “because I don’t.”

His eyebrows went up as he looked at her. “Color you clueless? What kind of phrase is that?”

“The kind of phrase you say when someone won’t tell you what the hell they’re doing.”

“Watch and learn, babe,” he said. “Watch and learn.”

He took them to the platform again, and as it lurched downward, he pulled her toward him using just his arm and the hand clutching her shoulder. A practiced move, and a strong one, considering how much resistance she was putting up.

He held her in a viselike grip, and then, before she could move away, kissed her. She was so startled, she didn’t pull back.

At least, that was what she told herself when he did let go and she realized that her lips were bruised, her hand had fallen away from the hilt of her knife, her heart was pounding rapidly.

That was a hell of a kiss, short but—good God, had she ever been kissed like that? Mouth to mouth, open, warm but not sloppy, his tongue sampling hers and hers, traitor that it was, responding.

“Yum,” he said, as if she had been particularly tasty, and then he grinned. He was unbelievably h…

A NetGalley ebook was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Amelia Grey {#Author Interview}

The Book Faery — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:38:15 +0000

Welcome back Amelia! I do believe this is the FOURTH time you’ve visited us! Can you believe it? The first being an interview back in April of 2009 when the 1st book (A Duke to Die For) of The Rogues’ Dynasty series came out. And of course I’ve read numerous other books (that series included) and other reissues of your older novels. You’ve also been a guest here (A Marquis to Marry; 2nd book in The Rogues’ Dynasty series) and here- where you gave us all 35 old tips for new writers. Time sure does fly by, doesn’t it?! I’m just thrilled to see you back again. So why not another interview with you now that time has passed? I promise not to ask you the same questions. In fact, as I re-read our previous interview, I could tell I was just starting to interview authors just by the type of questions I once asked, very typical questions. Today, I’m just going to ask you FOUR questions to commemorate your 4th visit with us.

AMELIA GREY: Thank you! I’m pleased you keep asking me back. I don’t ever get tired of talking about writing. I love it and of course I love to talk about my books on your fabulous site!

I’ve always wanted to know how author’s come up with their pen names. Are they personally chosen or chosen for you? And is there a reason it’s done when the author’s picture is posted on their site or book? I’ve found many with different names BUT are clearly the same person. In your case, you’ve written romance novels under the current name Amelia Grey, previously as Gloria Dale Skinner in the early 90′s, and also as Charla Cameron from the early 90′s (I’m assuming you no longer write under those name). Was there a reason for the name changes when the genre remained the same? And is there even a reason for a pen name when an author’s picture is still used on marketing materials?

AMELIA GREY: Oh, that is a very good question. When I sold my first book I published it under Gloria Dale Skinner back in 1990. It was a historical and was being published by Warner Books. But a funny thing happened along the way to the first book coming out. I sold a contemporary book to Harlequin and at that time Warner didn’t want me using my name on a contemporary book so I had to take a pen name. My daughter’s name is Charla and my son is Cameron so that is how I took the name Charla Cameron. I only wrote that one contemporary book because I was contracted to write a historical every nine months and didn’t have the time to write more. Later, when I sold a Magnolia Road book to Pinnacale, I was still writing as Gloria Dale Skinner and once again I had to take another name so I chose the same name of Charla Cameron. I don’t think publishers are as worried about authors competing within different houses now, but at the time, if you were contracted with two houses most of them wanted you to write under different names. When I decided to leave America Historicals and write Regency I moved to Berkley Books and my editor suggested that since Gloria was known as a writer of American Historicals why not start in a new country with a new name. It sounded like a good idea to me I suggested the name Amelia Gray. I thought it sounded very British and my editor said it will when we spell Gray the way the English do–Grey. So that’s how I became Amelia Grey and ten books later I’m still Amelia.

Let’s talk about book re-issue. As an outsider (but more an insider than the usual book reader) “re-issue” makes one automatically wonder if they call it re-issue because there was an issue to begin with? Course I’m sure that’s not really the case with most book re-issues, at least when it comes to the writing. (Sorry, my ADHD mind wanders occasionally when something makes me think about something else.)

The real question…When it comes to re-issues with new covers to suit the current time and trends, are you involved with the cover design in any way and do you and your editors revisit the story and make changes or add to it? I would think that a re-issue is a good time to take all the previous feedback from your readers to make a story more memorable. Another question I have on the topic of re-issue- is it typical to re-issue mainly when you switch publishers? Or only if the new publisher buys the rights from the old publisher?

AMELIA GREY: You are full of good questions today! I published five Regencys for Berkley and then had to stop writing for a couple of years for family reasons. When I started writing again, I sold to Sourcebooks. I asked Berkley for the rights back to my first five books and when I got them, I resold them to Sourcebooks. So it’s usually the author who re-sales her books to new publishers. Now, Sourcebooks is re publishing my first five Amelia Grey books. They are publishing one new book and one reprint each year to give me two books out a year. They have to put new covers on the reprints because covers remains with the publisher, only the book is returned to the author. And, yes, Sourcebooks always asks me to give them cover ideas, even with my reprints. As in my latest book A Gentleman Says “I Do” I suggested that the heroine should be holding a piece of parchment with writing on it behind her back and that’s exactly what they did. And I need to add that Sourcebooks has given me fabulous covers for my reprints. As far as tweaking the old books, yes we can do that to some extent, but usually there isn’t the time to make large changes or to completely rewrite a book even if we wanted to. But there is always some things we want and need to change before the book is reprinted.

Have you ever thought about writing something completely different from what you’re known to write as? Or maybe you’re already or have done that under another pen name. Has it ever crossed your mind or has anyone suggested you try another genre all together different?

AMELIA GREY: I love romance. It’s all I want to write. Last year I published a nonfiction book called Fall In Love Like A Romance Writer as Amelia Grey. I asked well-known authors to tell me their own true love stories and then I made a collection of their responses. It turned out to be a wonderful book. So I enjoyed doing that but I don’t have the desire to write anything that isn’t a romance book.

OK, enough about your “multiple personalities” and book re-issues …I know we need to talk about your latest book today. So let’s make the 4th question be about that.

A Gentleman Says “I Do” comes out this month and it’s the 5th novel in The Rogues’ Dynasty series – Tell us about this particular story in the series and how you came up with the plot (I know. typical question that I’m sure you’ve answered hundreds of times…but it still has to be asked.:-)) If I was a publisher, what would your pitch be to get me excited about your novel?

AMELIA GREY: I think the best way to do that is to give you the blurb synopsis I gave to my editor. It sold her on the book and hopefully your readers will be just as excited and ready to read the book as she was:

A Gentleman Says “I Do”

Iverson Brentwood has finally met his match. Catalina Crisp heats his blood like no other in his history as a confirmed bachelor. She is the most beautiful and alluring young lady he’s ever encountered, and her lovely countenance has stopped him dead in his tracks. But no matter how attracted he is to the intriguing Catalina, he can’t give into his desire to possess her in every way… for she is the daughter of the man he’s sworn to destroy.

Catalina’s father is a well-known poet and a writer, but wastrel whose disappearances continuously put their household one step away from destitution. Something drastic must change, so it is with quill in hand, that Catalina completes her father’s latest parody of the twins Iverson and Matson Brentwood’s spectacular arrival in London. When the writing hit the streets and parlors of London , it’s not long before a darkly handsome man is at her door, looking for her father.

Seeing the dashing rogue in the flesh, Catalina wishes she could write her way out of Iverson Brentwood’s life. And yet, for a bewildering moment as her heartbeat races and her throat goes dry, dallying with the rake seems like the perfect fictional escape—and it’s all she can do not to throw her arms around him and give into the madness of the intriguing man.

And before we close…a bonus question…What’s the most unique question you’ve been asked by an interviewer? (I promise, I won’t get upset if it’s none of mine. Promise.)

AMELIA GREY: It has to be when it was a series of questions that I could give short answers about me. Let me find the interview and I’ll copy and paste some of it here. It was just a lot of fun and nothing serious about them.

My favorite book is:

Charlotte’s Web. I know not a romance but a favorite carried over from childhood.

My favorite movie is:

“Enemy At The Gates, Braveheart, Gladiators, Dances With Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and too many more to list here.

The author who influences me the most is:

Amanda Quick’s

If I received a free trip to anywhere in the world where would I visit:

London, England!

My favorite historical time period is:

Regency!

Mr. Darcy or Mr. Rochester:

Mr. Darcy

Chocolate or Strawberry

Strawberry

There were a few others but you get the picture. It was fun to answer 20 quick questions about me. And as you can see sometimes with movies you can’t settle on just one. Since I answered this interview a few years ago, there are movies I could add to it. For instance, I saw Hugo over the Christmas holidays and absolutely LOVED it!

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day chatting with us! It’s always a delight to have you here and I look forward to future books and re-issues I’ve not yet read. Come back soon!

AMELIA GREY: Thank you, thank you! I so enjoy being here and your questions were great!

I love to hear from readers. Please contact me at ameliagrey.com, ameliagrey@comcast.net, or find me on www.Facebook.com/AmeliaGreyBooks

A Darkly Hidden Truth {#Book Trailer}

The Book Faery — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:44:22 +0000

A Darkly Hidden Truth, The Monastery Murders Book 2 by Donna Fletcher Crow. Felicity Howard, a young American studying for the Anglican priesthood at the College of the Transfiguration in Yorkshire, has to learn more about church history if she and Father Antony are going to unravel their second mystery. Past and present mix as the words of Julian of Norwich and the arcane rights of the Knights of St. John of Malta lead to a present-day killer. And as the friendship grows between Antony and Felicity, will Felicity choose a life dedicated to God as a nun or one with Antony? – FROM YOUTUBE

Pump Up Your Book Promotion is currently running a virtual book blog tour with the author. You can find out more information here.

Dublin Destiny {#Book Review}

The Book Faery — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:32:06 +0000

Can an introverted ugly duckling be God’s perfect match for the most eligible bachelor in town?

Running from imminent danger back home, shy, awkward Irishwoman Rylee Shannon flees to small town, USA, forced to live under the protection of unfamiliar family friends.

Prompted to protect her, the McLellans arrange the marriage of Rylee and their son, Patrick, one of Georgia’s most prominent and handsome doctors.

Willing yet hesitant, the two marry. But bound by her wallflower personality and unruly looks, she fails to make any connection with Patrick.

While Patrick is away on a long-term medical mission trip, crossing off days until the annulment, Rylee is determined to change—both inwardly and outwardly—to win the affections of her husband. Battling rumors and echoes of her past, she wins over Patrick’s family and friends with her amiable personality and perpetual state of embarrassment.

Patrick returns home to find his wife transformed into a beautiful, confident woman. When he realizes that God’s arrangement of the marriage was intentional and permanent, Patrick begins to see his wife in a different light.

But as their feelings develop, their relationship is continually derailed by Rylee’s unusual habits and stubborn pride. As Rylee’s good-natured presence begins to change the lives of the McLellans, they are also determined to conquer Rylee’s inhibitions and alter her eternity.

Patrick’s protection turns to affection, but Rylee’s past threatens to collide with her future. You won’t want to miss Patrick and Rylee McLellan fight to discover The Dublin Destiny in this captivating tale of secrets, romance, forgiveness, and divine love.

List Price: $17.99
Perfect Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Tate Publishing (January 10, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1613465610
ISBN-13: 978-1613465615

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Tate Publishing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…With the encouragement of family and friends, Jill Twigg pursued her lifelong dream of becoming a Christian author into reality. She is the mother of four daughters and nina to five grandchildren. She resides in Houma, Louisiana with her husband.

Visit the author’s website.

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Prologue

The panting sounds she heard were getting stronger. Rylee looked behind her to see who was coming. There was no one. She quickly continued her quest to get home. Only a hundred more yards, she could make it. Still hearing panting sounds, she stopped and leaned against the building to confirm no one was coming. She didn’t understand. The sounds were so loud and persistent. She held her breath a second longer to take notice then sighed, realizing the sounds were coming from her own mouth. Rylee breathed a little easier knowing that possibly she wasn’t being followed just yet. In hurrying to get home to see her mother, Rylee knew one thing for sure: the need for calling bluffs had to stop. One day it wasn’t going to work. And she was thinking that it was the day. She was utterly unsure of her future now.

The flight plans were set, and she was to leave to catch the bus in a little less than an hour. That bus would take her to the airport in Dublin, which was at least an hour from her house. Rylee would then catch a plane and a connecting flight to her destination in America—Georgia, to be exact. Where that was? Rylee had no clue. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. How can someone threaten the life of someone else and get away with it? Never mind that, how can one take the life of another and get away with it? Why was this happening to her? She hadn’t hurt anyone to deserve this warning.

Rylee certainly had her reasons for threatening to cause problems. So now she had to leave her home and her country. Where was the justice in that? With the deadline for her departure almost expired, she wasn’t wasting any time. Prolonging the inevitable only made the impending

matter worse. She knew she had to go. There was more at stake than just her life, and she wasn’t going to put her mother at risk because of her momentary inclination to stir up trouble.

Her mother was waiting with the luggage just inside the front door. A large tote bag consisting of a few changes of clothes, a toothbrush, and a license were all Rylee had to take on her journey. She was not sure why she bothered. That wasn’t much to start a new life, but she knew she’d get by with what she had. She received from her mother a quick kiss and one hundred dollars. They tried to stay strong, neither one wanting to show too much emotion, for fear they would not follow through with their plan. However, when the time drew near, their watering eyes displayed the melancholy they were both trying to avoid. They each had no indication as to when they would see each other again. Sometimes life was just so unfair. Hurrying back out the door, Rylee headed around the building to the bus stop and her uncertain

future. There was no bluffing her way out of this one.

Chapter One

Rylee Shannon was embarking on a new and scary adventure. A journey, if you wanted to call it that. Or vice versa. And as far as she knew, it could have been a journey right to hell. But anywhere was better than where she’d been. Scary or not, she had to trust that her mother was doing the right thing. Those demons would eventually need conquering, even if it took her last dying breath to do so. But for now, she would suffer in silence until she figured how the next part of her life was going to play out in the scheme of things. The midnight flight from Dublin, Ireland, was scary enough considering the fact she had never been on a plane. Except for her therapy training and the occasional visits to the Wicklow Mountains, Rylee didn’t venture too far from her town of Glendalough.

The flight attendant was not looking very cordial this evening as she monitored the seatbelts down the aisles. Her making sure everyone buckled his or her seatbelts before takeoff brought no comfort to Rylee at this point. She assumed the flight attendant had picked the short end of the stick and received the late night flight as punishment. Rylee also noticed the deep set of dark circles under the attendant’s eyes. She had probably had a long and hard day. Haven’t we all? Rylee added to her thought process.

With eyes wandering about, Rylee noticed there were thirty-five rows of two seats on each side of a middle aisle, A and C on one side and D and F on the other.

What happened to B and E? she wondered. She needed to stop thinking so much. She was getting very anxious for the flight to be over, and the plane hadn’t even gotten into the air yet. The Fasten Your Seatbelt sign came on, and the flight attendant made her announcements. She proceeded to show the routine demonstrations of putting on the seatbelt as the airplane taxied to the runway.

The safety demonstration is a joke, Rylee thought.

Flotation device—were they serious? Did they really expect her to believe that if this big bus in the sky was to have a water landing, she would actually be able to utilize the flotation device? Would she even be able to get over the panic to grab her seat cushion? Nonetheless, when she stood, she would almost certainly knock herself out because the ceiling was so low. And flipping the seat over to attach the straps around her shoulders? Just give me a gun! She laughed at herself.

The realization that a tranquilizer would have been appropriate for this trip approached her thought process as well. All that thinking was going to make her insane. She just needed to relax. Right!

Rylee could hear her mother beyond her doom-and-gloom thoughts.

Always the pessimist, Rylee girl. Someday, you are going to have to learn to trust the Lord. Negative thoughts will bring you negative actions! You mind my words. Nothing good will come of it, ever.

Rylee’s mother, Bonnie, was always the optimist. Rylee couldn’t fathom anything positive coming from this journey to the unknown. Her life at home was bleak at best, according to her, but at least she knew it. How was it to become any better, running for her life, basically to an unknown country?

The plan was for her to stay with a childhood pen pal of her mother’s. A pen pal, for Pete’s sake! Not even a friend her mother had actually met.

How could her mother do this to her? She could be sending her to a place worse than which she came from. How could Bonnie be that trusting? However, Rylee had no place else to go. She was as desperate as desperate could get. Again, always the pessimist, she thought.

She needed sleep. If the ride was as traumatic as the takeoff, she didn’t know how she was going to get through it. Not only that, but she was scheduled to change planes in New York, so she would get to do it all over again. It was a good thing she brought her inhaler, because even though the passenger in the next seat explained the bumps from the plane were just “air pockets in the clouds,” she wanted off, and she wanted off now. The stress that manifested her wheezing finally subsided after several minutes, and she was able to breathe normally. However, it wasn’t long until the next bout of bumpy clouds came again. It was amazing to her how a bunch of fluff could make an enormous airplane dip like a roller coaster. The feeling of her heart leaving her chest and moving into her throat was not making a good first impression for this airline. She was quite sure she never wanted to go through the experience of an airplane ride ever again. Next time she would think about traveling by boat. But, then again, she couldn’t swim. She was in a pickle. Either way, she was in a predicament in which she needed to trust, and that was difficult for her.

The last couple of days had been hectic, to say the least—scrambling for a plan of escape, then putting it into action. She was literally running a race of her life. Her mother, bless her heart, had really stepped up to the plate for her. Rylee always told her mother that God had a special place waiting for her, and that was never truer than now. Bonnie managed to pawn some family relics to add to her measly savings to purchase Rylee a bus ticket. It also funded part of the plane ticket from Dublin to Georgia. Her mother’s pen pal fronted the rest with no questions asked, knowing she would not be able to pay it back anytime in the near future. She had to give the McLellans credit for coming to the aid, an expensive aid at that, especially for someone whom they had never met.

She wondered what she would have to do to compensate.

The roller coaster ride through the clouds was not helping Rylee’s nerves or the queasiness of her stomach. It was either due to the stress of the trip or the constant altitude changes; she didn’t know which. Probably both. At this point, she really needed the plane to stop. Rylee figured the pilot drew the short end of the stick as well. Between him and the stewardess, or the flight attendant or whatever they are calling them these days, Rylee didn’t have a chance on this flight.

“Oh my!” She exclaimed aloud, her thought process interrupted by another cloud dip. Luckily, she hadn’t eaten anything in a while, because that last dip would have caused her to lose it all. And it would not have been pretty. If Rylee wasn’t so shy, she’d go ask the pilot if he needed help driving the plane. She assumed he was a novice. She could at least alert him when the clouds were coming.

The woman seated next to her could see her distress and patted her clenched hand on the armrest.

“It’s okay. The plane is built to manage these clouds.”

“I’m not handling this very well, am I?” Rylee stated back to her.

“Don’t you know about the reconnaissance planes that fly into hurricanes to see how strong they are?” she asked. “This is nothing.”

She couldn’t fathom why anyone would want that job. She nodded, appreciating the woman’s attempt to comfort.

The pilot came on the loudspeaker to announce that the turbulence should be over and the rest of the flight would be smooth sailing. He even tried to downplay it and make light of the situation by asking the children to refrain from bouncing in their seats, while the passengers laughed. However, Rylee’s nerves did not dissipate. The woman patted Rylee’s hand again. Rylee smiled at her and then closed her eyes, silently praying that the pilot was true to his word. Her thoughts meandered to a picture of Rylee kissing the ground if she ever got to it.

The Hartfield-Jackson International airport in Atlanta was starting to come alive with the hustle and bustle of family, friends, and patrons waiting to board their flight. The vendors were opening up their gates for business as the early scheduled flights brought patrons yearning for nourishment or reading material before they headed to their destinations.

One of these patrons, Lucy McLellan, was there on a mission. In all her fifty-three years, she had never turned down someone needing help, and she wasn’t going to start now. About a week ago, she had received a disturbing phone call from her childhood pen pal in Ireland asking—more like begging—for her to accept her daughter for a visit. She added that Rylee was in need of protection. Lucy, never one to leave someone in a bind, agreed, knowing that her trusted friend would not have come to her in desperation without probable cause.

“Okay, here’s gate C33,” Lucy said, as she looked back and waved for her son to come over to where she was. Her pen pal’s daughter, Rylee, had gotten herself into some trouble. She was able to get a temporary visa to visit. How she got it in a week’s time was only by the grace of God, for she needed to be out of Ireland—and fast. Bonnie assured her there were no drugs involved; for that reason, she did not have to worry about the headache of not being able to trust someone in her own home. She didn’t want to go through the trouble of having to hide anything that could be pawned for drugs or what not.

Patrick, Lucy’s only child and driver to the airport for this meeting, lagged behind with much trepidation, verifying the gate from the monitor. After much pleading, Patrick agreed to the offering of himself in marriage for Rylee’s protection, at least until he got back from a mission abroad. The offer was made sight unseen and without revealing the motive for the visit. Then when he returned, he could annul the marriage. By that time, things would have settled down at the home front, and Rylee could return to her mother in Ireland.

Patrick agreed with much protest but knew his mother would not have asked without a great deal of praying. She had enough faith for the both of them; however, neither was lacking in that area.

“An arranged marriage? Mom, this is the twenty-first century,” he argued. With her arguing back that the Bible did not stop teaching and providing nourishment just because it was past the death of Christ, he smiled at her, knowing that any argument with his mom was never a winning situation on his part, and she knew he was teasing. And knowing Lucy, there would be more to it than a simple marriage of convenience.

However, Patrick had other concerns. He had to get ready for his trip abroad, which was in ten days. Patrick was a physician working at the county hospital’s emergency room clinic when he was home. On this assignment, he was heading to Guatemala for his church mission field project. He made the trip every two years to help with whatever medical issues were going on at the time. There was usually quite a load. He enjoyed his job immensely, believing the Lord gave him this job for a good reason. He didn’t believe it was for the money, nor the prestige, but for the gratification he got when he could truly help those that couldn’t help themselves—more specifically, the little children who needed medical attention and vaccinations. That brought him more joy than his paycheck from the hospital.

The loudspeaker announced the arrival of Rylee’s flight. Although there were many years of correspondence, Lucy had not received a recent enough photo of Rylee. So consequently, she did not know exactly what she looked like. In that case, they would just have to wait for someone to look lost. Lucy didn’t think to bring a sign to hold up; however, she didn’t want to cause any unwanted attention to her either. Lucy wasn’t quite aware of all the actual circumstances Rylee was really in but enough to elude unnecessary interest.

After witnessing the hugs, screams, and kisses of the patrons coming in contact with their loved ones, out moseyed a pitiful-looking thing with a mess of curly hair, big-rimmed glasses and a “boy, was-she- lost” look. This girl’s weight was by far over the insurance limit for her

height. Patrick watched as she bumped against a chair, thinking she would miss it.

“Ouch.” He winced. “That’s gonna leave a nice bruise,” he said, commenting under his breath.

He continued to watch the opening where the passengers were coming through the Jetway. However, his eyes kept taking him back to the tousled-haired girl.

He wondered who was meeting her. Patrick watched her as she looked through the crowd as if trying to spot someone in particular and caught Patrick’s eye. He smiled a hello, which caused the girl’s eyes immediately to avert to the ground. The compassion he was feeling for this stranger was overwhelming. He continued to watch her as she tugged at the bottom of her too-short top, then crossed her arms in front of her exposed skin. His thoughts took him to a paper Patrick had written for college on the benefits of smiling. He remembered the studies of smiling being contagious and making one feel better even when it seemed impossible, but this girl wasn’t having it. She didn’t look as if she had smiled in a while. Patrick wondered what made her so downtrodden and what her story might be. She might just be feeling alone and didn’t need some stranger smiling at her. He chuckled to himself. The scruffiness of her attire foretold her class, unless it was a disguise, which he sincerely doubted, for that would have only brought more attention to her situation. In addition, Patrick could not figure out if she looked that bad on purpose to make a statement or if she truly did not know how to present herself in public. Either way, he would pray for her. They needed to get on with the task at hand, which was to find Rylee and get going. He and Lucy continued to watch people exiting the plane until there was no one left but the crew coming from the Jetway. The only patron left in the wait area was the lost looking girl who had decided to sit and wait for her party.

“Mom, are you sure she was even on this flight?” Patrick asked, feeling apprehensive, since Lucy was not very forthcoming in giving him information about the situation. Not that he minded being out of the loop, but he was cautious for his mother’s sake. His mother looked at him smiling and then headed toward the seated girl. Patrick stared after her in disbelief, thinking he may be able to help that girl after all. Lord, I don’t suppose Rylee missed her plane, and this girl was sent to us for help instead?

Patrick was wishing he had done a little investigational work himself before Lucy took on this charitable feat. He was beginning to feel a little leery of leaving his mother alone while on his mission, not knowing what the circumstances might promote. The information given about Rylee was not sufficient enough to satisfy his curiosity. Patrick wasn’t sure if it was for his own sake or for Lucy’s. Either way, he wasn’t going to leave his mother in a situation she may not be able to get out of until he saw Rylee and felt it was safe enough to leave. That would be seven months of alone time with each other. A lot could happen in seven months, and sometimes his mother’s charitableness scared him. However, Lucy always prayed before jumping into things; therefore, she would have said no if she thought it wasn’t in the Lord’s plan. He would just have to trust that fact.

“Rylee?” Lucy asked.

The young girl looked up from the floor into Lucy’s eyes. Nodding her head, she stood.

Lucy grabbed Rylee’s arms and then threw her own around her.

“God love ya, girl! Welcome to America!” Lucy exclaimed.

Rylee was startled at the sight of the woman coming at her. Lucy could come on a bit strong at first, and Patrick wanted to warn her, but he was too late.

“How was the flight?” Patrick asked.

Rylee just nodded. He held out his hand for her to shake.

“Hi, I’m Patrick.”

Nodding again, she took his hand without making eye contact. With her free hand, Rylee pushed her glasses toward the bridge of her nose, for fear they would fall. Her glasses had seen better days, but they were her only pair. And until she had other resources, they would make do. Rylee felt that as long as she was able to see the two people before her, she did not need to worry about a new pair just yet.

“We’ve kind of followed you throughout the years but never actually met. It’s nice to finally meet you,” he continued. Patrick, getting a little lost himself, not really knowing how to handle the shyness, just shrugged. He wasn’t used to that. He didn’t feel it was snobbery by her actions, but time would tell, and then they would deal with it.

Oh, Lord, what did we get ourselves into?

Patrick shrugged his shoulders at his mother.

Lucy rubbed Rylee’s arms.

“That’s okay, baby. You’re gonna feel right at home in no time. Let’s get your bags and we’ll scoot on,” Lucy said sweetly.

Rylee shook her head, and then stated, “No bags.”

Patrick pointed to her tote bag hanging off her shoulder.

“Is this it?” he asked, reaching to take it from her so that he could carry it for her. Rylee looked up at him, but she held tight to the bag so that he was unable to take it. He shrugged.

“Okay, let’s go.”

This is going to be a challenge, he thought. Either there’s something in the bag she doesn’t want anyone to see, or maybe she just needs something to hold on to for comfort. For all he knew, her whole life could be in that bag. Patrick started toward the exit with Lucy trying to keep up and Rylee treading several yards.

“Patrick!” Lucy shouted, before he reached the escalator that led to the parking garage. She was a little out of breath. “I know you’re in a hurry, baby. But I’m getting an aerobic workout here trying to keep up with you, and we’re going to lose Rylee in the crowd.”

He looked back to see Rylee lollygagging along without a care in the world. She had her hands in her hoodie pocket and her head down, as if she were counting the cracks in the floor.

Her tennis shoes, which he suspected were once white, bled gray and nearly tripped Rylee as she sauntered toward him without picking up her feet. Her appearance belied her age, given that he knew she had graduated from college but appeared to be only about seventeen, maybe. I can’t believe I let my mother talk me into this debacle, he thought, as he watched Rylee before taking action.

“I’m sorry,” Patrick said. He walked back several yards and waited for Rylee to catch up to them. When she finally looked his way, he pointed to the escalator and then gestured for her to lead. She quickly left her daydream state, pushed her glasses back toward her nose again, and picked up speed to accommodate Patrick’s direction to her. The hour-long ride home was going to be interesting.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Grab your tissues when you read this. Was I surprised while reading this novel? Absolutely. Did it keep me engaged from beginning to end? Absolutely. Did it bring out multiple emotions within me? Oh ABSOLUTELY! It will warm your heart, make you protective and proud of Rylee and all she overcomes, and have you rooting Rylee and Patrick on to the place God wanted them to be. I highly recommend this book to someone looking for an inspiring story of self-discovery and the rediscovery of faith.

***Special thanks to Jill Twigg for sending me a review copy.***

Six Tips to Writing A Novel From Beginning to End {Guest #Author: Susanna Kearsley}

The Book Faery — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:11:20 +0000

Just as there’s no one right way to write a book, there are also no true rules for writing. Ask a group of writers how they start a book and work through to the end of it, and all of us will tell you something different. But for what it’s worth, here are my own Six Steps for writing novels:

1. Start a binder. This is a habit I’ve freely borrowed from Phyllis A. Whitney’s wonderful Guide to Fiction Writing, though over the years I’ve adapted her own “notebook method” to suit my own needs. Before I read her writing guide I was forever losing track of all the little bits of paper on which I’d taken notes, and forgetting ideas that came to me at odd times, but now whenever I get the first germ of an idea for a book I start a 3-ring binder for it. I label the binder, section it off with dividers like I used to do for schoolwork, and fill it with lots of lined paper. And on the first page I write the date I got the idea for the book, and what the idea was. My standard sections are always “Work Calendar”, in which I keep track of my writing progress day by day; “Plotting”, in which I write down any and all ideas that come to me (and paste in those messy little jotted notes I make while in the bathtub); “Outline”, in which I occasionally (but only occasionally) try to guess what might happen in the next few chapters; “Characters”, which I use mainly for writing down names and keeping notes on any real-life historical characters, and “Revisions”, in which I keep track of all the things I know I’m going to need to go back and change in the second draft (especially helpful if I decide to change someone’s name or age, which has happened). The rest of the binder is divided into a heap of “Research” sub-sections, depending on the book. In my binder for my book The Winter Sea, I have “Research” sub-sections for the 1708 invasion attempt, Jacobite spies, Scottish clothing for 1700-1710, English and French clothing for the same period, the Scots and Royal navies, Cruden Bay, James VIII of Scotland, Union Politics, The Irish Brigades, and several other things that would likely bore the average person but were fascinating to me and essential to the story.

2. Do the preliminary research. Research, for me, is an ongoing exercise. Throughout the writing of a book I’ll be continually reading sources, searching out material, and checking facts, and this will fuel my writing which in turn will raise more questions that I need to find the answers to…and on and on it goes. I don’t expect to track down everything I’ll need at the beginning, but I like to make a start. I scout out my locations and visit the ones I can visit (though sometimes for various reasons I’m midway through the writing before I can actually manage the travel). I talk to people who work in the same fields as my characters. And I start reading what books, articles, and original documents I can, always with an eye to finding more. But I don’t let this stage stop me from the next step, which is…

3. Start writing. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike, just sit down and start putting words on the blank page, that’s the only way I know to start a story. Again, I tend to defer to Phyllis A. Whitney’s advice that “Probably the best way to start any story, long or short, is to show a character with a problem doing something interesting”, but I realize the first line—or even the first page—of my first draft won’t necessarily be the first line or first page of the finished book. I don’t look for perfection at this stage, I just want to feel my way into the book and start “hearing” my characters, getting to know them. Often for the first few chapters this is a very slow process for me, but at some point there’s almost a “click” I can feel and the book comes to life for me.

4. Keep going forward. Which sounds basic, but I’ve learned not to go back and tinker with what I’ve written while I’m working on the first draft. When I sit down to start work each day, I read over what I wrote the day before, just to get back in the rhythm of the story, and then I go forward from there. If I feel the urge to change something that’s already happened, I simply make a note in the “Revisions” section of my binder and ignore it till the second draft, instead of wasting a lot of time polishing a scene that might not even make it into that second draft, let alone the final book. This lure to go back and rework what I’ve already written instead of pushing on with something new is what used to keep me from finishing my books when I was a teenager, only now I’ve got wise to it. Giving in would, for me, be like trying to drive from New York to L.A. if every morning I had to get up and start back in New York again. I’d never make it to the west coast doing that, just as I’d never write “The End” if I kept “polishing” instead of pushing on.

5. Ignore the urge to throw it out and start again. With every book I reach a point when I’m convinced the story’s going nowhere; that it’s rubbish, can’t be salvaged, and not nearly as compelling as the NEW idea I’ve just had for this OTHER book… I’m writing my eleventh book, just now, and I’ve been writing books and finishing them for two decades, but I still run up against this wall in every one of them. I’ve learned to just ignore it. All it means is that I’ve reached the Dreaded Middle of the novel. It will pass. The thing is, when I start a book I have a lovely, perfect vision of it, and by the time I reach the middle, what I’ve written doesn’t look at all like that first vision. As a teenager, I used to think this meant I’d done it wrong, but now I know it always works like that. I only have to soldier on and make it to the end, and then I’ll get to re-work everything in second draft, and things will look much better. Never like that perfect vision that I had at the beginning, but that’s fine. There’s always the next book, I promise myself…

6. Reward yourself. To keep myself going through the Dreaded Middle, I give myself little rewards. These change, according to the novel and my mood. Sometimes it’s a glass of wine every 50 pages. Sometimes it’s a night out at the movies every 100 pages. Right now, because I’m in a bit of a difficult part, I’m letting myself watch one episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King on DVD every time I finish a chapter. The thing is to find whatever works as a treat for you, and use it to help yourself through to the end. And your end reward should be BIG. Something wonderful. A whole day in your pajamas with a pot of tea, and other people’s books to read. Or dinner at a fancy restaurant. What you choose is up to you—the challenge is to finish what you’re working on, so you can write “The End” and claim your prize.

So there you have it: The Susanna Kearsley method. If there’s any part of it that you can use, I hope it helps. If not, at least you’ll have a little insight into how I spend my days. And if you’re sitting down to write your novel, just remember the important thing is simply to keep at it. Best of luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Susanna Kearsley’s writing has been compared to Mary Stewart, Daphne Du Maurier, and Diana Gabaldon. Her books have been translated into several languages, selected for the Mystery Guild, condensed for Reader’s Digest, and optioned for film. She lives in Canada near the shores of Lake Ontario.

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR… Website | Facebook | Twitter

The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew that it was her house. And now that she’s at last become its owner, she suspects that she was drawn there for a reason.

As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself transported into seventeenth-century England, becoming Mariana, a young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love.

Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past…until she realizes Mariana’s life is threatening to eclipse her own, and she must find a way to lay the past to rest or lose the chance for happiness in her own time.

Read the first chapter here.

Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 1, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1402258674

ISBN-13: 978-1402258671

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Other Stores

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Review to be posted VERY soon. I can tell you though that it’s a good one!

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review from Sourcebooks.

The Night Circus {#Book Trailer}

The Book Faery — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:04:00 +0000

The Night Circus was and still is a hit since it’s release last September. It’s definitely a book I’m interested in grabbing a hold off and from all the praises out there regarding this book, it might even be a keeper, one of the shelves, and one to get in hardback. It’s the story of forbidden love between two illusionists…

“Every once in awhile you find a novel so magical that there is no escaping its spell. The Night Circus is one of these rarities — engrossing, beautifully written and utterly enchanting. If you choose to read just one novel this year, this is it.” —Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology

“‘Dark as soot and bright as sparks,’ The Night Circus still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty. This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read.” —Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. – SUMMARY FROM AMAZON

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBookstore| Indiebound| Random House

WOODROSE MOUNTAIN hero Brodie Thorne talks to RaeAnne Thayne {Guest #Author: RaeAnne Thayne}

The Book Faery — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:47:27 +0000

I interview my characters in my head all the time in order to flesh out their motivation for making the choices they do. It was great fun to do it out loud, so to speak! Today I’m interviewing Brodie Thorne, hero of my HQN release WOODROSE MOUNTAIN.

Brodie, tell us a little about yourself.

(Shifting uncomfortably) Uh, do I really have to do this?

Yes. Just the basics.

Fine. I’m thirty-six. Divorced. One child, a daughter, 15. I run several restaurants and stores in Hope’s Crossing, Colorado, where I’ve lived most of my life. I love my daughter, my mom Katherine, my community. What else do you need to know?

What has been the toughest moment of your life so far?

Easy. Four months ago, when I received the phone call from the police that my daughter Taryn had been severely injured in a car accident and wasn’t expected to survive. My world changed in that moment and everything else became unimportant. That she defied the odds and survived is a miracle. Now we need another one to help her regain all the skills she’s lost from her brain injury.

What do you think will help you achieve those results for Taryn?

Evie Blanchard, as much as I hate to admit it. She’s our best hope right now. She used to be a world-renowned pediatric rehab therapist in California, with years of experience helping children just like Taryn take their lives back. We need her to help us. I don’t care if she had her reasons for walking away from her career. I’ll do whatever it takes to convince her to help my daughter.

Why are you so uncomfortable with your attraction for Evie Blanchard?

(Blowing out a breath) Why is that your business?

Just answer the question, Mr. Thorne.

I don’t know. She’s beautiful, yes. A guy would have to be dead not to notice. But she’s just so … chaotic. I like order and structure. It’s important to me, for a lot of reasons. Evie is not any of those things. She’s color and light and energy. I just find the whole package a little overwhelming.

What mistake do you most regret?

Not cherishing every moment with my daughter before her accident. I wasn’t a very good father, too busy with my various businesses to give her the attention she needed. I couldn’t understand Taryn. Nothing I said to her came out right and we always seemed to be fighting. She didn’t like my rules and I didn’t like some of her irrational choices. I know I failed my daughter by picking a lousy woman to marry and be her mother. And I failed her by not trying harder to understand her once she hit about thirteen. All that will change now, if only we have a second chance. I’m counting on Evie to give us that.

What do you see as your biggest strength?

My resolve. I want my daughter to get better and I won’t consider any other alternative. I’ll do anything for Taryn, even if that means bringing Evie Blanchard into our lives.

Thank you for talking to us, Brodie. Readers, to find out more about Brodie and Evie and their story, pick up WOODROSE MOUNTAIN, second in my Hope’s Crossing miniseries, on sale March 27.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…I’m not one of those people who knew from birth she was destined to become a writer. I always loved to read and throughout my childhood I could usually be found with a book in my hands. To the disgust of my friends, I even enjoyed creative writing assignments that made them all groan. But I had other dreams besides writing. I wanted to be an actress or a teacher or a lawyer.

Life took a different turn for me, though, when my mother made me take a journalism elective in high school (thanks, Mom!). I knew the first day that this was where I belonged.

After I graduated from college in journalism, I took a job at the local daily newspaper and I reveled in the challenge and the diversity of it. One day I could be interviewing the latest country music star, the next day I was writing about local motorcycle gangs or interviewing an award-winning scientist.

Through it all — through the natural progression of my career from reporter to editor — I wrote stories in my head. Not just any stories, either, but romances, the kind of books I have devoured since junior high school, with tales about real people going through the trials and tribulations of life until they find deep and lasting love.

I had no idea how to put these people on paper, but knew I had to try — their stories were too compelling for me to ignore. I sold my first book in 1995 and now, more than 30 books later, I’ve come to love everything about writing, from the click of the computer keys under my fingers to the “that’s-it!” feeling I get when a story is flowing.

I write full-time now (well, as full-time as I can manage juggling my kids!) amid the raw beauty of the northern Utah mountains.

Even though I might not have dreamed of being a writer when I was younger, now I simply can’t imagine my life any other way. – FROM THE AUTHOR’s SITE

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR… Facebook | Twitter | Website | Blog

He was the one you called when you needed rescuing … But who was Taft Bowman going to call when he needed help? Because ten years ago Laura Pendleton, the love of his life, had left town without a word, then or since. Now she was back, with a new last name–and two adorable, high-needs little ones in tow. Well, Taft had been stupid enough to let her go once before…he wasn’t about to make the same mistake again. He’d never stopped loving her–and one look at those adorable little faces and he knew that he was meant to be with Laura and her kids forever. All he had to do was convince her that this time he was a man she could count on!

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: HQN Books; Original edition (March 27, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0373776373

ISBN-13: 978-0373776375

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon.com | B&N.com

A Chat with Nigel DeVries {Guest #Author: K.T. Wells + #Giveaway}

The Book Faery — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:30:48 +0000

(We’re sitting at a strategically placed table on the front patio of a well-known crowded Beverly Hills restaurant)

K.T.: Why do we have to be so conspicuous? You know I don’t do scenes.

NDV: Puh-leaze. Get over yourself. If it’s any comfort, no one is interested in you if they can’t place you in the industry.

K.T.: You’re such a comfort.

NDV: One tries.

K.T.: I’m surprised Angie put up with all that smug. It’s so…

NDV: Put up with me? Girl, are you kidding? I deserve a Nobel Peace prize for all the years I hand-held that woman. Mind you, that’s all in the past now. You know, since Prince Charming’s in the picture permanently.

K.T.: Speaking of which, where are they? I thought they’d be joining us for lunch?

NDV: Uh-uh. Angie’s got the decorating bug since becoming a mother. That nesting thing, I’m guessing. Anyway, she and Jake go back to that wreck of a house in Grandview every chance they get to fix something, tear down something or plant something.

K.T.: I thought she was dead set on staying in SoCal.

NDV: Well, love does strange things to people doesn’t it?

K.T.: Are they moving back there permanently?

NDV: I’m thinking they’ll be doing summers in New York, maybe even the winter holidays, too, for a while. Angie was promoted to Principal this year and I don’t see girlfriend chucking her career anytime soon.

K.T.: Jake still teaching at UCLA?

NDV: Oh yeah. BMOC. His students just looove him.

K.T.: I bet Angie has plenty to say about that.

NDV: Actually, not a word. Jake and I were talking about that very topic last week and he didn’t seem surprised at how sanguine Angie is with his popularity with the female students.

K.T.: Because…?

NDV: Because he never gives her any reason to doubt how much he adores her.

K.T.: So they’re still gooey?

NDV: Nauseatingly so.

(Our conversation got cut short when a movie star plopped down at our table and monopolized all of Nigel’s time.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…K. T. Wells has been telling stories since before she could read. She used to narrate books for her baby brother, concocting a plotline from the pictures. Not much has changed. One of her husband’s favorite pastimes is to listen to her tales after asking her to tell the story of people they observe in restaurants, airports or the subway.

Fascinated by the human condition, K. T.’s writing captures the emotions that drive the engines of our hearts. She is captivated by the rituals of love and believes everyone is entitled to a happily ever after.

Join her in celebrating her first published novel – Nobody’s Angel.

You can visit her at http://ktwells.wordpress.com.

Twenty years ago Jake and Angie were the couple everyone wanted to be. When they split two halves of the same heart broke. With their high school reunion looming, will they find their way back to each other or continue to be haunted by what was? An ensemble of friends is pulling for them, but will it be enough?

Jake and Angie’s twentieth high school reunion sets the perfect stage for their lifelong friends to reunite the former sweethearts. Major roadblock – they have to trick Angie into coming home after twenty years. An elaborate ruse ensues at the same time they work on browbeating Jake into attending.

Maneuvering through emotional minefields rates a 10 for difficulty level, particularly when Angie lives the maxim: Time does not heal all wounds. And Jake? Check the Wiki pic next to Pride comes before the fall. Yep, that’s him tripping all over himself year after year.

But the firm conviction that these two were meant to be together propels a cast of quirky, determined friends into action. When tragedy derails the best laid plans, will Jake and Angie’s love rise to the occasion?

Format: eBook

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group (December 15, 2011)

ASIN: B006MQ6A1E

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to the author, as part of the Pump Up Your Book Promotion book tour, we’re giving away ONE e-book copy of Nobody’s Angel by K.T. Wells. This giveaway will run now through the end of March and is open worldwide. Winners will be notified via our RSS newsletter (goes out Monday-Friday when there is a new post), our Facebook page, and as a reply in the comments. Please like us on Facebook (see sidebar) and subscribe to our email (see sidebar).

To enter, answer this question…

Have you ever wondered where you old high school flame is today?
Would you ever reconnect (if you weren’t already with your other half today of course)?

Me? Well I’m happy to say that I’m STILL with my high school sweetheart who’ve I’ve known for about 20 years and today we’re raising 3 kids!

Amanda Forester {#Author Interview + #Book #Giveaway}

The Book Faery — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:46:48 +0000

Today’s author interview is with Amanda Forester, author of True Highland Spirit. Amanda Forester holds a PhD in clinical psychology and a Masters degree in theology. As a psychologist, she has worked as a clinical researcher and a university instructor (what they call you when they don’t want to give you tenure). None of which has anything to do with writing romance novels. After trying for many years to stop the internal storylines floating around her head, she finally gave up and wrote one down. Now when she is caught daydreaming and talking to herself she can just say, “I’m plotting a scene for my next novel,” which sounds so much better than, “I’m hallucinating and responding to internal stimuli.”

Amanda lives in the Pacific Northwest with her officer and a gentleman husband and their two remarkably active, naturally brilliant children. They share their home with two fiendishly destructive cats and one lazy dog. {from author’s bio}

******************************************************************************************

The Book Faery Reviews: I’ve read the first 2 Highlander books and enjoyed them very much. In fact I interviewed you back in 2010 when you released The Highlander’s Sword.

Amanda Forester: Yes, I remember! I’m happy to be back!

TBFR: To those who are not familiar with your upcoming novel True Highland Spirit, how would you describe the story?

AF: The year is 1355. England and France are at war and tensions are high between the English and the Scots. In an impoverished Highland clan, Morrigan McNab learned to survive with a sword in her hand. Taking command, she is determined to protect her struggling clan, no matter the cost. When an elusive French knight offers gold to fight against England, she joins the call to arms. Sparks fly on the battlefield as a forbidden passion smolders between Morrigan and Sir Dragonet. Yet Sir Dragonet holds a secret that will destroy the hope for a life together, and will make them rivals on a dangerous quest for a mysterious relic. As they fight beside each other against the English, and against each other to find the treasure, their love becomes a greater force than either can control.

TBFR: What inspired you to write Historical Romance based around the Scottish during medieval times?

AF: Writing historical romance started for me in reading historical romance. My love for stories about relationships began with Jane Austen, and soon spread to the genre of Regency romance. I was first introduced to the wonders of the Scottish Highlands by Julie Garwood, and I was hooked. These stories so inspired my imagination that I started to write some of my own. Preparing for my first book, The Highlanders Sword, I had in mind a particular historical scenario I wanted as the catalyst for my heroine’s adventure. I researcher historical times and clans until I found what I was looking for in the Grahams of the 14th century. I love medieval times because there is such a high level of drama, with war, intrigue, pageantry, and chivalry all combined with kilted Scots and knights in shining armor. What’s not to love?

TBFR: What’s your research like when writing your novels? Is it mainly reading your research, or do you travel to various spots, and talk with other scholars?

AF: So far most of my research has been reading books and searching online resources. However, one of my dreams is to travel to Scotland to do my own research. I would love to explore the castles, visit the museums, soak in the scenery, and, let’s face it, drool over the sexy accents!

TBFR: Any challenges with writing the latest novel in the series, True Highland Spirit? (To those who’ve not read any of them, they can be read as standalone and not really in any particular order) Who would you say was the most difficult or most agreeable character in the novel as you wrote?

AF: True Highland Spirit posed a challenge because the heroine of the book was a formidable woman who could hold her own in battle. She was not going to be overly impressed or easily wooed, so she had to meet someone completely different from the men she was accustomed to leading, someone who would be able to sneak past her natural defenses. Enter Sir Dragonet, a French knight on a secret mission who was no more interested in falling in love than she was. Since both these characters are very strong and rather obstinate in their determination to avoid romantic entanglements, I had to throw them together in ways they could not escape so that they could find their happily ever after. They forgave me eventually, but they were cranky at me for much of the book!

TBFR: Are you working on a 4th novel and if so, could we get a peek preview?

AF: For my fourth book I am looking to try something a bit different – Regency! Yes, the era of Jane Austen is calling, complete with Napoleonic spies, a pair of matchmakers, ballroom drama, and a duke (of course!). I still want to go back to the Highlands, however, and I hope to go back to write more Highlander books. Poor Gavin Patrick–I left him in France and he must find true love, which I suspect may be closer than he realizes!

TBFR: Any last words for our readers?

AF: I hope you will enjoy True Highland Spirit! I love visitors so stop by my website. If you are interested in reading the first two books, The Highlander’s Sword and The Highlander’s Heart, they are currently offering a special promotional discount on the e-book (they are also available in paperback too!).

TBFR: Thanks Amanda for taking the time out for this interview. I look forward to finishing The Highlander’s Spirit and of course reading any of your future work.

AF: Thank you so much for inviting me for a visit!

The Highlander’s Series represents Amanda’s first venture into writing historical fiction, so she would greatly enjoy hearing from readers.

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR…

Morrigan McNab learned to survive with a sword in her hand. Taking command, she is determined to protect her impoverished clan, no matter the cost. When an elusive French knight offers gold to fight against England, she joins the call to arms. Sparks fly on the battlefield as a forbidden passion smolders between Morrigan and Sir Dragonet. Yet Sir Dragonet holds a secret that will destroy the hope for a life together, and will make them rivals on a dangerous quest for a mysterious relic. As they fight beside each other against the English, and against each other to find the treasure, their love becomes a greater force than either can control.

Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; Original edition (March 6, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402253079
ISBN-13: 978-1402253072

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Chapters | Powells

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Sourcebooks we’re giving away TWO copies of True Highland Spirit this month to anyone who stops by with a US/Canadian mailing address (Sorry no PO Boxes). Winners will be notified within the a couple days AFTER the month has ended via our RSS newsletter (see sidebar to subscribe) AND on our Facebook Page (see sidebar to “Like” us). You must follow us on Facebook, follow through email subscription, or pay attention to any reply from The Book Faery Reviews within to know if you’ve won as no other notification will be sent out.

To enter the contest…answer this question…

What’s the first thing that comes to mind
when you think about a Scottish Highlander from the Medieval times?

The Marker {#Book Review}

The Book Faery — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:06:36 +0000

When her father loses her in a poker game, Lexie Markland is sent to work in the household of Nicholas Wetherby for one year to pay off the debt. Innocent, but not naïve, she is savvy enough to know she must maintain her distance from this man, who frustrates her with his relentless teasing but whose kisses bring her to her knees. Because although she may be just another conquest to him, it’s not just her heart in jeopardy should she succumb to Nicholas’ considerable charms.

Since his brother’s death almost a year before, nothing has held Nicholas’ attention for long—not women, not booze, not even an excellent hand at cards. Nothing, that is, until he meets the woman he won in a drunken night of poker. Intrigued by his prize and her chilly reserve, he makes it his mission to crack Lexie’s cool demeanor. But even as passion explodes between them, the question remains: will Nicholas be able to take the ultimate risk…and gamble on love?

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes and Noble | SoulMate Publishing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…After discovering that her degree in English Literature/Linguistics and German didn’t lend itself to gainful employment in her hometown, Meggan Connors decided to pursue a graduate degree in the very practical field of Speech Pathology (she really liked school). However, being an author was always her true calling. She now pens novels of love and loss, of high stakes and risk-takers, and is forever being surprised when her characters decide to take control of “her” book.

Meggan makes her home in the Wild West with her lawman husband, two children, and a menagerie of pets. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and the Sacramento Valley chapter. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing with her kids, hiking in the mountains, or reading a book.

Follow Meggan… Blog | Facebook

Read her guest post here: A Broody Hero

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Not sure how the character’s dress really fit the book but the title was just perfect since Lexie is won as a marker in a poker game. One in which her own father put her into the pot. And again later as she continues to feel “purchased”. I don’t read many American historical novels set in the west but I’m glad I read this one. Not sure I’d say I could relate or feel as if I was the heroine in this story but I could say I felt more like a friend. Perhaps maybe a friend like Claire. Lexie has suffered and sacrificed so much since her mother’s death and in the end her sacrifice opens the heart of a man who thought he couldn’t give his heart. Connors did an excellent job in describing her characters mannerisms in each scene that I felt like I was there watching the whole incident. I felt disgust for her father and her fiance as well as warmth, protection, and love from the other characters. I’m looking forward to James’ story so I’m hoping she’s got it in the works.

I received an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Creating the Magic {Guest #Author: Kathryne Kennedy + #Giveaway}

The Book Faery — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:28:43 +0000

Hello again Farrah! Thank you so much for having me back here at The Book Faery Reviews! It’s a pleasure to be here to talk about how I created the magic in my series, The Elven Lords.

I was inspired by Tolkien’s characters in The Lord of the Rings. I have always loved what I consider ‘true’ elven, the Sidhe, and when I saw the movie version, I fell in love with Legolas, and knew right then that I wanted a romance revolving around those beautiful characters.

Since I write a blend of historical, fantasy, and romance, a new world began to take shape in my mind, and it surprised me how it all jelled together.

I start farther back in history than the era I’m actually going to write in, so I went back to the time when William the Conqueror invaded England and split it into several baronies…a time of great change that significantly altered England’s history, and made it easy for me to alter it yet again with the introduction of The Elven Lords. Instead of William bringing England under a unified rule, I had my seven elven lords breach the barrier between their world and ours, defeat William, and take England under their own unified rule. The elven lords made seven sovereignties (baronies) using their magic and beauty, enslaved the English people, and made the king nothing more than a puppet ruler, a prize to be won in their elven war games. And humans and the half-breed children of the elven began the Rebellion for England’s freedom.

Since I used a historical world as the basis for my new series, I researched the eighteenth century, Georgian era, so I have a basis for readers to identify with. Researching the history always gives me new ideas about how to incorporate magic into the world. I often use real historical figures, and apologize to King George, who became a pawn in my alternate world, his interests focusing on the only thing he could control: the court fashions of the era.

I gave each elven lord a scepter that reflected his individual magical strength: Black for Mor’ded who rules fire, Blue for Breden who rules sea and sky, Green for Mi’cal who rules the forests, Gold for Roden who is master of glamour and illusion, Silver for Lan’dor who masters the blade, Brown for Annanor who rules the earth, and Violet for La’laylia who enspells gems. Each realm they created is altered by their primary magic, and so with the help of a thesaurus (for quick and easy use, I use Dictionary.com), I named each realm:

Firehame: Fire.

Dewhame: Sea and Sky.

Bladehame: Metal.

Dreamhame: Glamour and Illusion.

Terrahame: Earth.

Verdanthame: Tree and plant.

Stonehame: Rock and gemstone.

I love researching fashion (as frustrating as it sometimes can be) and realized that the white wigs common in the era were a perfect foil for the white hair of the elven lords. In my world, the wigs were worn to copy the beautiful locks of the elven, with powdered stone used to imitate the silver sparkles in the elven lords’ hair.

In The Lord of Illusion, we visit the realm of Dreamhame, where my heroine, Camille, is enslaved by Elven Lord Roden. We meet Grimor’ee, Dreamhame’s golden dragon-steed. And my hero, Drystan, must set aside his books to become a warrior to rescue Camille, who may hold the key to England’s freedom.

So I started with history, changed it by adding a healthy dose of magic, infused it with romance and passion, and the world of The Elven Lords was born. If you should have any questions or comments about how some of the magic was created I’d love to hear from you!

As Always, My Magical Best,

Kathryne

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Kathryne Kennedy is a critically acclaimed, best-selling, award-winning author of magical romances. She welcomes readers to visit her website where she has ongoing contests at www.kathrynekennedy.com. She’s lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S., and currently lives with her wonderful family in Arizona, where she is working on the next book in her Relics of Merlin series, Everlasting Enchantment.

THE LORD OF ILLUSION BY KATHRYNE KENNEDY—IN STORES FEBRUARY 2012

He’ll do anything to save her…
Rebel Lord Drystan Hawkes dreams of fighting for England’s freedom from the endless evils of the Elven Lords. He gets his chance when he finds a clue to opening the magic portal to Elfhame, and he must race to find the slave girl who holds the key to the mystery. But even as Drystan rescues Camille Ashton from Dreamhame Palace, it becomes unclear exactly who is saving whom.

For the fate of humankind lies with Camille…
Enslaved for years in a realm where illusion and glamour reign, Camille has learned to trust nothing and no one. But she’s truly spellbound when she meets Drystan–a man different from any she’s ever known, and the force of their passion may yet be strong enough to banish the Elven Lords from this world forever.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Sourcebooks, we’re giving away a copy of The Lord of Illusion to a lucky commentor. This giveaway is open worldwide and will run through the month of February until 11:59pm Feb 29, 2012.

To enter the giveaway, answer the following question…

If you were an Elven Lord, which realm (see Kennedy’s Elvin realms above) would you rule and why?

Of course we always love it when you (and of course we’d give you extra points)…

Subscribe to my RSS feed
Subscribe by email (see sidebar)
Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/farrah1230)
Tweet this giveaway and don’t forget to include @farrah1230 #tbfr so I can find it
Write a post on your blog or Facebook linking to my blog; leave URL in comment.

Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel {#Book Review}

The Book Faery — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

HE’LL NEVER SETTLE FOR ONE WOMAN…

Debonair bachelor Lord Andrew Forest lives for pleasure and offers no apologies. But he receives a dose of his own medicine when his family’s entrancing houseguest beds him, then disappears without so much as a by-your-leave. He’d like to teach the little vixen a thing or two about how to love and man…if he can find her..

AND SHE WON’T SETTLE FOR HEARTBREAK…

After the dashing man of her dreams is revealed as a lying scoundrel, heiress Lana Hilary is ready to seek a match with a respectable gentleman-if only they weren’t so dreadfully boring. Unable to rein in her bold nature for long, Lana flirts with trouble and finds herself entangled with exactly the type of man she’s vowed to avoid.

Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pub Date: February 01, 2012
ISBN: 9781402258312

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Samantha Grace is the author of a witty new regency romance series about four debonair bachelors who have it all: immense wealth, influence, and women swooning at their feet – in the ballroom and out.

Samantha is married to her best friend, strives to stay one step ahead of their two precocious offspring, and lives in Wisconsin. She distracts herself during the bone-chilling months of winter with pilates classes and learning to belly dance.

To learn more about Samantha’s regency bachelors, visit www.samanthagraceauthor.com.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…I enjoyed the main characters Lana, Andrew, Phoebe, and Richard. What I really liked was how when I thought the story would have ended (and glad it didn’t because I would have felt empty) a new story with mystery and deceit evolves AFTER Lana falls in love with Andrew. When he realizes he may have lost her, that’s when he realizes that the old ways are no longer appetizing. He then must convince her he loves her and isn’t asking for her hand in marriage out of “obligation” but because of true love. An enjoyable romance for anyone who enjoys a little twist and some sleuthing to tag alongside passion. The only thing I didn’t quite get was how the title fit with the book…

I received a copy of the NetGalley ebook for review from Sourcebooks, Inc in exchange for an honest review.

The Sympathetic Villain (Or – all you need is a little love), Trish McCallan {Guest #Author + #Giveaway}

The Book Faery — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:19:12 +0000

I’m a huge Linda Howard fan. In fact, I proudly proclaim to be her number one fan (of the none sociopathic variety). I’ve been reading Howard for years, have read every book she’s written, along with most of the interviews she’s done.

Lately, some of the comments I’ve received from readers regarding one of the bad guys in Forged in Fire, my debut romantic suspense, has reminded me of an interview she did after her book All The Queen’s Men came out.

All the Queen’s Men featured black ops specialist John Medina, a secondary hero she’d introduced in Kill and Tell, a prior book. John Medina was such a strong character in Kill and Tell, readers everywhere were clamoring for his love story and I was no exception. I couldn’t wait for John’s story. But when I finally read the book, the character that intrigued me the most wasn’t John Medina, rather it was an arms dealer named Louis Ronsard. And no, Louis wasn’t the hero of the book, far from it, he was the villain.

But Linda Howard made me care about him, she made me understand why he did the terrible things he did. She didn’t white-wash him. She didn’t back off and make him redeemable. She didn’t turn him into a hero. He was a villain plain and simple, but he was a villain who did very bad things for a good reason. A reason most people understood, a reason most people identified with.

Everything Ronsard did was for love.

Everything he did was to protect a daughter he adored, a daughter who was dying. To save his daughter, he was willing to do anything, sacrifice anyone. Indeed everything Ronsard did, good and bad, was driven by his love for his child.

And because we understood Ronsard’s choices, we embraced him. Linda Howard said in one of her interviews the question she got asked the most was when she was going to give Ronsard his own love story. Apparently, the volume of fan mail Ronsard got surprised her. But she said he couldn’t be turned into a hero, because even though he’d been driven by identifiable emotions, what he’d done was inexcusable. Unforgivable.

He wasn’t hero material, because he wasn’t redeemable, the things he’d done made him unheroic.

But I wonder. . . .

A couple of months ago I read Maya Banks’ Hidden Away, the third book in her KGI series. One of the villains in this book reminded me of Ronsard, but with one big difference. In Hidden Away, even though the villain was capable of great love and felt it toward his sister—most of his dark deeds were not done in the name of love, they were done because he was a sociopath and he was looking out for his own interests. But Maya Banks did something interesting with him; she made me hope he wasn’t the horrific monster that the book’s hero believed him to believe. I kept hoping, right up to the end, that he was an undercover agent and hadn’t really done what everyone accused him of doing. Why? Because I liked him. The love he felt for his sister, and what he’d done to strike back at the men who’d hurt her—these things resonated with me. He wasn’t your token Godless monster.

Although, in some ways it’s easier to read about a Godless monster, one who is incapable of true feeling. It’s easier, because we can’t imagine doing something similar. We can’t identify with their actions, or motivations, so they’re safe. But when it comes to villains doing horrific things because of love, well we identify with that. And if we put ourselves in their shoes, yeah—that’s when the uncomfortable questions arise. What would we do to keep our loved ones safe?

Russ, the villain in Forged in Fire, is more like Hidden Away’s villain than Ronsard. He does terrible things because the outcome benefits him. But he does have one big soft spot. He has a family he adores, a family he would do anything for. And when this weakness is used against him, he will do anything, sacrifice anyone—including himself—to save the people he loves.

Reader response to Russ has surprised me, as much as the response to Ronsard apparently surprised Linda Howard. I’ve received dozens of emails from people saying they felt bad when he died. Or that he made them uncomfortable, because they found themselves liking him. They kept forgetting what he’d done in the past.

This is a cold-blooded killer who’d sacrificed hundreds of people to his own self-interest. Who had no qualms about killing children if their deaths benefitted him, yet people felt sorry for him.

Because he was capable of love, capable of giving his life for those he loved, readers identified with him. Some of them actually liked him.

Apparently, all it takes to turn a cold-blooded killer into a sympathetic villain is a little love.

What’s the last sympathetic villain you’ve read? Are there any villains you would have liked turned into heroes and given their own story? I have to confess, I was one of the ones who wanted to read Ronsard’s story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Trish McCallan has been writing for as long as she can remember.

In grade school she wrote children’s stories, illustrated them with crayons and bound the sheets together with pencil-punched holes and red yarn. She used to sell these masterpieces at her lemonade stand for a nickel a book. Surprisingly, people actually bought them. Like, all of them. Every night she’d write a new batch for her basket.

As she got older her interest shifted to boys and horses. The focus of her literary masterpieces followed this shift. Her first full length novel was written in seventh grade and featured a girl, a horse and a boy. At the end of the book the teenage heroine rode off into the sunset . . . with the horse.

These days she sticks to romantic suspense with hot alpha heroes and roller-coaster plots. Since she is a fan of all things bizarre, paranormal elements always find a way into her fiction. Her current release, Forged in Fire, was the result of a Black Dagger Brotherhood reading binge, a cold, a bottle of NyQuil and a vivid dream.

You can find Trish at www.trishmccallan.com.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon Kindle

Beth Brown doesn’t believe in premonitions until she dreams a sexy stranger is gunned down during the brutal hijacking of a commercial airliner. When events in her dream start coming true, she heads to the flight’s departure gate. To her shock, she recognizes the man she’d watched die the night before.

Lieutenant Commander Zane Winters comes from a bloodline of elite warriors with psychic abilities. When Zane and two of his platoon buddies arrive at Sea-Tac Airport, he has a vision of his teammates’ corpses. Then she arrives—a leggy blonde who sets off a different kind of alarm.

As Beth teams up with Zane, they discover the hijacking is the first step in a secret cartel’s deadly global agenda and that key personnel within the FBI are compromised. To survive the forces mobilizing against them, Beth will need to open herself to a psychic connection with the sexy SEAL who claims to be her soul mate.

FORGED IN FIRE is exclusively available through Amazon.

Click here to buy!

Read the first chapter!

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Trish McCallan’s is letting us giveaway a digital copy of Forged in Fire to a lucky commentor. This giveaway is open worldwide and will run through the month of February until 11:59pm Feb 29, 2012.

To enter the giveaway, answer the author’s question…

What’s the last sympathetic villain you’ve read? Are there any villains you would have liked turned into heroes and given their own story?

Of course we always love it when you (and of course we’d give you extra points)…

Subscribe to my RSS feed
Subscribe by email (see sidebar)
Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/farrah1230)
Tweet this giveaway and don’t forget to include @farrah1230 #tbfr so I can find it
Write a post on your blog or Facebook linking to my blog; leave URL in comment.

The Fine Art of Research, Shana Galen {Guest #Author + #Giveaway}

The Book Faery — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:18:50 +0000

First of all, I want to say thank you to The Book Faery for inviting me to blog here again! I’m honored and appreciative. And thanks to all of you for stopping by.

I have to say I really like the title for my blog. I came up with it and then just admired it for a few moments, kind of wishing it were actually true. That’s because my research process is nothing like a fine art. It’s one of those things that’s born out of necessity. Lately, my research process involves writing around the research and then going back when I absolutely can’t move the story forward without looking up some crucial information. And that was the definitely the case with The Rogue Pirate’s Bride.

Research wasn’t always thus. Once upon a time, before I had a husband and a toddler, I enjoyed research. I read whole non-fiction books on topics like Underwear in the Nineteenth Century, Regency Cant, Cooking Through the Ages. I enjoyed these books and savored them.

And thank God I read them when I did because I surely do not have time to read them now!

But as an author of historical romance, I have to carve out time for research. It’s part of the job description. And this is doubly the case when you’re writing a book about something you know nothing about. Something like sailing and ships in the nineteenth century. Something like rogue pirates.

Now you may say, Shana, why would you choose to write a pirate book when you have a small child and very little time to write and know nothing about pirates? That, dear reader, would fall under the topic of Logic, and this blog is about Research.

In all honesty, I’ve wanted to write a book with a pirate hero for years. And I went in to it thinking that I’d just research as I wrote (which is my strategy most of the time). Usually when I’m writing a scene and I come to a fact I need to look up or verify, I put XX in the text and keep writing. Later, when I have time (like at 2 in the morning), I search for all the XXes and look those facts up. I started The Rogue Pirate’s Bride this way. And pretty quickly it read like this:

Bastien hurried down the XX and walked along the XX to the XX. He nodded to the XX and stopped to inspect the XX. But his mind was on Raeven, locked in the XX.

Not riveted by the story? Me neither. All of those lovely details are so important to set the scene and evoke the feel of the period and the setting. So I did what every great writer does.

I called my dad.

I’m lucky enough to have a father who knows a lot about sailing and ships. And I’m lucky that he agreed to sit down with me and listen to large sections of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride to help me with all those pesky details. Sure, I went to the library and checked out a stack of books on ships and sailing, but it’s not quite the same as having an expert just one text away.

So that’s it. That’s my research process. There’s nothing romantic or mysterious about it. Nothing fine-artish. It’s kind of like everything else in my life–fast, furious, and by the seat of my pants.

What about you? Have you ever gotten yourself in over your head and had to call on Dad (or someone else) to bail you out?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Shana Galen is the author of five Regency historicals, including the Rita-nominated Blackthorne’s Bride. Her books have been sold in Brazil, Russia, and the Netherlands and featured in the Rhapsody and Doubleday Book Clubs. A former English teacher in Houston’s inner city, Shana now writes full time. She is a happily married wife and mother of a daughter and a spoiled cat and lives in Houston, Texas, where she is working on her next regency romance series! For more information please visit www.shanagalen.com, like her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

THE ROGUE PIRATE’S BRIDE BY SHANA GALEN – IN STORES FEBRUARY 2012

Revenge should be sweet, but it may cost him everything…

Out to avenge the death of his mentor, Bastien discovers himself astonishingly out of his depth when confronted with a beautiful, daring young woman who is out for his blood…

Forgiveness is unthinkable, but may be her only hope…

British Admiral’s daughter Raeven Russell believes Bastien responsible for her fiancé’s death. But once the fiery beauty crosses swords with Bastien, she’s not so sure she really wants him to change his wicked ways…

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (February 7, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1402265557

ISBN-13: 978-1402265556

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Sourcebooks, we’re giving away TWO copies of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride. This giveaway is open to all with a US/Canadian mailing address (No P.O Boxes) will run through the month of February until 11:59pm Feb 29, 2012.

To enter this giveaway just answer the author’s question…

Have you ever gotten yourself in over your head and had to call on Dad (or someone else) to bail you out?

Of course we always love it when you (and of course we’d give you extra points)…

Subscribe to my RSS feed
Subscribe by email (see sidebar)
Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/farrah1230)
Tweet this giveaway and don’t forget to include @farrah1230 #tbfr so I can find it
Write a post on your blog or Facebook linking to my blog; leave URL in comment.

How Paranormal Chose Me {Guest Author: Linda Wisdom + #Giveaway}

The Book Faery — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:36 +0000

Today, I welcome back Linda Wisdom to The Book Faery Reviews. Enjoyed her last visit with us and just had to bring her back for more. She’s currently promoting her latest novel, A DEMON DOES IT BETTER, and if you read all the way through, you’ll see how you can enter in our giveaway for 1 of 2 copies.

This time around I asked Linda what made her choose to write paranormal out of all the genres out there today. Here’s her response…

Thank you The Book Faery Reviews for having me here!

I’ve been asked why I chose to write paranormal and I’d have to say that it was more that paranormal chose me.

My favorite books growing up were fairy tales and my comic books were Casper the Ghost and Wendy the Little Witch. Yes, it dates me. Hm, I wonder what they’d be worth now if I’d kept them.

We have a house ghost named Frank, so yes, paranormal is all around me. I think he’s a secret cook since utensils tend to disappear at odd times then reappear in the same spot later on. We missed a potato masher for a year until it showed up without warning.

I tend to put a magickal spin on my life. Can be scary at times, but it’s also fun. I don’t have dogs. I have hellhounds. Our parrot has some wild tendencies and even our tortoise has her own methods.

I loved reading the gothic romances back in the 70s and 80s. Some even had ghosts in the attic. But paranormal romances weren’t out there. Then ideas for several paranormals came to mind and I worked them up. When I mentioned them to my then agent I heard “you’re killing me here! I can’t sell those!” I offered to send her the ideas along with wine. :}

But let’s talk timing. My agent sent them on to my editor and the day they landed on her desk was the day she came up with a calendar of books. She said my romance set in Salem, MA was perfect for Halloween and Under His Spell was out there. Not a true paranormal but I loved the elements. Along with that was A Man for Maggie, a murder suspense involving a psychic, No Room at the Inn, which was my Christmas version of Brigadoon, Twist of Fate, what I called another type of Quantum Leap, and Bells Rings and Angel’s Wings, my spin on It’s A Wonderful Life. But readers weren’t totally ready for paranormal romances. The best thing about these books are that they’re back out there as ebooks.

Even if the books weren’t selling back then the idea of paranormal was still there in the back of my mind. There was an idea lingering that would whisper you really need to listen to me.

So I did. Witches who’d been around since the 1300s formed in living color and I knew I had to write the stories.

I talked to pagan friends, researched historical facts to add as background information, and the magickal world I already lived in had become even richer to my senses.

I have snarky bunny slippers that roam the house and harass the dogs. A gargoyle that I sometimes find in my lingerie drawers. A witch who thinks my coffee is hers. Another witch who reminds me romance is a good thing. A hexster who whispers in my ear when I feel the need to get even with someone. One who lets me know I may be short but to stand up for myself as in ‘hey, I’m supposed to be waited on next” and a healer who’s sorry her power won’t cure my cold. One who loves it when I go shopping and so on.

And this is why paranormal chose me.

What about you? What does paranormal do for you?

- Linda

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Linda Wisdom has published more than 70 novels with 13 million copies sold worldwide including traditional, paranormal, humor, action/adventure romance, and romantic suspense. Her bestselling books have been nominated for RT Book Reviews awards and the Romance Writers of America Rita Award. She lives with her husband in Murrieta, California. For more information, please visit www.LindaWisdom.com.

A DEMON DOES IT BETTER BY LINDA WISDOM – IN STORES JANUARY 2012

A madhouse is not place for a curious witch…

After more than a century, Doctor Lili Carter, witch healer extraordinaire, has returned to San Francisco and taken a job at Crying Souls Hospital and Asylum, where something peculiar and wicked is happening. Patients are disappearing, and Lili wants to know why.

And double dangerous for a demon…

Lili finds herself undeniably attracted to perhaps the most mysterious patient of all—a demented but seriously sexy demon named Jared. What’s behind the gorgeous chameleon demon’s late-night escapades?

Before long, Lili and Jared are investigating each other—and creating a whole new kind of magic.

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (January 1, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1402236727

ISBN-13: 978-1402236723

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Sourcebooks, we’re giving away TWO copies of A DEMON DOES IT BETTER. This giveaway is open to all with a US/Canadian mailing address (No P.O Boxes) will run through the month of February until 11:59pm Feb 29, 2012.

To enter this giveaway just answer the author’s question…
what does paranormal do for you?

Of course we always love it when you (and of course we’d give you extra points)…

Subscribe to my RSS feed
Subscribe by email (see sidebar)
Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/farrah1230)
Tweet this giveaway and don’t forget to include @farrah1230 #tbfr so I can find it
Write a post on your blog or Facebook linking to my blog; leave URL in comment.

» Romance

Assassins In Love: Assassins Guild {#Book Review}

When one killer falls for another

Love becomes a matter of life and death

READ AN EXCERPT

Amelia Grey {#Author Interview}

A Darkly Hidden Truth {#Book Trailer}

Dublin Destiny {#Book Review}

Can an introverted ugly duckling be God’s perfect match for the most eligible bachelor in town?

Six Tips to Writing A Novel From Beginning to End {Guest #Author: Susanna Kearsley}

The Night Circus {#Book Trailer}

WOODROSE MOUNTAIN hero Brodie Thorne talks to RaeAnne Thayne {Guest #Author: RaeAnne Thayne}

A Chat with Nigel DeVries {Guest #Author: K.T. Wells + #Giveaway}

To enter, answer this question…

Have you ever wondered where you old high school flame is today? Would you ever reconnect (if you weren’t already with your other half today of course)?

Amanda Forester {#Author Interview + #Book #Giveaway}

To enter the contest…answer this question…

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a Scottish Highlander from the Medieval times?

The Marker {#Book Review}

Creating the Magic {Guest #Author: Kathryne Kennedy + #Giveaway}

To enter the giveaway, answer the following question…

If you were an Elven Lord, which realm (see Kennedy’s Elvin realms above) would you rule and why?

Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel {#Book Review}

The Sympathetic Villain (Or – all you need is a little love), Trish McCallan {Guest #Author + #Giveaway}

To enter the giveaway, answer the author’s question…

What’s the last sympathetic villain you’ve read? Are there any villains you would have liked turned into heroes and given their own story?

The Fine Art of Research, Shana Galen {Guest #Author + #Giveaway}

What about you? Have you ever gotten yourself in over your head and had to call on Dad (or someone else) to bail you out?

To enter this giveaway just answer the author’s question…

Have you ever gotten yourself in over your head and had to call on Dad (or someone else) to bail you out?

How Paranormal Chose Me {Guest Author: Linda Wisdom + #Giveaway}

To enter this giveaway just answer the author’s question… what does paranormal do for you?

Have you ever wondered where you old high school flame is today?
Would you ever reconnect (if you weren’t already with your other half today of course)?

What’s the first thing that comes to mind
when you think about a Scottish Highlander from the Medieval times?

To enter this giveaway just answer the author’s question…
what does paranormal do for you?