Vixenwriter

First at the Raven Happy Hour to win a Vegas themed pack from me - BTW if you already have your copy of Vegas I’ll be happy to substitute another one of my titles.

Also - one held by the fabulous Ann Aguirre (if you haven’t read Grimspace yet you should! it is SOOO good)

And lastly by the lovely Cynthia Eden (who wrote Hotter After Midnight, one of my favorite paranormal romances ever!)

You can read for yourself in the excerpt below but Hotter After Midnight is a really good book. Cynthia Eden takes all my favorite things about the paranormal genre and gives them an interesting and unique twist. It’s sexy - like hella, grab you from the first time Colin and Emily lay eyes on each other sexy.

Emily is smart and not in a contrived sense. She’s very human even though she’s a little more than human with her gift. She’s tortured in her own way, weighed down by the secrets she keeps. Eden does a great job with her inner dialog, not going overboard with it but lending a sense of intimacy well matched to Emily’s character.

Colin is well, guh, whoo, guh, hot. Dark. Tortured. He’s got a secret. He’s very very alpha but not crossing the line into jerk.

The mystery element is well crafted, creepy without going over doing it. There are some truly suspenseful moments through the story and I thought it was weaved into the overall romance storyline well. LOVED the worldbuilding.

Hotter After Midnight drew me in from the very first scene. I’d just meant to peek at it but I ended up gobbling the whole thing down in one big read because I just couldn’t put it down. Cynthia Eden has a damned bright future ahead of her - grab Hotter Than Midnight - you won’t be sorry!

And now to the contest! The book comes out officially on the 29th so between today and 9 pm eastern on the 28th I’ll run a contest. Just comment here on your favorite paranormal romance book or author or heck, even your favorite kind of creature and you’ll be entered. I’ll choose a winner at random on the 28th and send the book via Amazon prime right then. Good luck!!

Blurb: Vampire Hunter Minx Rodriguez decides to mix a little business with pleasure when she heads to Mexico to celebrate El Dia de los Muertos. She’s hot on the trail of the vampire who not only took her hostage and tortured her but also killed her friends and family.

Connor Bell finds himself in love with a Vampire Hunter who’s skipped town without notice — much like he did to her just two weeks before. He heads to Mexico to find her and make things right.

Even as they work through their problems and plan a feast to celebrate the lives of those they’ve lost to the Oathbreakers, the threat remains. A Hunter’s job is never done and there’s a job to do in Mexico. The question remains as to whether Minx and Connor can survive what’ll be asked of them both.

And the lovely Dannette is having me at her blog today so stop over to say hello and enter yourself into a contest to win a book!

You wanna know what happens? Well, you’ll have to read the upcoming anthology featuring what Loveromances calls: Fasten your seatbelt, because four of the best authors of the erotic romance genre take you on a wicked and wild trip to Sin City. 

Now, here’s the thing - you can wait until May 1 when the book comes out or come by the Pittsburgh Hilton on Saturday April 19 and get one there.  OR

You can enter to win one of the shiny, pretty author copies I received.  

If you choose the latter, simply use the handy dandy contact form at my website and be sure to put VEGAS CONTEST in the subject line.  I’ll begin choosing winners at random, oh any old time I want to and up through they’re gone. Just make a note of where you’d be putting your review up (and no, it’s not going to make a difference if you post at Amazon v a review blog) - it just helps me to know where things may be going up.

Is there a catch? Not really. What I would like is if you’d put up a review of the anthology either at your blog, another review blog or at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com.  A good review is obviously desirable but not required - all four of us want you to love our stories but we want you to be honest too.

So that’s it - you want a free, early copy, enter to win!!  I’ll be notifying winners via email so be sure the address you use is valid.  ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER HOUSEHOLD PLEASE

All Winners Have Been Notified By Email!
Mary
Laura K
Tez Miller
Catherine Corbett
Amy Smith
Christy Hawkes
Sunflower95_daisy
Heather Nestorick
Bungluna
Gail Martin
tmealhouse
Joy Roach

Hey all, I’m guest blogging over at Novel Thoughts - head on over to say hello and enter for a chance to win booktype love.

Sensual Magic
DONE!!!
Since day one of Sven until last night I’ve written 16K. In the midst of that I did a smallish revision on something and had the flu (and it appears to be back, gah!) but I’m thrilled to have gotten this far.

Okay so I’m going to let it sit for a few days while I do my revisions for Undercover and then I’ll do the second draft. After that, it’s on to Unexpected, the next Cascadia Wolves book.

I doubt I’ll be adding much word count on my revisions but once that’s over and I send Sensual Magic in, I’ll be ready to get back to the Wardens and their world of wolves so yay!

It’s Read an E-Book Week and there’s a week long celebration going on over at the Samhain Cafe! Many Sammy authors are hanging out and giving out prizes so get on over there to check it out. Angel is kicking butt this week pulling this together so I wanted to send her my kudos, as always, for a job well done.

I love ebooks and epublishing. It’s where I got my start. Ellora’s Cave gave me my first real break and then Samhain after that. I’ll always appreciate the freedom I’ve had to really stretch and become a better writer and to tell the stories I wanted to tell.

I figure what I’ll do is show up later with some excerpts and prizes - ebooks, natch. If you have any requests for certain books to be excerpted from, holler now.

is comment #18 - Bella!!

Bella, send me your mailing address and I’ll have amazon send you a copy!

And I had to re-draw for the Grimspace contest because the original winner never claimed her prize:

Crystal B - commenter #23, you’re the winner of Ann Aguirre’s Grimspace! Email me your mailing address and I’ll get the book your way!

As many regular readers know, Anya Bast is a dear friend. She’s like one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She rarely says a mean thing about anyone or anything (I know, it boggles as to why she likes me too). She’s also a really fabulous writer who’s taught me many things about craft in the years I’ve read and then knew her.

On March 4, Witch Blood, book two in her Elemental Witches series officially releases although it’s apparently shipping from Barnes and Noble and has been spotted on shelves already.

In this installment, we get Thomas, who we meet in Witch Blood. Thomas is a man wearing the very heavy mantle of leadership of his Coven in some dangerous times. He’s strong, an earth witch to Isabelle’s water witch powers. She’s chaos and emotion and he’s quiet intensity but no less emotional, he’s just more contained.

I loved this book. I loved it from the first paragraph until the very end. The action part of the story is strong, interesting and really well told. Anya’s strength at drawing you into the world she’s writing really shines here. You care about the Coven and her witches, you care about the people, you can see the rooms right down to the wood grain in the floors and you can feel the silk of Thomas’ hair as he lets it down for Isabelle.

Isabelle is a woman filled with conflicts and guilt, she needs revenge for her sister. But she’s not wild and stupid, she’s impassioned and needs to make things right for this woman who accepted her, warts and all. I loved that about Isabelle actually. I loved that we know she’s hard and rootless but her anchor in life was her sister who’s now gone. That element was very emotional for me and I think Anya nailed it and has really shown Isabelle rather than told us about her.

The romance is strong and sexy. The love scenes are, whew, hot, guh! And totally elemental to the story. The way Thomas falls for Isabelle is startling and well written and Isabelle’s reluctance is not one of those romance novel moments when you wrinkle your nose and tell the heroine she’s a twit.

Little unique details like where and how Thomas’ power is stored really made the book extra special. I cannot wait for the next book! Anya Bast has scored yet another hit with her Elemental Witches.

The basics: A water witch, Isabelle Novak has always led a chaotic, nomadic existence. But her life spins out of control when her sister—her only friend and emotional anchor—is killed by a demon. Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, she turns her back on the Coven and the rede they hold sacred: Harm thee none…

When Isabelle first encounters Thomas Monahan, she’s running on pure rage and sorrow, channeling her pain into power—and trying to freeze the life out of a warlock she holds responsible for her sister’s death. Together, they form an uneasy alliance to hunt and destroy a demon of tremendous power. As head of the Coven, earth witch Thomas must thwart Isabelle’s dark impulses, but his very presence stirs deeper desires she never knew she had…

Okay so, because I loved this book so much - how about a contest? I’ll send the winner a copy of Witch Blood straight from Amazon.com upon winning. All you need to do is comment here and I’ll pick a winner at random on Saturday, March 1 at noon pacific. So g’wan and enter!

The winner of the Grimspace contest - a la random.org is commenter #21 Wicked Writes!

Send me your mailing address and I’ll put it on order for you at Amazon today! Congratulations!

WINNERS OF MY BLOG CONTESTS HAVE SEVEN DAYS TO CLAIM PRIZES. AFTER THAT I WILL DRAW FOR ANOTHER WINNER.

Up front, lest I be accused of hiding it, I know Ann Aguirre. I happen to think she’s fabulous and I talk to her pretty much daily via IM. I also happen to think she’s a really gifted writer and I’ve thought so before I IM’d her all the time.

She’s got a book coming out next week (although I’ve heard it’s on shelves already!) called Grimspace.

Cool cover huh? Penguin/Ace/Berkley does a fabulous job with covers I gotta say.

Anyway - Ann kindly sent me an early peek at Grimspace some months back and when I read it, it blew me away. It’s one of those books what you look at and think, first person? Present tense? But it works. It conveys a sense of urgency, of breathlessness but every once in while it slows, tensing, making that pause sort of delicious before speeding up again. Aguirre’s words are sharp and tensile and some of the passages are so gorgeous in their description that even alone they’d make Grimspace an above average read.

But there’s more of course by way of a story well matched to the breathless manner in which Aguirre delivers it to the reader.

The first time in the book when Jax sits in her chair and she’s describing how grimspace is indescrible? I was there. Aguirre leads me through as Jax prepares and then jumps. I’m now jumped into the book and the journey begins. I love science fiction and futuristics and I read across sub genres and authors but I tend toward the edgy sort of delivery you see with Gibson and Morgan and Grimspace has that. It’s lush in places but the pace keeps it stark at the same time. I loved the action element as well as the romantic storyline. March is as well drawn as Jax, even through Jax’s eyes and they’re well matched on the page. There’s a lot to March but he’s like an iceburg character - much of what he is is below the surface and so we learn it slowly but surely.

There’s something deliciously flawed in Sirantha Jax. Deeply wounded. Prickly, bitchy at times, defensive and guilt ridden. But you know why. You’re in her head, no one holds her more accountable than she does herself. But there’s a resilience in her. She tells herself she doesn’t need anyone else but she does. She tells herself not to take a risk in reaching out but she does. I just really liked her.

Anyway, as you can tell, I dug Grimspace. I think it’s a great mixture of action, emotion, romance with some startlingly wonderful and memorable characters.

The basics: As the carrier of a rare gene, Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which cuts into her life expectancy, but makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. But then the ship she’s navigating crash-lands, and she’s accused of killing everyone on board. It’s hard for Jax to defend herself: she has no memory of the crash.

Now imprisoned and the subject of a ruthless interrogation, Jax is on the verge of madness. Then a mysterious man breaks into her cell, offering her freedom—for a price. March needs Jax to help his small band of rogue fighters break the Corp monopoly on interstellar travel—and establish a new breed of jumper.

Jax is only good at one thing—grimspace—and it will eventually kill her. So she may as well have some fun in the meantime…

Okay so because I think Grimspace is such a fabulous book - I’m going to give one away via Amazon.com. All you need to do is comment and I’ll draw at random on Friday afternoon and order it to send it your way as soon as Amazon ships!