D is for...

Traci Douglass

The Blurb:

Seal of Surrender (releasing May 6th)

War has shaped every aspect of Irena Soldan’s life—her childhood, her work, her DNA. Unaware she is the genetic host of the second Seal of the Apocalypse, Irena battles for those who cannot fight for themselves as a top human-rights operative for The Omega Consortium, whose charismatic, publicity-loving boss holds a deadly personal agenda.

Chago has always been the quiet one among his warrior Scion brethren—the brooding, combat expert with a hidden soft side. A member of Divinity’s covert special forces, he’s protected humanity for more than a millennium and now his goal is retirement. In exchange for his freedom, Chago agrees to protect Irena against his ancient enemy as his final mission. Expecting a cauldron of female whoop-ass, he instead discovers a harbinger of peace amidst a world of ever-increasing violence.

Despite the cataclysmic circumstances, an undeniable attraction ignites between Chago and Irena. Together, they must unravel the ancient puzzle of the Seals and discover a way to defeat an unstoppable evil before they both become casualties of War.

by Traci Douglass

Author Bio:

Traci is the author of paranormal/urban fantasy and contemporary romances featuring a sly, urban edge, including her current Seven Seals series. Her stories feature sizzling alpha-male heroes full of dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes; smart, independent heroines who always give as good as they get; and scrumptiously evil villains who are—more often than not—bent on world destruction. She enjoys weaving ancient curses and mythology, modern science and old religion, and great dialogue together to build red-hot, sizzling chemistry between her main characters.

Author's Note:

"The original idea for the Seven Seals Series came to me through a dream I had in November of 2011. I developed the premise into the first book in the series, SEAL OF DESTINY, and wrote the first draft in one month! Things have blossomed from there. Book Two, SEAL OF SURRENDER, continues the Scion legacy with Chago and Irena."


Book blurbing my way through the challenge on here, and limericking through the April A-Z over at The Furry Tale Chronicles. Please stop by!

C is for...

Cooper's Redemption

The Blurb:

Elizabeth Adams is a Los Angles native who has always dreamed of living in the Rocky Mountains. She loves western movies and riding horses, and dreams of being a heroine in a western film. She gets her chance for real life adventure when her mother disappears from Salt Lick, Colorado, after going there to sell a ranch she inherited.

J.B. Cooper (just Cooper) is under suspicion for killing his neighbor, Henry Harper, over a water dispute. There is no evidence to convict him, but the shadow of doubt hovers around him. He just wants to be left in peace.

Circumstances throw Elizabeth and Cooper together when he tracks rustled cattle to her ranch … and discovers a body in the barn. Once again, he is the suspect in a suspicious death. Elizabeth is convinced Cooper had nothing to do with the murder of her cousin because to her, he’s a true western hero. Together, they search for her mother, clear Cooper’s name and fall in love along the way.

by D’Ann Lindun

Author Bio:

I draw inspiration from the area where I live, Western Colorado, my husband of twenty-nine years and our daughter, Brandi. Composites of our small farm, herd of horses, five Australian shepherds, three ducks and cats of every shape and color often show up in my stories!

Book blurbing my way through the challenge on this blog, and limericking my way through the April A-Z over at The Furry Tale Chronicles. Please drop by!

B is for...

The Begonia Bribe 

 The Blurb:

Second in the Garden Society Cozy Mystery series by Alyse Carlson (aka: Hart Johnson) 

Roanoke, Virginia, is home to some of the country’s most exquisite gardens, and it’s Camellia Harris’s job to promote them. But when a pint-sized beauty contest comes to town, someone decides to deliver a final judgment …

A beauty pageant for little girls—the Little Miss Begonia Pageant—has decided to hold their event in a Roanoke park. Camellia is called in to help deal with the botanical details, the cute contestants, and their catty mothers. She soon realizes that the drama onstage is nothing compared to the judges row. There’s jealousy, betrayal, and a love triangle involving local newsman—and known lothario—Telly Stevens. And a mysterious saboteur is trying to stop the pageant from happening at all.

But the drama turns deadly when Stevens is found dead, poisoned by some sort of plant. With a full flowerbed of potential suspects, Cam needs to dig through the evidence to uproot a killer with a deadly green thumb.

Pre-order on:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Find Hart/Alyse at:

Confessions of a Watery Tart

Facebook Author Page or Profile

Twitter

Princess Prattle: This was written by one of my very first 'writerly' friends - Alyse, aka Hart Johnson, aka Tami, aka The Watery Tart (also fondly remembered as Gnargles&Snorkacks). A lady of many names, but usually very little clothing (being a leading spokesperson for Naked World Domination). In all seriousness, though, I've been chatting with Tami since... 2004? 2005? I was her first reader on a fan fiction site, and she did me the same service. We've been friends ever since. 

Book blurbing my way through the challenge on this blog, and limericking my way through the April A-Z over at The Furry Tale Chronicles. Please drop by!

A is for...

Audra

The Blurb:

Audra Kingsley, a wealthy heiress, may not have seen much of the world, but she knows exactly how she wants her future to play out—and a coming out ball held at her country estate, Kingsley Manor, would suit her just fine. Her father’s wish that she be presented at St. James in London seems silly since she is to marry her neighbor and childhood sweetheart, Lord Crispin Brighton, but she obliges him.

Audra travels to London with her patroness, the eccentric Lady Sutherland, intending to return home as soon as she has curtseyed to the Queen. Unknown to her, Lady Sutherland is in no rush to leave London before the Season is over and intends to show Audra she has more options in the suitor department than Lord Crispin, a second son.

Audra finds herself surrounded by few friends and is forced to attend parties, balls, and operas—all while becoming the object of a secret admirer’s obsession. As Audra struggles to make her way home to her beloved, plans to compromise her into an unwanted marriage are underway.

by Amanda L.V. Shalaby

Author Bio:

Amanda L. V. Shalaby’s passion for all things Jane Austen was inspired by her mother and grandmother. She now writes her own English historical romances, and is the author of Rhianna and Audra. When Amanda is not writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Matthew, her Shih Tzu dogs, Bella and Huntley, and her Persian cat, Sebastian.


Special note!!!

A is also for Arlee Bird, the founder of this crazy A-Z challenge. This is my third year doing this, and I have had fun and 'met' lots of new friends in the previous years. It's a mixture of hard work, good times, and excitement every time I take part. So I want to say a MASSIVE thank you to the guy who started the whole thing, and raise a virtual glass to toast the Awesome Arlee, a gentleman among bloggers! *clinks glass* Cheers!!

Book blurbing my way through the challenge on this blog, and limericking my way through the April A-Z over at The Furry Tale Chronicles. Please stop by!

Tara vs Tara vs Tara

Original image

 I'm a self-confessed ditherer. I keep doing OTHER stuff - not even important stuff - rather than work on my next book. Now that I actually HAVE important(ish) stuff to do (like get as many of the 56 blog posts ready for the April A-Z - I signed up BOTH blogs... I keep having to remind myself about that. *shifty*) I have decided that now is the time I should work on the next book. *rolls eyes* Ah well, at least I managed the first week of posts for both blogs before I got sidetracked (though half of those were already done, in all fairness, so it's not such a great feat).

See, I had an idea pop in my head for the opening scene, and once it was there, it had to get out. This is not the first time this has happened, and I know from experience that if I don't get it written right away, it will poke and pester at me and drive me nuts.

This time, though, I am determined to keep going. In the last... year?... I have started the next book three times (not including this time), with varying degrees of success when it came to continuing with it. One draft was under five thousand words, little more than a chapter or two. The longest was over 25k, but I ran out of steam.

Now, a normal person would have backed these files up and revisited them, and I did. At least, for a while, at any rate. But during one of my (thankfully) infrequent dips into The Pit (I suffer with episodic depression), I went on a purging spree and deleted virtually everything from my laptop. Regretted it the following day, obviously, but when my Inner It comes for a visit, she's mouthy, pushy, and pretty hard to stand up to.

Anyway, as I said above, I have started the follow up to If the Shoe Fits, and this time I will email any and all progress to my sister for safe keeping. Just in case I have that Purge Urge again.

I'm also currently having numerous conversations with my multiple personalities about the title of my next book. The conversations are sort of like this:

Serious Brain Tara: It needs to have a beast in there somewhere. But not a beauty reference. Don't want it to be too bluergh. I want something snappy.

Serious Brain Tara #2:  Yes. How about what your friend suggested? To Beast Or Not To Beast?

Serious Brain Tara: Well, I like that, but I worry that potential readers might think it will be similar to a Shakespearean story, and really, I think the talking cat might shock them.

Serious Brain Tara #2: I see your point. What about Truly, Madly, Beastly?

Serious Brain Tara: Hmmm. Not loving it, but it's a start.

Serious Brain Tara #2: What about words that rhyme with beast?

Serious Brain Tara: Yes, that's a good idea! Feast! There's one! We could play with quotes that have feast in them!

Serious Brain Tara #2: A Beast for the Eyes, maybe?

Serious Brain Tara: Not enamoured, I have to admit. What other words rhyme with beast, anyway?

Silly Brain Tara: Yeast!

Serious Brain Tara & Serious Brain Tara #2: *blank stare*

Silly Brain Tara: I got it!! Beast Infection!!!!

*dies* Sometimes, I scare myself, I really do...

See you Monday, for the first April A-Z post!

Book Blurb Bloganza!!

I'm a bit scared... a little bit woo, a little bit wa-hay! Why on EARTH did I sign up for the A-Z on BOTH of my blogs?

*dies*

I'm pretty much fine over at my Furry Tale Chronicles blog, mostly because I'm limericking my way through the challenge, and they are easy peasy posts to compose. But as for this one, although I had the vague notion that I would make it related to the publishing side of writing, I was still pretty stumped for ideas for a lot of the letters.

But then I had a Blackadder moment.

Original image

But let me backtrack for a sec...

A little while ago, I told my good friend, The Watery Tart, that I would be happy to help out with a promo post for her upcoming release (The Begonia Bribe, by la Tart's alter ego, Alyse Carlson). So I had my 'B' post (even though it was only when said Tart emailed me the details that it jogged my memory *is a Forgetful Princess at times too*).

Then, I also remembered that I'd signed up to do a cover reveal promotional post for Rhonda Helms - who, I should point out, I don't really know, but am Twitter-stalking, along with other Carina Press editors, due to my inability to patiently wait out the response period for my recent submission to them *shifty* - on April 18th.

I should ALSO add, that I only remembered THAT yesterday. *cough*

Anyway! With two posts firmly accounted for, I had a sudden thought. Or, in reference to my earlier Blackadder remark, I had a cunning plan!!!

Why not book blurb my way through the entire challenge?

With this in mind, and also remembering that I will be promoting my own book by limericking tasty teasers on my OTHER blog, I decided to ask my fellow Crimson Romance authors if they would like some promo next month.

These ladies - we are the CR Sisters!! - are fabulous. *nods* We chat, share advice, promote each other's books, and just generally support each other. We also post pictures of hot men - not always dressed - but that is besides the point. *whistles innocently*

Back to the point (yes, I'm rambling, I know). I asked my fellow CR Sisters if they wanted some book blurb love, and they have responded beautifully. I'm mostly using the alphabet letters to represent the author's name or book title, but where they didn't always fit, I have used my (slightly skewered) imagination. Now I just need to compose and schedule the remainder of the 52 posts. *dies yet again over signing up both blogs*

But why is this cunning? Well, because not only do I NOT have to worry about coming up with ideas for each of the letters, I am also able to kill two birds with one stone (well, not kill, as I like ickle birdies, but youknoworrimean) and share some promo love at the same time. Issallgood, like, innit?

Later, taters!!

(Note to self: Try to restrict using the word 'also'. Also, don't leave notes for yourself on a public page).

April Antics

Well, I did it, despite telling myself I wouldn't. I signed up for this years April A-Z challenge. *points at badge on the right* This will be my third year, though I failed last year, and didn't quite make it all the way through the alphabet. Still kicking myself that I never managed X. Y and Z, but there we are.

This year, I'm not going to do limericks. Well, there might be one or two, but I don't want to restrict myself. With my debut novel scheduled for release on April 29th, I really think I should take this opportunity to use the challenge as a sort of promotional lead-up to the big day. Still not sure how that's going to work, but I'll just do what I normally do and make it up as I go along... *shifty*

In other news, I've been participating in 'March Madness' - a sort of WriMo event hosted by my writer's group, except rather than the conventional 'write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days' challenge, it's more of a 'finish a project that's been bugging you' sort of thing. We like to bend the rules, you see. Me being me, I bent the rules further by choosing NOT to finish a current writing project, but instead work on a brand new novella.

This novella was in response to a specific submissions call by an e-book publisher, and despite the deadline being March 15th, I shocked and stunned myself (and probably my fellow writers) by writing, editing AND submitting my 20k effort in under a fortnight.

Clearly, somebody took over this Procrastinating Princess during the process.

Now I am putting most of my efforts into promoting If The Shoe Fits, but hopefully I can channel the Writing Fairy that took over me in the first half of March, and produce a decent word count on my next furry fairy tale before the end of the month.

Then it's April A-Z madness! Along with finding out whether my novella has been accepted or rejected on or around April 15th, followed by release day for my talking pussy-cat on the 29th.

Crikey, April will DEFINITELY be a crazy month...

Also, keep your eyes peeled on The Furry Tale Chronicles blog... there's going to be an update - with cover art reveal! -  post sometime this week!!

Image borrowed from here...

UPDATE!!! And Laura - blogger at Daily Dodo and Chick Lit Love - has just posted my first official promotional blog visit. Yaaaaay! Thanks, Laura! Check it out here: Dithering Debutante.

UPDATE #2!! I'm nuts, but I've also decided to blog through the April A-Z over at The Furry Tale Chronicles, where I will make up for not posting rude rhymes on here by limericking over there...