Type: Paranormal Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Brava

My Copy: Sent

When Dr. Alyssa Foster is taken hostage by a prison inmate, she knows she’s in deep trouble. Not just because Teague Creek is desperate for freedom. But because the moment his fingers brush against her skin, Alyssa feels a razor-sharp pang of need…A man with a life sentence has nothing to lose. At least Teague doesn’t, until his escape plan develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run from both the law and deadly undercover operatives, he can only give her lies, but every heated kiss tells him the fire between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him forever.

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Teague Creek has been in jail for a crime he didn’t commit and now it’s time to get some justice. Kidnapping the girlfriend of someone he thinks holds all the cards seems like a easy way to get what he wants. Leverage. He never expected to kidnap the wrong woman. Especially one that looks as tempting as Alyssa and who can get his blood boiling every time the feisty woman opens her mouth. Getting his blood boiling though is another secret Teague harbors. His unique ability may be just what he needs to keep this woman safe and get what he’s sought all along. Justice.

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Fever is the first novel by Joan Swan. Each year I try to promote a few debut authors and I think with Joan I have struck a gold mine! How this is her first book is beyond me because she writes like a seasoned professional. Fever is a romantic suspense peppered with paranormal-ish abilities that blend together to form a solid, eye-catching book that is sure to entertain fans of both subgenres.

From the first page I really liked Teague. I felt horribly for him for everything he had been through. A wife who committed suicide, a girlfriend murdered, a fire that split his fellow fire fighters apart, a jail sentence for a crime he didn’t commit and finally a custody battle. That is enough angst to cripple even the strongest of men. Yet Teague remains steadfast in his need for justice. To achieve it he forms a plan for a daring jailbreak that hinges on grabbing a doctor, the girlfriend of the man who has Teague’s daughter, to use as leverage.

Except the woman he grabs isn’t the woman he thought she was. Instead he grabs Alyssa, the workaholic just trying to secure a prominent position at the hospital. She is strong, loud and incredibly mouthy which instantly grates on Teague’s jailbreak accomplice. I instantly warmed even more toward Teague when he was protecting Alyssa (though he didn’t know he had the wrong woman at that point) from various guys because of her mouth. I couldn’t get over how much she said. It was a BIT unbelievable that someone would say as much as she did to guys that she was sure were going to kill her. Having said that I appreciated her strong will and thought she paired well with Teague who had an even stronger will.

Alyssa and Teague had a steady warming relationship. Teague spends a good portion of the book lying to her about nearly everything not sure he could trust her. Even after she makes the decision to stay with him,  he finds that he can’t seem to tell her everything for fear that she will betray him like he perceives everyone else has. Playing devils advocate to his strong will is his emotional fragility. I thought his showing emotion several times in the form of tears was a breath of fresh air to the normal “I will not cry mentality”. Normally I shun crying men. I hate it in fact. Swan did it in a way where I still felt how strong this man was and so the tears were just another layer to the puzzle that was Teague.

Since this is the beginning of a series, there are many more questions than answers. How did Teague get his ability of being able to raise his body heat and soothe pain at will? Who are the shadowed group that did their best to frame him and put him away and out of mind forever? Why? Joan Swans next book, Blaze, comes out this fall and I hope readers will get more information at that time. I think all my questions brought the book down a bit for me. I wanted at least a few more answers than what I was given. Coupled with the fact that the book dragged a bit for me at several spots. There were parts where as a suspense book, I wanted a bit more action. A bit more threat. Some readers will take issue with the paranormal aspect in a suspense, as this seems to be a rising trend in the genre.

I give Fever by Joan Swan 4 stars!

A serial killer on the loose, a woman being stalked, and a homicide detective who must find the connection between the two before she becomes the next victim.

He collects women. He imprisons them, plays with them, tortures them. Until they bore him. Then he removes a souvenir. They call him the Sandman.

Meagan McInnis is being plagued with late night calls, yet when she answers, no one is there. Then one night she makes a grizzly discovery in her own backyard.

The caller is silent no more.

Homicide Detective, J.J. Thomas, realizes Meagan is the key to finding the Sandman. Now not only must he protect her, but he must find the connection between Meagan and the killer before she becomes his next victim.

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I’ve been asked where the inspiration for SANDMAN came from. Well, truth is stranger than fiction. It was November 3, 1998. I had gone away for the weekend to the mountains with a couple of friends from work. There had been rumors of snow, so we put the TV on immediately to track the storm. The minute the news came on, there was a story of a trucker who had walked into the police station, slapped a plastic bag on the counter and stated; I think you’re looking for me. The bag contained the severed breast of a woman.

As the weekend wore on, more information became available. They stated that the man had frequented a Karaoke bar in San Clemente. That perked up my ears. Five years prior, I had dated a guy who ran that Karaoke bar. I might have met this guy! Chilling.

After I got home, there was a message from my best friend. She asked if I had seen the story on the news and wasn’t that the guy I’d dated? I laughed. I’d never dated a Wayne. I would have remembered, that was my grandfather’s name. Then she told me his full name was Wayne Adam Ford, it hit me. I did date a guy named Adam, but he didn’t look anything like the guy on the news.

The Adam I knew was sexy, tall, fit and had a neatly trimmed beard that brought out his gorgeous deep green eyes. It had been the winter of 1993 and he wore flannel shirts with straight legged 501 jeans. I love that lumberjack look! *giggle* The guy on the news was heavier and balding. Of course, I hadn’t seen him in five years and people do change. But I still wasn’t convinced. My friend said that Inside Edition was doing a story on him that night.

So at seven o’clock I sat on my couch and waited. They started the segment with the exact same clip the news had showed all weekend. It was a slow motion shot of him entering a court room in an orange jumpsuit. But this time, when he turned to face the camera, I recognized those eyes. I burst into tears. It was him, it was the man I’d dated! My body trembled, then turned numb as I listened to the frightening tale. He was discharged from the marines for psychological reasons in the early eighties. In 1985 he was arrested for the rape and beating of a prostitute, the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. That’s when it occurred to me, he was already on the brink of insanity when I’d known him!

In 1994 he’d met a young girl at that same karaoke bar. They’d married and had a child. After the birth, he started to unravel. He’d become possessive, jealous and asked her to do strange things in the bedroom. She divorced him and took the child to live with her mother. He was refused visitation rights.

That was the catalyst that started his murderous rampage. He started picking up prostitutes and hitch hikers at truck stops along his route. He raped and

tortured the girls before he killed them, then sliced off a breast as a souvenir.

The camera panned to a trailer surrounded by woods alongside a river. The picture would have been beautiful and serene if not for all the cops parading in and out carrying evidence. They announced his freezer was full of body parts. It seems that one of his victims had her legs, arms and head amputated by an ax. Her torso was found bobbing in the water by a fisherman. They were still searching the Madd River for her head.

In a moment of hysteria, I remembered how overly dramatic the guy had been. If not for the fact that they’d found all that evidence linking him to those grisly crimes, I would have thought he’d confessed just to get attention. Maybe he did. The authorities didn’t know they had a serial killer. He wasn’t even a blip on their radar. So the only way he could get his fifteen minutes of fame was to turn himself in. But the joke’s on him, fifteen minutes is all he got. After all, have you ever heard of Wayne Adam Ford? It is said that there are approximately 50 serial killers active in the United States at any given time. So if in his sick twisted mind he thought he would be another Ted Bundy, or John Wayne Gacy, he was sorely mistaken.

The final twist to this already disturbing story is that I met Wayne Adam Ford on my birthday November 3, 1993 and he turned himself in on November 3 1998. After this revelation, I didn’t trust my instincts regarding men. I didn’t go on another date for over ten years. I’m still single to this day. I guess you could say that this has really messed with my mind!

Now I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true. I never had a clue. The guy I dated was charming, handsome and had lots of friends. We dated only a short time. I questioned his relationship with his ex-girlfriend who was cooking him meals and leaving them in his freezer. He broke up with me because he said I had a suspicious mind. Funny, but I ran into him some months later and we went out to grab a bite to eat. That’s when he confessed he had to stop seeing her because he was still in love with her.

Now, when you read SANDMAN, you will find bits and pieces of these things in the story. I borrowed some facts from his case and mixed them up between the suspects so no one would be able to guess the killer’s true identity.

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EXCERPT

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Sean climbed out of the water with his board under his arm. He dragged his hand down his face to brush the salt water away from his eyes. His breathing was labored; he’d gotten in a good workout today. He walked up the beach a good distance before he detected a strange odor. As he neared his destination, the stench invading his nostrils became more pungent.

I hope there wasn’t another damn sewage spill.

Soon he heard a strange buzzing sound. He stopped, brows furrowed, and concentrated on zeroing in on the exact location of the noise. Failing at this, he shrugged, and then continued up the strand. But with each step his uncertainty grew. The irritating cacophony had increased in volume.

Within seconds Sean found himself about fifty feet from where he’d left his gear. Before him lay a blanket of black that appeared to be moving. “What the fuck?” He hesitated, waiting for the synapses in his brain to start firing, before taking another step.

When he found no logical explanation, he gently rested his board on the sand and made his way closer until he stood directly in front of the sight. His hand cupped his nose. The stench reminded him of hard-boiled eggs gone bad. Very, very bad.

Okay, strike the moving blanket crack. It was more like a black cloud hovering over his belongings. Flies. He had an inkling that it was not the seaweed they found interesting. Something dead had washed up on shore and he was less than eager to find out what it was. A seagull? A fish? A seal? Whatever it was, it would not be pretty no matter how long it had been dead.

Slowly, he reached down to pick up his sweater with one hand, while the other reached for the strap on his backpack. The flies swarmed up for a brief moment, just long enough to reveal their prey, before settling back down into a dark writhing carpet.

An unintelligible sound escaped Sean’s lips. He gasped for air while instinctively taking a step back. He’d seen some hairy things in his life, but nothing even close to this. Icy fingers of fear raced up his spine; his heartbeat hammered in his chest.

Sean couldn’t look away even if he had wanted to. Some strange fascination took hold of his brain and wouldn’t let go. Systematically, his mind dissected the grisly scene before him.

Sticking out of the rolling mound of seaweed was a woman’s arm. It was stiff as a mannequin’s, extending skyward as if reaching to him for help. The mottled blue hand wore long red fingernails, two of which had been broken down to the quick. Seaweed was wrapped around her arm like a feather boa.

Sean’s gaze then locked onto another object protruding from the sandy grave: a leg that seemed to be severed mid-thigh, but closer inspection revealed that it was really half-buried. It too appeared tangled in the bubbly brown vegetation.

The foot, like the hand, wore a shock of bright red polish on its perfectly manicured toes, clashing with the bluish pallor of the flesh. His eyes grew wide at the sight of flies and sand crabs greedily devouring the soft tissue. He choked back bile.

The spell was broken.

Sean stepped backward so fast he tripped over his own feet and landed on his butt. He scrambled up and raced toward the shore. He couldn’t get away fast enough. He reached the water’s edge before collapsing to his hands and knees. His insides lurched so hard that he thought he would spew his stomach lining. Dry heaves continued long after his stomach had emptied. He collapsed on the sand, exhausted. A wave washed over him, but he hardly noticed.

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About the Author:

Morgan Hannah MacDonald writes Romantic Thrillers-Not for the faint of heart. She has always been interested in writing and serial killers, but it wasn’t until she found she had dated one herself that a true writer was born. She belongs to Romance Writers of America’s San Diego Chapter, as well as the Kiss of Death Chapter. She resides in San Diego, California where she is busy working on her next novel.

Email: morganwrites@yahoo.com

Website: www.morganhannahmacdonald.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorganHannahMacDonald.Author

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Want to win a e-copy of Sandman? Let me know and I will enter you into the contest! Leave a clear way for me to find you if you win please. Open internationally! I will close this giveaway on the 29th at 11:59pm EST and announce the winner the next day! Winner picked by Random.org. 

Type: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Signet

My Copy: Sent

A QUEST FOR FREEDOM MAY BE DERAILED BY THEIR INTENSE ATTRACTION… 

Niall Quinn, mage and the finest thief in the Black Tower, is the fae’s best hope for freedom. Only he stands a chance of tracking down and retrieving the missing bosca fadbh pieces from the Summer Queen. But he meets his match in Elizabeth Cely Saintjohn, who has taken control of the pieces on the Summer Queen’s behalf—and has refused to give them up. 

Elizabeth is an asrai, a rare English water fae, and she may be the only one in Piefferburg stealthier than Niall. She has her own reasons for guarding the two pieces and wanting the walls of Piefferburg to remain intact—even if it means denying her fae sisters and brothers their freedom. Her mother’s life depends on it. 

Torn between his duty to obtain the pieces at any cost—and the shocking lust Elizabeth has stirred in him—Niall must convince Elizabeth to surrender the pieces, or else he may have no choice but to destroy her and all she holds dear…

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Elizabeth knows that keeping the hidden pieces that hold the walls around her world together is the only way to save her mothers life. Doesn’t mean she wants to work with the enemy but seeing no other choice she agrees to do so. Her species of fae is so elusive that no one knows her secrets anyway so she feels safe in being able to keep the pieces hidden from prying eyes.

Niall has been sent to collect the pieces no matter the cost. One small, although incredibly beautiful, fae can not stand in his way. He is prepared to do everything in his power to catch the rare female and get the information he seeks. When her capture proves to be harder then he anticipated Niall decides that torture might be the only way to gain the knowledge he seeks.Except when he finally gets her within his grasp the last thing on his mind is torture.

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Midnight Enchantment is the fourth book in Bast’s Dark Magick series. I will start this review off by saying I highly recommend you read this series in order. Anya Bast does an incredible and complex job on the world building. Every piece of information and every character has a part to play.

Elizabeth is a very rare form of fae. So rare that she is the only one in existence in her homeland. No one seems to know anything about her kind, though Niall comes the closest is understanding her strengths and weaknesses. Elizabeth has formed an uneasy alliance with a common enemy only to try to save her mother’s life. The fae want the walls surrounding their forest prison to come down but in doing so the sprae (a tiny fae organism) would also leave making it impossible for her sprae dependent mother to survive.  I could understand her desire to protect her mother even though I also understand the fae’s need for freedom. There were times I thought Elizabeth should have understood that what she was doing was selfish, even if she still did what she did. She came off as very young a lot of the book, but also very strong. Even when put through the worst she still held her ground and refused to give in.

There were a few times I couldn’t understand what was going through Elizabeth’s head. She was so all over the map with her emotions it was hard to keep up. One minute she’d hate Niall the next she was interested in him. When Niall finally tells her he loves her she basically tells him off. I think a lot of that had to do with her maturity and I wondered what a creature as old as Niall could possible see in her sometimes. Sure she was beautiful and strong. Had a will of steel even. But her temper tantrums (for lack of a better word) got old kind of fast.

Aside from the complex world building I was often confused because the first quarter of the book felt like a dream within a dream within a dream. Nothing was as it seemed. It was hard to follow certain points because of that and I kept thinking that at the end everything was going to be fake (it wasn’t, don’t worry). Niall was on a mission to collect the pieces that Elizabeth hid and he’d stop at nothing to get them. He used everything in his arsenal to break her down, even changing her perception of reality. I often thought he wasn’t cut out to do the dirty work because he showed so much restraint and emotion.

I found the love-making to be sensual and sweet since Elizabeth was a virgin and had no experience with men at all. Niall was exceptionally great at understanding what she needed and when she needed it. I loved his range of emotion. From the man who wanted to keep his word and locate the missing pieces to the man who would do anything to save someone he loved.

I still really liked this book! Some series you can read on their own, this is not one of them. The relationship of Elizabeth and Niall was spot on, I just had a bit of trouble with her character and understanding the complexity of the continuing story arc. I am curious to know the fate of their enemy and refuse to believe it was as easy as just crumbling a fortress to be rid of them. Anya Bast is a master at her world building and story telling, Midnight Enchantment is no exception!

I give Midnight Enchantment by Anya Bast 3.50 stars! 

Type: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

My Copy: Sent -Bewitching Book Tours

Though she’s always hated being a phoenix, Sadie has to admit immortality has its advantages. She’s seen and done more in the last 150 years than she’d ever dreamed of, but she can’t get past the fact that Osiris has done nothing but manipulate her and her fellow phoenixes. Or that, when her last incarnation as a phoenix comes to a fiery end, the fire slowly begins to consume her body.

Sun god Osiris is ashamed of his role as ruler of the Underworld, but unless he can figure out how to save Sadie, that’s exactly where she’s going to end up.

Permanently. Terrified he’s going to lose her, he takes her on a hunt for The Book of the Dead, which is the only way he knows he can save her—even if it means she’ll hate him forever.

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The last of the remaining cursed phoenixes, Sadie, doesn’t understand why Osiris won’t just let her go. In her mind, she has done everything he has asked of her for over a hundred years and yet she is still with him. Still working for him. When her last job results in a sickness of flames roaming her body with the rise of her emotions Sadie knows something is wrong. She is getting weaker and paler with every move she makes. Afraid of hurting someone she goes to Osiris hoping he can help.

Osiris is desperate to help the one woman he damned years ago for no reason. He has to have her. Has to keep her and nothing is going to stand in his way. He’s a God, if anyone can break the rules he should be able to. Osiris has been in love with Sadie a very long time. Now if only she could admit to herself that she’s been in love with him too.

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I have been looking forward to this book since I first read Ice’s story awhile back. I have steadily followed these characters because I love the way in which they are wrote. I love the depth of the characters and the way they just pull me in and keep me ensconced for chapter after chapter.  Osiris, from the beginning was a character I wanted to sink my teeth into. He is guarded and really, unsure of himself though he masks it with superiority and arrogance. Once it comes out that he himself is the fourth phoenix that had been living with Sadie in previous books I knew he must have a thing for her.

The Last Beginning opens with a look back 150 yrs to when he took Sadie from her life and cursed her with the phoenix. He did so in a purely selfish move because she had not sinned and didn’t need to repent for anything. In her mind, she thought she was going to hell already and so Osiris just let her believe as much. The injustice of what he took from her hurt my heart. All because he couldn’t approach her and just give her a choice. Again, surely because he was afraid of what she might say.

When Ice and Arabella become mortal again, leaving only her, she becomes lonely. She spends much of the book confused and scared for what her future holds since she believes she may end up in hell. I really disliked Osiris for using that fear against her to keep her close. Though his dedication I suppose should be commended. Especially when Sadie becomes sick and Osiris doesn’t know why. He becomes obsessed with finding a cure, regardless of Sadie’s wishes.

I enjoyed the fact that they had a intense emotional connection for much of the book. Even if Sadie denied it a lot. They were sensual without trying and when they come together it was almost sweet instead of “wham bam thank you mam”. I did get annoyed with Sadie’s back and forth on every single thing. Does she go with Osiris? Does she stay away? Does she even like him at all? Kiss him then push him away. For a woman as old as she was, she sure acted really young sometimes.

I also felt like this was wrapped up extremely fast. I think I just wanted something a bit longer. It felt so much shorter then the other two books, though I don’t know if it is or not. I felt a bit rushed there in the last few chapters like everything happened way to quickly and was resolved way to easily. The last page or so wasn’t enough for me to feel a happily ever after. Maybe it’s because I liked these characters so much and had looked forward to it since the beginning. Regardless, I think the ending hurt my perception of it just slightly.

I give The Last Beginning by Rachel Firasek 3.75 stars!

Thank you so much for hosting me today! “Caffeine and craziness” sums up my daily life at the moment , so I already feel right at home.

When I started writing my Muses of Mayfair series, I didn’t intend for it to become a message about finding and following your dreams. I just wanted to write some feisty dialog and hot sex between passionate, artistic women and the delightfully brooding men who love them. Of course, I kept the feistiness and the sex (I wouldn’t have it any other way!). But I also learned a lot about my own passions – and discovered an artistic side that I’d never really acknowledged before.

I’ve always been good with words. Other forms of art, not so much. When I was six, I entered a drawing in the children’s art division at my county fair in rural Iowa. Happily, I won the gorgeous grand champion ribbon with the big purple rosette for “Best Drawing – Crayon.” That all sounds great, until you learn that the judge thought I’d drawn a lovely clown, when it was supposed to be a self-portrait!

So my dreams of being an artist were dashed. I also love to sing, but what I lack in tune, I make up for with volume (not a recommended strategy). And my acting is mostly laughable, although I managed to get parts in high school plays due to the extreme lack of population and my general disregard for my own popularity.

But my Muses of Mayfair series is all about a group of women who secretly pursue their artistic passions, despite all the risks to their reputations. While I was writing the first book, Heiress Without A Cause, I realized that even though I am pursuing writing full time, I never really acknowledged my writing as “art.” Maybe it was because I’ve always been good at math and Excel spreadsheets. Maybe I thought my left brain had murdered my right brain in a mercy killing after all my failures at drawing, painting, sculpture, singing, etc. Maybe I suffered a bit of shame over writing “trash,” which I’m now completely over.

There’s something so liberating, though, about treating something as art. There aren’t mistakes in art, the way there are with equations. Art requires exploration, innovation, and experimentation – and gives lots of excuses to read books, watch movies, and play around in the name of feeding your muse.

Your art could be your gardening, or your knitting, or your cooking. Wherever you’re able to create, you have the ability to nurture a passion and see where it takes you. And if you’re anything like my heroines, you may find that diving into your passion makes everything else in life just a little sweeter.

What arts do you pursue? One lucky commenter will win an ebook of my debut novel, Heiress Without A Cause, which is available now as a Nook First exclusive and will be available on Kindle and other major ebook retailers on February 24th. Contest open until 11:59pm EST Feb 23rd. Winner announced on the 24th.

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BIO

Sara Ramsey writes fun, feisty Regency historical romances. She won the prestigious 2009 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart award with her first book, Scotsmen Prefer Blondes (formerly titled An Inconvenient Marriage). The prequel, Heiress Without A Cause (formerly titled One Night to Scandal), was a 2011 Golden Heart finalist.

Sara grew up in a small town in Iowa, and her obsession with fashion, shoes, and all things British is clearly a rebellion against her hopelessly uncool youth. She graduated from Stanford University in 2003 with a degree in Symbolic Systems (also known as cognitive science) and a minor in history. Sara subsequently worked at Google for seven years in a variety of sales, management, and communications roles. She left Google in 2010 to pursue her writing career full time. Read all about her Regency obsessions and upcoming works at www.SaraRamsey.com. Or, follow her slightly ridiculous Twitter feed, @Sara_Ramsey.

Welcome, Sara! And congratulations on the release of your first book!! You’ve set both of your novels, the Golden Heart Award Finalist HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE and the Golden Heart Award Winner
SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES, in Regency England. Were Regency novels among the first romances you read?

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Yes, though the very first romance I read was a western, Brave the Wild Winds by Johanna Lindsey, which I read at age twelve. My family lived in Ukraine for a year while my father worked for an agricultural nonprofit, and I read anything in English that I could get my hands on. As soon as I returned to the US, I devoured every romance my local library carried. Johanna Lindsey’s Regencies were a natural starting point, and from then on, I was hooked on the period.

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You started The Muses of Mayfair series by writing SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES and then you wrote HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE, which has just been published. Time-wise it’s the first book in your The Muses of Mayfair series. Why did you write them “out of order,” so to speak? And when do we get to read SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES?

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I originally intended for HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE to be the sequel to SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES. However, when SCOTSMEN didn’t get a traditional publishing deal, I put it aside and wrote HEIRESS as the first book in the series. The rationale was that we would try to sell HEIRESS, and then do some rewrites for SCOTSMEN and sell it as part of the same deal. As it turns out, I love having SCOTSMEN as the second book – Amelia, the heroine in SCOTSMEN, plays a key role in HEIRESS that she wouldn’t have been able to play if she were minding her own business as a newlywed. SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES should be out by the end of March 2012.

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We meet Madeleine in HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE, in which her muse calls out to her and she (gasp!) ends up performing on the London stage. Will you tell us a bit about the three friends who are the other Muses of Mayfair?

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Madeleine is an actress, but at the start of HEIRESS she’s unhappy because she can’t pursue her passion in private – an actress must have an audience, after all! The other muses are able to conceal their identities, even though there’s always a risk they’ll be caught. Madeleine’s cousin, Lady Amelia Staunton, writes Gothic romances under a pseudonym – and there are times in HEIRESS when Madeleine wishes that Amelia had stayed holed up with her characters rather than trying to rewrite Madeleine’s story. Amelia stars in the next book, SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES. The next muse is  Ferguson’s sister Ellie, the widowed marchioness of Folkestone. A painter, her artistic expression has been blocked since her disastrous marriage to her former husband. But his cousin and heir is about to return from a spying mission in India, and Ellie’s encounter with him will unlock everything. They star in THE MARQUESS WHO LOVED ME, which will be out sometime in June. After that comes the story of Miss Prudence Etchingham, a bluestocking with an interest in history. She has been corresponding with other scholars who think she’s a man, but when she gets caught up in an investigation into an ancient artifact of mysterious origin, she’ll find a passion that goes beyond anything she’s read about in the history books. Her book is still untitled, but it should be out by early fall 2012.

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Who were some of the other stars of the theater at the time Madeleine was on stage? And, in addition
to Shakespeare’s work, what other sort of plays were commonly performed?

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Sarah Kemble Siddons was the most acclaimed actress of the age; she retired in 1812, the same year that Madeleine made her debut. She was most famous for playing Lady Macbeth, although she played many of Shakespeare’s other heroines to great acclaim. Her family consisted of a number of great actors and actresses, including her brother John Phillip Kemble, and her niece, Fanny Kemble. Dorothea Jordan wasn’t the greatest actress of her generation, but she was one of the most famous, if only because of her long-lasting affair with William, Duke of Clarence, who later became King William IV. She
had ten children with him while acting on the stage, often playing “breeches roles” in which she wore men’s clothing and played a male part. She couldn’t marry the duke and eventually died in poverty, but her children were given titles and/or married well, and her descendents include David Cameron, the current British Prime Minister. There were a lot of plays written every year for the stage. Only a few theatres were allowed to stage drama, but many smaller theatres staged comedies, musicals, and pantomimes. It was also possible to attend opera and ballet performances.

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What attributes do you share with your protagonists—especially Madeleine and Ferguson—in HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE, and Amelia and Malcolm in SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES? Humor? Resilience? Intellect? Feeling disenfranchised?

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I think all of my books deal with the issue of finding a path that feels true to oneself regardless of society’s expectations. My heroines are all trying to pursue their artistic passions even though they should be thinking of marriage, and my heroes tend to be unconventional and rebellious, too. However, I also feel pretty strongly about honor and loyalty, which makes things interesting for my characters – how can they be true to themselves without betraying those around them? Beyond that, all of my main characters tend to be some combination of smart and funny. They tend to laugh a lot. I guess I feel that no matter how bad things are, there is always something to laugh about, and I think their humor makes them feel more real than if they were dark and brooding all the time. (Although they do their fair share of brooding too!)

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What compels you to write?

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I absolutely love to tell stories. I make up stories in my head all the time. I’ll see someone on the street and create a whole back story for them without ever having a conversation. Writing is a better outlet for my storytelling tendencies than making up stories about me. In an effort to keep my friendships, I put my fictions on the page rather than in my relationships. I also think writing is a deep act of connection. Writing lets me connect with readers, makes me feel like my voice has been heard, and gives me a way to show myself to others. It’s also cathartic; even though my characters aren’t autobiographical, I learn more about myself through my writing than anything else.

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Your writing has been called fun and feisty—is it?

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Ha! I hope so! It would probably be more accurate to say that my characters tend to be fun and feisty, and their interactions with each other are meant to be entertaining. But my books aren’t entirely light romps – there’s emotional depth in them, too, as the characters learn more about each other and dig deeper into their own souls.
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Will we see Madeleine and Ferguson again? Are you working on your next book? Do you have anything else being published this year?

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Madeleine and Ferguson play a supporting role in SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES, and may make an appearance in Ferguson’s sister Ellie’s story, THE MARQUESS WHO LOVED ME. SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES is in the final editing stages and will come out in March. I’m working on THE MARQUESS WHO LOVED ME and have written the first part already. It should be out later this year. I have a glimmer of an idea for Prudence, the fourth member of the Muses of Mayfair – if she cooperates (uncharacteristically!), her story will come out in fall 2012.

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Please recommend a few books to put on my winter reading list.

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If you read paranormals, the book at the absolute top of my list if Kresley Cole’s Lothaire, which I’ve been looking forward to for years. I predict that it will be the hot paranormal book of the season. In the Regency/historical world, I can’t wait for A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean. I’m also looking forward to Anna Randol’s debut novel, A Secret in Her Kiss— it’s set in the Ottoman empire, which is a refreshing change.

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www.sararamsey.com

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EXCERPT:

HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE, Muses of Mayfair
After the second intermission, there should have been many empty seats as theatre goers went off to other amusements. But according to Madame Legrand, the lead actress was such a success that she kept everyone until the end. The best they could do was stools near the stage. “Madame Guerrier already rivals the best actresses of our time,” she said as she
accepted their money. “You are just in time, too. She is about to kill Claudius.” “She is playing Hamlet himself? Not Ophelia?” Ferguson asked. Madame Legrand nodded, leading them inside. “Strange, I know. But when you see
her, you will wonder how the role could ever be played by another. Even the great Mrs. Siddons’s performances as Hamlet are cast into the shade by her.” That was high praise indeed — Mrs. Siddons was the greatest actress of her generation. His companions snickered. None of them believed that the next star of the stage would be found in Seven Dials. Madame Legrand ushered them to a door near the foot of the stage. The orchestra, which was not blessed with
good instruments or the talent to play them, was mercifully falling silent. As with many other small venues, they
played music under most of the play to skirt around the legal monopoly held by the few theatres allowed to stage
serious drama. After a whispered order from Madame Legrand, a footman picked up four small stools from a
darkened corner and carried them a few feet away from the door, setting them in front of a merchant and his irritated
wife. As they settled into their seats, Ferguson realized he had never heard a theatre so silent. Even Marsham and his
cronies stopped their jokes, shamed into it by a sharp rebuke from the harpy behind them. Most theatres were merely
an excuse for people to congregate, with the audience ignoring the actors on stage—but here, every head in the
house turned in the direction of the “man” who entered from the wings. The actress wore clothing more suited to the previous century, with a well-powdered wig, an elaborate coat, breeches, and high-heeled shoes. Her face was partially obscured by the wig—the disheveled hair of Hamlet in his maddest hour—and the frothy cravat high up under her chin, but there was a definite feminine tilt to her nose. He guessed that they were in for a tedious hour. Her figure was trim and neat, but she lacked the stature to be convincing as a man. But then the actress opened her mouth and he understood why the audience was enthralled. The last act was familiar to him; Hamlet’s lines about the skull of “poor Yorick” would turn to melodrama in the hands of a lesser actor. Yet even though she was small, her voice was rich, warm, and imbued with precisely the right amount of tragedy for the moment. Her French accent was also more convincing than Madame Legrand’s. It was a voice made for whispering naughty desires in the dark, and yet somehow suited to Hamlet’s unraveling sanity. He stared at her as her voice washed over him — then stared more intently as he realized that he was seeing a woman far more clearly than even the fastest society ladies, in their low-cut bodices and dampened chemises, could ever be viewed. She wore padded shoulders to pass for a man, but the flare of her hips and the soft curve of her buttocks in the scandalously tight breeches betrayed her. He looked down, to the slender calves outlined in ivory hose, then to the perfectly trim ankles giving way to diminutive feet within the bejeweled heels. Her damned cravat unfortunately concealed her bosom, but the hint of its swell was there. Even in Hamlet’s madness—especially in his madness— she was a vision.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Award-winning Regency romance novelist Sara Ramsey first obsessed over Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden set in England at the turn-of -the-century. She succumbed completely upon reading Johanna Lindsey’s Regency historical novels. She was entranced by this place with history, manners, fashion and mores she loved, but also a time period she couldn’t get enough of. Sara Ramsey was home. She was thirteen. It’s not surprising that when this Anglophile and romance reader decided to write, she followed her heart back in time to Regency England. It may have been unexpected, however, when this Google marketing alumna with a degree from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems gave up her Silicon Valley job to do so. Sara’s first complete manuscript earned her the prestigious Golden Heart Award in the Regency category from the Romance Writers of America and will be published in March 2012 as SCOTSMEN PREFER BLONDES, the second of four Muses of Mayfair novels she has planned. The first, HEIRESS WITHOUT A CAUSE, honored as a finalist for the Golden Heart Award in 2011, has just been published, and has been named a barnesandnoble.com Nook First title. Sara was born in Wayne County, Iowa where her family’s roots go back 150 years. She had her first taste of foreign travel when her father accepted a job with an agricultural nonprofit and moved the family to Bila Tserkva, Ukraine for a year. They were the first westerners to visit the town in seventy years. She recalls
their adventure saying “it was pretty crazy, going from a tiny town where everyone knew each other to living in a Soviet-style apartment building in a large city.” Sara next left Iowa for California to attend Stanford and remained in the San Francisco area following graduation. “My entire family lives in Iowa,” she notes. “I’m the only one who left.”
After graduation, she worked at Google in communications and advertising for seven years before electing to write full time. Her work with Google gave her new opportunities for travel, taking her to Hyderabad, India for six months and to Dublin for three. (“Two countries that have obviously had a very complex relationship with Britain.”) Now, with two books written and one in progress, award recognition, and terrific response from early reads, Sara hopes she’s about to achieve her goal—“getting my books in the hands of the most readers at a compensation level that can fund my shoe budget.”

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Cherry: “hey, you know you’re super cool blog?”

Me: “hell to the yea I do!”

Cherry: “how about I give away 3 copies of my new book, Afterglow?”

Me: “for reals?”

Cherry: “sure babydoll, cuz I totally heart you”

Me: “back at cha bestie! I will call you tomorrow and we can discuss more about the physics behind time travel”

FINE! Stop laughing! Ok, I guess that was a *little* different then what actually happened. It went a bit more like this:

Cherry: “you want to give away 3 copies of Afterglow?”

Me: “yes!”

Cherry: “ok, go for it”

So there you have it peoples! Let’s give away some books shall we? I have 3 copies of Afterglow to give away! This is the second book in Cherry’s Lodestone series and it comes out March 20th! Open to US and Canadian residents only. Contest will end on March 14, 2012 at 11:59pm EST. Winner announced the next day! Simply answer this question..Have you ever read any of Cherry’s books and if so which is your favorite? Please leave me a way to contact you if you win! 

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HOLY HOT ABS!!!  *not part of the blurb, just an observation on my part* 

Pleasure with a price.

A high-profile celebrity wedding in Monaco is the kind of A-list event security specialist Rand Maguire excels at. Everything goes like clockwork, until guests start inexplicably losing all their inhibitions. . . .

Painful secrets from the past.

Rand is no stranger to the effects of Rapture. His chemist father’s attempt at a cure for depression caused Rand’s mother’s death years ago, and put his father away for her murder. Now, someone is circulating Rapture in a campaign of terror, intending to manufacture and sell it on a global scale. But with no leads, Rand feels the heat.

Passion with no limits.

Sexy Lodestone agent Dakota North is sent to help Rand kickstart his search, armed only with her uncanny sixth-sense. But what they discover in their race across Europe is more far-reaching and lethal than an erotic street drug. From a Barcelona bank heist to a million-dollar arms deal in Paris, Dakota and Rand giving in to an insatiable craving for each other in nights of pure carnal delight, no senses left untouched. No Rapture necessary.

PREORDER: AMAZON/B&N

Available: Now 

Type: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Carina Press

My Copy: NetGalley 

After a chain of earthquakes ravaged the globe, long-dormant viruses were released into the air, turning many humans into creatures with an appetite for human ashes. Erica and a group of survivors are barricaded in a half-destroyed hotel, and every day brings them closer to being devoured by the seemingly unstoppable ashers. Even though Erica is a fighter, she’s tired of just surviving…

When a mysterious stranger rides into town, everything changes. Jake knows how to kill the ashers, and he’s the only man brave enough to leave the safety of the hotel in search of a better life. Erica and Jake make a deadly fighting team, with even hotter sparks flying between them. But Jake has survived this long because he rides alone. He doesn’t trust easily, especially in this harsh new reality. Can Erica convince Jake that living is more than just surviving to the next day?

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After the earthquakes there isn’t much left. Humans are a dying breed and in their place are ash eating monsters intent on killing the few surviving humans. Erica knows there has to be more than the crumbling hotel she and a few others are staying in. She sees thunder clouds and lightning in the distance. Where rain is, ashers won’t be and she knows she has to get to it somehow.

Jake has the knowledge to kill the monsters and he is willing to give this information to anyone that will trade with him. Running into these people in the hotel was a stroke of luck because he is running low on supplies himself. Setting eyes on the beautiful and defiant Erica isn’t something he planned on but he’s willing to stick around a few nights to see where it goes.

Together Erica and Jake are ready to take on the ashers, find her oasis, perhaps locate the human emotion love and find out how strong humanity really can be.

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Wow…just wow! I loved the originality of The Last Night! I have never read such an interesting take on a post apocalyptic romance…ever. Not that I have read a ton, but you know. The starting of the book gives you the background that there have been huge earthquakes that have changed the shape of the land. After the initial quakes something happened to the humans. Many contacted what appeared to be an illness which turned them into fire starting, ash eating, zombies. These “ashers” are consumed by their need to eat ash so they set anything they can on fire, then shovel the remnants in their mouths. This includes the surviving humans as they apparently make a tasty ash snack.

All communication has been severed across the world. The few humans who are huddled inside a ramshackle hotel have no way of knowing what is outside their small haven, and honestly, they don’t seem keen on trying to find out either. Everyone that is except Erica. Every night Erica sees thunder clouds in the distance that prove rain still does fall. She wants to go there and find out but the distance is great and standing in between her and the maybe freedom is hundreds of ashers waiting to use her as a midnight snack.

When a stranger rides into town promising to tell them the way to kill the ashers Erica doesn’t dare to believe he might take her to the oasis on the horizon. She is surprised when she feels a flicker of lust and hope at his arrival. Both emotions she seems to have long ago locked away.   Jake seems to be the embodiment of a fighter though he harbors a lot of pain from his experiences right after the quakes. He is alone because he can’t seem to make connections anymore. Then he sees Erica fighting on a hilltop. She knows she can’t kill the ashers but she fights anyway. Jake realizes that she is what he has been searching for since the quakes. A fighter. Someone who still shines after so much carnage. He tells her the secret to killing the monsters and promises to take her across the desert to see about her oasis. These two seemed to click right away though to be honest Jake rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning. Wanting to “sell” his killing information. Though I did understand his need for supplies, I really hoped he’d access his humanity and just give the information freely. I doubt he would have had to ask for supplies in return anyway. Anyone possessing the knowledge of how to kill the ashers would have gotten anything he wanted anyway.

The scene in the rain…oh my people…wow. I was amazed at the depth of emotion Rosso seemed to be able to pull from his characters in such a short length of time. Really only 24 hours. Very emotional. Very hot. The problems were well thought out and feasible I thought for the story line. My only problem in post apocalyptic anything is that my brain refuses to just shut down and listen to the story. I do the same thing watching The Walking Dead on tv.  This is post apocalypse. There is no running water. A lot of times humans are holed up in some building that is still standing by the grace of God. These people have to be filthy. Disgusting. Smelly. And yet, adrenalin sends them into each others arms and sex becomes a given. Maybe I’m prissy. High maintenance. Whatever, but it kinda grosses me out.  I brush my teeth before I kiss my husband LOL. When I think of post apocalypse bodies I think of crotch rot and yeast infections running amok. Now, Rosso has me at least slightly covered in this one because he provides a few buckets of water in which to wash…and some rain to sprinkle over sweaty bodies….but still I keep thinking, I wonder how hard deodorant a toothpaste is to come by? Don’t even get me started on the bathroom situation and how there is no sewage pipes anymore. Plus these characters can’t just go dig a hole in the desert because that’s where the ashers are waiting to munch on them. See….brain….won’t….stop.

Getting past all that I found The Last Night to be very well written, completely original and incredibly entertaining! I loved it! Full of romance, zombies, and a story line that shines a light on the will of humanity, The Last Night has a full recommendation from me!

I give The Last Night by Nico Rosso 4.50 stars!