Book Review: Dair Devil

In this fourth book in the Roxton series - Dair Devil - Lucinda Brant continues the saga of the Roxton family and delights her fans with another passionate romance, the story of Alisdair ‘Dair’ Fitzstuart and Aurora ‘Rory’ Talbot, granddaughter of Lord Shrewsbury, England’s Spy Master General. Set in the 1770s, the story encompasses politics and intrigue, both at home and abroad, and also the secrets and lies a great and powerful family perhaps needs to conceal. Dair Fitzstuart has justifiably earned his nickname ‘Dair Devil’ because, to all concerned, he appears to be the epitome of a reprobate and a womanizing scoundrel. Amazingly, he has emerged unscathed from his exploits on the battlefield and his exploits in society keep tongues wagging incessantly. With a history of past mistresses, he is the most unlikely person to find Aurora attractive. She is unmarried, and despite her fair, understated charms, she has neither the ravishing beauty nor great fortune that would more than make up for her physical deformity, a twisted foot. Their first meeting is particularly inauspicious. A prank that Dair engages in to help a friend win the affections of a lady goes disastrously and scandalously wrong. Against a background of military espionage, unrest in the colonies, hints of treason and double crossing, this seemingly doomed romance blossoms. But trouble looms and various people are not too pleased with the idea of a union between Dair and Rory.

What a sensuous read, with Dair himself oozing sex appeal on every page. One word that epitomizes this book is passion: the passion and tumult of the times in which the Roxtons live; the passion of love, and also the passion of ambition, both thwarted and realized. From the elegant swish of satin skirts to the flutter of a flirtatious fan, readers will be transported into a world of vivid detail, and will emerge knowing more than they could ever have imagined about this colorful and vibrant era. The author takes readers right into the heart of this wonderful romance, and they will experience each heartbeat and thrilling moment as Dair and Rory discover and explore their love. There are also brilliantly drawn lesser characters, with their pettiness, spite and narrow-mindedness, as well as others altogether much more appealing. Readers who have been avidly following the Roxton series will be delighted to pick up on clues from previous books. Ms. Brant has a gift for intertwining those threads into a constantly developing tapestry. This series has created a superb niche readership of the Georgian era. I have read all the books from Book One, so it was a delight to connect with familiar characters. For readers coming new to this series, I would recommend starting at the beginning, although the author’s skill in weaving in back story means this book can be read as a stand-alone. Highly recommended. 5 Stars.

Travel in Time with Author Laura Vosika

I have an interesting guest here today, author Laura Vosika.

Laura grew up in the military, visiting castles in England, pig fests in Germany, and the historic sites of America's east coast. She earned a degree in music, and worked for many years as a freelance musician, music teacher, band director, and instructor in private music lessons on a winds, brass, piano, and harp. Laura is the mother of nine, living in Minnesota. Laura’s debut novel is a romance set in two different centuries. Blue Bells of Scotland is historic fiction with a time travel twist. The first in a trilogy, it is the story of two men, polar opposites but for their looks and love of music, who switch places in time and are caught in one another's lives. Laura has an interesting mix of inspirations for her writing, which we’ll find out about.

Blue Bells of Scotland

Shawn Kleiner has it all: money, fame, a skyrocketing career as an international musical phenomenon, his beautiful girlfriend Amy, and all the women he wants—until the night Amy has enough and leaves him stranded in a Scottish castle tower. He wakes up to find himself mistaken for Niall Campbell, medieval Highland warrior. Soon after, he is sent shimmying down a wind-torn castle wall into a dangerous cross country trek with Niall’s tempting, but knife-wielding fiancée. They are pursued by English soldiers and a Scottish traitor who want Niall dead. Thrown forward in time, Niall learns history’s horrifying account of his own death, and of the Scots’ slaughter at Bannockburn. Undaunted, he navigates the roiled waters of Shawn’s life—pregnant girlfriend, amorous fans, enemies, and gambling debts—seeking a way to leap back across time to save his people, especially his beloved Allene. His growing fondness for Shawn’s life brings him face to face with his own weakness and teaches him the true meaning of faith.

Blue Bells of Scotland is both a historical adventure and a tale of redemption that will be remembered long after the last page has been turned.

Laura your story sounds fascinating. Where does it come from?
Books are born of multiple inspirations. For Blue Bells of Scotland, a historic adventure with a time travel twist, a lifetime of experiences brought the story to life: my favorite childhood book about four children who go into a Scottish keep and come out in medieval Scotland; the lyrics of the trombone showpiece Blue Bells of Scotland; and a flash of an image of a musician gambling away his instrument and conning his girlfriend into getting it back for him.

You have a degree in music: how much has music played a part in inspiring you?
My life in music plays heavily (no pun intended) in my writing. I considered having Shawn play a more typical star soloist sort of instrument, like saxophone or trumpet. But Shawn is unique and able, as his conductor says, to turn even a tin whistle into stardom. It’s part of his charisma and confidence. Also, as the lyrics which loosely inspired the novel come from a trombone piece, it made sense for my hero to play that instrument, and it was a great chance to bring to life some of the pieces I have loved playing, myself, as a trombonist: not only Blue Bells, but Monti’s Czardas, a beautiful piece of music with a gypsy flavor, which Shawn plays at a medieval fair, while his pursuers watch. I reference music pieces quite often throughout the trilogy, and have made a page at my site that links to many of those pieces on YouTube.

Tell us about your research.
Music is the ‘write what you know’ part of my story. But a novelist cannot possibly write only what he or she knows. I knew almost nothing of Scottish history when I started. I’d never heard of Bannockburn until I looked into battles which might be a backdrop for the noble deeds and streaming banners of the Blue Bells lyrics. The deeper I got into writing, the more I loved researching. With my youngest three not yet in school when I started, I relied on anything I could do from home: a wide variety of internet sites, books, movies, and DVDs on Scotland, castles, medieval life, warfare, and more. Caltrops, murder pits, and Bruce’s guerrilla strategy have all been topics of conversation at our dinner table. My poor children!

My favorite part of the research was traveling to Scotland to visit the locations in my book—Inverness, Loch Ness, Rannoch Moor, Stirling, Bannockburn, and the Monadhliath Mountains. I took over 1300 pictures and dozens of pages of notes. I changed a few things in the final draft as a result, while many other experiences show up in book two, The Minstrel Boy.

Is historical accuracy important to you as a writer?
There is debate among both readers and writers regarding the level of historical accuracy in novels. As a reader, I enjoy a good story regardless, but as a writer, I lean toward being as accurate as possible, partly because I don’t want to destroy the suspension of disbelief for those who know their history, and partly because I love learning and want to know, myself, what it would really be like to go back.

Time travel … and the inevitable comparisons with The Time Traveler’s Wife. What are the pitfalls facing a writer when it comes to time travel?
Many time travel stories fail to explain how the time traveler gets along in a new world. It is passed off as simply part of the time travel mystique, for instance, that the traveler inexplicably speaks the language. I prefer explanations. Niall is of the educated, multi-lingual upper class of his time and a quick learner—the primary reason he is the laird’s future son-in-law, and hence in the tower that night with the laird’s daughter. As a musician, he has a sharp ear. When he arrives in the twenty-first century, he struggles with modern English. He relies on a head injury to explain his difficulties, while he listens, watches, and learns.

Your average modern American does not speak Gaelic. However, of all the things of which Shawn has been accused, average is not one. He pushes for the orchestra’s Scottish tour exactly because of his background—a grandmother from Skye and a father who embraced that heritage, including his mother’s native Gaelic. Like Niall, Shawn struggles at first. Like Niall, he is a musician with a good ear. In addition, he excels at lying and deception, and quickly learns of Niall’s head injury, all of which help him until he adapts to the unfamiliar accents.

This is a first in your planned trilogy—what can readers expect in the future?
Just as a book grows from multiple inspirations, sometimes an inspiration grows into multiple books. In addition to a non-fiction on the history behind the story, look for the story of Shawn and Niall to continue in The Minstrel Boy and The Castle of Dromore, in which Shawn and Niall’s own inspirations and self-revelations culminate in final choices which transform the futures of many.

It sounds fantastic, Laura. Thanks for sharing this amazing story with us. Readers can visit Laura’s interesting and informative site and purchase on Amazon. By the way, stop by to read some of the excellent reviews Blue Bells of Scotland has garnered.

The Imaginarium of Ami Blackwelder

I have such a fascinating VBT guest today. Ami Blackwelder is an author whose wide ranging interests take her from one end of the imaginative scale to the other. While many authors would like to expand their skills with a couple of different forays into genres, Ami seems to glide effortlessly into a variety of genres. Author of Rain: Graphic Novella, Guardians of the Gate, The Day the Flowers Died, and The Hunted of 2060.

Tell us about yourself, Ami:

I was raised in California and then in the third grade moved to Florida. I attended the University of Central Florida where I received my BA in English creative writing and teaching. After college, I did a lot of traveling as a teacher to countries like China, Tibet, Nepal, Korea and Thailand! I’ve always loved storytelling. As early as Elementary school, I wrote long inventive tales which my teachers would read in front of class. I took it more seriously as I grew older. I wrote primarily poetry and short stories in my twenties, but in my thirties I have written spiritual books as well as novels. I write paranormal and historical romance which focuses on the forbidden love aspects of characters because of culture, religion, time, gender, death, and species differences.

Ami, reading over your list of publications, I am astounded at the range and variety. What a range—from Christian topics and the bible (Genesis) to a graphic novella, to Munich in 1930, to an elfin romance, to the year 2060! Quite a variety of topics and you obviously have an incredible imagination.

Please tell us how you were inspired for each of your books, what you brought to bear from either your travels, education or research in creating each of your works, and where you see yourself settling comfortably in a genre, or will you continue to be a gipsy wordsmith.

I graduated from UCF with an BA in English and teaching credentials. I traveled to Asia for eight years, teaching primarily kindergarten and writing. I began my writing career with short stories and poetry in my twenties, winning Best Fiction awards and publications in magazines and newspapers in Korea and Thailand.

In my early thirties, I delved into religious topics such as The Ancient Genesis (Creation and Evolution debate) and re-educated myself about Christian issues in Christianity and Sensibility. My overseas adventures helped to inspire my book The Other Five Senses which also incorporates Eastern religions.

But by my mid-thirties I discovered my passion for creative writing was not content to live as mere short stories and I began my journey. I now define myself as a paranormal and historical romance writer. I enjoy the science fiction and fantasy aspects of my imagination as well as entering a past time that I find intriguing. Romance is usually central to my writing, but not the sappy, cliché, or erotic kind of romance. My writing is tasteful with a twist.


Readers will be engaged, entertained, and sometimes enraged with my novels. Currently I am switching publishing companies from 'Creative Endeavors' to 'Eloquent Enraptures.' My books are being re-edited and re-designed with covers and being re-submitted to online and offline venues. The Hunted of 2060 and The Day the Flowers Died are both complete with the transition. My other works will soon follow.


I will be having my first book signing shortly for The Hunted of 2060, my latest work. I am currently working on the prequel, The shifter of 2040, which fans of that novel will love to hear! It is a new book, but has already caught a lot of buzz. Inspired by metamorphosis, wildlife conservation, and prejudice, this novel is a teaching tool within the framework of original, and intriguing shorelines.

Let's take a look at Ami's latest book: The Hunted of 2060
America 2060.
Three Lovers. Two Species. One Way to Survive.

Set in Alaska in 2060, when April enters her Sophomore year at University, she thought Robert might be the love of her life, but as she discovers, she is hiding something inside her, something the rest of the world believes to have died out. She struggles with who she was and who she is becoming as she learns of a family she never knew existed and of enemies she will have to outrun, outfight or outwit to survive. As April embraces her new identity, will she have to leave the life she loves behind? With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages of April’s story.

Please visit this fascinating author's website for downloads and more purchase details.

A New Kind of Eden with Author Louise Wise

Say hello to Louise Wise who hails from Northampton, United Kingdom. Louise is guest number 12 on my Virtual Book Tour.


Louise, tell us a bit about yourself: I am the author of Eden, my first published novel. It's a sci-fi romance—Beauty and the Beast for grownups. My second novel, A Proper Charlie, is going through its paces with my editor, and I'm busily working on my third, which I haven't named at the moment. I have written many short stories for People's Friend, Best, Take a Break etc and enjoy entering short story competitions where I can. I am a mum of four boys, happily married to Dave and live in damp England.

JOURNEY TO THE PAST... A tale of romance and survival as three people travel from 2236 to the beginning of time. Jennifer Daykin joins the three-man crew to explore the newly discovered planet, Eden. All was going well until Jenny found herself deserted...She listened for an answering shout - there was nothing. In the distance, Jenny was transfixed with horror as the space shuttle rose into the blue sky of Eden. 'No...Don't leave me here!' Only the pounding of her heart answered her...but not alone The instant she hit the floor she curled into the foetal position. Finally, the bare feet walked away. A Native American warrior, had been her first thought, but it was his eyes that had alerted her he wasn't an Indian or even human. They were completely black; black, dry orbs in a battered face. Ordinary people with ordinary emotions, fears and insecurities. Only this isn't Earth, and he isn't human. A modern day Adam and Eve.

It sounds fantastic! What inspired you to write Eden?
I had a dream, cliché, I know. I was stranded on the moon as my fellow travelers left me (I think I was Buzz Aldrin in the dream), such an odd dream and it stuck with me. I “romanced” it and turned the moon into a habitual planet, added an alien and crazy co-travelers. I started writing it about six or seven years ago, but the manuscript has been in my bottom drawer for several years.

How did you find the publisher?
I received many rejections, which stated that the novel was just too original for the current market. An agent took it on but failed to find a publisher for it. This urged me into believing in the novel and myself as a writer. Again, I put the manuscript away and concentrated on other things. Then I heard about youwriteon.com (a review website) and uploaded Eden to the site. It received brilliant reviews, and then YWO offered a fantastic publishing deal I just couldn’t say no to, and it went from there.

Your second novel, A Proper Charlie, can you tell us a bit about it?
This is a chick lit. I loved writing sci-fi/romance with Eden but it’s almost impossible to find a publisher for cross-over genres. I like comedy (there’s a bit of comedy in Eden), and really love reading chick lit myself and so I thought I’d give it a bash. I think I’ve found my niche.

Now that you have one novel under your belt, was the second easier to write? Did you make the same mistakes?
Because I took my time with Eden it seemed easy to write. Charlie (I’m editing it now) has taken 18 months, and it seems harder. It’s frustrating because chick lit is something people think is easy, almost badly written, but jokes have to be strategically placed, people have to be realistic yet still be “characters” and there has to be a plot. I made mistakes with Eden, and hopefully I haven’t repeated them with Charlie.

How do you juggle a writing schedule with a husband, four boys, and the English weather?
I write when the kids are at school and after my housewifey jobs, and again at night when they are in bed. The weather doesn’t bother me—I don’t like the heat so I’m suffering at the moment because it’s hot here. Love it cold and the sound of rain—guess I’m in the right country! I don’t think my husband understands my need to write. He’s proud of Eden, but thinks a book is something you “knock up” in between supermarket shopping and collecting the kids from school. It’s frustrating when I’m trying to concentrate and he keeps coming over to me to talk, then he gets all hurt when I’m snappy! Men!

What do you look for in a novel when reading for pleasure? Your Desert Island books? I'll let you choose three.
1) False Memory by Dean Koontz has stayed in my mind. It was really interesting, but as with all his books, they end a bit too abruptly.
2) Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella which is a chick lit but was sort of a cross-over to a ghost story. I thought it was very well written, and the author really knew her 1920s!
3) A Spring Affair by Milly Johnson, another chick lit. This had a multi viewpoint, and as writers we’re always told to avoid that, so it was interesting for that aspect. It had a good storyline and a nice “feel good” feel to it.

Who has/does inspire you with their writing? Anyone you've learned a lot from by reading their works?
I suppose Dean Koontz has inspired me the most. Even though he’s a thriller/horror writer and I’m a comedy/romance I love the way his novels are fast paced and hope that I have imposed some of that tension in my books. When I was a child I read a lot of Enid Blyton, and in hindsight now, think maybe the trigger for writing was then.

What made you decide to become a writer instead of a world-famous, filthy rich tennis player or a reality show star?
I think being famous would freak me out. I wouldn’t turn down filthy rich though. I generally think writers are born. Then they either hone their craft or fail.

What's the best/worst part of being a writer?
The best is for me is meeting other writers and be able to talk about my passion and them understanding. I used to write before the Internet on a little battered Amstrad and thought I was the only writer in the world struggling.

The worse is editing or rewriting when you thought you’d finished! You send it off to the editor, and get on with something new. But then it comes back with this, this and this that needs to be changed and you don’t want to do it because your mind is full of new characters and plots.

Do you eat chocolate to break writer's block or do you eat chocolate anyway?
I love chocolate, especially Cadbury, but I’m on a diet at the moment. Have you heard of the Ducan Diet? It’s a carb free diet and unfortunately chocolate is full of carbs. I’m excited though, I found a website that sells low carb chocolate (probably tastes disgusting!), and I’ve ordered a box! I shall stay in that day when it arrives.

If you'd like to read more about Louise and her books, please visit her blog. You can purchase her fascinating debut novel Eden on Amazon.

A Different Kind of Romance with Margaret West

Lucky me, my Virtual Book Tour authors are becoming more interesting with every post. Please say hi to my tenth guest, paranormal romance writer Margaret West.

Born in Croydon, Surrey, Margaret is married with two children. She has always found writing to be a creative as well as a cathartic process, especially during difficult periods in her life. She found her true writing voice after becoming a spiritualist. Her love for literature extends from writing to reading and she is always willing to embrace new ideas and philosophies. She likes nothing better than to sit with a good book in the quiet realms of the countryside, with her dogs, Milo and Chester. A true animal lover, Margaret’s warmth and sensitivity are reflected in her writing.

Let's find out more about Margaret and her genre of writing.

For those not in the know, what exactly is 'paranormal romance?' Does the hero/ine have special powers or rather a spirituality that sets them apart from ordinary people?

The paranormal romances are those that contain elements of the supernatural. It can be anything from the characters having certain gifts or the story containing ghosts, demons etc. In one of my paranormal romances, Abigail Cottage, that’s being looked at by a publisher as we speak, the paranormal elements are a demon and a shadow queen who rules the shadows of the physical world. The romance is between the characters that exist on the earth plane. So here you have a combination of two elements, paranormal and romance. My other paranormal romance, Spirit Intervention, which is also being considered by a different publisher, is about a woman who sees spirit people. One of these spirits is her dead mother, who tries very hard to fix her up with a husband. It’s a comedy romance, with paranormal elements i.e. the dead mother.

You only discovered your writing talents and urges later in your career. What was the spark that inspired you to suddenly say, "Today I am going to write my paranormal romance?"

I wrote Abigail Cottage when I was in my twenties (many moons ago!) It's a dark paranormal. So really, I've always leaned more to the supernatural side of things as it’s always been an influence in my life. My mother, grandmother and great grandmother were all mediums of some degree. I wrote the book because the characters were always rumbling around it my head to some extent. It was as if they needed to be brought alive. Hence the book.

You have your own spiritual talents - parapsychologist and angel therapist. What does this mean for persons not in the know; and a) how do you use these skills in your writing and b) how do you incorporate these aspects into your characters?

I am a person who likes to know the ins and out of everything. Because I had such an interest in the unknown I did a degree in parapsychology. That deals with everything from, the big bang, UFOs to ghosts etc. But it still wasn't enough for me. So afterwards I took more mind, body and spirit courses. I became a crystal therapist because I'm fascinated how crystals work. Angel Therapy, is working with angels for healing purposes. I'm hoping to do a course on becoming an Angel Reiki Master. Reiki is healing and the angels are the healing guides. I use my knowledge and understanding of the spirit world to mould my characters. But they grow and develop as the story does.

There are many paranormal writers around - why are you different? What sets you apart from the others?

I feel I'm a bit different, because I don't write about vampires or werewolves or mythical beings etc. I write about a place that really exists, that I have knowledge and understanding about from people who are on the other side of life. I feel that sets me apart from other paranormal writers.

What can people expect to discover or take away from your writing? What messages do you convey in your books?

Apart from one book, Abigail Cottage, all my books have an inspirational message. The Heart of a Warrior leaves the thought that nothing is insurmountable, even if it seems so at the time. In Two Faces One Life, the message is that a disability can be life changing, but never life ending. I hope readers take away those thoughts, rather than a memory of a story.

Well, I have learned a lot today from my guest. Thanks, Margaret, for visiting my blog. Margaret has a great website with loads of information for authors as well as readers.
 
Readers can purchase The Heart of a Warrior at Eternal Press.

Love At First Bite?: Author Sindee Lynn

On the list of what’s hot right now in publishing is, of course, vampires! Suave, sensuous, sleek, and absolutely gorgeous, these twenty-first century vampires are a long way from ugly ole’ Drac along the lines of Nosferatu. My second Virtual Book Tour author is Sindee Lynn, a writer with a grip on the passionate side of vampires. Her first book is called (no, not Love At First Bite) Prince’s Donor. I was intrigued by the title, which doesn’t really hint too much about fangs, jugulars and oozing sticky kisses. Here’s a little teaser about this very special prince among vampires.

Four years ago Jenna James signed up for the donor database with fanciful thoughts of lying in the arms of a vampire. Now four years later, she finds herself wishing she had never heard it. How depressing is it to think not even a vampire will have sex with you to survive? Feeling lower than she has in ages, Jenna is convinced she's finally ready to remove her name from the list. That is until she opens her door to find her fantasy standing on the other side. Syrian Roskonovich is next in line to be the king of vampires. But nothing in his years of training could have prepared him for the betrayal of his blood brother and his donor. It's been months since he's properly fed, living only on the synthetic blood his people create when he finds himself in a strange city holding on to his sanity by a thread. His only hope is in the database he helped bring to life but has failed him in the past.

Let’s have a chat with this interesting author and find out how and why she combines the dark side of passion with the paranormal.

Q. How did you become a writer? Did you grow up among books?

Growing up, my love of reading was nourished by my aunt who used to bring me bags of Harlequin Romance novels; back then they had almost cartoonlike characters in them. Those books are still at my childhood home. Today I am the single parent of a very active teenager, which means I don’t have much free time for me but what time I can squeeze out I split between reading and on my writing.

Q. What inspired this unusual first book?

I have always loved books about vampires, beginning with Anne Rice and Interview with a Vampire. When vampires began showing up in my romance novels, which I have loved since I was younger, it was like the best thing ever. But what I noticed was even with all the many vampire romance novels out there, a lot of them were similar in how vampires react to humans, how they find their love interest, how they take blood and I wanted to come up with something different. Then it hit me—what if there was a list of humans whose sole purpose was to provide blood and sex to vampires and other creatures of the like when needed. I had never read a vampire romance based on that. The thought fascinated me at first until it became a fully blown idea.

Q. How did you come up with the title?

It didn’t a whole lot of brain power there. Syrian, my hero, is the Prince of Vampires and he is in need of a donor to provide him with the blood and sex he needs to maintain his existence. So I just put the two together and there you have Prince's Donor. I wish all of my book titles were that easy to come up with and actually work.

Q. How did you come up with your characters and the vampire angle—what was the inspiration there?

I draw inspiration from all sorts of places. A movie I'm watching or a song I'm listening to. But because I love vampires, I do a lot of thinking of story lines specific to vampires, werewolves, and other shifters. I always have paper and pen everywhere I go because I never know when I'll get an idea. As far as my characters go, my heroine will most often be a plus sized female because I don't think we have enough stories about us finding love (I'm a plus sized woman myself). The hero will always be sexy, even if a side of him has a dark, dangerous element like with Syrian and his animal side, but in addition to that I like to make my hero almost unobtainable on some level so that when my heroine gets him ... she's getting the cream of the crop!

Q. Writing about passion, paranormal, and erotica—how does this challenge, inspire, empower you?

I'm not even sure where to begin with this question. Let's tackle the passion issue... it's always a challenge because if you don't build the relationship and then the sexual tension which moves towards the passion between your hero and heroine, you have a real problem. Because you find yourself with two characters whom you have put together and they're not working. Something's missing. I find myself asking how did I get from the first hello to the bedroom, and if I can't answer the question then I haven't done my part with passion between them. So it's back to the drawing board.

For me the erotica part is the easiest part of the book to write. My friends, who read my work, have asked how I came up with the love scenes. And I answer honestly ... they come from my crazy odd imagination. If I can see it in my mind, then I can put it on paper. It may take a few revisions to get it into words as I see it in my head, but I will get there. And it is very empowering because I don't have to sugar coat anything. If my heroine gets turned on by having her hero talk dirty to her or vice versa, I can do that. There are very few limits in the erotica field. So wherever my mind and imagination can take me is where I can go. It's great.

Q: Vampires are so ‘in’ right now. How do you make sure you stand out from the crowd of authors cashing in on this boom?

I admit to finding writing in the paranormal genre a challenge sometimes because I don’t want my books to be like another vampire book that has already been done. It’s hard to find new ways to spin the same tale and I want my books to stand out so I will admit to putting extra time and effort into writing my paranormal stories.

Sounds like a whole lot of lovin’ going on behind those paranormal doors. If you want to dip into something different or you’re looking for a vampire love story with a difference, get Prince’s Donor on Amazon.
Thanks for being my guest, Sindee, and I hope readers will comment and ask questions. You may just get some inspiration from them!

Book Review: Candy, Corpses, and Classified Ads

 If you like murder mysteries with a dash of something else tossed in for that extra 'je ne sais quoi' then JL Wilson is an author you'll enjoy. When I began reading this book, I was surprised that the romantic leads in this entertaining tale of murder, mayhem, and more hilarious mishaps were not quite your standard 'youth and beauty' objects of desire. The heroine is well past her first blush and the hero, while still attractive, cannot be called youthful. (Well, neither can George Clooney and he's still gorgeous!) Curious, I read up more on the author and discovered why she has created this kind of romantic suspense for a slightly older (or should I say mature) reader.

In her own words, JL Wilson says: "I was born in a small town in Iowa, and have traveled extensively in the U.S. and overseas, finally ending up back in the Midwest where I'm married to a glass artist who spends a lot of time in the studio, making amazingly beautiful things. We have assorted animals who live with us and who make regular appearances in my books under various pseudonyms (they know who they are). In 2003, I read my first romance novel and immediately decided this was the genre for me. But there was a problem: the books I read all featured young heroines, interested in starting a family and having babies. So I started writing romantic suspense (with an occasional side trip into paranormal fantasy) about older women, with some age on 'em, who are interested in men and sex and having a good relationship (which may or may not include a marriage). I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoy writing about them."

It seems that mature romance is finding its place both in novels and in the cinema (Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman in Harvey and Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in It's Complicated) and people are loving it.

This intriguing romantic suspense novel involves a potbellied pig, Melvin, a septic tank, a pitchfork, and Molly Lawson’s dead (murdered!) ex-husband. Could things get worse for Margaret Olivia Lawson, since the police officer investigating the case is none other than the deliciously still attractive JT McCord, who jilted her eighteen years ago? JT McCord has returned to Tangle Butte as Chief of Police. Candy-loving Molly, now the News Editor of the Tangle Butte Daily Tribune, finds herself in an invidious position.


After JT ditched her for someone else, Molly moved on to marry twice… except that her first husband, Delbert, died and her second husband, Sam, ran off with a hairdresser, or so everyone thought. Molly has given up on romance but finds that her resolve is somewhat shaken by JT’s reappearance in Tangle Butte.

By helping JT with the case, and trying to prove she is not the Number One suspect in her ex-husband’s murder, she finds that old attractions die hard and her original feelings for JT soon resurface … just like her ex-husband Sam Ferris’ body! Our feisty heroine finds murder on her doorstep, under the living room window, to be exact, and when Molly’s life is threatened several times, things turn downright dangerous.

The problem is that when Sam’s body resurfaced, with a little help from Melvin, the pot-bellied pig with a penchant for digging up flowerbeds, so did some past dirty financial deeds committed by the less-than-honest inhabitants of the town. Tangle Butte, population 4,145, isn’t a hotbed of passion, or greed, or power... or is it?

The author accurately paints an often hilarious picture of small-town life interspersed with sex, murder, gossip, copious amounts of M&Ms, alarmingly accurate Tarot card readings, cryptic romantic classified ads and, it seems, quite a lot of adultery. As the investigation progresses, old hurts, memories, and grudges are exposed. Lost loves, affairs, financial shenanigans, and possible motives for murder abound.

Molly, a budding crime novelist with three murder mysteries under her belt and a fourth in the making, finds that she is in more danger than she suspected. Sam wasn’t quite the louse everyone thought he was, and when it’s discovered that poison, and not a pitchfork, was the weapon of choice, the net starts to tighten on a guilty member of the Tangle Butte community. Will JT make the arrest before Molly meets an unfortunate end?

J. L. Wilson has created appealing, believable characters in Molly and JT. They are a tad older than in a usual romantic suspense novel, but still desirous of love and passion. The quirky secondary characters, especially Molly’s mother, Yolanda, are well fleshed-out and add piquancy to this exciting murder mystery.

A well-paced plot and realistic dialogue show that the author has an excellent grip on what makes a small town tick. A particularly amusing note is the local book club, Monday Readers Social Exchange, (known to its members as ‘Mr. Sex’), whose members eschew literary masterpieces and have banned Oprah’s Book Club selections as being too ‘uplifting.’ They prefer romance novels, murder mysteries, and sci-fi. Such delightful incidents and more abound in this enjoyable novel, giving a touch of wonderful realism and charm to the tangled exploits taking place in Tangle Butte.

To purchase visit Amazon. For more titles by this author visit The Wild Rose Press.
I originally reviewed this title for Readers Favorite.

Book Review: Elisa Lorello's Ordinary World

I’d like to welcome Elisa Lorello as my first book review for 2010. Elisa Lorello is as interesting as her heroine Andi. Elisa was born in Queens, NY. The youngest of seven, she grew up on the North Shore of Long Island in a musical family, surrounded by cars, guitars, cats, and a dead hamster every now and then. She explored many passions, including drawing, tennis, and music, but even though her interests changed over the years, writing was her constant companion. In 1995, Elisa attended UMass-Dartmouth (south-eastern Massachusetts) for both her bachelor and master’s degrees, respectively. In 2000, as part of her graduate education in Professional Writing, she became a teaching associate, and met two professors of rhetoric and composition who took her under their wings. She also published several personal essays and creative nonfiction pieces. This union of teaching, rhetoric, and writing ultimately became Elisa’s calling, and remains so to this day.


In 2004, Elisa began her first novel, Faking It. “I never saw myself as a fiction writer,” she said, “but I had this idea that wouldn’t go away, so I decided to write it just for me. Everything snowballed from there.” Since then, Elisa has written the sequel, Ordinary World, and is currently co-writing a third novel with friend and former student, S. R. Paquette. At present, Elisa lives in North Carolina, where she teaches academic writing at NC State. She is a Facebook addict, an Aaron Sorkin fan, enjoys baking, and plays Duran Duran songs on a lefty acoustic guitar.

For a fuller appreciation of Ordinary World, I’d recommend readers head for Faking It first. In the first book, 34-year-old professor Andi Cutrone has broken up with her fiancé in Massachusetts, moved back to her native New York, and wants to be a better lover. So after meeting Devin, a handsome, charming escort, she proposes an unusual arrangement: lessons about writing in exchange for lessons about sex. Devin helps her grow up and mature emotionally and sexually, and somehow one wants them to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after … but Fate has other ideas.

Fast forward six years to Ordinary World in which author Elisa Lorello reunites us with Andi in a story of love and loss, joy and sorrow, and heartbreak and hope, with loads of laughter and amusing quirks. Andi (now Vanzant) seems to have it all: a tenured professorship at Northampton University in Massachusetts, a published collection of essays, good friends, a cat named Donny Most, and a blissful relationship with her husband Sam. But tragedy strikes when a drunken college student plows into her husband’s car one night and the world as she knows it changes in an instant. Andi loses everything ... except the cat. Andi suddenly faces a terrifying world and the task of trying to transform it back into an ordinary world. At first, Andi is overwhelmed with grief and her life slowly grinds to a halt, and then falls apart. She hangs onto the threads of sanity and the shreds of her once-idyllic life, trying to keep it together, be in control, and be the professional she sets out to be.

With the help of her friends, family, therapist and mentors, Andi finally gets a grip on reality and begins to claw her way back from the brink. However, she is not quite there yet. By chance, she discovers air tickets for two to Rome, tickets her husband Sam had bought to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary … only now he is dead. But Andi goes on the trip and life changes in the blink of an eye. A serendipitous quirk of Fate engineers a chance meeting with former flame Devin, now known as David and a respected art dealer who wants to forget his sleazy past. Devin/David turns out to be more than Andi had thought he was, showing depths of maturity, emotions, sensitivity, and a level of understanding that perhaps she hadn’t quite expected. (In fact, he is just gorgeous!) In the turmoil of her emotions (love/grief/desire/guilt) Andi knows she needs love to heal, she wants it … but she hesitates. Now there are no boundaries, no controls, and no ‘client/gigolo’ rules to contain the situation. Devin/David offers her a real relationship, filled with love and commitment … can she cope with it? Will she accept it? Her natural feelings of guilt and grief only make things worse. Andi’s journey is spiritual, emotional, and physical, taking her back home to the USA, then to Peru to complete Sam’s novel as a memorial to him.

Elisa Lorello is the kind of writer that grips you right from the start. I didn’t know what to expect from Ordinary World, but it’s certainly not an ordinary kind of book. Her characters are defined by their words, actions, and thoughts in such a way that the reader feels as if she or he is inside the characters’ heads. Their emotional processes, decisions, and ups and downs are so real as to make one believe totally and completely in them. From the moment Andi reads her eulogy of Sam at the funeral, the reader falls in love with him. We learn more about Sam as Andi’s tragedy unfolds, and with each snippet of knowledge, our appreciation of Andi’s loss deepens. There are gentle revelations of their love in anecdotes of them cooking, being, laughing, and loving together. The author wholly captures the experience of grief. The sense of loss and mourning is palpable … the emptiness in the home, inability to cope, the listlessness that accompanies deep, tragic pain. The ache of love lost resounds though Andi’s words: “We were glowing, full of love and hope and promise, death nonexistent.” Something that touched me as a reader is that Andi constantly rewrites her original eulogy to Sam throughout the book. This is symbolic of her efforts to resolve her feelings, finish grieving, and begin living again.

Part of Andi’s journey is not just dealing with the loss of her husband, but also to confront and slay the demons of unresolved issues with family, parents, siblings, and of course … herself. Before Andi can love again, she must learn to love herself again, as this different Andi. She has changed, life has dealt her a scarring blow … but life moves on. Andi clings to the memories: she wears Sam’s clothes, she keeps a voice mail, she hoards his notes and letters, not wanting to let go. Ironically, it is Sam himself who releases her. The air tickets to Rome set in motion a train of events that carry Andi forward (albeit kicking and screaming). Andi’s discovery of Sam’s unfinished novel and her journey to Peru to finish it on his behalf is an opportunity for her to close the chapter on that part of her life. Has Andi got the strength to finally let go? The author creates a nail-biting, emotional page-turner that has the reader captivated from page one.

Elisa Lorello has a wonderful gift for engaging the readers’ senses when describing places, people, and things. I loved her descriptions of Rome (having been there myself). The smell of baking bread, the car fumes, the play of light and shadow on the ancient buildings, the lyrical sense of pace in a Mediterranean city, with such a different lifestyle. I’m sure readers will relish the picture the author’s words paint and run to book tickets for an Italian trip! Peru is on my list of travel destinations and I loved the descriptions of colors—browns, sepias, and greens—and the lush array of food that tempts the reader already.

This is a love story with a difference. A love story of love, loss, and love again. Part of me wanted a third novel (would that be a threequel?) but at the end of Ordinary World I found myself perfectly satisfied. Buy it, borrow it, do what you have to do to read it.

Find out more about Elisa by visiting her websites:

Elisa's website: http://www.elisalorello.com/

Elisa's blog: I'll Have What She’s Having

Twitter: twitter.com/elisalorello

Facebook: Faking It Fans

Buy Now

Faking It:

Lulu in paperback

In paperback at Amazon , Barnes & Noble, etc

Ordinary World:

Lulu in paperback

Kindle at Amazon