tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86593622592039569382024-03-05T20:45:15.721-08:00Caroline HansonBestselling Author of the Valerie Dearborn Trilogy Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-33152724536070907292017-09-07T21:18:00.001-07:002017-09-07T21:18:10.588-07:00Yikes it's been awhile! Just an update on what's happening with this blog...not a lot! A lot of posts were moved to my website and once that happened I sort of just stopped posting. But I'm starting to get a lot of questions on Rebecca's 4th book and you should know it's moving along and I'm hoping it will be out before 2018.<br />
<br />
it shouldn't be a spoiler to say that Rebecca will regret her decision to go back to the island almost as soon as she lands. where will she stay? What will Cassandra do? What will lee do when he realizes just how good alistair has been taking care of Rebecca? It's all moving along and I'll keep you posted when I know more. Thanks for stopping by!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-6303854314887389402015-09-25T12:27:00.000-07:002015-09-25T12:27:34.046-07:00Bigger, badder and uncut!Bigger, badder and uncut!<br />
<br />
<br />
Funny how if you take that out of a movie context it has all sorts of inappropriate connotations, isn't it?<br />
<br />
But this year is in fact going to be all of those things! In terms of bigger, you may have noticed the website and all of its shiny glossiness. I hope you think it's as pretty as I do. There should also be some more posting and general online presence this year which I am super excited about. We recently moved, twice, and that sort of threw things into disarray for awhile. But not anymore!<br />
<br />
In terms of badderness or baddieness, I recently went to a writing retreat led by the lovely Mary Buckham (who also happens to be an UF author with a great series) where I reached the conclusion that all I really want to write are villains who become heroes despite themselves. Maybe this isn't too shocking considering Lucas, but I strayed a bit with Zack and Edward. They were restrained, cold perhaps, but good guys. Screw that.<br />
<br />
Which means I'm writing vampires again. And it feels soooo good! The plan is to finish this thing I'm now working on, a trilogy, and then release them close together. I don't like leaving people in suspense (despite how it appears with the vicious cliffhangers.) and writing under pressure just makes me grumpy. So there is something happening, you WILL be happy about it and once I've got a bit more written I'll be telling you all about it.<br />
<br />
Finally, I'm not sure how uncut this is but audiobooks are about to arrive! If you've been asking me for audiobooks (you know who you are!) then you'll be thrilled to know it's finally happened. Valerie in audio. And the gal reading it, Emily Woo Zeller, came highly recommended and is tres awesome. Bye for now and if you're not on the newsletter, sign up! I'm going to have some pretty spectacular giveaways pretty soon, especially for any vampire diaries fans out there. That's everyone, right?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-82028075658062072032014-09-25T08:25:00.001-07:002014-09-25T08:25:43.118-07:00Betwixt a Wolf and a Hard Place Cover Reveal!! Out by Halloween! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0Psf8xYE13tbIHQ8_lED3LrdiGoqu8QqJyRIwMVI1WE1BM49O4jSEyfbUt1vrKSCn8szlc2HDXoAHGrd71jozMilj_CyI_DfufBtKBWcRlVx5BktRaWCx2fHtwMgNxRCaBp5x65FfFg/s1600/betwixt+a+wolf+and+a+hard+place+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0Psf8xYE13tbIHQ8_lED3LrdiGoqu8QqJyRIwMVI1WE1BM49O4jSEyfbUt1vrKSCn8szlc2HDXoAHGrd71jozMilj_CyI_DfufBtKBWcRlVx5BktRaWCx2fHtwMgNxRCaBp5x65FfFg/s1600/betwixt+a+wolf+and+a+hard+place+cover.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-73824582637713727792014-09-02T11:26:00.001-07:002014-09-02T11:26:15.662-07:00Bewitching the Werewolf 2<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Yes, it looks like it's happening. BTW is getting a sequel. A novella that has been a lot of fun to write. Without spoilering too much, here is an excerpt (pre final edit so it could change!) of megan's next case! Whoo!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
A half-eaten pack of Tums was
sitting on my boss’ desk when I walked in. Papers were everywhere. The man is a
genius with delegation, papers usually come in and go back out as if they have
wings. The fact that his desk was covered in sheets of cheap white paper and
post-it notes sent alarm bells ringing through me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“You,” he gave me the finger point.
“Who would’ve thought the day would come when I would be happy to see you?” he
said, in total seriousness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Right back at you. I like the
haircut. What’s up?” The man was bald and had been for twenty years, I only
said it to piss him off. His eyes flicked to the chair across from him wanting
me to sit. I didn’t. He sighed unhappily. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“There have been three abductions
this week. The vampire queen didn’t get up from her coffin, they went to check
on her and she wasn’t there. Just gone. No note, no ash, no nothing.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Huh,” I said. Cause that was
unusual. Vampires didn’t travel without their coffins. From what I understood,
it had more to do with comfort than necessity. Like a stuffed animal or a
pillow except a coffin. How weird was that? It was one of the many reasons that
it was a personal policy of mine to avoid vampires.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“The shifters have reported a
missing were-hamster—”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Yeah, that’s right, were-hamster.
“Did they check her wheel?” I asked, and thought I saw a curl of smoke rise
from my boss’s forehead. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“And most importantly, the New York
Guardian is gone.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“You mean the librarian?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Of course I mean the librarian.”
His teeth were clenched when he said it.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The New York Guardian guarded all
the spell books and histories for all the local Supes. Anything supernatural
that someone might’ve wanted written down (or didn’t want written down but was
interesting) was kept in her shop down on 45<sup>th</sup> Street. One could go
in and get a coffee, a potion and a copy of what the Fey were up to during the
1800’s if one wanted. Although I don’t know why anybody would want Fey History,
they were damned boring. Spent a lot of time tidying parks and making flower
chains. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
He pointed a sausage-like finger in
my direction. I hated that frickin finger. “Start at the Guardian’s shop, do a
recreation spell, see if you can get an image of what happened. This has to be
solved fast. The vamps are blaming the weres, the weres are spoiling for a
fight as always, and if we’re not careful the humans will get involved.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
And no one wanted that. Talk about
up a creek without a paddle. The human police were next to useless. <o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-29878831903429943362014-05-24T08:56:00.002-07:002014-05-24T08:56:46.550-07:00A Lady Most Dangerous...is outWant to know how it starts? I love this beginning. Poor Edward. He's such a great tortured hero. Here is the beginning of LMD....<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK1">Every
year, the Marwood ball was packed to the rafters with the rich and the richer,
the titled and the landed, the people who wanted to move up the social ladder
and those who were clinging on by the tips of their fingernails. This year was,
of course, no different. <o:p></o:p></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward wondered if there was a certain comfort
in that predictability – things didn’t change, events occurred every season and
would go on until the day he died. And even then the events wouldn’t stop; he
just wouldn’t be expected to attend anymore.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
That was something at least.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
The smell of pomade and starch was strong, the
room overheated from all the candles and hot air as the guests prattled on and
on about how dreadful the prior night’s musicale had been. Five young women
trotted out before the ton so that they could display just how badly they
played the pianoforte. It had been excruciating. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“And that’s the Duke of Somervale,” he heard a
girlish voice whisper from somewhere to his left and above. There was a balcony
there where people would have punch and look at the dancers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
And apparently gossip about him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
He couldn’t say why he just stood there and
listened. He should have turned around and given them a glare or moved off and
ignored them.... But he didn’t; for some reason he couldn’t define, he stayed
and listened.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“My sister was ever so in love with him when she
made her debut.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Which sister?” a female voice asked. Edward
suspected he didn’t know her either. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Anne.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Ooohh, what happened?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward wracked his brain, trying to sort through
recent debutantes he knew by the name of Anne. No one in particular came to
mind. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“She met him. At the Winchester’s house party in
Norfolk. Said she was so nervous she could barely say her own name. She said
he’s different; that being next to him and talking to him, it’s <i>terrible</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Terrible?” the other girl said, her tone
fascinated. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward frowned. Terrible? <i>He</i> was terrible? The way they spoke, it was as though they were
telling a naughty ghost story. Did that make him the ghost?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Because he’s so handsome. It was like he was
seeing into her soul. She said it was as though he knew she liked him.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Did he?” the other girl asked with a gasp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward wanted to turn around and say ‘no, he
didn’t’. Explain that, in fact, he had no idea who they were talking about. He
went to the Winchester’s house party every year, and he couldn’t remember
meeting somebody named Anne. And he certainly had not been gazing into her eyes
soulfully. Whatever <i>that</i> meant. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“I doubt it.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
He was just getting ready to move off, deciding
he didn’t need to hear any more gossip about himself and how another debutante
thought herself half in love with him when she said, “Anyway, she doesn’t like
him anymore. She said he was cold. Came across as unfeeling and that Katherine,
that ice princess he’s engaged to could have him. They deserve each other. Now
she’s obsessed with that banker, the Swiss one who’s been funding the prince and
his escapades.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK3"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK2">A banker? Some girl had
decided she didn’t like him because she liked a banker instead? He sighed and
did move away, parts of their conversation still ringing in his ears. He didn’t
care. Not really. <i>They deserve each
other.</i> It wasn’t a surprise that the girls did not like his fiancée; there was
something rather distant about her. As though she were so busy in herself and
thinking about how things related to her and her own perfection, that she
didn’t have time for anybody else. Not people she met, were related to or
perhaps would even marry.<o:p></o:p></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
And this
gossiping stranger thought they deserved each other. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward
spotted his fiancée on the dance floor dancing with some regimental hero, who’d
undoubtedly done something very brave in some far-off land and come back with
stories of killing natives armed with sticks. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><i>Very
heroic</i></a><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/Carrie/Downloads/A%20Lady%20Most%20Dangerous%20ready%20to%20format!.docx#_msocom_1" id="_anchor_1" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_1">[b1]</a><!--[endif]--> </span></span>,
he thought with a scowl. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
It would be
his turn soon enough. When she looked at him, lifted her clear blue gaze from
the man she was with and sought him out, it wasn’t to see if he disapproved or
because she <i>wanted</i> to see him; it
wasn’t because she couldn’t keep herself from looking at him because she cared
for him. No, that would be…common. Vulgar, even. No, the reason his fiancée
kept track of him was because she should. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
When his
dance came at the end of the evening, (and it was just one, sometimes two if she
really wanted to show how ‘in love’ she was with him) she wanted to ensure he
was where he was supposed to be. Not playing cards in the anteroom or drunk in
a corner, but ready to squire her around the room for all to see. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Not that he
ever did get drunk in corners or shirk his duty. But just in case. She didn’t
trust anyone to do the correct thing except for herself. Just then, she flashed
him a look, those arctic blue eyes colliding with his from across the room, ignoring
the besotted man she danced with. Her new partner, the Earl of Chester, looked
at Katherine as though she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward
supposed that was true. She was certainly the most graceful and beautiful woman
in the room. His bride-to-be. Every doting mama told him how lucky he was;
every man thumped him on the back and leered at her unpleasantly. Not only was
she beautiful, she was rich as hell, blue-blooded as they came and the perfect
choice for a duke.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
And now,
here he was, standing in a room full of people, watching them twirl around him
and he suddenly felt sick, almost panicked at the idea that he was…here. Lucky
enough to be alive when he dreaded today, tomorrow and every day into the
future. Lucky enough to be alive when people who were better than him were
dead. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Well, not
people, just one—Helen. Was it a sign of just how awful he was that other
people lived and died every day, hundreds of them, even thousands of them, and
yet all he thought about was one? Just Helen. Who occupied his days with grief,
and filled his nights with a desperate and peculiar sense of loneliness that
was deeper than misguided lust.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Helen. She
was unlucky. She was.... <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Edward
looked down into his glass of champagne, watching the bubbles fizz to the surface.
Bubbles rose. Dead bodies rose too sometimes. Although her body had never been
found. An image of Helen on the last night he’d seen her came to him, replacing
the world around him, overriding the noise and scents, the conversations and dancing,
the happy people and even those who were here simply because they were expected
to be. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
For one pure
moment, everything around him disappeared, and all he could see was Helen’s dead
body floating to the surface of the water. The way it would move up, as if life
and vitality had been holding her dozens of feet under, and when
she gave that last breath, when she finally sucked in water and it exploded in
her body and killed her, that, in his mind, was the moment she rose to the
surface. Weightless, motionless, limbs relaxed, and dark hair spread around her
like a cloud. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Was she still out
there, floating in the water? The idea of it was so sharp that it pierced him.
He felt the pain of it in his chest and stomach. It made his fingers clench and
his breath exhale. The glass in his hand shook as his hand trembled. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
<!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<hr align="left" class="msocomoff" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div>
<!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript">
<!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_msocom_1"></a><!--[endif]-->
<br />
<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--></div>
<!--[endif]--></div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-7029464544644222962014-05-24T08:52:00.000-07:002014-05-24T08:52:04.005-07:00This chick makes senseCame across this video of Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) discussing writing, success and failure. It's fascinating and inspirational for anyone, author or no author. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creatingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-73804549682301520402014-03-10T11:51:00.004-07:002014-03-10T11:51:57.146-07:00I'm alive! For anyone who has noticed a rather substantial gap between postings....I'm alive. You didn't notice, you say? Well, of course not, I'm prolific on blogging, facebooking and social media. Ahem.<br />
<br />
As for what I've got going on...<br />
<br />
RT in May. It's in New Orleans. Vampire central. I will be going to the Garden District and looking for Lestat. Everything vampire is set in New Orleans. Witches too. Off the top of my head...Kresley Cole's series is set there, Sookie visits, The Originals is there, Coven is there. The list goes on, I just ran out of head space.<br />
<br />
I've also been working on a lot of different things and hope to have some of it out soon. A Lady Most Dangerous should be out by April 15. Hurray! There will be lots of giveaways, so if you have not signed up for the newsletter, let me direct your attention to the right of your screen :)<br />
<br />
I've been reading a lot too. A Poison Study, Games of Command, Kate Pearce, Amy Lane...I'm all over the place and loving it!<br />
<br />
Game of Thrones is coming back-- yeah and Walking Dead is almost over-- boo. Can't wait til friday-- Veronica Mars comes out and I will be there to see it! The show is available on netflix and is AWESOME. It's up there with Buffy. Yes, I said it. I met Jason Dohring at Comic-Con and he is so, so nice. I told him I was bummed things didn't take off for him. It looked promising with Moonlight. He seemed really happy about that and wrote that he loved me on my VM poster. Love you too, Jason. Love you too.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-9834278672068205102013-09-04T16:13:00.003-07:002013-09-04T16:13:14.385-07:00Glamorous as Fergie<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Did you know that there are some people who think that writing is glamorous? So let me tell you about my glamorous day. Today was the first day back for my kids and boy was everybody excited. First there was a PTA meeting and then it turned out my daughter forgot her lunch. So my writing opportunity came at 1030, hours later that I had expected (grrr). </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">When I got home I agonized over whether I should do laundry or cleanup the kitchen but decided to leave it so that I could try to get some words down. I could get some words down but nothing particularly exciting and I suspect it wasn't very good. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Then I brought the kids home and discovered we had a WASP in the house. My husband was incommunicado and of course the wasp spray was nowhere where it should've been. I googled how to kill a WASP (hairspray or wd 40 but hadn't quite worked up the nerve to do it yet) and I called all my neighbors. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Five minutes later my doorbell rang and I panicked, sure it was a neighbor who would want to help me but my kitchen was so messy that I couldn't let them in! Turned out it was grandpa who promptly picked up a flyswatter and killed the wasp Scream-style. By which I mean bumbling and with several misses but somehow managing to get the kill-shot. Isn't it glamorous?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-87883962245620962562013-07-10T09:13:00.002-07:002013-07-10T09:13:30.677-07:00Yeah, his name is Edward! And maybe I'll change Lucas to Christian! J/kOkay, I'm going to answer a question that I've been hearing a lot of which is-- How could I have used the infamous name Edward in Lady Out of Time. You may not know this, like if you've been living on Mars or something, but there is a very successful franchise that has a dude named Edward.<br />
<br />
So here is the deal, when I started writing this book I called him Edward. And after I felt like I knew him, and I fell in love with him, I was sitting at my computer and I suddenly thought 'Oh crap, his name is Edward.' And even my critique partner said I should change it. And I kind of meant to, but didn't. Cause he's Edward to me.<br />
<br />
As an author, I write with the reader in mind and I do make changes because I love having fans of my books and don't want to piss anyone off too much (although if you're a Jack fan you're probably yelling 'that's BS!' at your computer.)<br />
<br />
So I guess I kind of knew I should've changed his name because we already have an Edward...but Victorian Edward is quite the stickler and he'd have been horrified and raised an eyebrow in condescension if I'd taken away his name simply because of some sparkly dude who was born after him. I think it's after. Wasn't Sparkly Edward a hundred-year-old virgin?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-65914430219865272492013-07-01T10:50:00.002-07:002013-07-01T21:50:34.136-07:00A Lady Out of Time is out!!<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Whoot! A Lady out of Time is out! It's up and it's great. No, it's not vampires. But it is Time travel. Time travel, you say, what's so great about that? Imagine me as the grandpa from the Princess Bride convincing his grandson why he wants</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> to read PB. 'It has a hot duke and a snarky heroine! It's funny and takes place in Victorian London! It's an alternate history and has Nazi's and tons of sizzling sexual tension! It's funny and the hero is great!' At least I think so. Hope everyone is having a great week, it's hotter than hell in California!</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /> Links: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DNC4BKM/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=httpcarolineh-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00DNC4BKM&adid=1SR0TFDTFZDM4M2QCVNP&" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lady-out-of-time-caroline-hanson/1115859602?ean=2940016453187" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/330242" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-87714591298359646142013-04-25T12:43:00.004-07:002013-04-25T12:43:57.294-07:00Romantic Times ConferenceOff to Kansas City next week for RT! If you're going come say 'hi!' I'll be signing at the E-book Expo!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-13332203918892455352013-01-23T16:23:00.000-08:002013-01-23T16:25:41.548-08:00what's cookin in a non-edible way<br />
Today I finished an important draft for my time travel novel. It is tentatively called A Lady Out of Time, but Olivia Rivers- an awesome YA writer in my critique group- hates the name.<br />
<br />
But I remember reading A Knight in Shining Armor and Outlander. That's my basis for time travel books. So for me, the name seems right. Anyway I have not settled anything quite yet. The book is not done, but it's like I climbed to the top of the mountain and realized the end of the range is in sight.<br />
<br />
I've also been working on two vampire projects. Which is odd, because I thought I was done with vampires for the foreseeable future. Three months ago I might have said Forever. I don't want to write the same old vampire story. And I would not write anything vampire related unless there was a twist.<br />
<br />
I found my twist.<br />
<br />
If it comes off like I want it too, then it's good. Really messed up and kinky with a post-apocalyptic/debutante vibe. it's also got a little bit of the Walking Dead in it and I really want to call it symbiosis. But I fear that is too much of a sci-fi title. The definition of the word itself is beautiful: A close and often long-term interaction between two or more different biological species.<br />
<br />
The gist of it is that most humans are gone and vampires control pockets of civilization. The story is set in London and there are vampire kings and petty feudal spats. Our hero (or maybe anti-hero) is named Demock. I'm not sure I can say much more at this point because I'm still writing it...but I'm liking it so far.<br />
<br />
The other thing rolling around in my mind, which I'm actually a bit hesitant to mention since it would get people's hopes up is the next book in the Valerie verse. I have the cover for it. But you know, the more I look at it...that isn't Cer.<br />
<br />
The story of Lucas and Val ended, because I saw them with a happily ever after and nothing beyond that. That was the end I envisioned by the time I was done editing LID. And then, about a week ago, I saw what happened next. I am making no promises, but I see this cover and I want to call it Lucas. And it would be a continuation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eFlr3b1zNODfTER-rfepJbYdBJz7vKVqrMsiYSkqVbnueXDlUzJw0cmn0QltyYpCzlL0CDhBApK50YgwZQjN4nazwxnpPVw7sb3G-WxHvE5Bj-FUjQ-a9EGFEYOIRgHaGPm84gMobP0/s1600/sirenscallcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eFlr3b1zNODfTER-rfepJbYdBJz7vKVqrMsiYSkqVbnueXDlUzJw0cmn0QltyYpCzlL0CDhBApK50YgwZQjN4nazwxnpPVw7sb3G-WxHvE5Bj-FUjQ-a9EGFEYOIRgHaGPm84gMobP0/s320/sirenscallcover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-42434376448500094312013-01-22T19:16:00.002-08:002013-01-22T19:16:39.010-08:00Liebe ist FurchtBook 2 of The Valerie Dearborn Series will be out in Germany tomorrow! The German version of LID is 39 in Romance and 230 in the German Kindle store. Hurray!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-42887690256709177782013-01-19T00:08:00.000-08:002013-01-19T00:08:56.919-08:00Stephanie Meyer: Genius<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, it finally happened. I saw Breaking Dawn part two and…I
really liked it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This may be surprising to you non-writers but most writers HATE
Twilight. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When one spends their time writing, they develop grandiose ideas of
what is good and what is bad. We adhere to rules that beloved authors routinely
break and call them ‘exceptions,’ blindly plunging over the cliff to do what we
are told like fat little lemmings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s weird. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I saw Breaking Dawn part one, I almost couldn't watch
it. It was so cheesy and almost self-indulgent that I found it uncomfortable to
watch. It was as though I were watching Stephanie Meyer’s most intimate
fantasies of what it would be like to be a high-schooler and have it all. The
hot rich vampire, the honeymoon on a private tropical island, the baby, the
instant glamorous family, a whole host of superpowers and one cool car after
another. Didn't anyone tell her that what she was writing was boring? That
there was no conflict and it should be cut? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This movie had the same problem! The exploration of their
revoltingly cute cottage, the amazing sex they’d have for years (and
with no recuperation time!) and worst of all—Bella’s arm wrestling Emmett. Do
you know how hard it was to remember how AWFUL that scene was while I was watching it? I had to bite
my lip Anastasia style. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yet, people like cheese.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, I like cheese. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe that in order to be a good
writer one has to put their soul on the page. And for me, that means being
willing to infuse one’s own insecurities and desires into one’s writing so that
when a reader has finished the book, they feel like they know you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Breaking Dawn ended, I found myself strangely moved and
in awe of Stephanie Meyer because I hadn't realized the power of cheese. Her
unabashed enthusiasm for every moment of Bella’s perfect life is something
readers want and love to connect to…and it is something I have spent time learning to NOT do. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I feel humbled, as though I have been reminded of a truth
that I should have known-- or maybe even did know-- but that I pretended I was
too cool to believe in: that to be a good author, I have to put more than the
kinky, the awkward and desperate onto the page. I have to be willing to put the
vulnerability of pure happiness out there too. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite everything I may have ever said before, Stephanie
Meyer is a genius. <o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-3105338341134729782013-01-13T17:37:00.001-08:002013-01-13T17:37:20.548-08:00German! Some of my books are now available in German and are doing amazingly well!<br />
<br />
The second book Love is Fear (I think it's Liebe ist Angst but can't remember) is coming out at the end of January!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-42776101034498295922013-01-13T17:33:00.003-08:002013-01-13T17:33:44.879-08:00RT 2013I will be attending The Romantic Times Conference in Kansas and would love to meet you! I'll be at the e-book signing and around. Let me know if you're going!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-4682581905721082162013-01-08T17:26:00.001-08:002013-01-08T17:26:36.068-08:00Question Time with Caroline<br />
Hello everyone in blogger land! I know it has been a while, but between Christmas and the new book coming out, I've been a bit swamped.<br />
<br />
Every now and again I get an email from a fan and I wind up writing an incredibly long response and then I think to myself-- 'Self you should post this on your blog because it's just possible that somebody might find it interesting or relevant.' Let's hope that's true....<br />
<br />
I'm going to abbreviate the question and then give you my response. If you have any questions, do let me know!!<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px;">The Question-- I am on 60,000 words at the moment and pretty close to finishing but am now unsure what happens next. Do I just upload and see what happens? It’s ok I am not expecting answers from you but I guess I am now in a place where I either move forward or just forget the whole (writing) thing and keep reading other people’s words. I guess I am afraid someone will read my words and identify the same way I have and see the bits of me I have now learned to keep to myself.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
The Answer-- First of all, congratulations on writing sixty thousand words!! That is amazing and you should be very proud of yourself. I suppose you could push the publish button and upload it, but my initial thought is that that might be hasty. You seem a bit conflicted as to what you would like to do and I think anyone writing a good book has to put themselves on the page and expect that readers will identify with them and think that they know them. I saw JR Ward at RT and people acted like she was a goddess. They love the peculiar darkness of her characters and it resonates with them. If that is the sort of book that you would like to write, then you are 'out there.'</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
There is no shame in writing a book for yourself and it's possible that over a bit of time you would become more comfortable with putting so much of yourself into words. My other concern is that perhaps you are rushing. Sixty thousand words is on the short side for a novel. If you have written a novella then perhaps what I am saying is irrelevant, but my guess is that there are areas of your book that would need to be fleshed out more to get you up to eighty thousand words which is standard novel size.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
My advice is to put the book away for six weeks and then look at it. At that point the book is fairly unrecognizable and you can look at it objectively and decide what is working and what is not working. I would be very careful about putting your work out into the world if you are the only person who has seen it. I've been in a lot of critique groups where I have been told that my writing sucks. I've also been told that my writing is good. You have to develop a thick skin so that when strangers take umbrage with your work-- which they will-- you can think 'go write your own fucking book if you don't like it' instead of wondering if they are correct.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">
From the way you talk about the book (which granted is in one sentence) I don't have the impression that you think you have written the Great American novel. It sounds like you proved something to yourself-- ie that you could do it-- and now you have to decide what you would like to do next. I'm a big believer in joining a writer's group, because they are the only people who will be interested in your writing. Before my book became successful, my friends and family had no interest in reading my writing and I did not want to subject them to it. Now they still don't have any interest but they keep thinking they should. lol. Anyway, congratulations again and let me know what you decide to do :)</div>
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-69457263639821003392012-12-04T07:54:00.001-08:002012-12-04T07:54:47.551-08:00The Walking Stomach Flu<br />
I have been sick as a dog for the last five days. My daughter brought home a stomach bug from preschool and it tore through the house like the Black Death. In the morning people were fine, by the afternoon it was too late.<br />
<br />
The only good thing about being sick is that it means I get to watch a lot of TV. Usually my days are too busy and I can barely keep up with what I have. But during this illness, I burned through two seasons of The Walking Dead and I have no idea if that's a good show to watch or not when one is sick.<br />
<br />
On one hand, I kept thinking it could be worse, there could be a zombie apocalypse. But on the other hand seeing so much gore and skulls being caved in wasn't good for my delicate constitution. The show really revels in the horror aspect of zombies and likes to get a close up everytime a pick axe goes into the brain.<br />
<br />
When I was pregnant I watched charmed and I blame the estrogen for how much I enjoyed it. I found myself crying at the sisterly antics on more in one occasion and I'm pretty damn sure that show did not deserve any tears.<br />
<br />
So what do you guys do when you're sick, anybody watching anything good? Apparently there is also a cold making its way through the school and undoubtedly into my house....<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-65936908587759773682012-11-08T18:48:00.000-08:002012-11-08T18:48:08.195-08:00Love is Mortal excerpt- page 1To celebrate the fact that November 15 is almost here I thought I'd post an excerpt from Love is Mortal. My plan is to add a bit more everyday until D day. Hope you like it!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<b>Prologue<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<b>London, 1530<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 279.25pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<a href="" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK1">The air stank. The smell of unwashed
flesh and burning candles. The smell of perfume and worn clothing. Marion loved
a good party, but usually she just came for the food. She ran her finger down the
Fey queen’s arm and watched as goose bumps rose on the woman’s flesh. <i><o:p></o:p></i></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<i>Pretty.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
Marion
loved women, but was anything more delicious than a woman dressed for a party?
Maybe it was the dancing—that it made them blush and pushed all that warm blood
close to the surface of their skin. Maybe it was the sweat—the slight sheen and
taste of salt, the way her lips felt as they slid over flesh damp from a night
of dancing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
Or maybe
it was just because they were usually so happy that it made them beautiful to
drink from. They were human presents she
got to unwrap. She licked her lips and saw her lover track the movement. Annika’s
breath hitched, breasts straining against her low-necked dress. Marion was sure
she could see a hint of nipple. The fashion <i>did
</i>seem to include showing a rather large amount of breast, but the Fey queen was
particularly daring. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
Heaven
forbid she leave something to the imagination. Perhaps it was because she was a
fertility goddess at heart. She smiled. It could be downright difficult to get
that woman to keep her clothes on. Marion felt very lucky that her goal of
retrieving the Sard, a mythical object of Fey power, allowed her to mix work
with pleasure.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Annika,”
Marion murmured and stepped closer, wanting to take a bite out of her right there.
She was about to do it, but then she saw <i>him</i>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
Lucas. His
arctic blue eyes fastened on her. His arms were crossed, and he looked
irritated. <i>As always.</i> He was watching
her, waiting for Marion to do what she was supposed to do. <i> I hate doing what I’m supposed
to do. </i>Marion sighed. “Business. It’s always business.”<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-42050906258381695052012-08-07T06:59:00.002-07:002012-08-07T06:59:40.804-07:00It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a Jack Novella!<br />
It's a Jack Novella! And the reasoning is this: When I first wrote LID the beginning was different. It was Jack and his parents. What his life was like before Val and then what happened with Marion and how we wound up with Val and her dad.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that was the beginning of the book since day one up until a few weeks before the book came out. But LID was Val's book. So this beginning really didn't fit in. As much as I wanted it to. But every time someone read it, they really liked it and kept asking if it was ever going to come out. And it is! I'm excited.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdHAZsJjppnI2CcuiYm_fzEgglTD7rjTpleaNzz9a5m_Vw4FRiSQMC0ktqdPnLKGbMQZeqzcEKsPV1kadKVrLJFzoWM5t0QJ2SBsz7D62kKbOiJ_ZzQm-Cq3LEkRBZ8XbEMTd7ThcW7qQ/s1600/loveisthebeginning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdHAZsJjppnI2CcuiYm_fzEgglTD7rjTpleaNzz9a5m_Vw4FRiSQMC0ktqdPnLKGbMQZeqzcEKsPV1kadKVrLJFzoWM5t0QJ2SBsz7D62kKbOiJ_ZzQm-Cq3LEkRBZ8XbEMTd7ThcW7qQ/s320/loveisthebeginning.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
It's going to be 99c on Amazon and should come out in the next few weeks depending upon how long my editor takes. Rereading it and tweaking it was odd. How much what happens in the next book relates to this scene written all that time ago. I'll keep you posted!<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-57148297575731436602012-05-02T10:17:00.004-07:002012-05-02T10:17:59.249-07:00Why I won't read your book if you ask me toSo there I was looking at Loretta Chase's blog (I love, love, love her books and had the honor of meeting her at RT. There is a picture of me and her on my facebook page. I'm the one who was so overwhelmed I started to cry. Yes to the patheticness.) Anyway, so I was clicking through her links which led me to a post about what to do when asked to read someone's manuscript. I'm going to post Tess Gerritson and Orson Scott Card's responses to this question because...it's reached that point.<br />
<br />
It's sort of surreal to be successful enough that I have to turn people away when they ask me to read their manuscript but I do. Whoda thunk. So please don't ask me.<br />
<br />
This is from Tess Gerritsen's blog:<br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<h1 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 32px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;">
<a href="http://www.tessgerritsen.com/blog/how-dare-you-not-read-my-manuscript/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Permanent Link: “How Dare You Not Read My Manuscript?”"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black;">“HOW DARE YOU NOT READ MY MANUSCRIPT?”</span></a></h1>
<div class="date" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Wednesday, Feb 15th, 2006 @ 09:36 pm</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">On Valentine’s day, I guest-blogged over at that great website MurderSheWrites.com, about my experience with an unpublished writer who’d just finished his first manuscript. My blog wasn’t actually about manuscript critiquing, but about how writers have to pay attention to their emotions when they write. My blog received a number of comments from readers. Among them was this one:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">“How nice. I wonder if you remember when YOU had just finished writing your very first novel. Who helped you along on the journey? Or did all of your published (and not) friends avoid meeting with you, assuming you’d written nothing “marginally publishable”?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">I’m sorry new novelists offend you, Tess. I’m glad you weren’t on my “must call” list when I finally completed the monumental task of finishing my first book. I may never have completed the second.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">My response to that? Thank GOD I’m not on your “must call list.” Because not only will you EXPECT me to be thrilled to read your work, you’ll also probably be truly pissed off if I tell you I don’t like it.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">When I was a first-time novelist, with my first manuscript, did I expect a published friend to to spend eight hours (or more) reading it and critiquing it?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Absolutely not. I wrote my book and I landed my own agent. By myself. That’s how I thought writers were supposed to do it.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">I think it’s perfectly legitimate for unpublished authors to ask published authors for agent recommendations or about trends in the marketplace. And these questions should be asked in a way that minimizes the published author’s time commitment. If she’s a good friend, then you can do it over coffee. If you barely know her, then by email. But I would never have dreamed of asking a busy novelist to read my entire manuscript.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">And now that I’m a published novelist, I avoid reading them. Here’s why:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">First, there’s the time factor. I get several requests a week from unpublished, unsold writers wondering if I’ll read their manuscripts. (I am NOT talking about novelists who’ve already landed a publisher and are seeking blurbs for book covers. Those are legitimate requests. I can’t honor most of them due to time constraints, but I do try.) If I were to say yes to every unpublished author’s request, I wouldn’t have time to write my own books. And truly, I’m astounded that people whom I don’t know, or hardly know, would come up to me and essentially ask, “Say, will you spend eight hours reading my incredible literary work?” Because that’s what it works out to. Eight hours of work.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">And if you don’t see my point, think about this. What if someone you barely know says to you: “Hey, wouldn’t you love to come over and spend eight hours cleaning my house?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">You’d tell them thanks, but no thanks.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Which will then earn you the resentful comment: “But you OWE it to me because your house is so clean! Your clean house makes you OBLIGATED to help me!”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">If the person asking me to clean their house is my mother or an elderly friend, you betcha I’ll go over and help clean the house.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Same with reading manuscripts. Mothers and close friends get special dispensation.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">But when I hear unpublished authors whine that published authors are OBLIGATED to help them get published, that’s when my blood goes from simmer to boil.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Then, there’s the other reason I don’t read unsold manuscripts: It can lead to legal nightmares.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">This is not just an excuse that we authors give to avoid reading unpubbed manuscripts — this is a real and serious concern for us. My literary agent has a bestselling client who, to be nice, once agreed to read an acquaintance’s unpublished manuscript. Then she got sued. By this very acquaintance. “You stole my story idea!” was the charge.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Needless to say, my literary agent now warns all her clients not to read unpublished manuscripts written by people they don’t know well.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">I myself had a similar experience. I teach a writing course once a year down in Cape Cod, for doctors who want to become writers. Soon after my book BODY DOUBLE came out, I got a threatening email from one of the course attendees who said she was taking action to sue me for “stealing her idea.” The idea that I supposedly stole was about pregnant women getting murdered for their unborn babies.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">I didn’t remember this woman. I never read her manuscript (it was read by someone else on the course faculty). And the idea I “stole” is hardly steal-able, as the murder of pregnant women for their babies is a crime that pops up in the news just about every year. But what if I HAD read this woman’s manuscript? What if (as often happens in literature) there WERE similarities in our plots? I could have ended up in court. I could have suffered through months of stress and attorney’s fees.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">All because I read an unpublished manuscript.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Maybe I’m coming across as a hard ass about this. Yes, I know there are heart-warming stories out there, about New Author John Smith who got published because Bestselling Author Jane Doe read his manuscript, loved it, and sent it to her agent. But I can guarantee that John Smith didn’t just send it to Jane Doe out of the blue, and tell her that she was OBLIGATED to help him out. Maybe Jane was teaching a writing course, and he was her student. Maybe they were already friends. Maybe Jane judged a writers’ contest, and his story stood out. (While teaching writing courses, I myself have discovered terrific unsold manuscripts, and have always been happy to help shepherd them to a literary agent, because I LOVE it when a new author lands her first book sale.)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">But approach an author you hardly know and ask her to read your unsold manuscript?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">No.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Think of it as a reverse Nike ad.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Just Don’t Do It.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<strong style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<strong style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">From Orson Scott Card: </strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<strong style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Question: Will you read my book/story/manuscript?</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>Answer:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>Dear Fellow Writers</strong>:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>Why I Will Not Read Your Manuscript</strong>.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>If you're hoping I'll write you a glowing letter of recommendation:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>You don't need it.</strong> What you need is a "wise reader," as I describe in my books<u>Character and Viewpoint</u> and <u>How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy</u>. What do you think a professional writer will do for you that your own "wise reader" can't do? Are you hoping I'll write a glowing letter of recommendation? Even if I did, it won't do any good. The editor will still make up his own mind. In fact, for all you know the editor might hate my fiction and think I'm an idiot, in which case my praise will be a negative. All that matters is the manuscript you wrote. Editors are hungry for good writing. If that's what you give them, they'll say so. If they don't recognize good writing when they see it, my letter won't help.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>If you're hoping I'll give you wise advice that will make your manuscript publishable:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>It's a waste of time.</strong> When I do read manuscripts in detail, critiquing them, generally the problems are serious enough that a complete rewrite is required. Few writers have the heart for it. My experience is that only one out of a hundred writers actually follows a single suggestion I make. And even if you try, there's no guarantee that you'll understand the suggestion, or that you'll be ready as a writer to do the thing I'm suggesting you do. Since I know from the start that in all likelihood you're not going to do a thing I say, why should I waste my time?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>If you are a friend or acquaintance and/or you swear you'll do everything I say:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>I'm not going to read it anyway.</strong> Even on those rare occasions when I agree to read a manuscript, it just goes on a pile of manuscripts that I really, really, really intend to read Real Soon Now. Only there has never yet been a morning when I woke up and thought, "I don't have a thing to do today! I think I'll read some of those manuscripts I've got piled up!" At the end of the day, I don't ever, ever say to my wife, "I'm done for the day and I don't need to go to bed for another hour. Where are those manuscripts so I can read one?" The result is that a year or two later, you feel bitter and unhappy about the fact that I never responded, and I feel guilty about not having read what you sent me, and so both of us are miserable, and the manuscript isn't read anyway -- so why not skip all the misery and just not send it to me in the first place?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
I'm not proud of this -- but I've lived with me long enough to know this is what always happens, so I might as well be honest about it.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>If you're thinking of offering me money to read your manuscript:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>Give it to a good charity. </strong>I don't need your money. You don't have enough to tempt me. And even if you did, what I gave you in return would not be worth it.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>If you're annoyed or angry that I won't help a struggling young writer:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>My job is writing fiction</strong>. The only thing I owe to other writers is what I owe to other readers: To do the best I can with my own storytelling. When I teach writing, it's a hobby. I do it for love. Nobody has a right to demand that I teach them how to write or help them get published. So take a few deep breaths, return to the rational world, and then send your manuscript to agents and editors -- that <u>is</u> their job.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>Is there ever a time when I'll read a manuscript?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>Yes, if you're a former student of mine and you're in the room with me while I read. </strong>That's it. That's the only way I ever read manuscripts. If you have taken a class or workshop with me, then you have the lifetime right to consultation. But only on the first few dozen pages of an unfinished manuscript, and only in person, with you sitting there to receive my comments as I read.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Oh, yeah. There's one other exception. If your mother and my mother have the same yearbook picture, and we used to play Risk or Pit or Nurtz together as children. And even then I'm not very reliable.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>If you're thinking to yourself that you're the exception, that if you just think of a clever enough way to ask me, I'll read your manuscript and it will make all the difference in your career:</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<strong>It wouldn't, so I won't, so you can't, so you're not.</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Regretfully yours,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Orson Scott Card</div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: #282a2a; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 575px;">
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-19968189057890219232012-04-08T18:18:00.002-07:002012-04-08T18:18:59.276-07:00Maryse's review of LID. So excited!<br />
<div class="headline_area" style="background-color: #f0e0ea; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<h1 class="entry-title" style="font-family: 'Reenie Beanie', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 3em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.267em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Book Review – Love is Darkness by Caroline Hanson</h1>
<div class="headline_meta" style="color: #888888; font-size: 1em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.8em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
by <span class="author vcard fn" style="font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">MARYSE</span> on <abbr class="published" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; cursor: help; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="2012-04-08">APRIL 8, 2012</abbr> · <span style="font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://www.maryse.net/books/urban-fantasy-books/book-review-love-is-darkness-by-caroline-hanson.html#comments" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">4 COMMENTS</a></span></div>
<div class="headline_meta" style="color: #888888; font-size: 1em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.8em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
in <span style="font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://www.maryse.net/category/books/urban-fantasy-books" rel="category tag" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts in Urban Fantasy">URBAN FANTASY</a></span></div>
</div>
<div class="format_text entry-content" style="background-color: #f0e0ea; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.667em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Valerie-Dearborn-Novel-ebook/dp/B005JMJ046%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAI4O2CWZSDTTONBXQ%26tag%3Dmaryse-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB005JMJ046" style="color: #561b28; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="" class="alignleft" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EC4Enu50L._SL160_.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; float: left; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1.667em; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Valerie-Dearborn-Novel-ebook/dp/B005JMJ046%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAI4O2CWZSDTTONBXQ%26tag%3Dmaryse-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB005JMJ046" style="color: #561b28; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Love is Darkness (A Valerie Dearborn Novel)</a>I finished this one with a smile on my face. LOVED every minute of it. Never got bored, and never put it down. Nope. Start to finish I devoured it. AND!! I felt all of the emotion and turmoil and apprehension and… *ahem* <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">other stuff</em> <img alt=";)" class="wp-smiley" src="http://www.maryse.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /> as the story progressed. The connections intensified, the course of events were realistic (well.. hehe. As realistic as a world with vampires can be…), and ummm.. you know. There’s plenty of steamy in here. This is <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NOT</em></span> YA. BUT!! The “steamy scenes” teased!! BIG TIME. Quite detailed… and yet… left you wanting more. Another series were the reader is tantalized plenty, and things are not just “we’re-already-in-love” handed to you.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
When the author first contacted (and sent me this novel), I immediately recognized the title as one that was so frequently recommended.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Sandra emailed me saying:</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“It includes the scary but way cool vampires, hunters and Valerie who really just wants to be normal. Plus it was underpriced as an ebook. Love it ….couldn’t put it down and now waiting, waiting for the second novel to be released in December. You have to read it .. Look forward to hearing what you think.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Desiree emailed me saying:</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“Maryse,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
You MUST read LOVE IS DARKNESS & LOVE IS PAIN by Caroline Hanson…alpha male x2 .. vampire. Can’t believe you do not have it on your site!! You will LOVE LOVE LOVE</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Promise.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
and then the numerous Facebook and blog comment recommendations cinched it for me!</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Kristina: Maryse I highly recommend A Valerie Dearborn Novel by Caroline Hanson (Love is Darkness & Love is Fear).. I read these 2 books in 1 day because they were THAT GOOD. Mega Alpha Vampire.. check.. average girl.. check.. average girl in love with a tortured badboy, CHECK, Mega Alpha Vamp interested in average girl & tortured boy getting pissed CHECK.. this is a different look @ the vamp world. The sex scenes are amazing & there is defintely HOLY SH*T moments.. I am desperately waiting for book 3 to come out. I have not been this excited since Fifty series & Effortless.. Especially for a paranormal romance. … if you want some hot vamps, hot humans, hot elves, etc.. then read these books asap!!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Yanira: @Kristina thx for the recom, I had looked at these books, but now will read for sure!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Patricia: I know Yanira, Kristina has peaked my curiosity, .,….I think I need a vampire change of pace</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Kristy: Valerie Dearborn series for sure! I flew through them so frantically my kids had to eat pb&j sandwiches for diner cause I refused to stop reading to cook</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Maryse’s Book Blog: … you guys telling me about the Valerie Dearborn series – I’m DYING to read this now. Anything that has you all ignoring your real lives MUST be good!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Carrie: I finished Love is Darkness about 4 am earlier this week. Once I started I couldn’t put it down! … Considering the cliffhanger moment at the end of Darkness, if Fear leaves off the same way I’m going to be DYING for 3.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Dara: @Carrie…prepare yourself..it gets down right unfair…lol..but ohh you gotta read it!!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Tasha: I just found these books on Amazon and I LOVE THEM!! I am so mad the next one does not come out till May the cliffhanger was fantastic. I was mad at everyone but her in the end and excited to read what is going to happen next. I love when you can find a book that brings out all your emotion…that is the difference between a good author and a great author.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
See? Over and over again, this many people just couldn’t be wrong. And you know what, after book #1, I wholeheartedly agree. Another fantastic read!! (I’ve been having a really good book week!!)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
But here’s an admission. At first I found myself just a tad… <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">meh</em> about the subject matter. I thought to myself, ahhhh another kick-butt vampire hunter female. I don’t want them to hunt vampires!! I wanna them to cuddle vampires!! Yes, yes, I know. It usually always ends up that way anyway, so what was I worried about? I usually end up liking ‘em just fine (even <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">loving</em></span> them – Cat and Bones anyone?). My apprehension of the “kick-butt” heroine is that I find I tend to connect more when the heroine is more “human” than super-human, ya know? <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Yeahhhh, </em>you know<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">.</em> I’ve said that before. Some like ‘em tough and already powerful, I tend to like ‘em quirky and perfectly imperfect.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And books like these that remind me of why I was such a vampire-addict when I first started reading again. It had everything I love in an urban fantasy. Valerie, a human female, (and okay, yes… she has a little something *special* to her). She is part “empath”, meaning… I dunno. In this one, nothing to humans, no distinguishable powers at all, but when she is around the paranormal… ahhh the powers kick in, on an emotional level. See!? Totally relatable to us human readers. For all we know, at least as per Caroline Hanson’s human/vampire world, we could be EMPATHS!! <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Uh huh!!!</em> We<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">so</em></span> could. I mean, who knows?! Maybe it’s ’cause we just haven’t met a vampire yet! Even if we didn’t have any recognizable powers in our past and amongst our human entourage… *nods emphatically*</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
No? ahhhh never mind. Tee hee!!! <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">*blush*</em>. Well… so? Still…. totally relatable now, when I put it that way, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">right</em>?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Anyhoooo…. so she’s been in training to be a vampire hunter all of her life, as her mother was viciously murdered by one, and her father is on a path of vengeance. Along the way, a teenage boy (Jack) joined their cause of vengeance, as he too, lost his parents the same way. She crushed on him throughout her teenage life, and now that they’re adults, Jack is hotter then ever. But… still rebuffing her. Well. Sorta.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“This has always been here Val. We know it and we avoid it because it doesn’t change anything. All it will do is tear us apart.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
His motivation in life is focused on one thing. The extermination of vampires, and Valerie just doesn’t really have it in her, nor does she want to be a vampire hunter. See!! I LOVED her!! Totally relatable ’cause I don’t think I’d wanna be one either.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
But there’s a vampire that has taken a keen interest in her.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And then he remembered the dead empath had a daughter.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Interesting.</em></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Lucas is the oldest, most powerful, most gorgeous, most amazing, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">king</em> of vampires. Except he is so ancient that his feelings, his empathy, his motivation is waning. Old vampires can’t feel. And to feel, or have a semblance of feeling, they must do outrageous things. Like murder, pillage… world domination. You know, stuff like that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
But when Lucas happens upon her bloodline, he secretly watches over her throughout her life. While Valerie does not know of her own powers and her effect on the paranormal world (especially vampires), she is a target. And on her first “stakeout” (hehe) with her father as a teenager, she is attacked, and Lucas secretly makes himself known to her, and teaches her a few things, himself.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“Kill him, Valerie. He attacked you.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Huh. That’s a twist.</em> She shook her head and dropped the stake, hands nerveless in fear. “No. I don’t want to.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“Worse will come for you. You must learn to protect yourself. I cannot be here at all times. Do it now and with my protection. No harm shall come to you by my hand.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And Lucas begins to gain her trust (of course, only while her father and Jack are looking the other way).</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Did she fear Lucas? Hell, yeah! But would he hurt her?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">No.</em></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Her mind and body knew it, the answer resonating through her like the vibrations of a bell.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And now that she is an adult, trying to live a “normal” life as a college student, trying to get passed her feeling of “Jack”, Lucas comes back in her life with a proposal. Now she has to decide who she can trust, and who’s telling the truth. The fate of humanity (and the paranormal world) is at stake, the balance is off, and with her assistance, his plans can possibly take fruition.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“There was a time when things were different. There was a balance in the world. There were Others. Not only vampires, but werewolves, Fey, witches, empaths – they were all real. All powerful. If one group became too bloodthirsty or powerful, the others could unite long enough to restore a balance.” A long moment passed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“What happened?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“Only vampires remain and I rule them all.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Except that his opponents have something different in mind, and now her whole “normal” life has just taken a paranormal dive. The very thing she resisted all of her teenage life, is now front row and center, and she can’t ignore it anymore.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Oh and… she can’t ignore her extreme attraction to Lucas, either.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And yet, he’d been so compelling and fascinating, looked like some sort of medieval champion in Gucci, that if he was the face of evil, what the hell did good look like?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Not only had Lucas saved her life, he’d helped her – been patient with her, taken away her fear, gone on to star in some of her better fantasies.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And of course, there’s Jack. He may be human, but he is no less steamy, I can promise you that. Yep.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
He was her childhood love. Even though she was grown up, he was still around and in her life. He’d show up, be all alpha male say something about how important she was to him and she just… couldn’t quite get over him.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
He was the fantasy.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And I always hesitate when publicly comparing books to other books or series, but just to give you an idea, of the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">*feel*</em> of it, at least for me, I want to say… and I will only say it in terms of the potential “love triangle” and not all of the other <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">crazy</em> stuff, but this one has that “Jean Claude/Richard/Anita” feel to it (pre-Anita’s ardor and multi-animal stuff that happened to her).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
However Lucas is just… bigger, more masculine… seemingly much more powerful, and even sexier, to me. But If you’ve read Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, you’ll know what I’m referring to. You know… when the books were great in the first half of the series? Of course Jack is not a were (at least not as far as I know), but it has that awesome delicious energy, and just… the *feel* of them, to me, is like that. Not that I’m complaining, because I’ve been dying to read another series in that vein. Heh. I said vein! No pun intended, but it turned out pretty good, didnt it?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Now… it’s not perfect. Some words missing here or there, and I found myself (at least in the beginning) wondering if I had just “missed” something, in the way some scenes changed, or some conversations occurred. It was rare, but I remember backtracking at a couple of times, checking to see if I had skipped a page. But this was only in the beginning, and didn’t confuse me enough to be lost. And there are a few questions that I still have, such as… do all humans know that vampire exist in this series? Or is it just those that have been “attacked” or those that are in blood-relationships with them? Because there are plenty of human/vampire interactions throughout, so… maybe I missed that part?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
But overall, I was so thrilled with the story, that when I was done I just had that <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">need</em> to email the author and express my gratitude:</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 1.667em; margin-left: 0.833em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0.833em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
“Just to let you know I just finished “Love is Darkness” and loved it! Reminiscent of the vampire books I used to read and love when I first started in the genre. All that delicious tension! And scary, more traditional vampires. I’ve been needing something like this.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
*sigh* so much fun! And what an ending. I swear I’m crushing on Jack and Lucas equally.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
And all I can say now is <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">wooooohooooo YAY </em>because right after I’m done this review, I get to start book #2. And as they said up there, book #1 ends on a delicious little cliffhanger, so I can’t wait to get back to into it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.667em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
4.5 stars!</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-40745750623816089402012-03-14T17:50:00.000-07:002012-03-22T21:49:44.081-07:00"Aloha, can I borrow your umbrella...and Dayquil?"I'm back! I went on vacation with my family to Hawaii where it rained a lot. Every day in fact. And I got a migraine. Then I got a fever and finally I gave it to my kids, my parents and my husband. So everyone had a good time. Lol.<br />
<br />
Actually, it was still a nice trip becuase it's Hawaii. My kids played on the beach, I got my Mudslides and french fries so all was right in my little world for the most part. Two days I woke up at 3 and stumbled down to the lobby in my bathrobe and flip-flops to write. Those people behind the desk didn't know WHAT to make of me!<br />
<br />
I came home and I feel like the escape was good for me and my 'muse.' I had been having some trouble writing the third book, people have expectations and they are not shy of telling me about them and I have my own expectations and yet...it just wasn't happening. I didn't want to write anything. And this was my revelation-- writing is like dancing to your favorite music when no one is around. I dance differently, I go for it. I sing and I belt it out! Well, when I wrote LID it was the same way, I wrote that honey for me and if I thought it was a little risque with various chair scenes, etc. that was okay. It was my book.<br />
<br />
But LID (and then LIF) took off and have done really well which is kind of like finding out my crazy dancing has been recorded and put on Youtube...but people liked it. So they wanted more dancing and even though people liked it I wasn't sure I wanted to dance in public. The books have gotten racier and I have some things I wanted to play around with in the next book which, while not necessarily steamier, they're still a bit 'out there' in my mind. I like the messed-up quality of my books and that's what I want to write and yet I didn't really want to 'own it' for some bizarre reason.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I'm over it and I'm writing. I got the third book cut into 19 index cards that are posted next to my desk. The whole plot. I'm stoked. And then I finished a very rough draft. So now I have to dive in and see if there is anything worthwhile in there or if I just have to write it all over again.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-31056800788936127382012-01-30T14:12:00.000-08:002012-02-01T07:22:37.285-08:00Game of Thrones...Oh, Jamie<img src="http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/thumb/1/1e/Jaime_Lannister.jpg/300px-Jaime_Lannister.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
Oh the hotness of Jamie Lannister. Just found a trailer for Season 2 Game of Thrones. Whoo! Anybody watching? How hot is that man?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rOzXsqoJhtE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rOzXsqoJhtE</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659362259203956938.post-76610201369995038342012-01-25T12:35:00.000-08:002012-01-25T12:35:31.646-08:00I heart writingSniffle. (happy sniffle) I now have my office back and I'm writing. Yesterday I wrote 20 pages of a few different things and wasn't sure what I would settle on. Today I was again unsure of what I might write. I know I need to be working on book 3 but the plot has been so crazy and has so many different possibilities that I've had a hard time deciding stuff.<br />
<br />
I decided I would just write the scenes I know and see where it went. I got 12 pages done and one of the scenes I really like. I hope it works. I'm going to polish it up and take it to my writer's group for their input. It's probably a quarter of the way in to the book but the tone of the scene and where the character's are emotionally...I'm staking a claim on that scene. Putting my money on it. I think it's gonna be gold. I really missed my computer. I think I'm kind of lame.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4