Is Emma ready for a bite?
A Hunting Love story, Halle Puma Series Book 1.
Emma Carter has been in love with Max Cannon since high school, but he barely knew she existed. Now she runs her own unique curio shop, and she’s finally come out her shell and into her own.
When Max returns to his small home town to take up his duties as the Halle Pride’s Alpha, he finds that shy little Emma has grown up. That small spark of something he’d always felt around the teenager has blossomed into something more—his mate!
Taking her “out for a bite” ensures that the luscious Emma will be permanently his.
But Max’s ex has plans of her own. Plans that don’t include Emma being around to interfere. To keep her Alpha, Emma must prove to the Pride that she has what it takes to be Max’s mate.
Sweet dreams can easily become nightmares…
A Halle Pumas story.
Getting attacked by some crazed she-devil, complete with claws and fangs, certainly wasn’t on Rebecca Yaeger’s agenda when she agreed to attend a local masquerade. In a few slashing moments, Becky learns things about her friends and the man she loves that she never would have suspected.
When Simon rescues Becky from an unprovoked attack by one of his Pride, he finally confirms what he’s long suspected: she’s his mate. Carrying her off to his home and dressing her wounds gives him the chance he’s been waiting for—to taste her and mark her as his. And she’s far sweeter than anything, or anyone, he’s ever had before.
Just as their problems seem a thing of the past, a strange illness begins to haunt Becky, threatening to turn their sweet dreams into a nightmare.
He’ll do whatever it takes to protect his mate.
Halle Pumas, Book 3
Dr. Adrian Giordano is quite happy with the way his life is going. His two best friends are happily mated, and he’s still sanely single. He has friends, a thriving business, and the occasional Saturday night date. Then Sheridan Montgomery comes to town. His inner Puma responds to the husky-voiced snow princess in a way that tells him his life is about to be turned upside down.
Sheri can’t believe her luck could be this bad. Instinct tells her Adrian is her mate, but the last thing she wants to do is drag him into her messy life. She’s on the run from a big bad wolf—an ex who won’t take no for an answer. Worse, if he catches her, he’s got the teeth (and the Pack!) to take what he wants.
She doesn’t stand a chance alone, but with her friends—and the persistent Adrian—by her side, she might just survive.
If her ex doesn’t eat the yummy Dr. Giordano for lunch, that is…
The Wallflower, or How a Mage Got His Butt Kicked Out of My Head by a Werepuma
By Dana Marie Bell
Once upon a time, there was a mage. This mage was lonely, and wanted to find true love, so he cast a spell to bring his true love to him. Unfortunately, this mage had an enemy, one who would stop at nothing to bring about the destruction of the mage. But the mage has a secret weapon, his inborn ability to shift forms into that of a panther. Can the mage find and bind his love to him before his enemy finds her?
Sounds cool, huh? I thought so, too. How did Max and Emma feel about it? Let’s just say the commentary started with “Lame” and went downhill from there.
See, the shifter/mage story is the one I originally had in mind for this open call Samhain Publishing had put out. They were looking for novellas about cat shifters, and, well, I love me some cats. Lions, tigers, cougars, little black cats with bright green eyes, I love them all. So I decided to try and write a story for them. And that story was going to be about a mage.
Or so I thought. Silly me. Every now and then the muse yells, “SYKE!” and sends someone else to chatter in my ear. I couldn’t get the mage’s story to gel for me because these two pain in the butt characters wouldn’t shut up. Max and Emma kept banging on the door of my imagination and yelling, “Hey! You’re doing it wrong! You need to tell our story!”
“No, I don’t,” I yelled back, trying desperately to hold on to my hunky mage, all ten fingers firmly locked on my keyboard.
“Oh yes, you do!”
“Oh no I don’t! So there.”
“He’s lame.” Max crossed his arms and frowned at me through the big glass door.
“He is not!” I waved my hand at the monitor, totally outraged. “He’s hot, he’s sexy, he’s magical. What more could I want?”
“Me.” And Max broke the door down and proceeded to take over my imagination. Emma marched in right behind him, muttering things like “Captain Caveman” and “Haven’t you ever heard of a doorknob, for God’s sake?” and “Wow. That’s a lot of glass. You have a dustpan around here somewhere?”
Grrr. Hijacked by my own fictional characters. Of course, then Emma sat in Max’s lap, daintily crossed her ankles and said, “Dana, you need to listen.” And they proceeded to tell me their story, shouting down numerous “But-” ’s and “What about -” ’s until the poor mage threw his hands up in disgust and walked off to read dusty tomes or twiddle his Athame.
How did it all start? I’m not exactly sure, but I do know that one day a news story was played on TV about a cougar being spotted just outside our local mall. It got me to thinking, “Hmm. I wonder if that was a shapeshifter, a werecougar… no, werepuma! OH! And it’s close to Christmas! Maybe she forgot something, and somehow accidentally changed while in the parking lot, so she hid in some bushes! Does she live out of state? Probably, everyone comes here to shop around the holidays. Wonder where she’s from? And I hope her shoes weren’t too expensive because they’re probably toast now. And since they (the police) can’t find it (the cougar), I wonder if her friends picked her up? If so I hope they have tinted windows, ‘cause if not she’s going to be saying hello to Big Bertha down at the county lock-up…”
And thus ends the terrifying trip into how my brain works, but this is how the fictional town of Halle was born.
And The Wallflower was only the beginning. Next came Simon and Becky of Sweet Dreams, followed by Adrian and Sheri of Cat of a Different Color. Now I’m toying with expanding the universe beyond the Pumas (book 4 deals with Wolves, for instance) into the realm of Bears and Foxes and maybe even a Tiger or two. I’ll still write Pumas, because it wouldn’t be Halle without them, but let’s face it. A Bear and a Wolf? Or a Wolf and a Puma? (Oops, already did that in book 4.) Oh! How about a Fox and a human, and Emma’s ex at that? Hmm…
******Leave a comment for the chance to win a download copy of one of Dana’s books! Good Luck! 🙂
Oh, and yes, Jambrea, there IS a Bunny…
Hi Dana!
It is wonderful to see you here at Fatin’s blog! I have heard nothing but wonderful things about your stories and I have your shifter books on my list.
I’m always facinated to hear how a story evolves from an idea in an author’s mind to a wonderful book. The cover art for your books is beautiful by the way.
All the best for the festive season. 🙂
Good morning, Ms Bell!
I have to tell you, I’m now a fan of yours–I got The Wallflower in a giveaway back in April, and after letting it sit (sorry! *hangs head in shame*) for months in my hard drive, I finally read it, in one sitting. Wow! (the review is coming up tomorrow at Karen’s blog, by the way)
I love love love Emma!
And I’d love to get Sweet Dreams or Cat of a Different Color
Best of luck with all your books!
Love yor post of how this series came about, Dana. Now I do like mages, but I also like shifters, and think to do each justice they don’t need to mix their stories, lol. I just happened to be browsing around your site to pick a book I just won from the contest Angie did and put the rest of the series on my wishlist, would love to get another sooner.
Thanks! I love love love Emma too, lol! She is dainty yet fierce, and keeps Max in line.
I have to say though, so far Adrian is my favorite of the heroes. He’s just so… (shiver). Just don’t tell Max and Simon.
Oh, how fun! Thanks for sharing a peek inside your creative process! 😉 What a great mix of characters and universes!
Thanks for introducing your books to me! I love the sound of them… Hmmm… bears and tigers sound like a great idea! 😀
God a day on your head sounds like a blissful rollercoaster. I just love all of your stories and i cannot wait for book 4! Fascinating though how a writer’s mind works in terms of how characters come about.
What a great introduction for a new to me author. The books sound great and they are definitely added to my list!!
Hi Dana! **waves madly**
Those sneaky characters and their demanding voices. Gotta love them…
And while I love shifters I really couldn’t say I love one kind the best, so I get the idea of expanding Halle to more than the Pumas.
Heck, I’m playing with water shifters right now.
Viv
Water shifters? Sounds interesting.
I thought about what I wanted to add to the shifters, and realized that a) they needed to be mammals and b) they needed to be carnivores/omnivores. I don’t have anything against Weredeer or *cough* Werebunnies, I just wasn’t interested in writing them.
Bears, foxes, tigers and wolves, though? Bring ’em on!
I really enjoy reading the background on how stories come about!
Thanks for the great interview
Natasha A.
ROFLOL! I loved hearing abour your muse Dana. And you already know I ADORE these books. Please keep them coming!!!
Sandie
I’m hoping too. I just plan on adding a few critters to the mix. =)
Ooh! These sound great! I love shifter stories. Thanks for explaining how these came to be.
These sound like really great books. I like shifter stories and these put a great twist on the traditional story. I also liked hearing the inspiration behind the stories. Keep up the great work!
I have now read all of Dana’s Halle Puma books so please don’t enter me. I did want to say that I absolutely loved this series and can’t wait for more. Are you going to find your mage again and give his story another try or did he leave forever?
Hi Dana, I haven’t read any of your books yet, so it was great to get to know you and your stories. Love, love shifters, and if you share your sense of humor with the characters you write about, I will definitely be adding your books to my wish list.
I am thinking of digging the mage out, but if I do I don’t think he’ll be a shifter. I love shifters, don’t get me wrong, but the Halle series is, I think, going to remain only shifters.
So the mage, when I write him, will have his own world. 🙂
oooo, count me in!
xoxo
Hey Dana – I love these books. I just finished them up the other day. I can’t wait for the fourth book in the series – I’ve got to see what you are going to do with that one.
Ohh wow these sound awesome!!! I love cats, big or small!!! I love them all. And your story sounds wonderful.
And how it came about, I loved that!!!
Thanks so much for this post.
hugs,
WendyK
I love this series! I have read the first two books and loved them. I have this one on my wishlist. Sounds great!
Ooh, new books to add to my list. I love finding new authors!!!
All three books sound fantastic. I’ve been wanting The Wallflower, but have to put a hold on all book buying for myself until after the holiday. *sigh*
Hi Dana,
I have not read this series but from the sound of the blurbs, they look like great reads. I love shifters stories and I’ll definitely check this out! BTW, Emma and Max seem like great characters. Pity about the mage, I would have love to read his story too! 🙂
Tamsyn
Oh, I’m pretty sure the mage will sneak out from his magey tower and take over my brain at some point. I can still hear him muttering in there. He’s just been drowned out recently by shifters and Norse gods and Fae. =)
I just realised, there might be a place for the mage after all.
Wonder how he’d feel about a Norse goddess…
Hi Dana! I loved THE WALLFLOWER. It was so exciting when that theme of books came out and so glad more of the Puma books. Looks like I have some catching up to do (and thats good, more to read in the series). Good on book 4 coming, more after that? Loved reading how this story came to you!! Thanks for sharing Dana.
I’m going to do one more Puma book before really introducing new shifters into the mix (Rick’ Wolves will actually have their own series!). The new series will be called something like Halle Shifters. =)
Oh cool! I like that series names!! They put your books of your series in one book of print or they putting them out with the others that were out when the line was introduced? Thanks Dana!!!