Cover Goodness: Never Seduce A Scot by Maya Banks

September 25, 2012

www.mayabanks.com

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Q&A with Lorraine Heath

Three young heirs, imprisoned by an unscrupulous uncle, escaped—to the sea, to the streets, to faraway battle—awaiting the day when they would return to reclaim their birthright.

Sebastian Easton always vowed he would avenge his stolen youth and title. Now back in London, the rightful Duke of Keswick—returning from battle a wounded, hardened, changed man—cannot forget the brave girl who once rescued him and his brothers from certain death.

Lady Mary Wynne-Jones paid dearly for helping the imprisoned young Lords of Pembrook, and she remembers well the promise she made to Sebastian all those years ago: to meet him once more in the abbey ruins where they shared a bold, forbidden kiss. While Mary is betrothed now to another, a friendship forged with dark secrets cannot be ignored. Unexpected passion soon burns dangerously between them, tempting Sebastian to abandon his quest for retribution to fight for a love that could once again set him free.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

An Interview with Lorraine Heath

Questions Provided by Sebastian Easton, the Duke of Keswick

Keswick: Hmm. We’ll let’s see here. Where to begin? At the beginning, I suppose. So where did this premise for the Lost Lords of Pembrook come from? Why lock my brothers and me in a cold, dark tower?

LH: I have always been fascinated by the story of the two young princes locked in the Tower of London by their uncle Richard III and never seen again. Were they killed? Did they escape? Did they get sent away? No one knows, even though bones were found years later in a box beneath some stairs. I thought it would be fun to give you and your brothers a similar story. It would give you the opportunity to experience life very differently than you would have had you been given no challenges to overcome. You would be harsher than the typical lord. You would be bolder, mentally stronger. Confident. You defied death after all—twice.

Keswick: But I returned from war hideously scarred. Why would any woman want me?

LH: I was brought up to believe that it’s what’s inside a person that is more important. The outer shell is just that—a shell.

Keswick: But I had such a handsome shell before you had your way with it. And you know as well as I that the outer scars are nothing compared with the inner ones. They’ll only heal once Pembrook is back in my possession. You didn’t make that such an easy task.

LH: But where is the fun in the easy path? You want the readers to care about your journey, to keep turning the pages don’t you?

Keswick: I’m not as concerned about me as I am about Mary. You weren’t very nice to her, you know? Not certain I can forgive you for sending her to a nunnery.

LH: I didn’t. Her father did. And if he hadn’t, don’t you think some lord would have snatched her up by the time she was nineteen? Before you returned to England?

Keswick: Sigh. Yes. She’s so lovely. I could hardly take my eye off her the first night when I disrupted my uncle’s ball. I wanted to take her in my arms, even then, but reclaiming Pembrook had priority.

LH: Should it have?

Keswick: It’s my heritage. It belongs to me.

LH: I have to admit that I’ve always been fascinated by the nobility’s devotion to the past and to duty. I’m so enjoying watching Downton Abbey.

Keswick: What’s Downtown Abbey?

LH: Sorry. After your time. Let’s get back to you. What’s your favorite memory of Mary?

Keswick: Every memory of her is my favorite.

LH: Pick one.

Keswick: If I must, it would be when she first kissed me at the abbey ruins when we were children. So boldly. (Grins, gets a faraway look in his eyes.)

LH: Keswick?

Keswick: Hmm?

LH: The interview?

Keswick: Oh, right. I truly appreciate the opportunity to have a word. I know there are many people—writers, readers, booksellers, librarians—who believe you to be a lovely person. I, however, have a bit of a problem with that perception of you. I’m not certain you’re nice at all. You gave me an uncle who wishes me dead. You separated me from my brothers for twelve years. You sent me to war where I was maimed on the battlefield. You—

LH: Gave you a happy ending. You needed to deserve it.

Keswick: Ah, well, when you put it that way, I suppose I have no right to complain.

LH: None at all.

Keswick will be happy to answer any questions that you might have. We will give away an amazon or B&N $20 gift card to one lucky poster.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

To find out more about The Lost Lords of Pembrook, visit www.lorraineheath.com. And remember to leave a question for a chance to win. Good luck!

 

*Giveaway sponsored by the author

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Teaser Tuesday: Dire Warning by Stephanie Tyler

The Book

The Tease

He turned right before he got to the front door of the bar and surveyed his wolves, warning, “Try not to draw attention to yourselves.”

“Why do you look at me when you say that?” Vice asked as he reached for the door.

“Gee, can’t guess,” Jinx muttered. “Just listen to your king.”

If Vice didn’t, Rifter knew it wasn’t his fault. The man was built for vice. All of them were wrapped inside his body, ruling him. Each Dire had a different ability that could easily lead their wolves to destruction. Vice tried to keep a leash on his, and when he couldn’t, his fellow Dires did it for him.

“Just be careful—this bar’s a dive,” Vice told them. “There are some crazy-assed motherfuckers who hang out here.”

With that, he pushed open the door to the dark interior and voices rang across the bar at once, shouting, “Vice!”

“And that’s why I’m always looking at you,” Rifter said to the wolf with the spiked blond hair and silver eyes ringed with black.

The Blurb

Immortal and invincible, Rifter is the head of the last surviving pack of Dire Wolves—a band of Alpha brothers charged with protecting the Weres. But now that witches have joined forces with nefarious weretrappers, it’s a perfect storm for double trouble. When the murder of a human points to a wolf, along with the threat of the packs being outted to the world, the Dires fear that something even more dangerous is out there hiding in the dark, something waiting for the right time to show itself.

Available February 7, 2012

www.stephanietyler.com

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Cindy Gerard – From first sale to Last Man Standing

A deadly mission.
A thirst for revenge.
One headstrong alpha hero
and one daring woman will
settle the score.

Special operative Joe Green has gone vigilante.  His mission, avenge his Black Ops.,Inc. brother’s death during a bloody ambush years ago in Sierra Leone.  He refuses to drag the BOI team or his lover, Stephanie Tompkins, into the hunt for the man responsible, so when he finds himself beaten, starving, and alone after being falsely imprisoned for the murder of a Freetown priest, he knows he’s as good as dead.

Joe meant to protect Stephanie when he walked out on their relationship, but he can’t stop her now from executing his escape.  Breaking him out of prison is the easy part.  After Joe’s explosive theory pans out and his cunning enemy emerges as the front runner for a high level presidential appointment, he and Stephanie must race to derail the traitor’s conspiracy if they are to save their loved ones, the nation and each other.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

I’m always being asked about my first sale so I thought I’d share the story with you at Novel thoughts today.

My first sale story probably mirrors a lot of authors.  The truth is, it falls into the ‘if I knew then what I know now’ category, I probably wouldn’t be published.  I was so naïve.  Such a baby – rhetorically speaking – and so ignorant of the business.  Long story short, I was in love with LaVryle Spencer’s work – who among us doesn’t love and miss LaVyrle??  Anyway, I’d exhausted her complete library – or so I thought until I discovered there were some older titles that I’d missed.  When I couldn’t get a hold of them, I wrote to her.  That was before the days of e-mail AND e-books (yes, Virginia, there is a pre-web era many of us survived, but just barely).  But I digress. She wrote back.  Told me she wrote to me personally because my letter was so articulate.  In my mind that equated to:  “LaVryle Spencer thinks I’m articulate.  I bet I could write a book.”

You laugh but that’s just how it all started.  I sat down with a portable manual typewriter with a sticky E and set out to write the great American novel.  From that moment on I was a gonner.  Bitten bad by the writing bug.  That manuscript was rejected by the best editors in the business (many of whom I enjoy seeing at RWA nationals these days) but the rejection letters were very encouraging so I kept at it.  I wrote two more books.  Farmed them all over NYC and finally got the call one pretty fall afternoon from an editor with Bantam Doubleday Dell’s now defunct Loveswept line.  My hubby was helping a farmer friend of his in the field so I was home alone.  I was screaming and buzzed with excitement so I hopped in the car, drove out to the farm, bounced across a fall plowed field or two until I found Tom behind the wheel of a HUGE combine picking corn.  He saw me coming, jumped out of the cab and ran to the car.  “Who died?”  he asked frantically.   In his mind, nothing else warranted the beating my poor car was taking.

We still laugh about that day but MAVERICK was my very first title and came out in July of 1991.  Now, wow, 20 years and 46 books later, I still get a little tickle of excitement when I think about that first sale.

And speaking of sales 🙂  LAST MAN STANDING, my January 31, 2012 release will be on the shelves tomorrow!  LMS is the 7^th and final book of my Black Ops Inc series and while I’m sad to see the series end, I’m so excited that I got to tell this story that features Joe Green, a strong, enigmatic alpha male, but even better, it features the most transformative heroine I’ve ever written.   Stephanie Tompkins has always wanted to be something she wasn’t.  Had never had the courage to pursue her dreams but then a set of circumstances force her to become the woman she had always hoped she could be.  Here’s a little snippet of Stephanie’s journey to her true self.

…Talk about defining moments.  Talk about revelations.  Now that she had a moment to take a deep breath, sit back and assess, she was seeing herself in a whole new light – both literally and figuratively when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a wavy, dust-streaked window pane.

Her hand flew to her throat and she leaned in, looked deeper.  It was her alright.  But a high octane version.  A messy one.  Her clothes were rumpled and damp.  Her usually tidy hair was a wild tumble of damp waves around her shoulders.  And her face … her facial appearance even seemed to have altered.  What she’d always seen as soft, unremarkable features had transformed somehow.  She looked … edgy, she finally decided.  Decisive.  Experienced and lean.

Kick ass, she thought with a ridiculous little smile and embraced the idea.

And she looked, she told herself, like a woman who did not need a man like Joe Green to complete her life, but like a woman who could damn well complete his.

They were getting out of this mess.  She was going to make it happen.  And when they did, Joe Green was going to find out that Stephanie Tompkins was a force to be reckoned with….

There you have it.  A little taste of the new improved Stephanie 🙂 .  I think you’re really going to like Stephanie’s journey.  And I KNOW you’re going to love her and Joe together.

Have questions? I’d love to hear from you.  I’m an open book so ask away to be eligible for a drawing to win an autographed book from my backlist.  BTW: Today is my birthday and I’m delighted to be sharing it with you!

Bio: Cindy Gerard

In addition to numerous industry awards, among them RT’s Reviewer’s Choice award for best Romantic Intrigue and 2 Reader’s Crowns for best Romantic Suspense, New York Times best-selling author Cindy Gerard is also a 5 time Daphne finalist, a 6 time Romance Writers of America Rita finalist and a 2 time RITA winner.

 

She’s currently writing book 1 of her new One-Eyed Jacks series, a spin-off of her NYT best-selling Black Ops, Inc. series for Pocket Books.

 

You can catch up on her news at www.cindygerard.com or on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cindy-Gerard-New-York-Times-Best-selling-author/167877057439

 

Also available:

All Bodyguard and Black Ops Inc titles

SEAL of My Dreams – a collection of 18 Navy SEAL stories written by some of the hottest romantic suspense authors in the business.  All proceeds from the sale of SEAL of MY Dreams are pledged to Veteran’s Research Corp, a non profit organization supporting medical research for our returning military heroes. Cindy’s story – SEALed With A Kiss – features two Black Ops characters, Luke Coulter and his wife Valentina.

Cindy also contributed a BOI short story (Dying to Score) to the upcoming ITW Thriller 3 collection, Love Is Murder, edited by Sandra Brown and featuring contributions by Lee Child, Allison Brennan and many more.

*Giveaway sponsored by the author

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Giveaways ending soon

We have four giveaways that are ending this week and I wanted to post a reminder in case anyone missed them. Because, whoa and damn, we’ve had a busy month here.

Ending January 31st

* Moira Rogers’s Post-Apocalyptic Trucker vs Outcast Showdown – Team Outcast

Weigh in on if you are Team Trucker or Team Outcast for a chance to win an ereader. All rules are included in the post.

*Reader Rally – 1/17 – 1/31/2012 Free Books from all participating sites!!

Dozens of blogs are participating. Novel Thoughts is giving away books by Anne Gracie, Shannon Stacey, Lara Adrian, and Shiloh Walker.

*Giveaway: CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIDAY HARBOR by Lisa Kleypas

5 copies!

*Giveaway: ONE SUMMER by David Baldacci

5 copies!

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Cover Goodness: The Saint Who Stole My Heart by Stefanie Sloane

 

Available April 24, 2012

Dashiell Matthews, Viscount Carrington, remembers little of Miss Elena Barnes beyond her slight build, mousy character, and bookish ways. Her unavoidable presence at Carrington House would be inconvenient, true, but a woman could hardly prove enough of a distraction to interfere with what was the most important case of Dash’s life—ferreting out the monster who’d murdered a dear friend’s mother many year before.

Dash would, of course, live to regret such an assumption.

As for Elena, a trip to London to retrieve a priceless book is troublesome, though not nearly as much as the feelings the viscount inspires in her. His touch elicits feelings from Elena that she’d only ever read about. Her skin tingles. Lord Hardwicke is as handsome as she remembered—actually, more so as he’d grown into his frame in a rather attractive manner—and as dim as a ha’penny tallow. Or is he? The more time Elena spends with the man, the greater her suspicions grow regarding his intellect and just what he might be up to as they’re thrown together in the search for an individual known only as the Rook.

Can true love save the day? Find out in the exciting and enthralling fourth installment of the Regency Rogues.

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Cover Goodness: Playing to Win by Jaci Burton

I’m not sure how the Berkley art department does it but they have managed once again to leave me speechless with the cover for Jaci Burton‘s next Play-by-Play novel. Just…damn.

 

Playing to Win

by Jaci Burton

 

Available September 4, 2012

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Giveaway: CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIDAY HARBOR by Lisa Kleypas

ONE LITTLE GIRL NEEDS A FAMILY

One rain-slicked night, six-year-old Holly lost the only parent she knew, her beloved mother Victoria. And since that night, she has never again spoken a word.

ONE SINGLE MAN NEEDS A WIFE

The last thing Mark Nolan needs is a six-year-old girl in his life. But he soon realizes that he will do everything he can to make her life whole again. His sister’s will gives him the instructions: There’s no other choice but you. Just start by loving her. The rest will follow.

SOMETIMES, IT TAKES A LITTLE MAGIC…

Maggie Collins doesn’t dare believe in love again, after losing her husband of one year. But she does believe in the magic of imagination. As the owner of a toy shop, she lives what she loves. And when she meets Holly Nolan, she sees a little girl in desperate need of a little magic.

…TO MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE

Three lonely people. Three lives at the crossroads. Three people who are about to discover that Christmas is the time of year when anything is possible, and when wishes have a way of finding the path home…

I recently signed up to be one of Lisa’s Divas and in my Welcome pack from them, I received 5 copies of CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIDAY HARBOR to share. One for me and four to giveaway but I’m giving away all five copies because I already have it as an e-book and in print. One of my favorite reads of 2010 and I’m eager to read book 2, RAINSHADOW ROAD, when it comes out next month. To win one, just comment below and let me know what your favorite Lisa Kleypas book is or if you haven’t read one so we can recommend something to you! 🙂

Giveaway will end on January 31st. Open to all.

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Giveaway: ONE SUMMER by David Baldacci

ONE SUMMER

It’s almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country. Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie’s death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie’s childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.

Sponsored by Grand Central Publishing, we have 5 copies of ONE SUMMER by David Baldacci to give away to readers. To be in the running, just leave a comment below.

Giveaway will close on January 31st.

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Cover Goodness: Archer’s Lady by Moira Rogers

Moira Rogers revealed their newest cover today on twitter and I’m more than a little in love with it. 😀

 

Archer’s Lady

by Moira Rogers

Book #3 in the Bloodhounds series

Release date: July 2012

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