"Lothaire" Book Tour

I attended Kresley Cole's Book Tour for "Lothaire" (Book 12 of her Immortals After Dark series) tonight in Austin, Texas. So much fun! I enjoyed meeting up with some of my Twitter friends (some for the first time in person) - @SpazP, @LouisaEdwards, @AnaFarrish, and @CrankyAmy. It was lots of fun talking books with several of the other attendees prior to the start of the book signing.

Pamela (@SpazP), my friend Angela, Kresley Cole, and me

Kresley brought along her editor, Simon & Schuster's Executive Editor, Lauren McKenna, and the cover model for "Lothaire", Paul Marron. Kresley and Paul signed books for a nice sized crowd of fans, old and new. Kresley also answered some questions after the book signing (and pictures) about her writing process (she doesn't write sequentially but by scene), the future of the IAD series (she and her editor were taking suggestions/votes for the next IAD book - I vote for Furie!), and how her crushes make it into her books (Mike Rowe).

Paul Marron, the cover model, is as hot in person (if not hotter) as he is on the "Lothaire" cover. He was really nice and was wearing colored contacts to be in character at the book signing.

I was slightly distracted when Kresley began her Q&A (see above picture), so the first few minutes are missing in this video of the Q&A.

I highly recommend trying to make it to one of the book signings if it's in your area. There are prizes if you know your IAD (t-shirts, book bags, and a Nook were given out at our stop). The tour bus will be making a stop at:

•  Katy Budget Books in Houston, Texas (January 12),
• Garden District Books in New Orleans, Louisiana (January 13), and
• Books-A-Million in Tampa, Florida (January 14).

Here is more information regarding the Tour Schedule or visit Kresley Cole's Events page on Facebook for details.

Pamela, Paul Marron, me, and Angela

Tuesday's Most Wanted: August 30, 2011

I love Tuesday's partly because it's not Monday, but mostly because it's release day for new books. Lots on my "to buy" list, but my most wanted release today Maya Bank's In Bed with a Highlander, the first book of Bank's new McCabe trilogy.






Here's the back cover blurb:

Bestselling author Maya Banks’s beguiling new trilogy features three unforgettable brothers risking everything to save their clan and their legacy—and to surrender their hearts to love.

Ewan McCabe, the eldest, is a warrior determined to vanquish his enemy. Now, with the time ripe for battle, his men are ready and Ewan is poised to take back what is his—until a blue-eyed, raven-haired temptress is thrust upon him. Mairin may be the salvation of Ewan’s clan, but for a man who dreams only of revenge, matters of the heart are strange territory to conquer.

The illegitimate daughter of the king, Mairin possesses prized property that has made her a pawn—and wary of love. Her worst fears are realized when she is rescued from peril only to be forced into marriage by her charismatic and commanding savior, Ewan McCabe. But her attraction to her ruggedly powerful new husband makes her crave his surprisingly tender touch; her body comes alive under his sensual mastery. And as war draws near, Mairin’s strength, spirit, and passion challenge Ewan to conquer his demons—and embrace a love that means more than revenge and land.

An excerpt is available on the author's website.

Release Day - August 30, 2011

August is going out with a bang - on my wallet. Here's this week's list of books that I have on my want list:

• Riptide by Cherry Adair
  (Book 2 of Cutter Cay series)

She's swept into treacherous waters

Princess Bria Visconti demands the return of the money her brother rashly invested in Cutter Salvage. Treasure hunter Nick Cutter is too reckless, too arrogant—and far too handsome—for his own good. But he can’t charm his way out of this one. Bria plans to make Nick pay up even if she has to board his boat, don a wet suit, and dive for the treasure herself…

He fights the relentless pull

Nick sees Bria as a beautiful but spoiled princess who’s never done a day’s work in her pampered life. But once they set sail for the dive site, and the legendary fortune in gold the wreck carries, Nick begins to see Bria in a new light. This princess may be out of her depth, but she’s ready to take on the hidden danger and excitement a treasure hunt stirs to the surface. Together they must fight unexpected enemies—and reveal their darkest secrets—before they’re pulled into a rip current of danger.

• In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks
  (Book 1 of McCabe trilogy)

Bestselling author Maya Banks’s beguiling new trilogy features three unforgettable brothers risking everything to save their clan and their legacy—and to surrender their hearts to love.

Ewan McCabe, the eldest, is a warrior determined to vanquish his enemy. Now, with the time ripe for battle, his men are ready and Ewan is poised to take back what is his—until a blue-eyed, raven-haired temptress is thrust upon him. Mairin may be the salvation of Ewan’s clan, but for a man who dreams only of revenge, matters of the heart are strange territory to conquer.

Though the illegitimate daughter of the king, Mairin possesses prized property that has made her a pawn—and wary of love. Her worst fears are realized when she is rescued from peril, only to be forced into marriage by her charismatic and commanding savior, Ewan McCabe. But her attraction to her ruggedly powerful new husband finds her craving his surprisingly tender touch; her body comes alive under his sensual mastery. And as war draws near, Mairin’s strength, spirit, and passion challenge Ewan to conquer his demons—and embrace a love that means more than revenge and land.

• Canyons of Night by Jayne Castle
  (Book 8 of Harmony series/Book 3 of Looking Glass trilogy)

The island of Rainshadow is home to the mysterious, privately-owned woods known only as the Preserve. Now, after fifteen years away, both Charlotte Enright and her teen crush, Slade Attridge, have returned. But will their psi talents and Slade’s dust bunny companion be enough to keep them from getting drawn into the darkness at the heart of the Preserve?

• One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost
  (Book 6 of the Night Huntress series)

How do you send a killer to the grave when he’s already dead?

Having narrowly averted an (under)world war, Cat Crawfield wants nothing more than a little downtime with her vampire husband, Bones. Unfortunately, her gift from New Orleans’ voodoo queen just keeps on giving–leading to a personal favor that sends them into battle once again, this time against a villainous spirit. Centuries ago, Heinrich Kramer was a witch hunter. Now, every All Hallows Eve, he takes physical form to torture innocent women before burning them alive. This year, however, a determined Cat and Bones must risk all to send him back to the other side of eternity–forever. But one wrong step and they’ll be digging their own graves.

• Snapped by Laura Griffin
  (Book 4 of Tracers series)

Sophie Barrett thinks she's lucky to be alive. She may be dead wrong.

On a sweltering summer afternoon, Sophie Barrett walks into a nightmare. A sniper has opened fire on a college campus. When the carnage is over, three people—plus the shooter—are dead, and dozens more injured. Sophie escapes virtually unscathed. Yet as details emerge from the investigation, she becomes convinced that this wasn’t the random, senseless act it appeared. No one wants to believe her—not the cops, not her colleagues at the Delphi Center crime lab, and definitely not Jonah Macon, the homicide detective who’s already saved her life once.

Jonah has all kinds of reasons for hoping Sophie is mistaken. Involving himself with a key witness could derail an already messy investigation, not to mention jeopardize his career. But Sophie is as determined and fearless as she is sexy. If he can’t resist her, he can at least swear to protect her. Because if Sophie is right, she’s made herself the target of a killer without a conscience. And the real terror is only just beginning. . . .

• Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue by Stephanie Laurens
  (Book 1 of Cynster Sisters trilogy)

Three heros, three rescues, three weddings.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Miss Heather Cynster

...but not before she encounters kidnappers, danger, and a daring rescue at the hands of Viscount Breckenridge.

Determined to hunt down her very own hero, one who will sweep her off her feet and into wedded bliss, and despairing of finding him in London's staid ballrooms, Heather Cynster steps out of her safe world and boldly attends a racy soiree.

But her promising hunt is ruined by the supremely interfering Viscount Breckenridge, who whisks her out of scandal-and straight into danger when a mysterious enemy seizes her, bundles her into a coach, and conveys her out of London.

Now it's up to the notorious Breckenridge to prove himself the hero she's been searching for all along

• Supernatural an anthology featuring G.A. Aiken, Larissa Ione, Alexandra Ivy, and Jacquelyn Frank

"Dragon on Top" by G.A. Aiken: Escorting the highborn Bram through deadly Sand Dragon territory will try Ghleanna's patience…and her resolve. For Bram is determined to enhance the journey with a seduction no female could resist...

"Vampire Fight Club" by Larissa Ione: When a wave of violence forces shape shifter Vladlena to go undercover, her first stop is a haven of vice - with a dangerously sexy vamp in charge. Both Vladlena and Nathan are hiding something, but they can't conceal the lust that simmers between them...

"Darkness Eternal" by Alexandra Ivy: After being held captive by one vampire for four centuries, Kata had no intention of taking another one to the underworld with her. Yet even in the pits of hell, there's no ignoring the intoxicating desire awakened by his touch...

"Kane" by Jacquelyn Frank: Kane knows Corrine was meant to be his...just as he knows that truly possessing the lovely human is forbidden. But on the night of the Samhain moon, the beast in every demon in stronger than reason, and Kane's hunger is more powerful than any punishment...

What are you looking forward to this week?

Tuesday's Most Wanted: August 2, 2011

I love Tuesday's partly because it's not Monday, but mostly because it's release day for new books. Today's most wanted release is Thea Harrison's Storm's Heart, book two of Harrison's The Elder Races series.

Here's the back cover blurb:

He’s a wyr warrior, a god of storms. She’s the heir to the Dark Fae throne. But desire will bring both to their knees in this all-new Novel of the Elder Races.

During the rule of her murderous Dark Fae uncle, Thistle “Tricks” Periwinkle found sanctuary among the wyr in New York. Her ethereal beauty and sparkling personality won the hearts of the public, but after her uncle’s death, there are those who don’t want to see her ascend to the throne…

Able to wield thunder and lightning, wyr sentinel Tiago Black Eagle has ruled the skies for centuries. His massive build and thunderous power make him one of the wyr’s best weapons. And he’s sent to protect Tricks when she’s almost assassinated in Chicago.

Soon, both Tiago and Tricks will fall prey to the stormy hunger that engulfs them—a passion that will shake the very foundation of all the worlds…

An excerpt is available on the author's website.

Release Day - August 2, 2011

Looks like August is going to be an expensive month for me. Here's this week's list of books that I have on my want list:

• Blood Hunt by Shannon K. Butcher
  (Book 5 of Sentinel Wars series)

They are the Sentinels. Three races, ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities to protect humanity against their eternal foes: the Synestryn. Now, for one Sentinel, the only way to reclaim her forgotten past is to follow the blood.

Hope appeared out of nowhere, naked and alone, a woman without past. The only thing she knows is that she is imbued with a strange power. It's in her blood. And two men want to possess it.

One is Logan, a Sanguinar demon-fighter who needs Hope's essence to survive. As a vampire he's well-equipped to find her a like-blooded mate whose progeny could sustain his race for generations. The other is Krag, a Synestryn lord whose desire is to enslave Hope, and drain her of the lifeforce. With it he could control humanity forever.

When Hope and Logan both fall prey to Krag, a powerful desire grows between them. But is it enough to thwart their captor's diabolical plan and his demon warriors, and survive a vampire's destiny written in blood?

• Heart Search by Robin D. Owens
  (Book 10 of Celta series)

Laev T'Hawthorn -- one of the highest nobles in the land -- must rebuild his life after a devastating mistake. He married a woman he believed was his HeartMate, only to learn she was a greedy social climber. She callously used him, stealing his family heirlooms. He is determined to reclaim all that he has lost -- beginning with his self-respect.

Abandoned at fifteen, Camellia Darjeeling values her independence above all. She's fought to establish her own businesses -- elegant tearooms -- only to have her father and uncle re-enter her life. They emotionally scourge her and extort money. Trusting men, even her HeartMate, is too risky.

When Laev and Camellia meet, they refuse to acknowledge that they are true HeartMates. After her shady relatives are implicated in the theft of Laev's property, Camellia and Laev's lives become ever more entangled bringing each to the brink of despair and passion...and a destiny they can no longer avoid.

• Midnight Sins by Lora Leigh
  (Book 1 of Heroes and Heartbreakers)

Midnight Sins begins the trilogy of three friends caught in a vicious circle of blood and distrust. Micah Decker has been tormented by the night he and his friends were forced to watch Jaimma Flannigan die. Helpless, horrified, the nightmares still haunt him. As does the knowledge that the one woman he wants above all others fears him now.

Kyra Flannigan lost her sister in the brutal murders that haunted their hometown more than a decade before. And there are those who still believe Micah, Logan, and Crowe, committed those murders. There are many who believe Wayne Sorbenson was innocent. Kyra’s parents are two of those people. Kyra has always wanted Micah. Even at a time when he had been slipping around to see her sister and she was covering for them, he’s haunted first her girlish dreams, then her adult fantasies. She can’t accept that he killed Jaimma. She can’t forget that her parents were destroyed by her sisters death, or that Wayne, the man they accused of killing her, was a close friend of her father’s.

That won’t stop Micah from going after the woman that haunts his lusts, as well as his dreams of a future. Now a local rancher, he’s fought, worked until his hands were bloody and is quickly on the road to building a legacy for the children he doesn’t yet have. He wants Kyra to be the mother of those children, the wife he’s dreamed of having. Flame haired and wild as the wind, she’s possibly untamable, most likely unattainable, but he’s going to fight like hell to seduce the little hellion into his bed. He couldn’t have imagined the hell that would open up once he does so. Or the past that will return with a vengeance when women begin dying again. Women that Micah, Logan and Crowe have a connection to. Suspicion, fear and loyalty will tear at Kyra, until she makes the choice that endangers her life and the soul of the man she loves.

• Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon
  (part of the Dark-Hunters series)

Harm no human…

A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey.

Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief- Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meets the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.

A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster…

Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who’s assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he’s not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all.

Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they’ve sworn to protect.

• Storm's Heart by Thea Harrison
  (Book 2 of The Elder Races series)

He’s a wyr warrior, a god of storms. She’s the heir to the Dark Fae throne. But desire will bring both to their knees in this all-new Novel of the Elder Races.

During the rule of her murderous Dark Fae uncle, Thistle “Tricks” Periwinkle found sanctuary among the wyr in New York. Her ethereal beauty and sparkling personality won the hearts of the public, but after her uncle’s death, there are those who don’t want to see her ascend to the throne…

Able to wield thunder and lightning, wyr sentinel Tiago Black Eagle has ruled the skies for centuries. His massive build and thunderous power make him one of the wyr’s best weapons. And he’s sent to protect Tricks when she’s almost assassinated in Chicago.

Soon, both Tiago and Tricks will fall prey to the stormy hunger that engulfs them—a passion that will shake the very foundation of all the worlds…

What are you looking forward to this week?