Her Sweetest Downfall Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Ana Death Duarte winner of our Her Sweetest Downfall Giveaway at From the Shadows.  Ana will receive an ebook copy of Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

Thank you to all who entered!

**Giveaway winner selected using Random.org.**

Q+A with Gerry Bartlett + Real Vampires Know Hips Happen Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Gerry Bartlett.  Gerry is the author of the Glory St. Clair series (Real Vampires Have Curves, Real Vampires Live Large, Real Vampires Get Lucky, Real Vampires Don't Diet, Real Vampires Hate Their Thighs, Real Vampires Have More to Love, Real Vampires Don't Wear Size Six, Real Vampires Hate Skinny Jeans, Real Vampires Know Hips Happen).

Keep reading for a chance to win a paperback copy of Real Vampires Know Hips Happen by Gerry Bartlett.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Gerry:  I started writing years ago, maybe more than twenty, gave it up for a while, then got back into it. I sold my first book, a romantic suspense in 1998.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Gerry:  My critique partner and one of my best buds, Nina Bangs, was writing paranormals and doing really well. I’d sold a historical but hadn’t been able to sell a second one. She dared me to write a vampire book. I wasn’t sure I’d like it but when the idea for Glory, a vampire who was bloating when she was turned in 1604, came to me, I knew I had a story I could get excited about.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Gerry:  I’d probably be a shape-shifter. First, it’s my world, so my shape-shifter would be immortal. Who wouldn’t want to live forever? And also, it would be great to be able to turn into whatever you wanted to be, large, small, sneaky or ferocious.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Gerry:  Real Vampires Know Hips Happen is number nine in the Glory St. Clair series. Glory is off to Scotland in hot pursuit of her on-again, off-again lover, Jeremy Blade. She did something pretty unforgivable and now she has to try to win him back. Things start off well, but then he’s attacked and loses his memory of their time together. I had a lot of fun making Jerry deal with modern ways. He’s always been a tough Highlander. When he’s terrified of going up in an airplane? It’s Glory’s chance to be the strong one. I actually went to Scotland to see the original Castle Campbell, Jerry’s home turf. I got a lot of story ideas on that trip and I think it added to the final product. I hope readers feel that when they read the book. It’s fun too that Glory finally meets her mother. She’s a real piece of work and will be someone Glory has to deal with in book ten, Real Vampires Know Size Matters, coming next December.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Gerry:  We’ve had a big debate going about this on my Real Vampires Fan Group on Facebook, a page started by one of my fans. The group is casting the fantasy movie and picked Kat Denning for Glory and Joe Managiello (probably misspelled that) for Jerry. Me? I write in first person so I hope each reader pictures herself as Glory. I know I do. A woman with figure issues and a boyfriend who tries to tell her what to do? I relate to that. As for Jerry, her hero, well, that’s a tough one. I would need someone tall, dark and Scottish. Alex O’Loughlin comes to mind. Think about him in Moonlight or Hawaii 5-0. I think every woman out there probably has her own pick for her hero and why not? It’s the fun in reading. Let your imagination take over. I know I do.

Real Vampires Know Hips Happen (Glory St. Clair #9) by Gerry Bartlett.

Does plaid make your butt look big?

Glory St. Clair knows that it does. But she'll even throw on a Campbell kilt if it will help her win her hunky Scottish lover back. She's risked everything to cross the Atlantic to confront him in Scotland. Now powerful forces are determined to keep them apart. An attack on Jeremiah Campbell leaves him with amnesia and he doesn't remember her or their centuries together. Glory must win her man back and prove to her nemesis that she's where she's always wanted to be, even if it means dragging Jerry back to Texas.

Jeremiah doesn't remember the woman who claims they've been together so long but he's more than willing to take what she freely offers--her ancient blood and her voluptuous body. But when she tries to get him to travel to the New World in a flying machine and to work with his ancient enemy, he thinks she's cracked. In his mind, he's stuck in 1590. This modern world is almost too much for him. But there's something about this woman with the generous curves... Soon enough he finds himself risking death for her more than once. Who or what seems determined to keep them apart? The ancient warrior in him won't stand for it. And the fight is on.

Thank you Gerry for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Gerry Bartlett and her books, please visit her website.

**Real Vampires Know Hips Happen Giveaway**

We are giving away one paperback copy of Real Vampires Know Hips Happen by Gerry Bartlett.

To enter, leave a comment on this post.  Please include your email address so we may contact you if you win.  This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only.  Giveaway ends April 10, 2013 midnight EST.

Q+A with Jennifer Harlow + What's A Witch To Do Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Jennifer Harlow.  Jennifer is the author of the F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad Investigation series (Mind Over Monsters, To Catch A Vampire, Death Takes A Holiday) and the Midnight Magic series (What's a Witch to Do).

Keep reading for a chance to win a paperback copy of What's a Witch to Do by Jennifer Harlow.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Jennifer:  I’ve always been a writer. I’ve been telling stories in some shape or form since I was a child, either through dolls or pen on paper. I never considered being an author until I was in high school and began writing screenplays. I was convinced I was the next Tarantino. When I couldn’t sell any (they were kind of crap) I moved onto books, really just to see if I could pull it off. I finished my first novel at age 21, then sent it out to agents and publishers half heartedly. I couldn’t admit it needed a lot of work so of course they all rejected it. Still I kept on writing because darn it I just couldn’t help myself. Still can’t. Finally after about seven, eight years of editing and attending pitch sessions and sending out query letters, I got an agent. About a year after that I got a book deal. A writing career is like running a marathon up Mt. Everest: treacherous, painful, rocky, but worth it when you reach the top.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Jennifer:  I don’t know where it comes from but I’ve always been drawn to horror and the paranormal. My grandmother was worried I’d go over to the “dark side” but they’ve always fascinated me. I like horror because it’s so dramatic like riding a roller coaster. You get to touch that darkness, that danger, but it can’t touch you back or hurt you. The paranormal is the unexplained, and we fear what we don’t understand. Plus with the paranormal you get to have a little magic in your life, even if it’s only in a book.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any superpower what would it be and why?

Jennifer:  It used to be flying but lately I think it'd be awesome to be a time traveler. Getting to see and meet my heroes like Charlotte Bronte and Dorthy Parker, visiting Tudor England, even going to the future. Or maybe I've just been watching too much Doctor Who.

EJ:  Why will readers enjoy your new release?

Jennifer:  Well, it’s the first in a new series called Midnight Magic so there'll be plenty of nocturnal goings on, not only of the magic variety. It’s also an offshoot of my other series, the F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad. What's A Witch To Do? one follows the most powerful witch in America who, on the busiest week of her life, finds out someone wants to kill her and take over her coven. There’s romance, humor, Southern hospitality, and plenty of suspense. What more do you want in a book?

EJ:  Who would you cast in the movie version of your book? Why?

Jennifer:  I think Melissa McCarthy could be an excellent Mona. Guy would have to be Timothy Olyphant and Adam Jeremy Renner (*sigh* Jeremy Renner *sigh*). I think they're all fantastic actors and just always bring a certain glee to their performances. When an actor's having fun the audience has fun too. And if this book is anything, it's fun.

What's a Witch to Do (Midnight Magic #1) by Jennifer Harlow.

Mona McGregor’s To Do List:

• Make 20 13 potions/spells/charms
• Put girls to bed
• Help with Debbie’s wedding
• Lose 30 pounds before bachelorette auction
• Deal with the bleeding werewolf on doorstep
• Find out who wants me dead
• Prepare for supernatural summit
• Have a nervous breakdown
• Slay a damn demon
• Fall in love

With her to-do lists growing longer each day, the last thing Mona McGregor—High Priestess and owner of the Midnight Magic shop in Goodnight, Virginia—needs is a bleeding werewolf at her front door. Between raising her two nieces and leading a large coven of witches, Mona barely has time for anything else. Not even Guy, the handsome doctor who’s taken an interest in her.

But now there’s Adam Blue, the sexy beta werewolf of the Eastern Pack who’s been badly hurt, warning Mona that someone wants her dead. Hell’s bells! A demon is stalking her, and Mona starts to suspect her coven members and even her own family could be responsible for it. With two attractive men and a determined demon after her, Mona teams up with Adam to find out who really wants her dead . . . and who really wants her.

Thank you Jennifer for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Jennifer Harlow and her books, please visit her website.

**What's a Witch to Do Giveaway**

Jennifer is giving away five paperback copies of What's a Witch to Do.  Easy peasy Rafflecopter entry.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway open to US mailing addresses only.  Winners will be selected by the author or publisher.  Giveaway ends March 31, 2013. 

Rebecca Hamilton Guest Post + Her Sweetest Downfall Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Rebecca Hamilton.  Rebecca is the author of Her Sweetest Downfall.

Keep reading for a chance to win an ebook copy of Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

Food in Fiction

I love food. It probably shows in my writing, too, as many people who read my books tell me certain scenes made them hungry, or that I must be an amazing cook (I’m not. I’m awful. I’m an amazing eater, though!) I try to keep the foods my characters eat appropriate them, though. For example, in one book I am working on (or rather, is sitting in my drawer waiting for me to return to…) my character is big into baking and comfort food. One of the most memorable scenes in the book, so I’m told by my beta readers, is toward the beginning, when she is baking a rhubarb pie.  Have you ever HAD rhubarb pie? Oh, you need to.

Oddly, my recent work in progress (Book 2 of the Forever Girl Series: Come, the Dark) doesn’t have my usual “food” touches. I blame pregnancy. I’m too busy eating food to think about it. But still, there are a few mentions. Fruit and bread, mostly, the occasional stew. What is it about food that I can’t seem to leave it out of my books?

I think food is one of those things everyone can relate to. You might not like the same foods as a character, but you can relate to liking foods and needing food to survive. Surely many people have even bonded over a shared favorite dish. It’s only human for characters to eat . . . though I guess it really depends what they are eating.

Years ago (I think I was 16, so I guess I should say over a decade ago…) I would visit my friend at work. She worked at Wendy’s at the time. She used to make these double fried crispy chicken sandwiches with cheese, which I still eat to this day, and I still think of her every time I eat one. Well, one day while I was visiting her, I noticed an elderly couple on the other side of the restaurant both eating burgers. The man took the onion off his burger and gave it to his wife (leaving her with extra onion) and the woman gave the man her tomato (leaving him with extra tomato) and I remember thinking right then, that’s what love is.

Sounds silly, right? How could love be onions and tomatoes? Or food at all for that matter. But it was about more than food. It was about how opposites attract and about how liking different things can sometimes work out in everyone’s best interest. It was about being different parts of the same puzzle, and how a puzzle can’t make a picture if all the shapes are the same.

So I think food in books is like that, too. Food is a part of life for all of us and at the same time, unique to all of us. I always read social media advice articles saying, “Stop tweeting about what you had for lunch. No one cares,” when actually, the opposite is true. People like talking about food, and food brings people together.

Some of my favorite foods are tacos and pie. What about you?

Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

Ophelia’s been successful at hiding her true identity, until the mark of the serpent appears on her neck—a death sentence, should it be seen by anyone in her town. Hiding the mark might save her from falling victim to the witch hunts of her era, but the scorching sensation it carries can’t be ignored.

When the mysterious Ethan is sent to collect her for a life of something more, she learns concealing the mark is the least of her worries. She’s destined to don a new mask—to join a dark, supernatural world and protect the future of people she may never meet.

What she doesn’t know—what she learns too late—is that her initiation won’t be complete until she kills the man she loves.

Set in an alternate Regency England, Her Sweetest Downfall is a standalone novella in the Forever Girl series, written as a gift to fans of the Forever Girl series.


Thank you Rebecca for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Rebecca Hamilton and her books, please visit her website.

**Her Sweetest Downfall Giveaway**

We are giving away one ebook copy of Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

To enter, leave a comment on this post.  Please include your email address so we may contact you if you win.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends March 29, 2013 midnight EST.

Cover Reveal: Awakened by Kriston Johnson

Time for a cover reveal!  Feast your eyes on the cover for Awakened by Kriston Johnson.

Awakened (The Legends of Elyndia #1) by Kriston Johnson.

Can fighting for the right side be the wrong thing to do?

Draven, the tyrant ruler of Elyndia for the last one thousand years, searches for the one who can fulfill his prophecy.

The Paladins, an elite band of warriors sworn to protect their way of life at all cost, search for the one with the ability to bring their world crumbling down.

An innocent girl, tormented by demons only she can see, lives on the brink of insanity and longs for a life of peace.

When seventeen-year-old Jade Rosenberg reads from an antique book, she has no idea she just read an incantation awaking her inherited power. But when opposing—and equally terrifying—groups invade her home, she learns she is descended from an enchanted realm and a member of a powerful race thought to have been hunted to extinction.

Ripped from her world, Jade is forced to seek refuge from those who want her dead. She is given one of two options and the time has come for her to make a choice: assassinate their sworn enemy…

Or sacrifice her soul.

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: April 25, 2013

Add Awakened on Goodreads.

Ghost Light Cover Reveal Giveway Winner

Congratulations Krystal W. winner of our Ghost Light Cover Reveal Giveaway!  Krystal will receive an Ivy Granger "Private Eye" sticker and eye pendant necklace.

Thank you to all who entered!

Cover Reveal: Afterlife Academy by Jaimie Admans

Time for a cover reveal!  Feast your eyes on the cover for Afterlife Academy by Jaimie Admans.

Afterlife Academy by Jaimie Admans.

Even being dead isn’t enough to get you out of maths class.

Dying wasn't on sixteen-year-old Riley Richardson's to-do list. And now, not only is she dead, but she's stuck in a perpetual high school nightmare. Worse still, she's stuck there with the geekiest, most annoying boy in the history of the world, ever. In a school where the geeks are popular and just about everything is wrong, Riley has become an outcast. She begins a desperate quest to get back to her perfect life, but her once-perfect life starts to unravel into something not nearly as perfect as she thought it was.

And maybe death isn’t really that bad after all...

Welcome to Afterlife Academy, where horns are the norm, the microwave is more intelligent than the teachers, and the pumpkins have a taste for blood.

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal

Release Date: March 15, 2013.

Add Afterlife Academy on Goodreads.

I like the hints of color and the emphasis on the word "After" in Afterlife.  So what do you think of the cover?

Q+A with Imogen Howson (Linked)

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Imogen Howson.  Imogen is the author of Linked.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Imogen:  I was telling myself--and my little sister--stories from really young, but I was writing them down from when I was about nine.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Imogen:  Honestly, it's the only genre I can write in. I can't do the real world--it's just not exciting enough!

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Imogen:  The ability either to summon lightning or set things on fire. Just because OMG, how cool?

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Imogen:  It has identical twins. Who are telepathic. Who have to escape from an evil government by going on a spaceship. What's not to love?

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Imogen:  I'd cast Sophie Turner as my twins, Elissa and Lin. Sophie plays Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, and I think she'd do a great job of conveying the fragility and fierceness of both my leading characters. (Please someone, use the film rights soon before she gets too old!) I'd also love to see Zac Efron playing my spaceship captain. Partly for the pretty.

Linked by Imogen Howson.

Elissa used to have it all: looks, popularity, and a bright future. But for the last three years, she’s been struggling with terrifying visions, phantom pains, and mysterious bruises that appear out of nowhere.

Finally, she’s promised a cure: minor surgery to burn out the overactive area of her brain. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the shocking truth behind her hallucinations: she’s been seeing the world through another girl’s eyes.

Elissa follows her visions, and finds a battered, broken girl on the run. A girl—Lin—who looks exactly like Elissa, down to the matching bruises. The twin sister she never knew existed.

Now, Elissa and Lin are on the run from a government who will stop at nothing to reclaim Lin and protect the dangerous secrets she could expose—secrets that would shake the very foundation of their world.

Riveting, thought-provoking and utterly compelling, Linked will make you question what it really means to be human.


Thank you Imogen for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Imogen Howson and her books, please visit her website.