27 April 2012

Friday Five: A habit she just can't break

Happy Friday! I'm at Chicago North's Spring Fling where I'll be speaking tomorrow. I scheduled the post to automatically be live at 6 a.m.--so let's hope it worked!

Today's guest is Eternal Press author Carrie Lynn Barker, whose books are named after books of the bible, but not necessary in the right order.

Carrie, take it away…



FIVE FUN FACTS:
  1. Favorite beverage:  Brandy sidecars.  Wish I had one right now! 
  2. One habit you just can’t break:  Hmm, can’t think of anything.  I have a habit of breaking habits then making new ones only to break those and so on… does that count?
  3. Do you sing in the shower:  Never sing in the shower.  If you heard me sing, you’d know why.
  4. Do you dream in color:  Yes, very much so.  Everything is way too vivid in my dreams.  I explain below…
  5. TV shows on DVR?  Don’t own a DVR.  I know… LAME!  If I had one I probably would never use it because I’d be too lazy to figure out how.

THREE QUESTIONS
  1. What is your reoccurring dream?  Same dream every day… The alarm wakes me up, I get up, I take a shower, get dressed, fix hair, etc, etc, then I wake up for real and repeat.  Every day. Seriously, it’s the most annoying thing.  Vivid enough to make me believe that it’s reality. 
  2. Shoes or purses?  I’d say I have an equal number of both but I love shoes more than purses. 
  3. Favorite ways to spend a rainy day?  Writing, writing, writing, when I’m not actually working.  That and sitting and watching the rain!

ONE SENTENCE
  1. Using these four words, write a sentence: Boring. Intelligent. Paddling. Shoot.  

“You are so boring and intelligent that I want to shoot myself sometimes,” he said as we were paddling up river.

YOUR TURN:
Feel free to give us a teaser about your book and information where to find you online.  

This is an excerpt from my latest release, Genesis.  The first volume in the series, Revelations, was also published by Eternal Press. 
There were two women and one man. I had only known their kind once before in my life. I was… I guess the word is overjoyed at having found them. 
The man was big, muscular but not too much, and had close cropped black hair. His eyes were golden brown, much darker than Jonas’s yellow ones, but still holding the same mystery. His face was a chiseled, utter perfection. Had he been another being I would have recommended modeling to him and his friends. 
The women were just as beautiful and perfect. The taller one looked much like the man, who I knew to be her brother. She had long, flowing raven black hair that reached to her waist. Her eyes were the same deep gold color. Her features were striking, enough to make any man stop in his tracks.
The other woman, the one who thought of herself as their sister but technically was not, had shorter hair, blonde and soft. She was obviously the strong one, more of a leader than even the man was. She was plain, though still lovely, but I knew she was the wild one. Her eyes, when they finally locked on mine and noticed me watching them, were sky blue, bright and powerful. They reminded me a little of Starch’s.
Her name was Ripley, and she recognized me in an instant. Much to my surprise–or is it dismay? –she practically worshipped me. She spoke of me as often as she could, made it her mission in life to seek out the woman who started the revolution.
Well, I found her, and she wasn’t going to let me leave her sights until she got a proper introduction. Though I had no idea what she was thinking when the word ‘revolution’ went through her head. I am about the furthest thing from a revolutionary I can think of.

Find me: 

Buy links:


Friday Five...Three...One... is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email. Put 'Friday Five' in the subject line.

20 April 2012

Baby, baby on Friday Five

Elysa Hendricks is taking time out of her busy schedule to swing my Friday Five and share with us her obsession with frozen margaritas. Wait, do I have that right, Elysa?




FIVE FUN FACTS:
  1. Favorite beverage: Raspberry Tea or a frozen Margarita
  2. One habit you just can’t break: Habits? I don't have habits. I have obsessions. And I refuse to break any of them.
  3. Do you sing in the shower: Nope. I only sing in the car along with the radio when I'm alone. Otherwise everyone asks me to stop or else they'll jump out of the car.
  4. Do you dream in color: Definitely Technicolor.
  5. TV shows on DVR? Yep. I have no idea what shows are on what channels or what times. Hubby records EVERYTHING and we watch it later. Right now we have shows recorded that were on the air for seven years and have been cancelled that we haven't even begun watching.

THREE QUESTIONS
  1. What is your reoccurring dream? Opening an unexpected door in a new house and finding a secret room or rooms that I hadn't realized were there when we bought the house.
  2. Shoes or purses? Neither. Shoes are lovely, but with my bad feet there aren't many I can wear. Forget any kind of heel. I rarely switch purses, too much trouble, so I only have a couple. One for each season.  I use them until they wear out then complain that I can't find the exact same one again. I'm a creature of habit, so if I put something in my purse in a different spot than I'm used to I can't find it.
  3. Favorite ways to spend a rainy day? Snuggling with my hubby watching movies or reading.

ONE SENTENCE
Using these four words, write a sentence: Christmas. Whiskey. Scotch. Gray.
After Mrs. Claus ran off with Rudolph one gray Christmas Eve, Santa gave up making toys and took to drinking liberal amounts of whiskey and scotch.




YOUR TURN:

Feel free to give us a teaser about your book and information where to find you online.

THE BABY RACE
Race Reed doesn’t want a wife, but to save his ranch he needs a baby. To gain custody of her stepsister, Claire Jensen needs a husband, but she wants love. Wants and needs are bound to clash when they run The Baby Race.
Race Reed reserves his love and attention for the abused horses he cares for on his ranch. Because his mother changed husbands as often as she changed clothes, doesn’t believe in wedded bliss. Now to save his ranch he needs the money his paternal grandmother is offering as a marriage incentive. The bizarre contest she’s set up between him and his two cousins to produce her first great-grandchild is another matter. His only option – cheat in The Baby Race.
Claire Jensen wants two things out of life, home and family. During her younger years she never questioned her father’s nomadic lifestyle as he hunted for treasure, but as she grew older she longed to put down roots. When her father remarried and gave Claire a stepmother and baby stepsister, she’d thought her prayers were answered. Instead, she took over the parental role to her stepsister as her father and stepmother continued to search the world for treasure. In every way that matters, the six-year-old is Claire’s daughter. When Claire’s father and stepmother are killed on their latest quest for treasure, without a steady job, husband or home, Claire is about to lose custody of her young stepsister. Her only option – run the The Baby Race.

Find me:
  • http://www.elysahendricks.com
  • https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elysa-Hendricks-Author/137316289643103


Amazon Buy Link: http://tinyurl.com/thebabyrace



Friday Five...Three...One... is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email. Put 'Friday Five' in the subject line.

13 April 2012

Today's Friday Five makes a splash

Today's guest is Judi Fennell, author of the wet and wild mermaid tales, In Over Her Head, Wild Blue Under and Catch of a Lifetime. She's here to spill her secrets and tell us about her Bottle Magic series.




Judi, take it away:


FIVE FUN FACTS:
  • Favorite beverage: champagne 
  • One habit you just can’t break: twirling a pencil like a baton (I was a majorette all through junior high, high school, and twirled sabres for in indoor color guard in college)
  • Do you sing in the shower: I try to anyway... 
  • Do you dream in color: Absolutely. Just like Eden, my genie in I Dream of Genies, I have a thing for color. For instance, I never wear black to funerals; I wear colors as a celebration of life. My friends (whose parents are "of an age" where they are passing on) look for the brightness on those awful days
  • TV shows on DVR? Here's where I admit to my reality TV show addiction: all the Real Housewives shows, Bethenney Ever After, Celebrity Apprentice, Survivor, Amazing Race
THREE QUESTIONS
  • What is your reoccurring dream? To make the NYT list
  • Shoes or purses? I love my purple purse and my teal one, but I have waaaaaaaaaaay more shoes
  • Favorite ways to spend a rainy day? reading and writing. Yeah, boring that way. But give me a comfy blanket, a glass of champagne and my iPad and I'm a happy camper. 

ONE SENTENCE
Using these four words, write a sentence: Marine. Avenue. Travelers. Less

With the only avenue for preventing Human travelers from discovering their kingdom of Atlantis being their advance force, the number of recruits was less than Valerie would have liked, though it did reflect their motto: The few, The proud, The marine-dwellers.


YOUR TURN:

Feel free to give us a teaser about your new book and information where to find you online.

While the one-sentence exercise was written about my Mer series (specifically referencing Valerie, the heroine of Wild Blue Under), my next book, out in August 2012, is the third installment of my Bottled Magic series about genies, entitled Magic Gone Wild. Here's an excerpt you can't yet find anywhere, not even on my website: www.JudiFennell.com.

Zane Harrison stared at the woman on the other end of the scimitar and tried to remember exactly how he’d come to have a sword pointed at his chest.
     “Holy smokes!” The woman sucked in a breath, clamped a hand over her mouth, and dropped the sword.
     Right on top of him.
     The pommel conked him on the head and the blade spun around, almost taking off his nose.
     Zane leapt to his feet and grabbed the sword in one movement, the hours spent in football training drills thankfully having real-world application, although he’d never imagined that would be to defend his life during a trip back to his ancestral home in the middle of nowhere. 
     Then he got a good look at the woman. A more unlikely assassin he’d never seen. Hand-to-hand combat was not the ideal way to handle this situation; hand-to-mouth was. Or rather, mouth-to-mouth. 
     The woman was gorgeous. Movie-star gorgeous. Playmate gorgeous. Even in a fencer’s outfit—which was about as asexual as you could get—the woman was absolutely stunning with curves straight out of his most vivid erotic fantasy, eyes the shimmering silvery-gray color of the sky before a storm that promised every bit as much of a wild ride, and hair the color of a mink that Zane wanted to sink his fingers into and never let go.
     “Ungaro,” she muttered. “Not en garde.” She shook her head, mumbled something else, then looked up at him. “Good day, um…?”
     Zane would hate to see what she called a bad day if a good one was ending up on the wrong end of a sword. “Who are you, and what the hell is this?” He shook the sword.
     She licked her lips—more centerfold fodder. They were plump and pink and now wet.
     Hmmm, maybe it was a good day.
     “I’m Vana, and that’s a scimitar.” Her expression was crestfallen and her sigh heartbroken. “I couldn’t even manage a rapier.”
     Which made about as much sense as anything else.
###
(c) Judi Fennell


And just to keep my life interesting (because, yeah, who needs free time?), I have an anthology available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords will be distributing to the other e-outlets, under the pen name J.A. Fenn. Off The Beaten Path, A Terrifying Tales Anthology is a short collection of three psychological thriller/horror stories that bear only one similarity to my romantic comedies: there's a twist in them.

06 April 2012

Today's blog is magical

I've known Ann Marcela for six years now (maybe longer) and I am thrilled to have her as a guest on my blog today. She's talking about her book binging habit and her Magic series, which is wrapping up with two book, Unexpected Magic and Legendary Magic.


Ann, take it away in Five... Three... One...


FIVE FUN FACTS
  • Favorite beverage:  A really good red wine
  • One habit you just can’t break:  Buying books.
  • Do you sing in the shower:  No
  • Do you dream in color:  Yes
  • TV shows on DVR?  None. We’re probably the last people with no DVR.  If I miss a show, I watch it on my computer.
THREE QUESTIONS
  • What is your reoccurring dream? Trying to get somewhere.
  • Shoes or purses?  Comfortable clothes.
  • Favorite ways to spend a rainy day?  Reading or napping
ONE SENTENCE
Using these four words, write a sentence: Advertisement. No. Grab. Red.

When certain advertisements come on, I see red, grab the remote, hit the mute button, and feel absolutely no regret about it.

YOUR TURN:

The last two books in The Magic Series are out as e-books on Kindle, Nook, and other sites, including Smashwords and All Romance eBooks.

The Blurbs
Unexpected Magic:  Magic practitioners and their soul mates always live happily ever after. But what if a mate dies young? What happens when two who lost their mates come together, and they’re both Swords who can destroy evil magic items? And they develop a new way to generate magic energy? And a deranged, jealous Sword uses an evil item against them? Unexpected magic, indeed!

Legendary Magic:  Once the Wielder of the Pinnacle of Heaven waged war against the Manipulator of the Depths of Hell and sent the Depths into the abyss. The Depths has risen again, but the Wielder must learn how to use his weapon. To help him comes the most powerful Sword ever born, who also happens to be his soul mate, but with a secret that may keep them apart at the worst time--when the battle is upon them.

Where to find Ann:



Friday Five...Three...One... is a chance for guest bloggers to share a bit about themselves in a fun format of Five Facts, Three Questions and One Sentence. If you'd like to be a guest on Friday Five, Three, One drop me an email. Put 'Friday Five' in the subject line.