Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Author Spotlight on Tracey O'Hara

Hi Tracey. Just wanted to thank you for letting me grill you.


So let’s get to the good stuff.






What has changed in your life now that you have a published book that soon to be released upcoming bestseller?











Aww - bless. One of the biggest things is now get to talk to lovely people like yourself and Estefanie. Seriously, people actually want to know stuff about me and my books. Amazing. I even got a request for a signed photograph which I thought only happened to models and actors. And getting my first fan email was such a thrill. It is nice to know that there are people out there reading and liking my book. Besides that, my life has just become busier. Juggling family, a day job, promotion and writing takes a lot of energy.






What can you tell us about your characters, Antoinette and Christian?






Firstly my race of Vampires are called the Aeternus and when they go bad they succumb to what is called Necrodrenia. So the Aeternus are the “good” ones and the necrodreniacs, or dreniacs as they are referred to, are the “bad” ones.






Antoinette is one angry young woman. At the age of six she witnessed her mother’s murder at the hands of an Aeternus, not a dreniac, and she’s sort of declared war on both races by becoming a top notch Venator (dreniac hunter). She’s held her rage on slow simmer for a very long time and when her world turns upside down it sometimes make her act irrationally or impetuously, often against her better judgement. Sometimes I just wanted to smack her upside the head myself. She also has a lot of inner strength and I think as the series progress and we her embrace things I think this will become more apparent.






Christian is a 400 year old Aeternus from an old aristocratic bloodline. He is loyal to those close to him and very dedicated to his work. Antoinette brings out something in him he finds a little disturbing. He has his own scars, and his own guilt to contend with, which often makes his interactions with Antoinette explosive, whether it’s in disagreement or making love. One thing that I sometimes find a little annoying with vampire stories is that vampire protagonists often despise what they are. There is nothing more annoying after a while than a “oh woe is me, I’m such a monster” type. Not so with mine Christian is Aeternus and is proud of it.






What was your writing process when you first started working on Night’s Cold Kiss?


Wow! You really are grilling me. When I started NIGHT’S COLD KISS, I wrote sporadically. I wanted to write this story in my head, but I didn’t really think it would be anything more than doing it for myself. I knew nothing about the craft of writing and had to learn everything. I started to do workshops and read how to books. Then I entered the first 3 chapters into a couple of contests. When the feedback I received was enthusiastic, I ramped honing my craft. NIGHT’S COLD KISS was my learning book and I am so very, very pleased it was picked up.






How long did it take for Night’s Cold Kiss to be completed. Like how much time did


it take from the moment you turned in your manuscript of NCK to the publisher?


I started NCK in January 2005. As I said previously I went through a large learning curve and it went through several rewrites. When I first started the book, Antoinette’s family not only trained hunters, but were also owned and performed in a travelling circus. That changed on advice I received. I kinda miss it though, it had some great characters.


My editor bought NCK in August 2008 and the final version was done and dusted pretty much November 2008. So from start to finish Night’s Cold Kiss took me just over 3 ½ years to write.






Do you have another job besides being a published writer?


Yes — I work full time in IT as an analyst programmer.






How do you deal with the demands of family with your professional life?


At the moment, badly. My children are grown so they can pretty much take care of themselves. My husband supports my writing, but I have neglected him over the last couple of years. I’m still trying to find the right balance in my life.






Is it true that you are almost done with the sequel to Night’s Cold Kiss?


Yes – I have handed in my second book titled DEATH’S SWEET EMBRACE and started book three. It was such a different book to write than the first and I learned quite a bit about it and myself in the process.






How many books do you have planned for the Dark Brethren Novels?


I don’t really have a definitive number of books in mind. There is so much more about my worked that I want to introduce readers to. From elven drug lords who make potent narcotics from plants and run the drugs through a race of bear shape-shifting bikers to dark Djinn who use 3 wishes to trap people so they then possess their bodies and wear them like clothing to Mer environmental terrorists targeting the land races for polluting their oceans. I’m currently contracted for 3 books so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how they go.






As for the sequels, do you plan to continue on with Antoinette’s adventures or will have a new heroine and hero in the next book?


Antoinette’s story isn’t over but that doesn’t mean she is going to be the main character all the time. I look at this kind of like a TV series in a way where the focus on one episode may be on different people, but the threads of the other characters still come through.






I don’t want to give away anything, but this next book has a different hero and heroine. Kitt is a snow leopard felian and Raven is a wolf canian. Actually again I have different terms and rules for them – Animalians instead of weres or shape-shifters. It is a complex world and the rules are difficult to explain quickly.






What are your favorite online places that you visit often?


Night Time Romance Reviews of course. And there are a number of blogs like the Sci-fi Guy, Deadline dames and Fangs, Fur, & Fey that are my favourite stops. Love Vampire is really cool for vampire stuff and I’ve just started visiting Michele Hauf’s Vamp Chix blog as well. Actually there are far too many to name.






Do you have favorite author?


You ask all the tough questions. Again there are so many. Stephen King, Raymond E. Feist and Anne McCaffrey are right up there as my all time favourites. Lately I have been enjoying Jocelynn Drake’s Dark Days series, though I have only read NIGHTWALKER at the moment. Vicki Pettersson’s zodiac series is also awesome. I don’t get nearly as much time to read as I would like to. Also Keri Arthur and Nalini Singh are fabulous. But I have some others outside of Paranormal as well like Anna Campbell, Anne Gracie and another debut author Kris Kennedy all who write wonderful and different historicals.






What was the last book you read, last movie you saw and last song you heard on the radio?


I am currently reading THE CHILD THIEF by Brom. It’s an awesome modern, dark and twisted take on Peter Pan where it’s not all magic and wonder in Neverland. I love it. And the illustrations are awesome.






The last movie I saw was Police Academy 4 on late night TV last night, but the last movie I saw at the cinema was either Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or Terminator 4. I can’t remember which because it was a while ago.






The last song on the radio. I don’t rightly know. I was last listening to one of my favourite bands Rammstein on CD.






What do you do on your spare time? Do you have any spare time?


Sleep – and I don’t get much of that. Any spare time I try to spend with my family by seeing a movie with my boys or watching a DVD with my husband. I love movies almost as much as I love books.






Last question of the night.


What is it about vampires do you think that drives the world to go crazy over?


It is really a hard thing to put my finger on. I think for me there is something very intimate about penetrating fangs and sharing of bodily fluid. It can be excitingly dangerous that a vampire could rip out your throat as quick as kiss you. Today’s vampires are more often heroes than villains and made to be sexy but vampires of old were not so nice. I like them too, the monsters. I love a good scare. It makes the adrenalin pump and makes you feel alive. Also there is the fact that most are immortal and aren’t bound by the same moral or legal constraints as us mere mortals which offers a kind of freedom. To walk in the shoes of a vampire for a short time in the pages of a book gives us a taste of immortality.


 


Thank you, Tracey. I definitely enjoyed coming up with these grilling questions for you. I want to wish you lots of success on your upcoming release of Night’s Cold Kiss but from what I’ve read you won’t need.






You’re so sweet and thanks for having me here again.

 
Tracey O'Hara has one of the best debut series released in 2009.  Here is a little glimpse of Night's Cold Kiss.
 
___________________________________________
 
 
For centuries war raged between the humans and Aeternus vampires—until courageous efforts on both sides forged a fragile peace.







But the rogue Necrodreniacs will never be controlled—addicted as they are to the death-high . . . and bloody chaos.






Since witnessing the murder of her mother, Antoinette Petrescu has burned with fiery hatred for the vampire race—even for Christian Laroque, the noble, dangerously handsome Aeternus who rescued her. Now an elite Venator, Antoinette must reluctantly accept Christian's help to achieve her vengeance—even as he plots to use the beautiful, unsuspecting warrior as bait to draw out the bloodthirsty dreniacs.

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Friday Night Lights by Chloe Neill (Book Review)






Friday Night Lights by Chloe Neill

A Chicagoland Vampires Novel Series Book #2
NAL Trade Publishing
October 2009
ISBN #978-0451227935
Paranormal Romance












Read first chapter here
Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders
Author website - Publisher website




Book description:





The story of a young heiress’s initiation into the dark society of the Chicagoland Vampires continues…


Ten months after vampires revealed their existence to the mortals of Chicago, they’re enjoying a celebrity status usually reserved for the Hollywood elite. But should people learn about the Raves—mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle—the citizens will start sharpening their stakes.


So now it’s up to the new vampire Merit to reconnect with her upper class family and act as liaison between humans and bloodsuckers, and keep the more unsavory aspects of the vampire lifestyle out of the media. But someone doesn’t want peace between them—someone with an ancient grudge…




Book review:






Merit is back. She is facing a new problem that Merit does not know she is ready to deal with at this time. Merit is moving into the mansion with her fellow vampire ‘family.’ She has managed to avoid the source of her angst, her liege and master Ethan Sullivan. Luckily, she has her other family to be there for her when she needs it.






Just as soon as she is in her new place and her relationship with rival vampire master, Morgan things start to go down hill fast. Ethan wants Merit to return to her father’s good graces to do some undercover work. She grudgingly agrees. The more Merit discovers the fewer things make sense. She wonders who can be betraying Cadogan house once more.






With that said, we now get to romance banter that going on with Morgan, Merit and Ethan. Those can create that explosive combination every time they are in each other’s presence.






Merit enjoys her time with Morgan. He is everything she looks for in a man but she train of thoughts leave her mind once Ethan enters the picture.






Chloe Neill has returned with the most anticipated sequel this year. Merit has finally moved into Cadogan House. She is currently dating rival master Morgan but cannot seem to help wonder if he is the one.


Ethan has managed to ‘order’ Merit to get back into her father’s good graces in order to figure out a dangerous plot out to destroy the peace between the vampires, humans and other species.






There is more intrigue going on that even Ethan did not count on. Merit has her work cut out for her if she is discover the real culprit(s).






Like the previous Chicagoland Vampire Novel, Ms. Neill continues to charm us with her vivid imagination and exciting characters.






Her plot just thickens with her who done it storyline that get more addicting with each new page. In addition, things are sure heating up between the love triangle of Morgan, Merit and Ethan.






I definitely cannot help myself. I have read this over and over again. I lost count just how many times I have read Friday Night Bites. I love of both Merit men and/or potential men. However, I am definitely on Team Morgan.






Sorry for the ramblings about my new favorite male character Morgan that I cannot but talk about.




Will Morgan win over his ladylove, Merit?

What does Ethan really feel for his sentinel?


Has the war for the survival of humankind begun?


Which of Merit’s men is going to be left standing once the smoke clear?




I give Friday Night Bites a rating of 5 Stars.




Book reviewed by:




Estefanie
Night Time Romance Reviews









Also by Chloe Neill:







Some Girls Bite
A Chicagoland Vampires Novel #1
NAL Trade Publishing
April 2009
ISBN #9781101026182
Paranormal Romance










Read excerpt here


First in a brand new series about a Chicago graduate student’s introduction into a society of vampires.


Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly    glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.


Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude— and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.








AND COMING SOON:






FIRESPELL
A Novel of the Dark Elite: Book One
NAL Trade Publishing
YA Paranormal
January 5, 2010
ISBN #978-0451228864














Read chapter one here
Pre Order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders




New Girl.
New School.
Old Evil.


From the author of the Chicagoland Vampires novels.


A new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework.


Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night. When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens.


They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users. It's too bad Lily doesn't have powers of her own to help. At least, none that she's discovered yet...




Also check out these must have books:




 





Lucinda, Dangerously by Sunny
Berkeley Publishing
October 2009
Paranormal Erotic Romance
ISBN #9780425228982





 



Read excerpt here
Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders






Soon after returning to the world of the living with her two bondmates, demon princess Lucinda is kidnapped and imprisoned by her enemy, Derek.


He brings her back to a hidden outland in Hell, a bleak and desolate landscape riddled with disfigured rejects.


At first enraged by Lucinda’s new abilities, Derek soon realizes that he may have just stumbled upon a way to regain his power—and Lucinda’s new life is the sacrifice.





 



Seduced by Shadows by Jessa Slade
A Novel of the Marked Souls
Signet Eclipse Publishing
October 2009
Urban Fantasy Romance
ISBN # 978-0451228284











Read chapter one here


Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders




After an accident left her near death, Sera Littlejohn is struggling to piece her life together again. But when a violet-eyed stranger reveals a supernatural battle veiled in the shadows, Sera is tempted to the edge of madness by a dangerous desire.


Ferris Archer takes Sera under his wing now that she is talyan, possessed by a repentant demon with hellish powers.


Archer and his league of warriors have long risked their demon-shattered souls to stop darker spirits from wreaking havoc.


But they’ve never fought beside a female talya before, and never in all his centuries has Archer found a woman who captivates him like Sera.

With the balance shifting between good and evil, passion and possession, Sera and Archer must defy the darkness and dare to embrace a love that will mark them forever…























Monday, October 26, 2009

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (Book Review)




A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Ace Publishing
Paranormal Romance Short Stories
October 2009
ISBN #978-0441017836












Read excerpt here: AToD


Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders





Book Description:

 

"Fairy Dust" originally appeared in Powers of Detection. "Fairy Dust" is about the fairy triplets Claude, Claudine, and Claudette. Following the murder of Claudette, the Claude and Claudine seek Sookie's help in determining the guilty party. Claude acquires a valuable asset in this story. The action in "Fairy Dust" takes place after the events in Dead to the World.


In "Dracula Night," Eric invites Sookie to Fangtasia for the celebration of Dracula's birthday, an annual event that makes Eric almost over the top with anticipation, since Dracula is his hero. Unfortunately, the "Dracula" who unveils himself may or may not be the real thing. Eric celebrates "Dracula Night" before the action of Dead as a Doornail.


After Dead as a Doornail, the news of her Cousin Hadley's death reaches Sookie in "One Word Answer." She's informed of Hadley's demise by the half-demon lawyer Mr. Cataliades, who has a loathsome driver and an unexpected passenger in his limo.


"Lucky" is light-hearted story set in Bon Temps in the time period after All Together Dead. Witch Amelia Broadway and Sookie are on the hunt to find out who's sabotaging the town's insurance agents.


On Christmas Eve, Sookie receives a very unexpected visitor in "Gift Wrap." She's been alone and feeling a little sorry for herself, when a wounded werewolf supplies her with a satisfying gift. I'm pleased she has such an interesting holiday before the grim events of Dead And Gone.





Book Review:






Let the good times roll, because fans have spoken and finally got their favorite Sookie Stackhouse’s short stories all in one collection.


Charlaine Harris has created a wonderful world involving her heroine, Sookie Stackhouse. With A Touch of Dead is no exception with the Ms. Harris keeping up with her excellent writing talents.


I am huge fan of all the Southern Vampires Series and I really had no idea she had all these amazing short stories in print books for fans and readers could read.


These short stories have gotten under in my skin. I just keep getting more and more addicted with anything written by Ms. Harris.


A Touch of Dead is a definite must have for all fans of Charlaine Harris.


Once I got over the screaming of receiving my copy of A Touch of Dead in the mail that I immediately locked myself in my room. There I slowly read and savored every page immensely. No one ruined my moments reading about Sookie, Eric and all the characters in this Southern Vampires universe.


I definitely recommend A Touch of Dead as one of the must have this fall season 2009!



I give A Touch of Dead a rating of 5 Screams.







Book Reviewed by:



Estefanie
Night Time Romance Reviews




Sunday, October 25, 2009

Update

In case anyone was wondering where I've been. My computer up and died on me October 1st. I had it sent to get serviced but they couldn't revive it.

So luckily for me I had extended warranty on it and the store where I bought gave me a new replacement. I love my new laptop and of course I got a new extended warranty.

Well, that's the good news. The bad news is that because I didn't have access to a computer for almost a month, I now have at least ten books I have to complete my reviews on.  So, with that said. I am going to be working around the clock this week to complete my reviews.  I want to get some done at least before the coming weekend especially since two of my all time favorite authors (woohoo!!!!!!) are coming to Houston this coming Friday night: 

Kimberly Frost


And next Sunday evening:

Charlaine Harris



If anyone needs to get ahold of me they can leave me a comment below or they click my profile and get my email there.


Thanks!



Estefanie