Book Lovers Inc.

Sunday Cravings

Anna — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:00:55 +0000

Happy Sunday Book Lovers! Are you enjoying your weekend? Are you ready for the new week that starts tomorrow?

We’re here for another Sunday ti highlight all those new releases that we can’t help but drool all over And believe me, this week there are enough titles releasing, making it all the more difficult to choose from.

So, let’s start!

Lea and Anna: A Blood Seduction by Pamela Palmer

Vampires live only for lust and pleasure in the eternal twilight of Vamp City. But the city’s magic is dying. The only person who can restore it? A beautiful woman from the mortal world…one who knows nothing of the power she wields.

Quinn Lennox is searching for a missing friend when she stumbles into a dark otherworld that only she can see—and finds herself at the mercy of Arturo Mazza, a dangerously handsome vampire whose wicked kiss will save her, enslave her, bewitch her, and betray her.

What Arturo can’t do is forget about her—any more than Quinn can control her own feelings for him. Neither one can let desire get in the way of their mission—his to save his people, hers to save herself.

But there is no escape from desire in a city built for seduction, where passion flows hot and blood-red. Welcome to Vamp City…

Anna: You know me, even if I have read about 100 vampire books, I just can’t really pass the opportunity to read a new one… And this new series sounds exactly like my kind of thing

Stella and Anna: Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep

I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me—again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects—and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me?

It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me—and I’m in for the fight of my life.

Stella: I very much enjoy Jennifer Estep’s Mythos Academy series, so I am very happy that Book #3 Dark Frost releases now! These books are seriously harmful: I gobble them up in no time, enjoy every minute of them but once they come to an end I’m left wanting more and having to battle withdrawal symptoms until Jennifer Estep releases the next book and I can have some more Logan and Gwen goodness! So I know what I’ll be reading this weekend

Stella: Hot for Fireman by Jennifer Bernard

Ryan Blake got suspended from the San Gabriel firefighters a year and a half ago for a daredevil act that nearly killed someone. Now he’s back in San Gabriel, fighting to return to the force. He takes a job at a local dive, the Hair of the Dog, while he studies for the test that will get him his job back.

But the real test comes in the form of Katie Dane, bar manager. Katie got stuck running the family bar when her father had a heart attack. The place is losing money like crazy and the insurance is about to lapse. Her desperate solution? Burn the place down, collect a million dollars. The only problem–little does she know, her new bartender is actually a firefighter.

Can a professional fireman and a wannabe firebug ever manage to get along? More importantly, can they stay away from each other and/or keep from ruining each other’s careers? Not likely. This is San Gabriel, after all.

I have recently read and reviewed just this Friday (you can read my review here) the 1st book in Jennifer Bernard’s sexy Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series and enjoyed the fun and sexy characters she has created, so I’m looking very much forward to reading Hot for Fireman!

Marlene: Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past–one as unpredictable in love as it was in war. Now comes a new territory, and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.

For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal. For Adria, his dangerous lone-wolf appeal is beyond sexual. It consumes her. It terrifies her. It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life. But fighting their wild compulsion toward one another proves a losing battle.

Their coming together is an inferno…and a melding of two wounded souls who promise each other no commitment, no ties, no bonds. Only pleasure. Too late, they realize that they have more to lose than they ever imagined. Drawn into a cataclysmic Psy war that may alter the fate of the world itself, they must make a decision that might just break them both.

I need Tangle of Need. It’s been on my wishlist since the second I finished Kiss of Snow. Tuesday can’t come soon enough for me! (And the US cover is the worst of a terrible lot. All the US covers on the Psy-Changelings series are awful. But the books are so, so marvelous)

What will be your Sunday Cravings for this week? Leave us a comment and let us know

The Long Weekend Winner Post

Stella — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:00:51 +0000

Hey Everyone!

Though it’s not Memorial day weekend for me (still living in Europe), but thankfully it’s Whit Monday so we have Monday off which means a 3 day-long weekend, woohoo!! And the weather is holding up, it’s sunny and warm so I hope this weekend holds lot of reading-out-in-the-garden time for me And what are your plans for the weekend? Any exciting event or programme? Or just chilling with some friends and family? Either way enjoy it!

This week’s winners are *drumroll*

the lucky winner of an ebook copy of Wrath by Denise Tompkins is:

Madeline

the lucky winner of an ebook copy of Improper Relations by Juliana Ross is:

Emily D

the lucky winner of a copy of Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by G.J. Koch is:

Danielle Binks

the lucky winner of an ebook copy of Fiery Icicle by Ju Dimello is:

erinf1

Congratulations winners, you have been notified by e-mail of your win. You have 72 hours to get back to us, or we’ll have to draw a new winner.

Enjoy your Sunday or long weekend everyone!

The International Giveaways Café (44)

Jackie — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:43:08 +0000

Happy Saturday morning all and welcome back to the café! Have you seen our new logo? Isn’t it all kinds of cool? The café button has been updated to match, so if you have our old one, we’d love it if you switched up too

Also, remember to let us know if you’ve won anything recently; the Book Lovers would love to hear! At Book Lovers Inc., it’s our pleasure to share the bookish love! Good luck to everyone and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Here’s the fine print for entering your link:
Guidelines:
If you have a giveaway you would like to share with our other readers, the rules are simple:
1. The giveaway MUST be available to international addresses (Book Depository does count)
2. Add your link below, in the format shown. (Please use the URL for the contest post, not a general blog URL; you don’t want to make it tricky for others trying to enter)
3. Expired contests will be removed during my weekly cleaning, but remember to come back with any new entries
4. Add our blog button to share the love even more! (Not required but we’d sure appreciate sharing the word even more )

In the spirit of global participation, we hope you’ll join in and show those limited giveaways that there are definitely benefits to opening up to the whole world!
We will repost the link list each week and keep the giveaways that are still running at that time.

Around the Bookish World: Week-in-Review

Has — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:58 +0000

Welcome to this week’s news post! This week have news of a new tablet coming from Google, more wtfery on plagiarism and a book being published via tweets on twitter as well more tidbits from upcoming books!

As I reported a few weeks ago, it looks like the competition for tablets is really heating up with rumoured devices coming out from Amazon and Apple which will be more affordable and having a 7 inch screen. Well it looks like Google is entering the fray with its own 7 inch model which is slated for release this July, although it hasn’t been fully confirmed. The specs are also rumoured to be close to either the Kindle Fire or the Ipad 3 and with a price range for $200 to $250 with the android Ice-cream platform. If any of you have held out to get one or is thinking of getting a tablet, I suspect there will be some good choices coming out in the next year or so.

Plagiarism again was the theme of the week, with The Story Siren holding an awareness week on this issue with guest posts and discussion on the issues. But many eye-brows were raised because much of the posts seemed to highlight or confuse the issue with plagiarism and copyright with other issues such as derivative works and fanfiction and including one which suggests we are all guilty of being a plagiarist. I wont be linking to her site, because it will add to her traffic stats but I will link to Smart Bitches, Beautifully Invisible (one of the bloggers TSS plagiarised) and Book Binge who have a good overview about this issue because The Story Siren is the example on how not to deal with plagiarism and it is disappointing because seeing some of the comments from her followers, she has not apologised properly to the bloggers affected with this brouahaha. And the fact she has blocked them on twitter and refused to engage or respond via email since the original incident is disingenuous of her and her efforts to open a dialogue about plagiarism. Most especially since it feels like she’s using her followers and those guest posters to take the heat and deflect for the mistakes she made.

And talking about plagiarism this is what happens when a blogger found out one of his articles was stolen and printed at a small newspaper in the US - I’m very glad he got he got compensated – but as the examples of The Story Siren and this incident, shows this is a serious issue and it shouldn’t be dismissed or condoned or excused.

News in Brief:

Author Jennifer Egan is publishing a story via tweets over the course of ten nights. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of tweeting stories and I’ve also seen role-playing and character Q and A’s done under this format, but I think it is the first time it has been done by a well known author.

Sylvia Day, the author of the hugely successful Bared to You and which was self published scored a major deal with Berkley. The new ebook and print edition which will be out in June 16th will be slightly revised with a new cover. I highly recommend this book to those who loved the 50 Shades series - I’m also glad that more erotic romance is starting to get more mainstream and I think that is a good thing although I have to say I like the original cover!

Now books to watch out for!

Linda Howard’s upcoming book, Shadow Woman.

Lizette Henry wakes up one morning and doesn’t recognise the reflection staring back at her in the mirror. She isn’t suffering from amnesia; she remembers who she is, what she did the day before, her parents, where she grew up – everything. But who she is, is not who she sees. Alarmed, she begins searching her house for something – anything – that will match what she remembers. There is nothing. And yet there is nothing in her life that seems abnormal, except herself. She could be crazy, but her instincts are telling her this isn’t the case. Some women might make an appointment with a psychiatrist, but Zette isn’t ‘some women.’ Deep inside she knows she isn’t the face in the mirror, and that she has to find out the truth, before it’s too late.

The cover and premise is pure and utter lushness! City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Foster

The girl with no past, and no future, may be the only one who can save their lives.

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

The cover and premise caught my eye! Dualed byElsie Chapman

Would you live through the ultimate test of survival?

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

So what do you think of a book being written via Twitter? Would you be interested in reading a story like that even with the constraints with 140 characters?

Review: The Fireman Who Loved Me by Jennifer Bernard

Stella — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:14 +0000

Format read: ebook
Release Date: 24 April 2012
Number of pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Avon
Series: Book #1 in the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Source: review copy provided by publisher through Edelweiss
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Kindle store, B&N, Indiebound, Books-a-Million, Walmart

Blurb:

Captain Brody has been badly burned by his ex-wife. When he orders Ryan, his star fireman, to participate in a bachelor auction, little does he know he’s the one who will lose his heart.

Melissa McGuire is a brainy local news producer trying to get her career back on track. She can’t believe she’s being set up by her grandmother, who bid on a date with a fireman at the auction. She prefers the artsy type, not the tough, commanding , though clearly attractive, fire chief.

And yet, they can’t resist each other, especially once her ambitious news anchor assigns her the “Thanksgiving with the Firefighters” news special. Add in her grandmother’s matchmaking and the combined efforts of Captain Brody’s crew…can Brody help being the first bachelor to succumb to love, and the crazy rollercoaster ride of the Curse?

My Thoughts: The Fireman Who Loved Me is the first book in Jennifer Bernard’s cute and sexy new contemporary romance series which features handsome and heroic firemen as its heroes, so you can bet I was excited to read it!

The Fireman Who Loved Me opens with Melissa a serious young woman dedicated to her career meeting her old and frail grandma at a bachelor auction where women of all ages and types bid on the firemen of the San Gabriel Fire station. You can imagine Melissa’s shock and embarrassment at not only being caught at such a scene but seeing her beloved but meddling grandma ferociously bidding on a young stud for her! With such a beginning I knew we would be in for a fun and witty, cute and sexy story and I wasn’t wrong.

Melissa was a likeable heroine because she was such an ordinary girl, she could be you or me, her approach to life and her career was real, though be warned she is quite the feminist (it took some time for her to grow on me as she was a bit too belligerent at the beginning). And I just loved, loved LOVED her interaction with her meddlesome grandma. She had a warm heart and it was so much fun seeing how her old grandma played her easily with just a sigh or feigning exhaustion.

Harry is a wonderful hero. He has been hurt before so he has no intention of looking for romance, but it finds him when he stumbles (literally) upon Melissa. The sizzling chemistry between him and Melissa was at times very entertaining to read (the way they both tried to battle their attraction) but most of the time just plain explosive:

Hands shaking, he attacked her buttons one by one. As her creamy flesh was exposed, a kind of madness came over him. He bent his head [...] devouring her [skin] with greedy strokes of his tongue. She tasted like heaven, like forgiveness, like every good thing in the universe. She moaned and twisted under him. God, she was beautiful.

He was a true gentleman and I loved how intense and honourable he was.

“And he told you Melissa was trapped?” Brody nodded. “And what did you feel?”
That he would have thrown himself into the flames to save her. That if he couldn’t save her, there would be no reason to save himself. That the entire world centered on one house, one bedroom, one irreplaceable woman who needed him.

Besides a heroine the reader can easily relate to, a tortured yet generous and selfless handsome hero, Jennifer Bernard gives us a whole array of quirky secondary characters. Some of them are a bit over the top like the meddling grandma who was a big favourite of mine:

“Oh, that fancy career of yours. You think your career is going to take care of you when you’re my age?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. My IRA—”
“I don’t want to hear about your IRA. It’s not going to drive you to the pharmacy, it’s not going to rub your feet, or change your colostomy bag.” Melissa hid a smile. Nelly loved to hold up the specter of a colostomy bag, even though she herself had never had any problems along those lines.
“I’m only twenty-nine, I don’t think I need to worry about my future hypothetical colostomy bag just yet.”
“It’s never too soon,” said Nelly darkly.

or Ella, the Sexy Wicked Witch of the West, and then there are of course the firemen (and women) of the station who all brought something to the mix be it charm or heart, but they all did it with a lot of humour. I’m very much looking forward to seeing them again in the next book(s).

My only complaint was how Ella became a bit of a caricature, and the way Jennifer Bernard handled Harry’s ex-wife and decided to resolve the romantic drama. I found the conclusion over the top and even irritating and felt somewhat let down by it.

Verdict: Despite a few bumps The Fireman Who Loved Me was a light and fun read I’d recommend to fans of Kristan Higgins who love a love story with quite a few chuckles and some tears. Jennifer Bernard introduces a cast of memorable characters the reader will grow to love and hate instantly. A cute start to a promising series, I can’t wait to read the other firemen’s stories!

I give The Fireman Who Loved Me a solid 3.5 stars!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: A Wild Night’s Bride by Victoria Vane

Marlene — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:00:10 +0000

Format Read:ebook from author
Number of Pages:105 p.
Release Date:April 27, 2012
Publisher:Breathless Press
Series: The Devil DeVere #1
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, All Romance Ebooks

Book Blurb:

WITH THE DEVIL IN CHARGE…THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY… What happens when a struggling actress and a grieving widower come together in a night of unbridled debauchery orchestrated by a bored and machinating rake?

She’s a lonely lady down on her luck…
Phoebe Scott, alias Kitty Willis, is a struggling Covent Garden actress with a bruised heart and a closely guarded secret.

He’s steadfast and eminently respectable
Sir Edward Chambers, Ned to his intimates, is guilt-ridden over his beloved wife’s death and avowed to live out a rustic and mundane life … of celibacy.

With the devil in charge — there will surely be hell to pay.Devil in disguise, Viscount Ludovic DeVere, is determined to return his best friend, Ned, to the land of the living. His meddling machinations result in a night of mind blowing passion after which “dull dog Ned” awakes to find himself in the King of England’s bed!

A WILD NIGHT’S BRIDE, a sexy, rollicking Georgian romp!

My Thoughts:

There’s a certain delicious irony to the title of the series being The Devil DeVere, when neither the hero nor the heroine of this book is, in fact, said Devil.

Not that the Devil in question, Viscount DeVere, isn’t in the story, he is. He’s just, not the hero. At first, he seems to be the villain. He’s not that either.

He is manipulative enough to be the Devil. He also has been a rakehell for his entire quasi-adult life, and has no intentions of changing anytime soon. He’s also rich enough to keep indulging all of his bad habits.

What he can’t figure out is why his friend, “Dull Dog” Ned Chambers, would want to go back to the country after three years of rusticating in solititude, and (shudder) celibacy.

DeVere decides that Ned has mourned his dead wife long enough. And while DeVere is extremely crude about his methods, he’s actually completely right in his reasoning.

His methods make you want to punch him. Hell, they do make Ned punch him. Fortunately for the reader, DeVere is NOT the hero of the piece. He needs a whole lot of reforming first.

Ned Chambers is exactly the sort of tortured soul who makes a terrific romantic lead, which he does. With Ned as the hero, DeVere provides some needed levity. And a glass jaw.

And then there’s Phoebe, the heroine. Her story might not have changed much from today. She wanted to be an actress, she just didn’t want to get any of her parts on the 18th century equivalent of the “casting couch”. And it didn’t work that way.

Phoebe meets DeVere (and Ned) just when she finally decides that the only way to get acting parts as a strumpet onstage is to also play one offstage.

The collision was inevitable. Phoebe needs a patron. She hopes DeVere will be that patron. DeVere thinks that Phoebe is perfect for the role of bringing his friend “back to life”. He manipulates them both into that scene in the King’s bedchamber. And has wicked fun while doing so.

And so do the readers.

I give A Wild Night’s Bride four stars. They’ll need a fan. And maybe some bon bons would be good, too.

Interview with Alice Wade + Giveaway Awesomeness!

Alisha — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:00:38 +0000

Happy Thursday, book lovers! (Did you make it through Wednesday all right?) Today we’re very pleased to welcome author Alice Wade to BLI. In addition to discussing the characters and stories found in her latest releases, she answers some of our questions about her writing style and the origins of her love for the fantasy genre. At the end of the interview, you’ll find a special giveaway from Alice herself!

——

Q: Hi Alice, welcome to Book Lovers Inc! Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Greetings! Thank you so much for having me and taking the time to interview me.

I graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in Psychology. I am a Marketing Professional by day, writer by night and have devoted myself to using the written word to motivate emotional responses. With my writing, I’ve proven that anything is possible if you just try, as evident by the accomplishments to date. I have written a total of nine novels, two of which are being published with Eternal Press. Talon (April 2012) is an Erotic Paranormal Romance and was the first to release. This is followed by the first book in the Flame Thrower Saga: Flame Thrower (May 2012) which is an Erotic Fantasy. I’ve also got one more novel (Gem) in the works and the chapters can be found on my website. I do take breaks, however. When I am not writing, I love camping with my family (two step daughters plus husband), learning to fly fish around California, and playing with my two Boxer dogs.

In the end, what you get is the output of my utter devotion to writing. I love each and every story for different reasons. Each story has a purpose for why it was written. I mostly love the characters, and find I just can’t say good-bye, therefore I write another story when one ends to keep them alive.

Q: Describe a typical day of writing? Are you a planner or pantser?

My dream day writing would begin with a large mug of coffee while I plot out what I want to create. I don’t outline and I don’t map things out on paper. Instead, I toy around with ideas in my head and then I begin to write those ideas down. My goal is to find my zone within a few pages– if I’m lucky. When that happens, I can be found writing late into the night. Sadly, I have to admit, I’ve even brought my computer on a camping trip to finish a story that was busting to be told. Yet life doesn’t give me that opportunity very often, so I write when I can now a days – usually early in the morning and a few hours at night only.

Q: What do you think is the difference between a reader and a real Book Lover?

Not much! If you read a book from start to finish, you are a real book lover. If I had to differentiate them though, I’d say a real book lover would never, ever put a book down, regardless how horrible. A reader will.

Q: You write fantasy, paranormal and erotic romance stories. Why fantasy? What attracted you to this genre? What makes it special?

Wow, so many reasons. I like it because life is hard enough and when I read, I read to escape. If I read book about real life, well, that was just defeating the purpose. So I read fantasy to get lost in world after world of make believe, fly with dragons and spin mystical spells of magic. Now I write it and I have the opportunity to create my own worlds to get lost in.

Q: You have two published novels: Talon was released on April 7th and Flame Thrower will be released on May 7th, could you tell our readers about them, what can they expect of these stories?

Talon is my one and only paranormal novel, merging my beloved fantasy with that of vampires. Blending vampires and elves, hmm, it makes total sense to me, doesn’t it to you? I don’t have your typical elf envisioned in my head, and I’ve never written them to be small, skinny and delicate. My elves are more warrior-based, tall and strong. Which absolutely fits with a vampire, so this made perfect sense to blend the two.

Blurb:
Vampires only fear one name — Talon. The elven prince and his mate, Kailani, have made it their mission to hunt down the violent vampire covens that have been destroying hundreds of innocent lives in their pursuit of selfish and depraved entertainment. Their strategy would have been fool-proof, except for one problem: Talon and Kailani are vampires too.

But when they enter a castle overrun, they realize they are out of their league. The vampire leader has stolen elven magic, something Talon takes personally and can’t fight alone. This sets them on a path of redemption, destruction and closure. Along the way, they pair up with two humans who are destined to become the family Talon craves.

Pick up a copy of Talon

Flame Thrower is more my traditional style of writing and the first in a series of six books in the Flame Thrower saga. It spins an interwoven epic timeline spanning three different kingdoms and the families involved. It’s an adult fairy tale with some serious heat. However, this is romance novel, through and through and the tag line on the cover sums up perfectly – ‘Love heals all wounds through blood and sacrifice’. This first book sets a story arc into motion that carries through the entire erotic saga.

Blurb:
While out hunting with his men, King Ryan of Yorath finds a badly-beaten woman who had been left for dead by her attackers. He is surprised to discover that she is none other than Tillian, the Princess who had been reported missing by messengers from the neighboring realm of Folkyn.

Despite her injuries and the circumstances behind her disappearance, Ryan is swept by an immediate attraction for Tillian, and his vows to never marry are tested when he learns the truth behind her abduction. Tensions rise as Ryan’s overwhelming need to protect Tillian leads them straight into a war that will change their lives and their kingdoms forever.

Pick up a copy of Flame Thrower

In both, you will be treated with love, romance, and the unwavering strength of men who love their woman against all odds.

Q: Can you summarize Talon for us twitterstyle (140 characters or less)?

Pure wickedness and unwavering love all wrapped up on one.

Q: Talon has an interesting mix of elf and vampire characters, what can you tell our readers, how is it different from other vampire stories?

When it came time to introduce my title character, it just seemed so logical to put my fantasy stamp on vampires that have been told so many different ways. By bringing in elves and the limitless magic their race can introduce, I thought to open up the possibilities this story could take. The moment I did, boy did the muse start screaming.

I also don’t do anything in my writing that is ‘typical’ and love to stretch my mind beyond the norm. What you will read is a perfect blend of the darkness of the vampires and the light from the elves – the best of both worlds really. This story also has a heavy dose of spice, something that I used to either further define the characters or the plot. So you see, I just couldn’t leave my elves and magic at home. Instead, I brought them along on this journey and I like how the merging worked out. I hope I gave you a different spin on vampires ☺

Q: Now can you tell us 3 reasons why people should read Flame Thrower?

1. If you want to fall in love with a strong man that is defined by his actions while saving the woman he loves – read this book.
2. If you want to be inspired to find your inner strength by reading how the characters overcome powerful situations – read this book.
3. If you just love to get lost in a new world and forget all that is reality – read this book.

Q: Can you tell us any behind the scenes secret related to either of the stories? (either to the writing process, or some tidbit about the characters that didn’t end up in the final version)

What I’ll tell you is my motivation behind King Ryan from Flame Thrower. It is somewhat personal, so not many know it. To highlight the meaning, I’ve included an excerpt from the book that captures the moment.

He spun around and closed the distance between them. He passionately clasped her face with both his searing hot hands, and then kissed her soundly on the lips. The abruptness of his contact caused Tillian to pull back but his insistently gentle lips teased hers open and he dipped his tongue into heated depths where he plundered her mouth until they both moaned in unison.

The touch instantly cooled his anger and the magic boiling within simmered down to a manageable level. She was his balm, his control. Tillian. Only Tillian. Ryan deepened the kiss, letting her lips soothe his anger and remind him she deserved more than his wrath. She deserved to be cherished.

His reaction overwhelmed her and his kiss…oh, the kiss. At first contact, the scorching heat almost burned her, but it faded. When he deepened the caress, she felt her insides melt. Not only with the feel of his tongue but also the taste of him, the smell of him and the feeling of his body against hers was just too much. Tears fell freely down her face while this man, this king, delivered the loving kiss filled with passion that she feared she’d lost. She felt her hope grow that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t rejecting her.

After a long moment, he pulled back but kept his lips touching hers for a moment longer. It was because of that contact that she felt him smile. His breathing was labored and his body trembled while he clutched her to his chest in a painful embrace.

Resting his forehead against hers, he finally spoke softly. “I’m so sorry, Tillian.” He sighed. “I was angry and almost lost control of my magic. I feared I’d hurt you so needed to walk away. It is beyond me that you’ve had to deal with such pain at the hands of your own family, your own Father for that matter. I’m of a mind to kill all those who have brought you harm, Tillian. I know Akland and he is high on the list of guilty persons.”

Ryan leaned back and looked her in the eye. “You are not going back. I was going to seduce you to stay, but that was before I knew who organized this. I’ll not return you to a man who would willingly whore his stunningly beautiful daughter to that low life scum. Absolutely not. You deserve to be cherished.” He kissed her again then whispered, “I want to do that cherishing, Tillian. I want to remove this pain and fear I see in your eyes and I want to make you laugh. You are not going back.”

Ryan’s mission to make her laugh is something that carries through the entire saga straight through to book 6. Irfan’s one horrific act torments Tillian for the rest of her life, but I’ve written Ryan to be her ever protector; her one reason to never give up.

The inspiration for Ryan’s behavior and the feeling of safe harbor he created was a personal experience of mine and one that is still fresh in my own mind. I experienced something so profound that it rocked me, rattling me to my core. I lost someone very dear due to cancer and it changed me forever. I had my very own King Ryan though, and without the safe harbor my husband created, I would have drifted and been lost. He reminded me it was okay to feel the sorrow and to feel the pain in order to find a way past it. I hate crying, but he allowed me a safe place to do it, giving me permission to be sad. His actions alone helped me heal. So when it came time to create Ryan and all that he is, I modeled the feeling I had during that time and asked myself ‘how would Tillian be feeling and what she would she need?’. Love…Safety…Trust. That is what. I wanted him to heal Tillian and help her find her way back from the sorrow. Through love.

Q: Your stories are quite steamy, what is harder to write: fight scenes or love scenes (pun totally intended ☺)? And why is that?

Fight scenes are harder, by far! They are, well, they are complicated. You have to be really detailed and you have to describe what is going on concisely and accurately or the reader can’t envision it.

Q: What made you discover the fantasy genre? Was it a book, a movie, a series? Any alltime favourite in the genre?

My first adventure into fantasy was with Robert Heinlein’s Glory Road. I was in college and reading Horror Fiction and my friends wanted me to read some Science Fiction. I didn’t realize what I liked about Glory Road, and read it three times before I figured it out. From there, I found The Belgariad (David Eddings), The Dragon Riders of Pern (Anne McCaffrey) and Sorrow, Memory and Thorn (Tad Williams). I got into fantasy and I have never turned back. For fifteen years, I’ve read nothing but, so yeah, I’d say it’s my all time favorite genre.

Q: What shall we expect from you, what is next on your schedule?

I am just finishing up my two month long book tour this month with this interview and one more on 5/29 with Kerri Williams. If you want to see where I’ve been, please visit my Event Page on my website and stop by some of amazing places I’ve had the honor of appearing over the past two months.

I plan to continue with my interviews on my own blog so I can keep discovering new and amazing authors to highlight. That experience so far has been extremely rewarding and plan to continue with that as time allows.

I also plan to keep writing – a lot. I have more books I’d like to publish and a handful that are humming in my head to be told. One of which has six chapters posted on my website under Works in Progress. Gem is a collaborative piece with my husband and it has more fight scenes in it and is less steamy.

Q: If you could try your hand at another genre, which one would you like to try?

If I strayed from fantasy again, it will be back to the world I’ve created with Talon. I’ve a mind to either continue on with the story or write a prequel. I have no hard plans on that at the moment, though. Right now, my focus is finishing Gem and closing out the Flame Thrower saga by putting the final touches on the 6th book.

Q: What advice would you give to readers who haven’t read any fantasy stories yet, how, with what should they dip their toes in the magical waters?

Don’t give up. Ever! If you work hard at what you love, you will succeed. I am proof of that, because I didn’t intend to be a writer and stumbled into this by accident. I love it, and have worked hard at getting better. Find a writers group (there are many out there) or start your own – but get feedback and loads of it. If you are serious about getting published, create your community on blogs, Twitter, FB and online venues where you can post your stories. Get involved and stay involved. The most important thing to remember is to stay in love with what you are doing and have fun. Without that, writing will become a chore not a passion.

Q: Can you share with us some little secret trivia, something that not many people know about you?

I love celtic folk music, specifically a good jig with a fiddle.

Now the fun stuff…GIVEAWAYS!

See the included image? This will be a solid sterling silver pendant that is hand designed and carved by Paxton. He is generously creating one specifically for this novel release and is carving Tillian’s Rose that I will award to a winner once this pendant is cast and polished (should be within the month). What you see is the wax carving of the final product.

Yes, I am going to give one away! It will be on a leather chord to the winner from those that are subscribed on my website, follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook.

I will not be de-duping my lists, so if you are subscribed, follow and like me, you will have three chances to win. If you don’t, now is the time to do it! I will assign a number to each name and then use www.random.org to select a winner on 5/30. I will notify the lucky person who will have 48 hours to send me your address and then it will be shipped directly to you.

You can connect with me at the below places:
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Elements in Lit 201: The Publishing World

Jackie — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:13:20 +0000

Up until now, we’ve talked about book content, genres, and other things of the sort. Thanks to some of the other BLI’ers, today we’re going to take a look at the business behind the books that we love. Publishing involves a whole lot more than just writing a book, getting it into print, then into the readers hands. As book reviewers, we have our own place in the process now, but let’s see what else is involved in the wide world of publishing:

Publishers come in all shapes and sizes. Within publishers, there are also “imprints”. For our purposes here, we’re going to discuss the definition of imprint that refers to the trade name that books are published under (though there are several different meanings, as can be found on the Wiki page). These are usually grouped into similar styles of books, like Tor, part of Macmillan, works mainly with Science Fiction and Fantasy. In fact, the large publishers, all have a slew of imprints under their main company names. Here are some examples:

Hachette Book Group has Little, Brown, Grand Central, Faith Words, Mulholland to name a few.

Macmillan as mentioned before is the main company for Tor Forge and Tor Orb, but also St. Martin’s Press and Henry Holt & Co. (click on the link then scroll over the “Publishers” tab for a comprehensive list).

Simon and Schuster lays claim to Atria, Pocket, Scribner, Simon Pulse and more.

Random House contains Doubleday, Crown Publishing, Del Rey, Ballantine, Bantam plus tons more.

Penguin Group is home to Viking, Ace, Berkley Books, and Razorbill (and lots more).

HarperCollins has Avon Books, William Morrow, and Ecco as a few of its more well known imprints.

They all sound familiar right? And this is just a small sampling of what the major publishing houses have under their belts. But beyond these very well known names, there are other types of publishers out there. Indie presses or Small Presses are not affiliated with the larger houses and are defined by having less than $50 million in sales per year. According to this site, the small presses “tend to fill the niches that larger publishers neglect” by specializing either by genre, geographic region, or a particular “niche” audience.

But small presses are also not the same as Vanity presses. The vanity press is one that seems to be gaining in popularity because they can get authors’ books put into print, or e-format, by charging the authors to print the books. The publishing house makes it’s money from the author who in turn can sell their books however they wish. I’d like to assume that this means the author would get the full value from sales rather than a percentage as offered by the traditional publishers. What I found most interesting about the Vanity presses was its list of illustrious clients: Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edgar Allan Poe, and Rudyard Kipling all self-published at some point in their careers.

That might actually be a bit incorrectly worded because an author can choose to forego the entire process of involving another business and just print their own books from start to finish, especially with the “print on demand” availability. This is the true meaning of “self-publishing“. It also involves any cover art, editing, pricing, retailing and so on that a publisher would usually look after in the process of book release. If you ask any author these days, you’ll see that they still have a lot of work to do anyway to promote their books. To this end, it seems some well known authors are choosing to go this route now also, like J.K. Rowling will be for her e-versions of the Harry Potter Series. Wow!

Now, here’s my challenge for you all: Check out the books on your shelves and see what imprints you have. Do you have lots from one in particular or are they all varied? Also, please let me know if I missed any big names. I was thinking about Harlequin and where it would fit, but I might leave that one for a dedicated post

I’d hoped to be able to fit in some other facets of publishing, like the ARC versus the galley; is there a difference? What is it? But we’ll take a look at that next time.

Review: Bare Naked Lola by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

Lea — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:00:21 +0000

Bare Naked Lola by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

Format Read: ebook provided by publisher for review
Length: 300 Pages
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Genre: Mystery with Romantic Elements
Formats Available: Paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, The Book Depository, Powell’s

Book Blurb:

Going undercover is second nature for Private Investigator Lola Cruz, but she’s out of her league when the case of a murdered Royals Courtside Dancer leads her to a local nudist resort. Parading around the sidelines of Sacramento’s professional basketball scene in a barely-there cheerleading outfit is one thing—but parading around in nothing but smile? If she has any chance of hiding this from her traditional family and on-again/off-again boyfriend Jack, she’s going to have a lot more than her duct tape bra and killer dance moves to keep under wraps….

Excerpt

My Thoughts:

Delores “Lola” Cruz has no idea what she is in for when she walks into Camancho & Associates, the small Sacramento investigative firm where she is the junior private investigator. Lola’s boss Manny Camancho, is chatting with beautiful woman with a gazelle like body, and there are two other equally gorgeous silent nubile females sitting at the office conference table. As it turns out, the gazelle is married to the Lance Wolfe, the owner Courtside Dancers and said gazelle, Victoria, is the manager. The team has celebrity status thanks to the girls previous involvement in their own reality TV show. It seems the cheerleaders have been receiving disturbing anonymous notes that have frightened them to the point where one of the dancers has been scared off. Lance has hired Camancho & Associates to discover who is messing with the girls and because Lola is “curvy but athletic and fit” she is assigned to work undercover as one of the Courtside Dancers.

Ay Caramba!

Bare Naked Lola is a fun ride! The story is told in the first person and narrated by it’s savvy, smart and Latino heroine as she executes her plan (or lack of it) to solve Operation: Dance. Lola suffers through grueling cheerleading practices, is given the cold shoulder by her “teammates” and must come to terms with the indignity of dancing wearing next to nothing costumes in front of stadiums full of fans (not to mention the games are televised). She is however determined to prove herself and do what it takes to get the job done. The plot thickens when Lola finds herself on the hunt for a killer as one of the dancers is brutally murdered. The clues lead Lola to a nudist resort!

Lola definitely walks a tightrope. She loves her investigative work and painstakingly turns over every stone in her quest to solve a case. She isn’t afraid to put herself at risk—she has a black belt in martial arts after all! However, Lola has very strong moral values ingrained from her upbringing in a close knit Catholic Hispanic family. She is not a prude by any means but stripping down to her birthday suite to infiltrate a nudist resort? There must be some other way? Isn’t there? Hijinks ensue, there are plenty of laughs to be had as Lola is confronted with large number of nude bodies of all shapes and sizes. But never fear, our heroine is very resourceful!

The humor is tempered with suspense as Lola guides us through a tangled web of deceit and villainy. Melissa Bourbon Ramirez incorporates plenty of intrigue into her narrative and there are a couple of surprising plot twists in store.

Lola as another life and still works part-time in her family’s busy Mexican restaurant, she walks on eggshells with her protective family concerning her crazy and sometimes dangerous activities. In addition, she deals with plenty of angst concerning newspaper columnist Jack Callaghan, a man she has been attracted to since her school days. Bare Naked Lola has very light romantic elements but the sexual tension certainly sizzles between these two which is amplified by considerable conflict arising from Jack’s non-Mexican heritage (which doesn’t sit well with her family) and some rather annoying baggage he can’t seem to get rid of. What I really liked about the relationship development in this story is that while yes, Jack wants to be Lola’s lover, but considers himself her partner. He is protective but but empowers her and assists in piecing together a complex puzzle uncovering some extremely nefarious activities, an intricate cover-up and murder.

I have to talk about the enigmatic Manny, who is a man of few words with a sensual commanding presence. Lola considers him her mentor, and while their relationship is purely professional as a reader I couldn’t help but feel there is an underlying attraction there, particularly on Manny’s part. There is plenty of tension between Jack and Lola’s boss, the former has no intention of letting the later poach on his territory so to speak. Lol

If you enjoy a good mystery with a comedic touch, made special by a feisty endearing heroine and a coterie of memorable supporting characters, you may like to give Bare Naked Lola a try. This is the third novel in Bourbon Ramirez’ Lola Cruz mystery series but can be read as a standalone with no difficulty. I’m looking forward to finding out where the author takes Lola, Jack, and….Manny next!

I give Bare Naked Lola 4 Stars

Bare Naked Lola Blog Tour: Interview Melissa Bourbon Ramirez + Giveaway!

Lea — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:00:32 +0000

Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

It’s our great pleasure to welcome Melissa Bourbon Ramirez to BLI today! Melissa is here for the latest stop in her whirlwind Entangled Publishing Blog Tour to celebrate the release of her latest novel Bare-Naked Lola, which hit the stands on May 15, 2012. Bare-Naked Lola is a mystery with romantic elements and is the third book of her highly acclaimed Lola Cruz Mystery series.

About Melissa:

Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, gave up teaching middle and high school kids in Northern California to write full-time amidst horses and Longhorns in North Texas. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

She is the marketing director at Entangled Publishing, is the author of the Lola Cruz Mystery series with St. Martin’s Minotaur and Entangled Publishing, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series with NAL, is the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox with Tonya Kappes, and has two romantic suspense novels to be released in 2012.

Lea: Melissa welcome to BLI! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today.

Melissa: Thank you SO much for having me here today. I love talking Lola!

Lea: Wow, you have a busy family life, you are a multi-published author, and a marketing director, Melissa, you are a busy lady! When do you sleep? lol How long have you been writing women’s fiction?

Melissa: I AM busy. Usually way too busy for my own good. Sleep doesn’t happen often enough, unfortunately, but my body’s getting used to less hours!

I started writing about 9 years ago, just after my youngest was born. A friend and I used to go sit in a coffee shop between her house and mine, just so we could both get away from kids for a while. We started doing writing prompts, and from there, the Lola Cruz series began.

Lea: Please describe a typical day of writing? Are you a planner or pantser?

Melissa: I fall somewhere in between. I need to have an idea as to where things are headed in my book, but the details along the way come as I write. The characters take over and the plot develops because of the choices they make.

Living the Vida Lola by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

Lea: I wanted to talk a little about your fascinating heroine Dolores “Lola” Cruz. She has one foot firmly placed in her old school Catholic family’s world, (they run a successful Mexican restaurant where she helps out). Lola earned a degree in criminal justice and has placed her other foot in Camancho & Associates a private investigation firm where she is the junior private detective and is trying to prove herself. Can you tell us about Camancho & Associates and for readers not familiar with the series explain a little of Lola’s background and her history with the agency?

Melissa: You got all the details right. Lola’s known she wanted to be a PI ever since she was in high school, majorly crushing on her brother’s best friend, Jack Callaghan. She spied on him, her first taste of surveillance, and even took pictures of him just after he’d done the horizontal salsa with a girl named Greta Pritchard in the back seat of his car. She still has those pictures.

She has always wanted to be the one to put that smoldering look of satisfaction on Jack’s face, and when he moves back to Sacramento after being away for a good many years, they are reunited.

Meanwhile, she has started working for former police detective Manny Camacho and is busy solving cases, placating her traditional Mexican family who thinks being a PI is a man’s job, and figuring out how to succeed at this job she loves.

I love Lola Cruz! She’s so much fun to write.

Lea: Bare-Naked Lola is told by Lola in the first person point-of-view. Do you prefer to write first-person Melissa or do you pen third-person narratives too?

Melissa: Actually, it depends on the story. PI books are usually told in first person because a mystery is unfolding via the eyes of the sleuth. First person makes that easy. My other mystery series (A Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series with NAL) is also first person, but my upcoming romantic suspense novels and romances are third person because you have both the heroine and hero’s points of view.

I enjoy writing in both!

Lea: You’ve created quite an interesting crew of secondary characters in the staff at Camancho & Associates, starting with the crusty, man-of-few-words Manny Camancho, Lola’s boss and mentor. Please tell us about Manny, he’s taken Lola under his wing hasn’t he? Or is there more to his interest then helping her hone her skills as a detective? *wink* lol

Melissa: Thank you! There’s a Goodreads discussion right now: Team Jack or Team Manny? You must weigh in! A little smolder and sexual tension is good, but in my heart, Lola and Jack belong together. But, I guess we’ll see what develops as the stories evolve because sometimes the characters go in directions I didn’t predict!

Manny is complicated, and a lot of people love him, even though he is muy dark and misterioso. Or maybe because of that!

Bare Naked Lola by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

Format Read:e-ARC provided by publisher for eview
Length: 300 Pages
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Genre: Mystery with Romantic Elements
Formats Available: Paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, The Book Depository, Powell’s

Book Blurb:

Going undercover is second nature for Private Investigator Lola Cruz, but she’s out of her league when the case of a murdered Royals Courtside Dancer leads her to a local nudist resort. Parading around the sidelines of Sacramento’s professional basketball scene in a barely-there cheerleading outfit is one thing—but parading around in nothing but smile? If she has any chance of hiding this from her traditional family and on-again/off-again boyfriend Jack, she’s going to have a lot more than her duct tape bra and killer dance moves to keep under wraps….

Excerpt

Lea: In Bare Naked Lola you craft a backstory involving the cheerleading team for the championship basketball team The Royals. The squad owner and his wife hire Camancho & Associates to investigate the source of anonymous, rather threatening notes being sent to individual cheerleaders. Lola is chosen as the lead investigator because of her looks and athleticism, plus she is a natural dancer. Despite the seriousness of the investigation there are many laughs to be had particularly surrounding what is involved in Lola’s transformation into a “Courtside Dancer”. Did you do a lot of research into the life of a cheerleader for a high profile sports team such as this one Melissa? BTW, the duct tape scene? Hilarious! lol

Melissa: Thank you! I have a friend who used to be a dancer for the Sacramento Kings so I picked her brain! All the details are based on research, going to games, and interviews with her. Duck tape… true story!

Hasta la Vista Lola

Lea: Lola is a good Catholic girl, she isn’t a prude, but she does have a strong set of behavioral and moral values. Your heroine struggles with modesty and her sense of propriety while working undercover on this case doesn’t she?

Melissa: Yes, because I want Lola to stay true to who she is, the values instilled in her by her parents, and there is natural struggle built into that given the nature of her job. There’s always a sense of the unknown with her and the question, just how far is she willing to go for her job?

Lea: The title for this book is very appropriate isn’t it? lol

Melissa: The perfect summer beach read! Nudist resort… will she or won’t she strip to catch a killer?

Lea: We have to talk about sexy Jack Callaghan, Lola’s love interest. Please tell readers about Jack and share a little about his and Lola’s rather conflicted relationship.

Melissa: Well, as I mentioned earlier, Lola’s loved Jack for a long time. He’s had a longtime girlfriend while he’s been away working in a different city, but now that’s over and he’s back and he and Lola have their chance. He doesn’t love her job, but he respects her and will stand by her.

I think they have hot chemistry together and I love the idea that they’re finally coming together after all these years. But there is Manny, the fact that Jack isn’t Mexican, which her parents would prefer, and the on again/off again nature of their relationship keeping things interesting… and never easy!

Lea: Can Bare Naked Lola be read as a standalone or would you advise reading your series in order for maximum enjoyment?

Melissa: Absolutely can be read as a standalone. And hopefully, once you get a taste, it’ll make you want to gobble up the first two novels and the Christmas short to see how it all began and to see where Jack’s and Lola’s relationship began.

Lea: Will there be more books in this series Melissa? What is next on your schedule?

Melissa: The next one, tentatively titles Drop Dead Lola, is in the works, with What Lola Wants, after that and likely wrapping up the series, but we’ll see. I may not be able to give up Lola altogether!

Next up is a Dead Sexy romantic suspense coming out in June. Sacrifice of Passion is so thrilling, sexy, and…. Uh, sexy!

Lea: Can you summarize Bare Naked Lola for us twitterstyle (in 140 characters or less)?

Melissa: Tough one!

Will Lola take it all off to catch a killer, and what will Jack think?

Lea: That’s an awesome Tweet!

Now the BLI hard question: can you please tell us 3 reasons why people should read your books?

Melissa:
1. Perfect beach, pool, and summer read!
2. Laugh out loud funny with a fun mystery that’ll keep you guessing.
3. Jack. And Manny.

Great answers Melissa, & I’ll definitely check in on the “Team Jack or Team Manny” discussion! Thank you for spending time with us today! Best of luck with Bare Naked Lola!

Where to find Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

Website l Facebook l Twitter l Goodreads

Praise for Bare Naked Lola:

“Ay Caramba! Lola’s back, and hotter than ever, whether strutting her stuff as a courtside dancer or crashing a party at a nudist resort. Between the well-crafted mystery and the sizzling romance, BARE-NAKED LOLA is a great read… and muy caliente!” ~Jennie Bentley, NY Times bestselling author

“Smart, sassy, and a bundle of fun! Lola is the spicy, Latina answer to Stephanie Plum – full of laughs, heart, and the kind of endearing women you can’t help rooting for. Fans of the humorous mystery genre will be cheering in their seats over Melissa Bourbon Ramirez’s latest Lola Cruz mystery.” ~ Gemma Halliday, NY Times bestselling author

“Bare-Naked Lola reveals just how saucy, funny, sizzling and brave P.I. Lola Cruz can be. She is one hot mamacita, and this book is not to be missed! Loved every page of Bare-Naked Lola!” ~ Bestselling author Heather Webber

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*~*Giveaway*~*~

Entangled Publishing has generously offered a digital copy of Bare Naked Lola to one lucky commenter! AND, Melissa is generously offering a print copy to one lucky commenter from the US or Canada!

All you have to do is leave a meaningful comment about Melissa’s interview or a question for her!
(You can read our full giveaway policy here)

Please leave us a way to contact you.
(Email in blogger profile or twitter name – no way to contact you – no entry).

This giveaway is open to International entries for the DIGITAL copy!

*Please Note: The print copy is available to a winner from the USA or Canada only!

Giveaway ends on Saturday, June 2, 2012; and we will announce the winner on Sunday.

Good luck!