Divine Vices by Melissa Parkin Interview & Giveaway

Book Blurb: 

The last thing sixteen-year-old Cassie Foster needs is trouble, but that doesn’t stop him from finding her. 

Nine months after the tragic accident that killed her mother and sister, this high school junior just wants a fresh start. Settling down in the quiet town of New Haven, Maine, she’s found peace at last…until the new resident bad boy, Jackson Matthews, comes into the picture. Arrogant, sarcastic, and devastatingly sexy, he’s the very last thing Cassie wants to entertain. Romance was never part of the plan. But when terrifying circumstances drive these two together, she finds herself in over her head and drawn in by his allure. As local girls begin disappearing, Cassie can’t help but wonder if it’s just a coincidence that everything started when this blue-eyed Casanova strolled into town. Will falling into Jackson’s arms mean she’ll be falling victim to a real lady-killer…or worse? 

The answer will open the door to a world she never thought possible.

Interview:

1) Where did you get the idea for the novel?

The initial inspiration for the book really came from a feeling I wanted to invoke within the reader. I love plot twists, and a particular one always resonated with me.  

The first time I saw Wes Craven’s 2005 film Red Eye, I hadn’t heard anything about it before going to the theater. The movie starts with Rachel McAdams’ character meeting a handsome stranger (Cillian Murphy) while boarding a late night flight. Murphy’s character exudes such natural charm that it’s hard not to like him. Just as you let your guard down, you find out that he’s actually there to terrorize McAdams. I’ll never forget that pang in my gut as he started to flip the switch on her. I love that delicate balance of attraction and suspicion, and I wanted that feeling suspended throughout the whole novel between the two main characters of Divine Vices.

                                   
2) Is there a message in your novel that you want your readers to grasp?

It was once said that, “love is giving someone the ability to destroy you, and trusting them not to.” We essentially become vulnerable to the other person when we start falling for someone, and this book takes that subject to the extreme!

3) Why did you pick this genre? What do you like about it?

I wouldn’t label the book as any one particular genre really. It’s an equal balance of romance, mystery, paranormal, humor, and contemporary. I chose this approach, because I love what each genre has to offer, and it allows the plot to be unpredictable. I think the readers will really enjoy the twists Divine Vices delivers.

4) Since becoming a writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?

It would definitely be holding the first printed paperback of my novel. Only when your words are printed and bound with your cover art does it feel real. I honestly started jumping up and down in pure fan-girl glory when I got the package in the mail.

5) What book are you currently reading or what was the last book you read?

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long, but I just started reading Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series. I’d only read the first fifty pages of book one before I ran out and bought the second! It’s that good. I’m also reading Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Forever With You, and it’s not the least bit shocking that I love it. I don’t even have to read the blurb to any of her books. I just buy them. The woman is an ingenious storyteller, and she never lets me down.   

6) At a book signing, do you just sign your name or do you write a note? How do you come up with stuff to say?

I’m an avid reader myself, and there’s nothing better than knowing that one of my favorite authors took the time to address me. Because of that, I always like the personal touch of adding a note. Signing the book to someone specific is my favorite. Anyone can receive a standard signed copy, so it feels special addressing it to an individual reader. I also love incorporating humor in my added message.

7) What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

Growing up, I had a variety of different career paths I wanted to pursue. When I was six, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Perfectly normal, right? Yeah, well, things got a bit…unusual from there. The list of things that followed varied from stuntwoman, professional daredevil, Black Ops member, ninja assassin, FBI agent, and spy. I blame my father for that. We binge-watched every Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, and Bruce Willis movie we could get our hands on.

When I was eight, I was given a class assignment to compose a list of my favorite things. While my classmates wrote about stuff like Titanic, Sammy Sosa, and Leonardo DiCaprio, my twisted mind took a different approach. Needless to say when my teacher saw that I listed 1987’s Predator as “My Favorite Movie,” she looked at me with an expression that said, “I’m looking at a future serial killer!”

Thankfully, she was wrong. That career option never made the cut.

8) How do you react to a bad review?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so you can’t take things personally. Some observations are constructive and the others are just personal taste. It’s really just a matter of knowing what to take away from the review. Plus, some Ben & Jerry’s always helps cushion the blow.

9) What are you currently working on?

I’m writing the sequel to Divine Vices, along with another paranormal romance that should be coming out in the late spring.

10) How did you celebrate the sale of your first book?

As soon as my book hit the Amazon Kindle Store, I admittedly stalked my sales page. When I found out someone bought it, I honestly started doing my very own Snoopy Dance…despite the fact that I was in the middle of the grocery store!

Author Bio: Melissa Parkin is a Chicagoland native who feels weird referring to herself in the third person. When she's not binge reading, taking photographs, breaking the first rule of Fight Club, or playing music too loud, she's writing young adult paranormal romances.

Amazon US Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Vices-1-ebook/dp/B015JCIUFA/

Amazon UK Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Divine-Vices-1-ebook/dp/B015JCIUFA/

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26632461-divine-vices

GIVEAWAY:
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Wealth and Privilege by Jeanette Watts Interview & Giveaway

BLURB:

Money. Family. Love. Hate. Obsession. Duty. Politics. Religion - or the lack thereof. Sex -- or, once again, the lack thereof.

Thomas Baldwin finds himself married to a woman he can’t stand, while head-over heels in love with another woman he can’t have. Talk about bad planning. He feels like a kite, buffeted by circumstances which blow him not only through personal crises, but also through some of the most significant events in Pittsburgh during the late 1800s, including the railroad riots of 1877, the creation of the Homestead Steel Works, the assassination of President Garfield, and the Johnstown Flood. Over time, and with the help of his muse, who dances maddeningly just beyond his reach, he takes control of his life, wresting it from the winds attempting to control him.

A carefully-researched historical novel about life among the privileged class of Pittsburgh during the Industrial Revolution.

INTERVIEW:

1) Where did you get the idea for the novel?

I was staying at a friend’s house, reading the back covers of her immense stack of romance novels. It struck me – they were all set in the south, and occasionally out west.  I’m a Yankee girl;  what’s so unromantic about the north?  Or the east?  So I set out to write a northern love story.  We’d lived in Pittsburgh for four years, and I absolutely loved the city.  It seemed like the perfect setting.  A lot of north, and a little bit east.

2) Is there a message in your novel that you want your readers to grasp?

The book is calling Wealth and Privilege – which is what everyone wants.  But having wealth and privilege isn’t as much fun as it seems.  It doesn’t solve problems, in fact, it just creates more.

3) Why did you pick this genre? What do you like about it?

The genre picked me.  I love history, I love doing historical research, I’m a dancer and a costumer and I know my dances and my clothing from this era.  (The book is set between 1875-1889.)  I grew up loving Gone With the Wind, now it sort of seems inevitable that of course someday I would write my own Great American Love Story.  Northern American, that is.

4) Since becoming a writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?

That’s hard to say.  My life’s pretty exciting.  I’m a belly dancer and a cancan dancer and my life is a great big costume party.  I just came back from the Bastille Days celebration in Milwaukee, which is four days of huge, loving, fantastic audiences…

I guess as I writer I’m going to go with the fact that I’m getting thank you cards and emails from readers.  I don’t know if it counts as my first fan mail, but I was so touched by getting notes to say “I read your book and I loved it.  Thank you.”  It’s not so much exciting as it is profound, that my characters touched people enough that they cared to find me to thank me.  It’s kind of humbling.  I love these characters.  The fact that other people love them, too, means the world to me.

5) What book are you currently reading or what was the last book you read?

I love reading biographies and history books!  I just finished reading a biography on Amelia Bloomer, and I’ve started one on the history of the Habsburgs. 

6) At a book signing, do you just sign your name or do you write a note? How do you come up with stuff to say?

I always write a little note!  Just signing my name would be way too impersonal.  I really don’t know how on earth I find things to say.  But when I talk to people, there’s always some spark that we have in common.  We’re both history lovers.  We’re both dog lovers.  If we didn’t have some sort of connection, they wouldn’t be interested in reading my book.  I guess the fact that I do a lot of improv acting helps.  I’m always in costume, and interacting with people because of the costume.  So finding things to talk about isn’t hard for me.  Then again, I was born in Chicago.  Chicago natives aren’t exactly shy.

7) What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

I can’t surprise anyone.  My name is its own explanation.  No matter what outlandish thing I come up with, all my friends and family and ex-neighbors and high school teachers just shrug and say “That’s Jeanette.”  It’s a little discouraging, not being able to surprise anyone.  I’d have to do something really shocking, and I’m really not interested in getting arrested for dancing topless on the White House lawn, just to get a rise out of people.  Come to think of it, some of my friends wouldn’t be surprised by that…

8) How do you react to a bad review?

I laugh!  For the most part, I’ve had stellar reviews.  The Kirkus review was very wooden, very corporate.  The “professionals” had a ton less insight into the book than all the reviews coming from readers.  I’ve also had reviewers who disliked one character or the other, or even my hero.  This also delights me.  If my hero was a real person, people would react to him differently.  Not everyone would respond to him the same way.  The fact that so many reviewers see different things tells me that I did it right.  My character is full-bodied, nuanced, and flawed. 

9) How did you celebrate the sale of your first book?

I started writing my next book.  I’ve got other characters beating at the inside of my brain, now, also trying to get out.

EXCERPT:

A soft rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, and they both groaned.

“Just what we need,” Thomas observed.  “More water.”

“Well, I suppose thunder doesn’t necessarily mean more rain,” Regina answered hopefully.

It was an odd sort of thunder.  It took Thomas a moment to realize why.  Then it occurred to him that it was continuous, and getting louder, instead of fading away.

A strange black fog began to drift through the air.  They froze, staring at each other, listening.  The rumble increased like – what?  It was a cross between an oncoming train, and – and – Thomas imagined this must be what an avalanche must sound like.

Then he knew what was going on.  The South Fork dam had broken!

Before he could share his insight, Regina’s face changed.  She stared up Clinton Street, mouth open, eyes wide with horror.  She pointed, incoherent noises issuing from her throat.  Thomas turned, and nearly fell off their precarious little raft.

The source of the crashing rumble was a towering wall of debris moving toward them.  A misty black cloud hung in the air, occasionally obscuring the horrific sight.  A writhing mass of tree roots, rooftops, planks, railroad pieces and other metal parts tumbled over and over upon itself.

The rumble had clarified into a roar of screaming and crashing as the rapidly approaching behemoth rolled toward them.   They couldn’t outrun it, either on or off their little craft.  Regina pointed to the nearest building.  The brick corners were coined, laid unevenly enough to make a decent ladder.  Thomas understood without a word.  They poled their way across the watery distance, desperation giving them strength and speed.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jeanette Watts has written television commercials, marketing newspapers, stage melodramas, four screenplays, three novels, and a textbook on waltzing.

When she isn’t writing, she teaches social ballroom dances, refinishes various parts of her house, and sews historical costumes and dance costumes for her Cancan troupe.

http://jeanettewatts.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6967936.Jeanette_Watts

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Jeanette%20Watts&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank

http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Privilege-Jeanette-Watts-ebook/dp/B00BB30T0G

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wealth-and-privilege-jeanette-watts/1115581019?ean=9781490934518

GIVEAWAY:

Jeanette will be awarding a Victorian cameo to a randomly drawn winner (International) via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/06/vbt-wealth-and-privilege-by-jeanette.html

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Through His Heart by Deborah Camp Interview & Giveaway

 BLURB:

“Sending you an SOS.”

When psychic Trudy Tucker hears this plaintive cry in her mind and then connects psychically with a little girl’s kidnapper, she is drawn to a small town in Missouri where everyone is suspect – including herself and her lover, celebrated psychic detective Levi Wolfe. As she and Levi work together to sort through whom and what to trust, an innocent life hangs in the balance.

INTERVIEW:

1) What is your favorite quote and why?

My favorite quote is, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim for it.”

I love this because I have a tendency to sit back and tell myself, If I’m good enough or what I do is good enough, someone will notice and give me my just desserts.

I have found this not to be true. Any time I sat back and waited for good things to happen to me – nothing happened! I’ve always had to make an effort, beat my own drum, and wave my arms frantically in the air to get someone to notice me! So, I like that saying because I need to swim as fast as I can. Otherwise, the ship will sail right past me or – worse – right over me!

2) Who is your favorite author and why?

My favorite author is Mary Stewart. When I was in eighth grade, I read “The Moonspinners” and I loved it – mainly because a movie was made from it starring Haley Mills and I loved her. However, I read all of Mary Stewart’s books after that. Reading her books made me begin to think that, just maybe, I could be a novelist, too. I began to write my own romantic stories, inspired by her books. I’ll always love her and “The Moonspinners” for pointing me in the direction of being a real writer and not simply a dreamer.

3) What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

Showing, not telling is the Golden Rule. A writer should put you in the skin of the main character in each scene and keep you there! You should not know, sense, feel, smell, taste, see, or think anything that the main character can’t. And you should not be “told” things about the character. The writer should show or reveal things about characters through them. I hate it when the author steps into the story and tells you stuff about the characters! I want to yell – “get out of the story—you don’t belong in here!” I also think there should be a sufficient conflict. I get angry when I read books that have conflicts that could be ironed out if the main characters would simply talk to each other – ask questions and get answers. Those “misinterpreted remarks” should only last a chapter or two – not for a whole book! It makes the hero and heroine look stupid.

4) Where did you get the idea for this book?

I’ve had the idea for this series for around a decade, but never could interest any editor or agent in it. After reading “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I was inspired to just write it and put it on Amazon to let readers decide if it was worth reading or not. Personally, I thought the editors and even my agent were being short-sighted. Some of them were put off by the psychic element. Others were worried that it was too graphically sexy for a romantic suspense. It didn’t fit in a “box” or “category” and they just wanted me to stick with what I was already doing – contemporary romances and historical romances set in the American West.

When I read “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I decided to quit worrying about making my story “fit” some pre-conceived category and just write it. Let the readers decide what box they want to put it in!

EXCERPT:

Levi shifted his shoulders as if a weight had settled on them and his black brows knitted. His thick, sooty lashes tapped his cheeks as he squirmed a little. After taking a lung-filling breath, he let it escape in a long hiss. Trudy wondered what he was experiencing, what was going on in that brilliant mind of his. What did he see? Shadows moving in the distance? Souls stepping forward? A young girl emerging and answering his call? From the movement of his eyes behind his closed lids, she knew he was there . . . there among the spirits.

“Gregory,” he whispered.

His spirit guide! She sat forward, watching, waiting. He hadn’t connected with Gregory very much during the past few months. He’d told her that it bothered him, but that Gregory had reminded him that he only appeared when Levi needed guidance or centering. So, why had he appeared now? Was Levi having trouble? Had she been wrong to prod him into looking for Rachel over there?

“What’s going on?” Levi asked, his raspy voice carrying a sliver of doubt. “Who’s that? Is it . . . that’s not . . . no. No!” His eyes opened, wide and wild. He gasped for breath and emitted little grunts of panic with each exhale.

Trudy’s heart and spirits plummeted. “You saw her there? Rachel’s there?” A sob tore at her throat. How could she tell AmyLynn? Did the FBI know already?

“No . . . I . . .” Levi shot to his feet and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“She’s there? Oh, my God, she’s dead. He killed her.” Trudy wrapped her arms around herself as she began to shake with the horrible knowledge. She’d failed. She’d been useless. Ineffective. A bad joke. The little girl . . . gone. Gone!

“I didn’t see Rachel.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Author of more than 40 novels, Deborah lives in Oklahoma. She has been a full-time writer since she graduated from the University of Tulsa. She worked for a few years as a reporter for newspapers before becoming a freelance writer. Deborah’s first novel was published in the late 1970s and her books have been published by Jove, New American Library, Harlequin, Silhouette, and Avon. She has been inducted into the Oklahoma Authors Hall of Fame and she is a charter member of the Romance Writers of America. She is widely published in non-fiction and writes and edits for a magazine focused on small businesses. Deborah taught fiction writing for more than 10 years at a community college. She is currently working on a series of novels featuring two psychics who work with police nationwide to identify and track serial murderers.

http://www.deborah-camp.com

http://wwww.facebook.com/officialdeborahcamp

http://www.pinterest.com/debbycamp44/

www.deborahcampwritersdesk.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/authordebcamp

Book Video: https://youtu.be/7AFG88e98eM

http://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Camp/e/B001HOGDMW/

All of her novels are available on Amazon as ebooks

GIVEAWAY:

Deborah will award a $50 Amazon or BN GC to one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/05/vbt-through-his-heart-by-deborah-camp.html

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Forbidden Things by Nikki McCormack Interview & Giveaway

BLURB:

Ascard power can strengthen, heal and create. It also has great potential to destroy, enough to topple entire governments. Indigo’s country places strict limitations on the use of ascard so she must channel her talents into the healing arts or risk severe punishment. An orphan from a disgraced family, trapped by her father’s treason, Indigo struggles to reclaim her place in a society that has driven her into an abusive engagement.

Then a mysterious stranger from a neighboring country contacts her using ascard. He needs help escaping his prison so he can bring an end to his emperor's oppressive rule or die trying. His unshakable devotion to his cause and the passion hidden behind his cool arrogance move her to help him at the risk of being branded a traitor herself.

When the politics of society bring them together a second time, Indigo decides to use her growing powers to help him fight his war. If only she dared fight for her own future with such passion. Perhaps she can find the courage to do so by helping the man she has fallen for win his revolution. She might have exactly the power he needs to succeed.

INTERVIEW:

What are four things you can’t live without?

Outside of the basic essentials, I could get by with very little, but there are many things I wouldn’t want to have to live without. Since we are talking things and not people or critters, I’d probably say my laptop, my truck, my lip balm, and my phone so I can keep in touch with the important people in my life.

What is your favorite television show?

I still have much love for Firefly, Farscape, and Carnivale, but, as far as newer shows go, I’m most enamored with Penny Dreadful. The story is compelling and the acting is excellent. The sets and costuming are also very well done and there is plenty of eye candy to go around.

If you could be any character, from any literary work, who would you choose to be? Why?

The first person that came to mind was Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. I’m not sure, if I dug deep, that she would be my first choice, but I always felt like she was one of the more underrated characters in the series. Her whimsical nature always appealed to me and there is clearly a much deeper story behind her that doesn’t get enough book time in my honest opinion. Also, who doesn’t want to go to wizarding school?

What have you got coming soon for us to look out for?

There are two more books in the Forbidden Things series in editing right now with a plan to release both within the next year. I also have the sequel to The Girl and the Clockwork Cat coming out soon I hope, though I don’t have an official release date for it as of yet. Aside from those things, there are several more projects on track for next year, but I won’t go into details until they’re a bit further along.

What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?

I tend to spread my reading across a lot of different authors, mostly in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. There are several books and authors that have helped me keep my passion alive and inspired my writing. The list would have to include most anything by C.S. Friedman, The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop, and one of my early horror favorites, H.P. Lovecraft. There are too many to list them all, but the book that started me down this road, Birth of the Firebringer by Meredith Ann Pierce, requires an honorable mention.

EXCERPT:

Her attention wandered to the fountain sprouting up in the center of a nearby courtyard, simple and elegant like a great stonework lily. A man stood by the fountain, watching water droplets falling with the shimmer of multicolored gems in the bright sunlight. Long silver hair hung to the middle of his back like a frozen waterfall. His smooth pale skin and unusual hair marked him as Lyran, but his regal bearing and rich attire didn’t befit a slave or merchant.

Curious. “Have you seen him before?”

Andrea turned, following her gaze. “Who?”

“The man beside the fountain.”

“There’s no one by the fountain.”

Andrea’s reply tugged at her awareness, but the silver-haired Lyran was turning toward them now. His pale eyes met hers and the air pressed from her lungs as if a corset were being pulled too tight. The buildings lurched and spun in her vision.

“Indigo?”

She sank to her knees. Andrea crouched down with her, her eyes wide and frightened. She held Indigo’s shoulders tight, her lips moving. Indigo heard only the pounding of blood in her ears.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Nikki started writing her first novel at the age of 12 (which is still tucked away in a briefcase in her office). Despite a successful short story publication with Cricket Magazine in 2007, she treated her writing addiction as a hobby until a drop in the economy left her with an abundance of free time to focus on making it her career.

Nikki lives in the magnificent Pacific Northwest tending to her awesome husband, two sweet horses, three manipulative cats, and a crazy dog. She’s a wine and tea fanatic who loves sitting on the ocean in her kayak surrounded by open water or hanging from a rope in a cave, embraced by darkness and the sound of dripping water. She also enjoys horseback riding, archery, PC gaming, dancing, good anime, etc. She studies Japanese and practices Iaido because she believes we should never stop learning.

Twitter handle: @Author_NikkiMc

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMcCormack

Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7437256.Nikki_McCormack

Blog: http://nikkimccormack.com/

Amazon author page URL: http://www.amazon.com/Nikki-McCormack/e/B00N3A8JBQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Barnes and Noble Author URL: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/nikki-mccormack

Elysium Palace: http://www.elysiumpalace.com/dissident

GIVEAWAY:

The author will award a $50 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/06/vbt-forbidden-things-dissident-by-nikki.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway