Choices Meant for Gods is a fantasy adventure romance, the first of three parts. Medieval overtones color the epic tale following a young twenty-year old heroine. Her name is Amanda Chariss. She has long auburn tresses, violet eyes, and holds the Geasa’n, the natural ability to perform magic. Chariss is an orphan, protected and raised by an old wizard named Hrazon.

For sixteen years, Hrazon and Chariss have been on the run from the sorcerer Jamieson Drake. Drake killed Chariss’ mother, Vertigo, and seeks to finish his revenge by obtaining her death as well. She does not trust stability in any form, for life has taught her it disappears in a blink of an eye. Hrazon has done his best to train his ward, but even a powerful wizard and protégé need help.

Meet Rothahn, the Master. He is the head god. His father before him selected Rothahn for the throne before moving aside. Rothahn however is far from holding ultimate power, a fact which annoys him as he thinks it would be useful… at least if only to kill off Godric, his daughter’s husband, and hid the blame.

Nigel, the twenty-eight year old man and our hero also holds the Geasa’n. He is Godric’s son, and Rothahn’s grandson. He, like Rothahn, holds no love for the man who sired him. Noble and kind, Nigel spends his time looking after his family and their holdings. When he meets our heroine for the first time he knows something is about to change in his life.

Julette is an evil goddess known as The Dragon. When her husband gave up the throne she was incensed that he would dare pass the power and glory to Rothahn. Was she not Queen? In league with Drake, Julette is determined to bring about a new world order that would have all mortals bow to her and pray for her deliverance.

Below are my two favorite passages between Chariss and Nigel as they discuss love:

“I fail to see how these simple things tell you you’re in love. Kaylin enjoys my company. Mia enjoys arguing with me. Master Rothahn says I’m compassionate to a fault. I saved Sorne’s life once. Jake told me I’m beautiful. Does this mean they’re all in love with me?”

“If love could be explained that easily, it wouldn’t be real.”

…

“Nigel, let me give you some advice. You don’t want to marry for love because people fall out of love, and then there’s nothing left between them.”

He stared at her in shock. “I believe that’s the most cynical statement I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Watch him break down her walls... sigh.

Rating: 4 Stars

Choices Meant for Gods

Originally posted 2009-06-16 03:43:15. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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by Judi Fennell, guest blogger and author of Catch of a Lifetime.

Thanks so much for having me again! The third book in my Mer series, Catch of a Lifetime, came out this month, and once again, the puns are out in full force.

The sea-isms were a really fun part of writing this series, and I'd never realized how many sea sayings we use in our everyday language. It made coming up with the sea-based version of the sayings easier.

I hadn't actually started out to include things like that, but when Reel, the hero of book one, In Over Her Head, was talking to his sidekick Chum, a suckerless remora fish, well, I couldn’t help but go down that alley. Chum? For a fish? It just made me laugh.

Then Reel mentions he has a twin brother named Rod, and that was pretty much it. Every sea-themed pun I could come up with decided to end up in the stories.

I'd never realized how many "sea-isms" we actually use in everyday English. Or how much fun it'd be to poke fun at our use and make it seem normal to Mers. But I'm finding that they come really easy to me - and to my readers. I will admit to taking notes on some of the funnier ones people send me, and plan to use them in Mariana's and Pearl's stories (that I'll, hopefully have the chance to write!).

I've been asked about how and why I play with the puns and clichés, because all pre-published authors are told over and over not to use clichés. I know, I was told that, too. But the thing is, if you put your own twist on anything - and other people "get" it - you can pretty much do what you want. That's held true for me with the clichés and groan-worthy puns.

But those puns are also in keeping with how my Mers think. They're not going to say, "Go fly a kite" to someone who's annoyed them. They might, however, tell that person to go toss a skate (skates are like sting rays). It's their frame of reference, much as our American slang is completely incomprehensible to someone learning to speak our language. I mean, if you're a non-native speaker and are translating something as commonplace as "take a hike," you're going to wonder where and HOW to take a hike somewhere? Do you carry it? Put it in a box? A hike is an intangible object.

When creating a world, a writer has to immerse herself in it and see it as the beings in that world do, and then build that world from the inside out. What's going to be commonplace to those inhabitants--and, conversely, what's going to seem odd for a newcomer to that world? Hence, the term "shell-fillers" for breasts. Some readers have liked that term, others notsomuch. But think of the quintessential images of mermaids: they're either bare breasted or have seashells lashed across their breasts. Shell-fillers. It's their frame of reference. Of course, since readers' frames of reference don't include that term, I have the Mers make the jump to the Human reference pretty quickly so I don't lose the reader. But that's also to illustrate the Mers' understanding of that new world.

So how do I come up with these sayings? I honestly don't know other than to say, I try to think like my characters. I try to see things the way they would and put it out there for the readers so they can see it that way, too.

Here's a bit from Catch of a Lifetime with Angel, the mermaid, chatting with Ginger, a flamingo. Two beings of two different worlds interacting in a Human one and having some fun of their own playing with language:

“Ginger?” Great. Just what Angel needed. The laziest and most opportunistic flamingo in the Eastern Hemisphere had just glommed onto her case study. And as for Ginger keeping a secret? Not so much. “What are you doing here? I thought birds of a feather flocked together and all that.”

“Those Orlando chicks are too cliquey. Sometimes it’s nice to be the only flamingo around.” Ginger twirled her black-tipped beak, striking a pose that was ineffectual on females and downright ridiculous for anyone. Even a flamingo. To add insult to injury, the bird looked down from the back corner of her eyes. “So, what do you say? Prawns for silence?”

Angel tossed a swath of hair over her shoulder—so hard to get used to it hanging against her body instead of floating around her like kelp on a current. “I say that blackmail is a filthy practice, and if you’re going to try it, you should first have a clean background. I know what you’re doing with Roger, by the way. I think everyone except his mate does.”

That took the stuffing out of the bird. Ginger deflated back to normal size and quickly set her plumage to rights. “Fine. You don’t have to get snippy about it. I just wanted some prawns. Humans have taken all the good ones around here and I’m not a big fan of fish fry. It gets boring after a while.”

“I know all about Human fishing practices, Ginger, among other things. That’s why I’m here, and I’d appreciate if you’d keep quiet so I have the chance to make a difference.”

“You don’t want your brother to find out, do you?”

“I’d prefer if he didn’t, but I’m a grown Mer. I’m allowed to live my life. If he does, I’ll deal with it. But until then, I’m going to try to accomplish something.”

“Oh? Is that what they’re calling it these days?” The flamingo clacked her beak. “I accomplished something just last night.”

© Judi Fennell, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2010

Buy: Catch of a Lifetime

I'm working on my new series which hits the shelves next year, about genies, and I'm finding that there aren't nearly as many clichés or sayings that I can twist as there are in an undersea world, but the ones I'm coming up with are fun. But, hey, I'm more than ready to take notes on any you want to shout out. So think magic carpets, genies, talking cats and magic. And let you imagination take flight! (Okay, I'm calling that one…)

Any more?

CATCH OF A LIFETIME BY JUDI FENNELL—IN STORES FEBRUARY 2010!

She’s on a mission to save the planet…

Mermaid Angel Tritone has been researching humans from afar, hoping to find a way to convince them to stop polluting.

When she jumps into a boat to escape a shark attack, it’s her chance to pursue her mission, but she has to keep her identity a total secret…

When he finds out what she really is, they’re both in mortal danger…

For Logan Hardington, finding a beautiful woman on his boat is surely not a problem—until he discovers she’s a mermaid, and suddenly his life is on the line…

The third novel in Judi Fennell's mermaid series, a fresh, exciting, and different entry in romance fiction!

Buy: Catch of a Lifetime

About the Author

Judi Fennell is an award-winning author. Her romance novels have been finalists in Gather.com's First Chapters and First Chapters Romance contests, as well as the third American Title contest. She spends family vacations at the Jersey Shore, the setting for some of her paranormal romance series. She lives in suburban Philadelphia, PA. For More information, and a chance to win a romantic ocean getaway, visit www.judifennell.com.

Giveaway: Judi and Sourcebooks are giving away 2 copies of Catch of a Lifetime. That means 2 winners! Open to US and Canada readers only. To enter share your Arabian and genie themed puns, clichés, or sayings. One entry per relevant comment; multiple entries allowed. Ends: February 28, 2010. Good luck! (Extended to March 10, 2010).

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Warnings... if you weren't curious about Choices Meant for Gods or Sandy Lender before this interview you're going to be chomping at the bit to get this book to devour! Mwuahaha...

1. How did the idea for Choices Meant for Gods first come to you?

Sandy Lender: Way back when I was in junior high or early high school, the evil bad guy, Jamieson Drake, showed me Amanda Chariss. She was standing on a balcony, holding back the curtains as if embracing the morning sunrise and she was beautiful. I fell in love with her instantly. I got her name wrong at first...and I wasn't sure how she met Nigel Taiman at first...but I always knew she'd been running (with her wizard guardian) from this nasty old sorcerer Drake since she was a child.

I've got a notebook somewhere with a scene of Chariss and Hrazon meeting up with Nigel in the forest before they get to the Taiman estate. The names are all wrong but the camaraderie between Chariss and Hrazon is amazing. It shows Nigel instantly falling in love with this young lady, which I think is way too obvious, of course!

2. I'm pretty curious about Chariss. Why is she a heroine readers can get behind?

Sandy Lender: On one hand, Chariss is this amazing, kick-butt, no-holds-barred gal who possesses a well-controlled form of magic (the geasa) through years of training and self-sacrifice. On the other hand, she's just a 20-year-old girl who's been running from a madman since age four when the guy killed her whole family in front of her. She's sympathetic that way. She doesn't think of herself as any great shakes. She's done all this training so she can protect herself; not to impress anyone. She doesn't believe she can do anything great (flaw #1); she can't cook (funny flaw). She loves her guardian wizard like a father and would lay down her life to save his. She's kind to everyone because she just feels that's the right way to be. When she finds a fledgling dragon, she's excited and wants to feed it. She's just approachable and fun, strong and fabulous. There are reviewers on Amazon who state it more succinctly than I can because I'm too close to her. I've had her in my head for 25 years or so.

Oh. And then there's this amethyst on her cheekbone, high up near the corner of her right eye that she was born with. It's a "birthmark" of sorts that seals her fate...

3. What are some of the overarching themes that will drive your Choices trilogy?

Tolerance

Love

Spirituality

4. What are some of the difficulties in world-building?

Sandy Lender: Tracking those darn moons. I have a big ol' desk calendar, though, that I've plotted the moon patterns on so I know when the two moons in the world of Onweald are both full, both waning, etc. I need that information...

Another difficulty was measurements when I've got a flooding river in the mix. I have the evil bad guy in cahoots with an evil bad goddess (because one evil bad guy isn't enough, you know?) and they've got an evil bad army marching toward Chariss's latest refuge. Well, I've got to measure out how long that's going to take so everyone converges on the same place at the same time in Book III. So far, I think I have it timed just so...

5. Of course world-building isn't all work-a lot of it is fun. What's your favorite fantasy element you've incorporated into your world?

Sandy Lender: This is a really great question, Keira! There are a few elements I love...like Malachi, the dragon. I can't go into "why" because I would be giving away a bit of a mystery that the reader is supposed to solve before the end of Choices Meant for Gods. Chariss doesn't solve it (silly girl), but the reader figures it out. Mwuahahahaha.

I will pick: the geasa. I'm one of those funky Southern Baptists (even though I write bizarre fantasy about polytheistic societies - go figure) that believes sorcery and magic are things you best be pretty darn careful about. So, in my fantasy novels, I didn't want to confuse any impressionable minds (teens, etc.) who would be reading by having my "good guys" using sorcery or magic. So I made up a form of magic that comes from the good side of nature in my world. Now, you can argue that we're still using magic, and I agree, but, hey, it's my fantasy world and I'll cheat if I want to. So I made up the geasa as a god-breathed form of power that some people get while they're forming in the womb and some people don't. It's not necessarily hereditary, but many frightened bigots in the world of Onweald fear that it is, and many families have been murdered for producing Geasa'n children. That's where the theme of tolerance comes into play in the series. People who are intolerant and bigoted don't fare so well in my novels...

6. When it comes to the written word and real life, how do you define love?

Sandy Lender: I've just gone through a 17-month divorce, after a 13-year marriage that was mostly devoid of love, so I might not be the right person to ask. He he he. In fact, not long before I filed, my ex-husband informed me that he'd spent most of the marriage resenting me. Nice. So...I think I'll say that love would be NOT resenting the other person.

To be very serious, though, I would define love as mutual affection, respect, and, in romantic love, passion. Isn't it Eleanor in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility who throws "esteem" into the mix? I agree with the concept. Even for romantic love, the friendship qualities have to be in there or your characters are just having a fling.

In Choices Meant for Gods, when Nigel and Chariss first see each other, Chariss is so distressed over a plot development that's happening that she doesn't really notice too much about him. But Nigel is instantly enamored. He wants to come to her rescue. A friendship builds between the two before Nigel ever announces his intentions. Chariss wouldn't have had it any other way.

7. How did ArcheBooks first hear of Choices Meant for Gods?

Sandy Lender: I had a pitch session with the publisher, Bob Gelinas, at a writer's conference in Southwest Florida. He took my proposal, synopsis, marketing plan, first three chapters, and then requested the full manuscript a few days later. Woo-hoo! That was probably the most stressful interview of my whole life. Bob was a kind person, rather informal, just havin' a conversation about my book, but he probably doesn't realize I was on the verge of cardiac arrest the whole time.

8. Fill in the blank: If you're not writing, you are irritable.

9. What do you hope readers will gain from Choices Meant for Gods and the rest of your trilogy?

Sandy Lender: Even though life isn't always fair, even though we don't always get what we want, there are amazing people we meet during our journeys who lift us up. Without these people, the journey wouldn't be worth much.

10. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

Sandy Lender: This might seem a wee bit odd, but in addition to my Choices Meant for Gods, I would encourage folks also to read Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. This novel is one of the best ever written. It's my favorite of all time. There are elements in Jane Eyre that influence my writing on a conscious and subconscious level, and folks who have already read the book will probably pick out a few of those elements in Choices Meant for Gods.

Also, thank you so much for hosting me! And thank you to all the visitors who've stopped in to read our interview today. It's been a fun exercise.

Thank you so much Sandy for sitting down and doing this interview with me! I'm so excited about this book and I hope everyone else is too.

If you're interested in WINNING an autographed, hard cover, first edition of Choices Meant for Gods leave a COMMENT on today's post AND tomorrow's post because at the end of each week one commenter (from all the blogs in the tour that week) will be randomly drawn and awarded. It might be you!

Buy: Choices Meant for Gods

To learn more about Sandy and Choices Meant for Gods check out the rest of her blog tour:

Originally posted 2009-06-12 03:39:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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*This post does not deal with the medical condition; it deals with the literary condition.

The Little Mermaid Syndrome is the desire to be part of another's world.

A fictional character under the influence of LMS would go any length to become like the one they desire. This coveting is usually driven by love. In other cases the driving emotion is obsession.

Conditions:

The ripest situations for the LMS are in Fantasy and Paranormal genres where partners are more likely to be unmatched. By unmatched I mean a plain/weak human and a beautiful/strong supernatural being.

In these cases it is usually the human who wants become like their partner. Rarer is for the magical being to desire to be become human or have the means to become human. Plainly put it is a simple fact the LMS goes only one way.

Why is this?

I think it is all part of the escapism fantasy. We tire of the normal and are looking beyond our world for something better be it vampires, werewolves, fairies, elves, or selkies. The idea goes that being connected to one or being one makes our world that much more exciting and ripe for adventure.

Human (normal) --> Vampire (supernatural)

Human (normal) --> Lycanthrope (supernatural)

Thumblina (normal, despite being supernaturally tiny) --> Fairy (supernatural)

The exception to the rule is the Little Mermaid.

Mermaid (supernatural) --> Human (normal)

This is because the human in this tale is clueless to the existence of the preternatural world. The mermaid must make herself known because their interaction would never happen otherwise as they do not exist in the same habitat. One lives on land and the other in water. It's not like with vampires or werewolves which appear completely human and can intermingle in the same locations.

Witches and wizards are to my knowledge the only magical beings that could instill the LMS in their partner and do nothing about it. You're either born with magic or you're not. There's no gray area.

Books featuring LMS:

• The Twilight Saga
• Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
• Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of Little Mermaid
• Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice

Originally posted 2009-04-18 05:50:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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by Teal Ceagh, guest blogger and author of Destiny's Trinities trilogy.

Today, you might be curious to know, is Miranda Otto’s birthday. She’s the Australian actor who played Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings.

I’m a huge The Lord of the Rings fan – I’m one of those strange people who reads the book once a year from cover to cover. Well, I used to. Now, I trek through the extended Director’s Cut of the movie every year around Christmas time with anyone in my family who’s mad enough, or who has enough spare time to sit through the twelve to fifteen hours it takes to watch all three movies with meal breaks and repeats of the really good scenes.

I really like my fantasy stuff. Surprisingly, The Lord of the Rings is about the only high fantasy I like. The rest of it I prefer in real time – a.k.a. urban fantasy. I like the way high fantasy characters play off against shopping malls, city streets and common everyday situations we all know and deal with ourselves. It gives context to the characters and situations we meet in new fantasy and a way of instantly orienting ourselves in a new fantasy universe, which is one of the biggest headaches about high fantasy. I don’t actually enjoy having to learn a new language and a dozen different character names, race names, and a twelve letter word for something that is just a knife, in the end. I’m more interested in the way the characters interact with each other and how the plot moves forward.

For the same reason I like including a decent romance in my own urban fantasies, one that includes the sexual side of the romance. As I wrote here on Love Romance Passion on November 24, we’re all sexual creatures in the end...it’s natural to include that side of our natures.

I’m at the end of what ended up being a surprise tour, and a surprisingly long book tour for not one, but two, books – the last two books in the Destiny’s Trinities series for Ellora’s Cave. I’ve been honoured by Love Romance Passion to not only start the tour here (November 24) but also to end it here. I started here when Mia’s Return was released and I end the book tour here as more or less as Sera’s Gift has been released (December 9). I thank them for the double dates and hosting me. Having a loud erotic urban fantasy author on the premises can’t be easy!

_______________

Mia's Return

Ten years ago, Alexander hungered for Mia Menendez and for a single day they had indulged that passion before tragedy struck. Now Mia is back, but she thinks Alexander died ten years ago and no man has been able to stir her heart since. The truth could kill her.

Wyatt Whitacker, demon hunter, hates Alexander and all his kind. But one look at Mia and her pulse-stopping curves and his scarred, angry heart begins to melt and his body to rouse in ways he’s long forgotten.

The bonding has begun…

___________

Excerpt

Mia found the Starbucks he’d directed her to without trouble. By the time she reached it, the snow was falling heavily, making everything muffled except the traffic, which was a constant even in the snow. Even though it was barely six the night was dense, still and silent.

He was sitting in a big wingback chair and she was unable to believe he’d actually kept his word. After she’d hung up she’d realized that he could have agreed to meet just to get her off the phone and she’d fallen for it because she was so green at this sort of thing.

But he was here and she didn’t know whether to kiss him, or crawl into his lap. So she sat in the other chair and put her hands on the table to still their trembling. “You don’t have to tell me what happened,” she said. “But I do want to say I’m so glad that what I thought happened ten years ago, didn’t.”

There were too many people too close to them for her to speak of it more plainly.

Alexander tilted his head to one side. “So am I.” He gave an awkward smile.

She stared at him, at his wonderful blue eyes. “God, you look so good,” she said wonderingly. She reached out to touch his face and his hand covered hers as she cupped it. Warmth, heat…and he was trembling too. She pushed her hand so that her palm brushed over his lips, inviting a kiss. His lips seared her palm and his hand stilled her wrist, keeping her hand steady so that his tongue could swirl over her palm. His eyes speared into her as he did it.

She gasped, her nerve endings sizzling to life, her clit pounding with energy. “Oh my god,” she whispered. “No one but you has ever been able to do that to me.”

Alexander lowered her hand and began to stroke the inner wrist. Little delicate strokes that made her toes tingle and curl and her pussy grow moist. “No one?” he said, with a smile.

“No one,” she said flatly. “Alex, can we go somewhere? Your place? Even just for a while?”

He reached over and drew her bangs out of her eyes. “In ten years, you’ve had a string of miserable lovers who’ve all failed to take care of you?”

“Alexander.”

He sat back and she could see that he had given up trying to avoid her question. He looked at her directly. “I can’t take you back to my apartment,” he said simply.

“A hotel then,” she said. “Mine.”

He looked out the window at the falling snow.

“What is it I’m missing?”

“What is it you’re not telling me?” He looked at her.

She could feel her cheeks heating. “Specifics then. I’ve had two lovers since you, Alexander. Both of them total disasters. No man so much as raises my pulse. Except you.”

She could see his breath shorten beneath the overcoat as he stared at her. “Christ,” he whispered, looking stricken.

“Is it too much to ask for a night, Alexander?” she added gently.

“There are things you don’t know about me,” he said.

She almost laughed. “Worse than before?” What she had not known in San Diego had got him a bullet in the head…or almost had. What could possibly be worse?

“These things could kill you,” he said softly. “I’d rather you live.”

He was trying to tell he wouldn’t give her the night she so desperately craved. Disappointment flared in her like a thousand fire ant bites. Suddenly she needed to move, to be away from all these people that were lapping up her rejection like the day’s soap opera installment.

“Can we at least walk?” she said, trying to blink away her tears.

“It’s safer here. Among people,” he said cryptically.

There was to be no relief, no softening of the rejection. She averted her head and staggered from her chair, out of the store and into the muffling quiet of the snow, letting it enfold her. Across the road was the park. Dark, quiet and lonely. Away from everyone who had witnessed her humiliation.

She ran.

* * * * *

Alexander ran after her, dismayed at her reaction and alarmed at her direction. There were plenty of human predators in Central Park as well as vampeen drawn to his vampire traces.

She was just ahead of him and Central Park had lights along the paths. He caught up with her quickly and grabbed her arm. She was crying silently.

He pulled her to one side, onto the snow-covered grass, their boots kicking up the thin layer. He wiped her tears. “Don’t,” he said softly.

“What else should I do? I’m out of options.” Her voice was thick with more tears.

He remembered when her voice was husky with lust rather than tears and his body tightened, strumming with that remembered moment. Why was he refusing her now? He could go back to her hotel room, fuck her until she was spent, that was all she asked for. There would be no complications. What was stopping him?

Because he knew he wouldn’t have the strength to let her go in the morning. Diego could do it. But he had been doing it for centuries and had a powerful motive to keep him moving from one woman to another, over and over again.

Alexander knew he could not.

He realized he was staring into Mia’s eyes and she was holding her breath, waiting for him. He was holding her to him and she had felt his tension, felt his ramrod stiff cock against her. She knew as well as he did that everything he’d said in the coffee shop was a pretext and that this moment was the real one.

He kissed her and it was like kissing honey and peaches. He swept his tongue into her mouth, tasting her sweetness, while his hands slid inside her coat, under her clothes and found her flesh. She was guiding him, as frantic as he and he groaned as his hand found the swell of her breasts, bereft of a confining bra.

She cried softly, arching hard against him, her pelvis grinding into him. His cock was throbbing now, his balls aching with growing tension.

“More,” Mia whispered. Her hand was on his wrist, guiding it under her skirt. He found the stop of her stockings—stockings! His heart fluttered—and smooth thighs, then lace panties, moist with her juices. It gave him an erotic charge to realize she was aroused enough to soak through her panties. He slid his fingers under the edges of them and found the heated lips of her pussy and pushed inside. She clenched around him, as she gasped, her hands clawing at his shoulders.

“Harder,” she whispered.

“You know, I can smell your woman’s scent from here,” came a drawled comment from behind him.

Alexander felt his animal instincts go into overdrive. He disengaged from Mia and whirled, reaching for the Glock. He pushed Mia behind him, his incisors trying to descend. He fought to tamp down his instincts and ride them out until he had the measure of the situation.

A man in jeans and denim jacket stood ten paces away from them. Sandy hair, wrinkled skin. Impossible to tell his age. Maybe mid-forties with hard living. Maybe early sixties. Rail thin. His clothes hung off his frame.

Alexander had been so caught up in Mia’s body that he’d failed to notice the man’s approach. “Move on,” he told him. “The gun is loaded and I’m not afraid to use it.”

The man laughed. “That so?” He moved closer, reaching into his jacket and withdrew a long, strangely curved knife. “I don’t need to load this and I’m not afraid to use it, neither.”

Then Alexander caught sight of the man’s eyes in the lamplight and became afraid. They were all black. No irises, no whites. Nothing but black. Evil eyes.

The man sprang with a sideways leap that looked animalistic. Alexander shot him three times, directly in the chest. It dropped him to the ground and if he had been human it should have killed him instantly. But the creature simply stood up and shook it off.

“Oh my god, Alex…” Mia whispered.

Alexander handed her the Glock. “Just keep shooting at it,” he said. “There’s twelve more bullets in the gun and they slow it down at least.”

“What about you?” she said.

He triggered the armguard and gripped the knife as it jumped into his hand. Mia’s eyes got very large. He was going to have to explain things later. Or invent things.

The creature came at him and he shoved Mia behind him again and swiped. He nearly decapitated the creature and it barely slowed it down.

Running footsteps from his right. Alexander didn’t bother looking. Friend or foe, he couldn’t afford to look. But the creature did and howled in frustration.

“Yeah, you fucking prick. Your time is up.”

The creature turned to face the newcomer and threw his hands up across his face. Alexander looked just in time to see the other man bring a shotgun to his shoulder and fire.

The shot was muffled, not explosive but the creature fell to the ground, writhing and kicking. The man fell on top of it and buried a black knife in its chest. With a black cloud of smoke, the creature disappeared, leaving oily plumes of black fumes tracing an outline of where it had lain.

The man stood up, dropped the black knife back into his coat and brushed off his hands. He was about five foot eleven, which put him only an inch shorter than Alexander but he seemed shorter because of the width of his shoulders. He was very thick across the chest and shoulders and the heavy winter-lined denim coat just exaggerated them. His black hair was once short and tidy but hadn’t been trimmed for a while. In the dim glow from the park lights it glinted blue-black. He looked at Alexander with angry black eyes that reminded him of Diego. “You’re a fucking vampire,” he said in disgust.

Mia, Alexander thought and winced.

“Only reason I don’t cut your heart out on the spot is because we’re not supposed to these days. Can’t believe you’re the good guys now. Fuck.” He picked up the shotgun. “Can’t you tell a demon when it’s coming at you, for chrissake?”

“That was a demon?” Alexander was stunned. “What did it want with Mia?”

“How the fuck would I know? It’s been in the Jersey area for three days, then suddenly veered toward New York yesterday like it had a noose around its neck. What is she? Something special?”

“You’re a hunter,” Alexander concluded.

“No shit,” the man said.

“Oh, I think I’m going to be sick,” Mia muttered.

Alexander whirled. Mia was bent over, her hands on her knees.

_____________________

Sera’s Gift by Teal Ceagh

Letting go is sometimes the only gift love has left to give.

Release date:  December 9, 2009

ISBN 9781419925511
____

Sera arrives in New York to help Lindál, but a vampeen attack brings her face to face with two men and changes her life forever.

Diego Savage lives up to his name.  Cynical, rebellious and a womanizer, he doesn’t believe in the trinities at all. Only a handful of people know the truth about his scarred heart and terrible past, and it would take a miracle for him to change.  A miracle, or someone like Sera with her special gift.

Blake Harvey, dedicated NYC police lieutenant, takes one look at the tall, supple woman with the crystal blue eyes and glowing skin and knows his life is about to change in ways he can’t even define, but his body is already responding to with a power that is hard to deny.

The bonding has begun…

_____________

Excerpt.

“Lieutenant!”

Blake jumped and realized he’d fallen asleep in his chair, the same moment he realized it was morning already. He glanced around at his office door. Anna Maria had her head around the door, looking at him. “You clocking off?” he said, glancing at his watch. Six a.m. Her night shift was over.

“You okay, boss?” she asked.

“Long night,” he said, trying to make it sound like he did this all the time. He stood up, stretching carefully, feeling the bones in his neck.

“’Kay. Night, boss.” She let the door shut itself.

He looked out the window. Daylight was trying to break through thunderclouds outside his windows. A soggy, fetid, miserable August day that matched his mood. He glanced at the three in-trays on his desk, all of them overloaded. They stood next to his computer, which was another two hundred and sixty gigabytes of hell screaming at him for attention.

What was happening in his city? Twelve years in the department and he no longer thought he understood New York and its denizens. He’d spent all night doing basic regression analysis. And the numbers frightened him. If things went on this way, New York would turn into an uncivilized all-out crime zone in about six weeks. The police department was slowly losing ground. It just didn’t have the numbers to cope. Rape and murder were the top two favorites, with decapitations being numero uno on the hit parade. But number three on the New York Times Best Seller List right now was Missing Persons. People were vanishing without trace in numbers higher than six hundred percent more than any time in the last three centuries…and that included two world wars, famines and plagues.

And the police couldn’t do a damn thing about it, except record particulars and wait. They were overtaxed by the murders and rapes already. A missing person was a lesser concern.

Blake pushed his hand through his hair. God, what a fucking nightmare.

The other lieutenants in the other departments across the boroughs made light of it. They were mostly older and had seen tough times before and while they all heard the same unsettling rumors about the cults, the gangs, the animalistic behavior, they were in denial. They didn’t want to look at the big picture.

The figures Blake had projected last night didn’t lie, though. Something was going on. But right now he couldn’t see what it was. Despite all the information flowing into his desk, it eluded him. Sometimes, like now when his energy was low, it felt like there was someone else out there manipulating the information that reached him, so that he couldn’t see the truth. Not all of it, anyway.

He bumped his forehead against the window and felt the chill spread across his flesh. It reminded him of how hot and tired he was. He’d been in these clothes for over twenty-four hours. He needed a break. So did his mind. He was slipping into paranoid delusions.

He picked up his jacket and logged off the computer. A few hours sleep, a shower and food, then he’d head back here. Things would look different, then. Maybe.

He clocked out and walked home to his apartment, feeling at odds with the day. Manhattan was just firing up for a busy day of commerce, while he was going home to sleep. He glanced up at the skyscrapers as he passed them. It all looked so innocent and normal.

Who’d’ve thought there was such a time bomb ticking away in her guts?

* * * * *

When Mia came bustling into the boardroom, Alexander felt his heart jump. Even after a year, she still managed to make him pause to catch his breath when she arrived after a small absence. She was here in his life. And she was never going away again.

He kept reminding himself to be thankful to whatever entity or force designed the trinities and chose him to be part of them. Him, Mia and Wyatt. How had he got so lucky? He was careful never to question that good fortune, but to grasp it with both hands and to work his ass off in service of the trinities and Seaveth, in gratitude.

Mia came up to him with the small smile she kept for him and Wyatt alone. “You’re brooding,” she said.

“Guilty.”

“I’ll shake you about it later,” she said. “Right now, we need to head to the keep for the assembly. The car is waiting.” She looked at the huge watch on her wrist. “And Wyatt still hasn’t shown up. Did he call you at all?”

“No call. No text. But he knows he has to be here. He’ll show, Mia. In a year, has he never not shown up for an assembly?”

“There’s always a first time,” she said darkly, thumbing through her Palm Pilot. She had become the staffing agency’s chief executive officer and completely indispensable, running both the private and public personas of the agency like clockwork and liaising with the Earthwing clan’s seniors and Seaveth’s portfolio with seamless efficiency.

Wyatt had returned to hunting but even there, Mia had left her mark, organizing and commercializing his ventures and bringing recruits to his doorstep. Now Wyatt’s hunting was an organized trade, with tools, equipment, partners and income. Wyatt had been stunned that demon hunting could raise revenue in a human world but Mia had shown him how to bring in profit for himself and make it attractive to other demon hunter and vampire investors and just like that, Wyatt had found himself an entrepreneur.

Mia glanced at her watch again. “Time to go. I’ve texted Wyatt and told him to go straight to the keep.” She chewed her lip. “I hope he’s okay.”

Alexander took her face in his hands. “He’ll be fine,” he said softly. “Stop it, Mia.” He kissed her to stop her fretting and slipped his tongue against her lips. He drew back when he tasted blood. “You just fed?”

She blushed. “Sorry, yes. I should have warned you.” This was one of the changes he’d had the hardest time accepting. As a result of the bonding, from time to time, Mia had to feed on blood, like a vampire. She ate normal food and excreted it like a human but every few months or so, like a vampire, she hungered for blood. Alexander had been devastated by the knowledge. Instead, Zachariah and the other vampires had taught Mia how to ingest the artificial blood developed by the clan.

At least she had no incisors. He was spared that.

Alexander hugged her, instead and let her go. “We were running late, I believe?” he reminded her.

“Damn, yes.” She straightened her business skirt back into place and threw him a dirty look. “I wish you would stop kissing me at work. You know I hate that.”

“While I can make you look like a cat on catnip, I’ll keep kissing you whenever you’re within reach,” Alexander growled softly as they hurried through the office to the elevator bank. The armored stretch limousine would be waiting for them in the lower basement. Max, the driver and one of the Earthwing clan, would have the engine running and his bolo tucked between the seat and the door, watching the street ramp. “Zack and Diego aren’t coming with us?” Alexander asked as they passed the other two partner offices without pausing.

Mia shook her head. “Zack is…he wanted to be with Seaveth today. Diego just didn’t show up this morning.” She frowned. Diego’s dedication to playing the role of a normal human was flaky, at best, despite the combined pressure Alexander and Zack tried to exert upon him. Diego had spent centuries unfettered. He was taking a longer time adjusting to Seaveth’s demands for assimilation than most. But they both knew he would be at the full assembly. Even he would not dare risk Seaveth’s wrath by missing that.

“He’ll come around,” Alexander assured her. “Diego is just…” He tried to find the right world.

“Savage,” Mia said succinctly. “I’ve heard the gossip. There’s a reason for his last name.”

“There is,” Alexander said flatly. “But whatever you’ve heard, it’s wrong.”

She glanced up at him, a furrow between her brows but she couldn’t ask him a more direct question for they had reached the foyer and were surrounded by strangers for the ride down to the basement.

In the elevator car, Alexander was swamped by memories of the day Mia had reappeared in his life, here in New York. She swiveled her head to look up at him and smiled and he knew she was thinking the same thing. She pressed closer to him in the crowded car.

She was getting many admiring glances from others in the car, who skimmed her high heels, smart skirt and jacket, silk shirt and shoulder-blade-length hair she refused to either cut or wear up in a bun despite the weather and the hourglass figure that the suit did nothing to hide.

She’s with me, Alexander thought. At last. And he curled his hand around her hip.

The car was empty by the time they reached the last basement and they looked out cautiously. The limousine was waiting as promised. Mia swapped her briefcase over to her left hand and they stepped out, heading for the limousine.

There was a rattle of metal to their right and Alexander turned, his animal instincts flaring. Max was already leaping from the driver’s seat, his bolo in his hand.

But Mia was faster. She had the gun pulled from the holster at the small of her back and out, ready to fire, before Alexander had completed his turn.

Her reactions were faster than his.

She dropped her briefcase and threw her arm out across Alexander’s path to prevent him from moving forward. “Stop. It’s Wyatt,” she said, putting the small caliber gun away again. She ran forward into the shadowy basement and was enfolded by the dark figure there. Alexander could not make out the details but she had been able to. This had been another of her changes. Not only were her reaction times faster than his, she could see and hear better than a vampire.

And Wyatt was stronger than one. She was leading him forward now but he did not look like the strong hunter who had gone off the day before to Quebec to hunt a gargoyle. He was hunched over, an arm to his stomach. Alexander felt his heart seize. He hurried forward.

“What happened?” He and Mia between them bundled Wyatt into the limousine. “The keep, Max.”

“Aye.” Max climbed in and got the long vehicle rolling with minimum fuss, pulling out into the traffic without delay.

Alexander was grateful for the smoked windows and air-conditioning. He and Mia stretched Wyatt on the seat. “What happened?” he repeated again as he tried to pull aside Wyatt’s shirt to see his stomach.

“Demon was working with the gargoyle. The damn things are ganging up together these days.” Wyatt rolled his head back.

“Why aren’t you healing?” Mia cried.

Alexander winced and leaned over to the back of the driver’s seat. “Sorry, family business, Max.” And he hit the button for the privacy screen, which slid up behind the driver’s seat, a blacked-out window of total privacy between them and Max. It was soundproof and bulletproof.

Alexander turned back to Wyatt and looked at the long crimson gashes on Wyatt’s stomach.

“You’re supposed to have vampire healing powers now,” Mia said, tears rolling down her face.

“He does,” Alexander said quietly, studying the wounds. “These were much worse, twelve hours ago.”

Wyatt swallowed and nodded. “A mate drove me down from Ontario through the night. I had trouble convincing him not to take me to hospital in Toronto but when I didn’t die on him right away and was still talking when we hit the New York border he was starting to put it together. He was happy to get rid of me, I think. I scared the crap out of him. And he hunts demons.” He tried to laugh and it turned into a series of coughs that looked painful. He finally took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “God it’s good to see you both.”

Mia threw herself on his chest and Alexander kissed his forehead. Wyatt held Mia to him and eyed Alexander. “I’m guessing the war ain’t over, if the ass-kicking I just took is any measure. No sign of the infamous third trinity?”

He shook his head.

“Fuck.” Wyatt sighed. “The elves are going to eat Seaveth for dinner at the assembly.”

For more information about Sera’s Gift, click here.

___________

Teal Ceagh’s website.

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Giveaway: Teal is offering a copy of BETH’S ACCEPTANCE, the first of the DESTINY’S TRINITIES trilogy, to one lucky commenter as a prize. To enter leave a relevant comment; multiple entries allowed. Ends: December 23, 2009.

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This post was written in response to the Miami Book Examiner's defense of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley as one of the five most romantic literary couples.

Point One: Great literary romances develop in a believable way.

The Book Examiner would have you believe that because J.K. Rowling had seven books to write that the love story between Harry and Ginny developed naturally over time. To that I say prove it because what I read was not a realistic love story.

Ginny is all but ignored as the younger sister to Ron Weasley until book five. Book five she joins the secret DA club in order to learn how to defend herself when the Ministry was determined to make sure that the children did not know how to defend themselves. The same could be said of Cho, Luna, Hermione, and half a dozen other girls ranging from the Quidditch team to rival housemates.

Then Harry gets a green eyed monster in his stomach in book six and totally acts out of character for the whole book not just when he's around Ginny. Considering Rowling's history of introducing little seeds that explode into a major plot point, I figured it was the Amortentia potion at work. Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the wizarding world and was used throughout book six to show how it influenced Voldemort's life. It made sense for JKR to use it as an influence on Harry's life as she has manipulated several similarities of the same ilk. (Unless there is a book eight that proves this interpretation of the sixth book to be true, Harry/Ginny can't be explained away as a the case of Amortentia. That leaves just bad writing.)

Book seven Harry and Ginny are separated and exchange no communication but by the end of the story they are happily married seventeen years later with three kids. Riiiiight.

Point Two: Great literary romances are based on a mutual admiration and respect for the other's strengths and talents.

So Harry admired feared Ginny's bat boogey hex, but honestly that spell is not the stuff of romance. Harry had more respect for Hermione's brains and puzzle solving skills. In fact, Hermione shows the most strengths and talents in the entire series and by this reasoning alone she should have been Harry's match. After all the smart and witty Elizabeth Bennet fell in love with the popular and wealthy Mr. Darcy and Hermione and Harry play those roles far more convincingly than Ginny and Harry.

Heck, Harry greatly respected Luna even if he thought she was sometimes a little weird. He took her on a date too. Why not Luna over Ginny? Luna would have been a great candidate. She shared loss with Harry and like Harry knew what it was to be lonely. She also admired him for his own worth not because of the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense Ginny was always going on about in the earlier novels.

Point Three: Great literary romances are willingly sacrificial.

What did Ginny sacrifice? Or Harry for that matter when it came to the relationship? For those that read book seven you know the ending and the sacrifice Harry made can back me up that he would have made it whether or not Ginny even existed.

Point Four: Great literary romances feature a well-matched pair.

How are Harry and Ginny a well-matched pair? She's his number one fangirl and he's the savior of the wizarding world. Her talents are limited. Rowling built up the history behind the magical meaning of number seven but never gave the 7th Weasley child anything to make her unique, except perhaps making her the only female sibling in the bunch. Hermione was the smartest witch of the age, Cho the lovliest, and Luna the most unique with the ability to see and process the world in a different way than most. Ginny can't even stand on her own two feet and say she was a challenge to him on the Quidditch Pitch because it was Cho not Ginny who battled Harry in game matches.

Point Five: Great literary romances celebrate the steadfast and unwavering love of the underdog.

Of the girls: Hermione, Ginny, Cho, and Luna. Only Hermione and Luna can be considered underdogs because Ginny and Cho were exceedingly popular in their years. Hermione was ostracized originally because of her intelligence and showy talent and Luna because she was seen as odd for her appearance, speech, and beliefs.

Conclusion:

Harry and Ginny never stood a chance against literary romantic couples. Not only because of those reasons but also because H/G had no real on page romance. Rowling condensed everything about their courtship to a few paragraphs where Harry reminisced in book six that the time spent with Ginny didn't even seem like his own life. Their total time on page is less than 2% of the whole series. Rowling's best romance was the one she didn't expressly show us and that was James Potter and Lily Evans. What are your thoughts?

Originally posted 2009-02-18 17:41:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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By Susan S., Guest Reviewer

Barely Bewitched is a fun, “light,” and entertaining read. I’ve read it twice!

This is Kimberly’s second book belonging to her Southern Witch Series. It stands alone, but if you’re interested in how Mercutio became the heroine’s cat, I recommend starting with Would-Be Witch. I suggest it simply because Mercutio plays such a “huge” role in the main character’s life.

What I love about this author is her ability to keep me guessing. Oftentimes, we can accurately surmise an upcoming scene, or even predict an ending. Not so, with Kimberly’s novels.

I recommend this novel to cat lovers, anyone who enjoys magic based stories, if you read paranormal romance, or love triangles.

Meet the heroine (Tammy Jo Trask) she’s a Texan witch, an unemployed pastry chef, and a woman who meets trouble at every turn. Her magic also goes awry, “every” single time she attempts to use it. Whoever said rules were meant to be broken, just accurately described the heroine.

In Barely Bewitched (WAM) the World Association of Magic thinks Tammy is a rogue witch. They’ve deemed her guilty of illegally using her magic. She now has only two choices. Enter the challenge which she’s not prepared for, or refuse and face either incarceration/extermination; whichever (WAM) chooses. This time around, Tamara’s life has never been more chaotic. When faery dust causes the entire town to act irresponsibly, and without inhibitions, it’s up to Tammy to set things right. Not an easy thing to do considering she still has to find her Aunt Mel’s emerald earrings, contact the family ghost (Edie), prepare for a challenge she’s sure to screw-up, cheat death repeatedly, and stay away from Bryn Lyons. (Easier said than done.) Tammy’s family insists he should be avoided at all costs, even (WAM) deems Bryn’s a wizard with ulterior motives. So if everyone warns her to run away from him, why can’t she stop kissing him? Maybe, it’s because he’s this gorgeous dark haired, blue-eyed wizard, who also happens to be a very wealthy lawyer.

This novel has several new characters, and two revelations. One, where we “finally” learn why Tammy’s magic always misfires.

Can Tamara save Duvall from themselves? Will she learn to ignore her ever growing attraction to Bryn? Even if he quotes Ovid the Roman poet? I must say, that was very sexy! This wizard has also been known to chant in Gaelic or Latin; temptation indeed!

Perhaps, I should also mention her ex-husband (Zach Sutton) who’s never really left her life. He’s one hunky Sheriff’s deputy, what’s a witch to do?

4 Star Rating

Buy: Barely Bewitched

The Berkley Publishing Group, Paranormal Romance, September 2009, Paperback, 312 pages. ISBN# 978-0-425-22961-3

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By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender, guest blogger

http://www.authorsandylender.com

When you write a single novel, you’ve got to keep track of characters’ descriptions and “trademark gestures,” settings, special décor, funny quirks in neighborhoods or families, and the list goes on. If you write fantasy as I do, you suddenly have extraordinary quirks and “rules” to pay attention to. If you state in chapter seven that a creature summoned by a wizard for a training exercise in a special training arena must remain within the confines of that training arena, then you better present a good reason for a summoned creature stepping outside of that arena’s circle in chapter fifteen. Readers are going to notice if you break your own rules. They’re going to be confused if the matriarch of your family has green eyes throughout the first two-thirds of the novel, only to suddenly look at something with her blue eyes sparkling like an ocean’s surface on page 400+.

You get the idea.

Now imagine all these details multiplied by three for a trilogy. Or multiplied by four for a trilogy with a prequel (yes, that’s in the works for me). Or multiplied by five for a trilogy with a prequel and a sequel being written by one of the main characters. Criminy!

As an author with all that to keep track of, I keep files on the computer, but I don’t rely on them. I live a pretty paranoid life, so I consider the computer a fallible device. Corrupt files and crashes occur. Backing things up happens when I remember to do it because I haven’t been able to afford fancy dancy software to make backup instantaneous for a while. My systems seem almost archaic to me.

Instead, I keep folders and spiral notebooks where I’ve written out full of character sketches. My host enjoys the tactile sensation. I have a recipe box full of vocabulary words for my Ungol race and for place names in my fantasy world. I have print-outs of short stories and legends so I don’t have to hunt & peck on the computer to find them amid all the files of stories and novellas that are ongoing for the world of Onweald.

Then there are my visual aids. I have a large desk calendar covered with post-it notes and scribbles, white-out smears and taped-on notecards that lays out the events as they occur for the main story of the CHOICES series. It would probably be a mess for anyone to walk in and stare at, but I can turn to “our” September and pinpoint the days when both moons in Onweald are waning and tell you what the Arcanan Army is doing that evening. I also have that gorgeous map that the award-winning Southwest Florida artist Megan Kissinger made for me. She took a scribbly sketch of nothingness that I’d “drawn” and turned it into the world of Onweald. It now appears at the front of CHOICES MEANT FOR GODS, WHAT CHOICES WE MADE, and CHOICES MEANT FOR KINGS. You can see a full-color version of it on the “Worlds” page at my new Web site http://www.authorsandylender.com. And I can see a poster-size color version of it whenever I need direction because I’ve got it rolled up in a safe spot on my bookshelf in the writing den.

That’s how I keep track of details. Tons of notes, notebooks, notecards, visual aids, a few computer files…these are vital for consistency and speed when working. They’ll make the editing process go more smoothly as well!

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

A Tense Little Excerpt From Choices Meant for Kings
By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender
*You won’t find this excerpt anywhere except Sandy’s current online book tour…

As the soldier stepped toward him, Nigel reached out his arm and caught him by the neck. He slammed the captain against the far wall. He pinned him there with his body, leaning against the man as if he could crush the wind from him with his presence.

He brought his face close to the soldier’s ear and spoke lowly, fiercely, so that no one could have overheard him. The menace and intent behind the words was as surprising to the captain as the words themselves.

“I asked you to accompany [Chariss] on this journey tomorrow because I have faith in your sword, and until this moment I trusted you to keep your distance from her. Now, I find her down here at your side with a look upon your face that suggests more than you realize. So help me, Naegling, the only thing that stays my hand is how displeased she would be if she learned that I sliced you open.”

“The look you see is merely my concern for her honor. Nothing more.”

“I’m not a fool. And I’ll use every last piece of Arcana’s treasury to pay the prophets to justify my reasons for marrying that woman, so you can unconcern yourself with her honor.”

Hrazon stepped off the staircase then and saw Nigel pressed against his guard.

“I still believe you’re one of the best soldiers Arcana’s ever seen,” Nigel continued, “and I want you at her side for this journey, but, so help me, Naegling, she comes back alive and well and not confused in the least about her affections for me, or I will string you up from a tree in the orchard and attach your intestines to your horse’s saddle before I send it—”

Hrazon cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Is there an issue here I should address?”

Buy: CHOICES MEANT FOR KINGS

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Oh. My. Gods. is a pretty decent young adult novel. As an older reader, I wish it provided me with more… more everything. I would recommend this book for young preteens up to age fourteen or fifteen. It’s clean, it’s cute, and it’s got fun paranormal elements.

The majority of the work is set in Greece, where Phoebe must live with her mother, her new husband, and her ‘evil’ stepsister. It’s her senior year of high school and all Phoebe wants is to be home, taking her classes, and running for track so she can go to USC on full scholarship.

Her new school is crazy tough on academics (don’t all teenagers think that?), the cliques are impossible to break into, and she doesn’t fit in (who does?) because she’s not a descendant of a god. Say what? That’s right Phoebe’s biggest problem is that she’s normal, has no ‘superpowers,’ and most importantly can’t trace her ancestry to one of the Greek gods.

Her stepsister is a part of the Hera entourage, whose closest affiliation is the Zeus gang… aka part of the most popular set on campus. The boy she crushes on is part of Ares, who is not only the god of war but also the patron of athletes. His girlfriend is a member of the Aphrodite group… and a cheerleader. She just can’t compete! Or can she?

Spoiler.... Phoebe and her crush, Griffin, wind up together after some traditional teenage drama and conflict. It works even though it’s rushed. The book is under 265 pages, making it a fast read.

Rating: 3 Stars

Buy: Oh. My. Gods.

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Jim Broadbent, formally known as Bridget Jones's Dad in the romance community, played Professor Slughorn in Half-Blood Prince. He nailed the character so much so that I could not possibly imagine it played by anyone else, nor would I want them too. Slightly vague expression, attitude a little bit more than merely anxious, and self-serving tendencies of the character were all performed exceptionally. Broadbent has shown his talents and mere words could not do him justice.

Alan Rickman, I confess, I’ve been a little tired of seeing in the Potter films. There’s a lot of emphasis on Snape in previous films in part because of the character and in part because of the actor. Rickman’s screen time was just right in this film, neither too much nor too little, an excellent job via the scriptwriters. His part in this film had we seen before book seven was released would have revealed much of his true character that in print was hard to unwind.

Tom Felton as Draco… let’s just say his appearance reminded me a lot of a Nazi—bleach blond hair and bright blue eyes, highlighted because of his stark all black costumes. He looked much older than the rest of the cast of Six Years. Felton, like Broadbent, did a superb job. He really brought Draco to people. You could be sympathetic for this neophyte Death Eater, something that prior to this movie I would have deemed impossible unless you were Professor Dumbledore.

Which leads me to Dumbledore—Finally, he got a good size role and decent lines. When you see him in action in the cave sequence it blows your mind. It was also great to see flash backs to when Dumbledore was younger. Amazing what a little facial hair manipulation can do. Oh, and Gandalf the Grey/White of The Lord of the Rings, eat your heart out.

Daniel Radcliffe finally mastered the ability to cry believably with sound—thank God! Those tight sweaters he was put in emphasized those shoulders and lean frame to perfection (watch out Pattinson—Radcliffe has got sex appeal too). Yum!

Emma Watson said for her part of Hermione in this film she put a lot of herself. For me, the acting was flawless. I did not see Emma overlay Hermoine’s character once in six, which is something I haven't seen since movie one. Emma was Hermoine and Hermoine was never Emma.

Ronald Weasley acted by Rupert Grint was the comic relief as usual, but you never laughed at him you always laughed with him. The humor in this film really keeps the movie from getting too dark. There were lots of hoots and hollers in the theater.

Bonnie Wright who is Ginny Weasley gets the most screen time she’s ever gotten before in the Potter films. Readers of book six know why this is even if Rowling wrote it in such a fashion as to induce the gag reflex. On screen and because of the screenwriters it actually begins to be credible instead of merely ridiculously incredible. That was not something I thought I would say. I still don’t like her though.

Jessie Cave as Lavender was the perfect actress to cast. She was fun and intense, but never irritating or annoying. She’s a cute girl in both looks and expression. I don’t see how Won-Won could resist!

Evanna Lynch once more shows why she makes the best Luna Lovegood. I don’t think I need to say more than that because the picture below says it all.

There were some disappointments in the movie, but it was not because of the cinematography or acting. The disappointments lay elsewhere. One place was the Weasley home sequence, seeing it brought me around enough to like it instead of outright hating it (I'm a purist), but I wonder how it will affect the upcoming tale of Deathly Hallows.

Movie six was smoothly told where book six was choppy. A reader could infer most of what was going on with little doubt as to the correctness. A very attentive and smart viewer could do the same. The specifics I won’t reveal because that would ruin the movie for non-readers.

Suffice it to say, Half-Blood Prince earned it’s rating.

Rating: Five Stars, best yet in the set.

PS - you should have heard the crowd go wild for the New Moon trailer. It's going to be huge.

PPS- I went as Rita Skeeter after being forced out of her writing career by Hermoine. See picture below:

Everybody say hi and welcome Cheryl Brooks, author of the Cat Star Chronicles, to Love Romance Passion. Grab a cup of something hot and let's get down to business. Below is the interview:

Thank you so much Cheryl for sitting down to chat! How did you come up with the idea for the Cat Star Chronicles?

I'd been writing contemporary romances that utilized the boy-next-door theme and had also written a number of stories that were requested by friends, but my original intention when I began writing-about thirty years ago, now!-was to write a science fiction romance. Then I read an erotic sci-fi novel about a woman who had to pose as a slave to a dominant male, and because I've never been a fan of dominant alpha males, I thought it would be much more fun if the man was the slave instead of the woman! So I wrote a story about a tough, independent space trader named Jacinth in need of a man she can trust with her life to aid her in the quest to rescue her kidnapped sister. Toward that end she buys an alien slave, whom she dubs Cat, hoping to gain his loyalty by offering him freedom in exchange for his assistance. Part of the appeal of this hero was that, being a slave, he had nothing but his strength, intelligence, and sensual nature to offer a woman. It was my intention that he be the last of his kind, but to continue this as a series, I created a scenario where six Zetithian men were captured at the end of the war that destroyed their world and sold into slavery and each book in the series tells the story of how one of them found love.

Should readers start from the beginning of the series or do you feel that they can jump in any time?

I think any series works best by reading them in order, however, I've tried very hard to make each of my books able to stand alone, and, according to several reviews, I've succeeded.

What is your favorite book so far in the series? How many in total will there be?

It's difficult to choose because though all of my heroes are irresistible Zetithians, they all have very different personalities, as do my heroines. I let my imagination run wild in Slave, but Warrior was fun because most of the secondary characters were animals with whom the heroine could communicate telepathically-and they all had plenty of pithy comments to make about humans! In Rogue, my piano-teacher heroine had two stunning Zetithian brothers to choose from and some really fun aliens as the supporting characters. Outcast, being about a man who has lost all desire for women, is more of a tear-jerker than the others, and it is also the first to be written in third person which gave me a chance to get inside the hero's head for a change, something that I enjoyed very much. I've had a blast writing the last two books, Fugitive and Hero, too, so I really can't pick one favorite.

As it now stands, there will be six in the series, and possibly a seventh.

How did Sourcebooks first hear of your book?

I first heard of Sourcebooks when the Romance Writer's Report listed them as a newly approved publisher. They were accepting both paranormal and erotic romances, so I submitted the manuscript for my erotic sci-fi novel, and promptly forgot about it until the editor called saying she wanted to read the rest of it. She loved it, but it was too short, so I added a few new scenes and the manuscript was then accepted.

What do you think is the biggest appeal of fantasy / sci-fi romance?

For me, the appeal is that it places few limits on my imagination, and I think that probably holds true for the readers, as well, because there are endless opportunities for surprises.

I know you're a nurse; how does that work when it comes to writing on schedule? What is your writing routine?

I work three twelve-hour night shifts a week, which varies from week to week, so there is no schedule! I'm just like anyone else: I have free time, but what I do with it is write, rather than watch television. After Slave came out, I was encouraged to try to write four books a year-and this year, there are three-but found that I simply couldn't do it and remain sane. As long as the nursing job is the one paying the bills, the books will have to be limited to two a year.

Most of my writing is done in the evening, with blogging and emails, etc, done during the day.

What was the hardest part of writing your series?

Remembering the small details about different alien species from book to book and just where in the galaxy each planet is located. I probably need to keep a notebook of characters and species and draw a map, but I haven't done it yet, so I have to keep copies of my books close by!

In your own words, what is love?

A deep, emotional, enduring attachment that makes you consider that person's wishes ahead of your own.

What is your favorite aspect of writing?

The creative outlet it provides. I'd go crazy without it!

What makes a great written bedroom scene?

One that makes you tingle all over and want to read it again and again! The specific components can vary, but if it doesn't involve the heart and soul, it's just sex.

How do you decide character names? Who's your favorite male and female lead so far?

My male characters have all had a connection to the "cat" theme. There was Cat in Slave, Leo in Warrior, and Tychar in Rogue, which is an alteration of the word tiger. Outcast has Lynx, and Fugitive has Manx, which are both types of cats. Trag (Hero) is short for Tragonathon, which is a combination of a friend's name and the words tiger and dragon.

My heroine's names are sometimes suggested by their occupation or their personality, or it can just be a name I happen to like. For the more alien names, I experiment. Sometimes I'll take a traditional human name and change the vowels. Other times I strike random letters on the keyboard and then go back and play around with it until it sounds right. I may change the spelling several times while I'm writing before I'm happy with it.

My favorite hero will always be Cat (Slave), because he was the one who started it all, and Bonnie (Outcast) is my favorite heroine because she had the patience and kindness to turn Lynx's life around, which I'm not sure I could have done.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

I love hearing from readers!

My email address is: cheryl.brooks52@yahoo.com

Website: cherylbrooksonline.com

I also blog on Casablanca Authors, Wickedly Romantic, and Cheryl Brooks Erotic Blogspot.

Buy: Outcast (The Cat Star Chronicles, Book 4)

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In Over Her Head is the ultimate beach read. No, seriously, it is. You have talking fish, Mers (only humans would classify them by gender), sea monsters, underwater cities hidden by the Greek gods, heirs, thrones, adventure, a cache of diamonds... there's so much going on in this book.

In so many ways this book is a retelling of Little Mermaid, though I prefer to think of it as the reverse of The Little Mermaid. The hero is a prince, but he's also a Mer. It's the heroine who is human and is afraid of the water. She is petrified to be in the ocean: sharks, sharks, mysterious voices, sharks, and well sharks. It's a wonder she ever got certified to dive.

Both characters are driven by the urge to prove themselves. Erica has been labeled incompetent, useless, and a nutcase ever since the Incident. She’s been struggling to prove to her brothers, who’ve teased her mercilessly ever since, that she is capable and smart and well normal.

Reel, being the second son, is the Spare… as in the heir and the… all his life he’s been a part of the Mer world without any of its perks. As the second son he doesn’t have fins, he has legs. Sure he can breath underwater, speak to fish, but he’s never had respect. The most important race in his life and he was four minutes behind. He doesn’t have the power or the immortality the rest of them do and has been struggling for acceptance into a society that looks down on him. If only his father would get to know him instead of considering him the ultimate embarrassment.

It’s a fish of a tale, pun so intended--bad as it undoubtedly is. If you’re looking to kick up your fins and read a good kelp-turner… yeah, okay I’m done with the water jokes. Judi is much better at these than I am. Well, no I do have one more. Have you ever heard that joke about the Merman, the Kraken, and the Female Human?

Rating: 3 Stars

Classified interracial because of Mer/Human relationship.

Buy: In Over Her Head

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Of Two Minds is a very deep book for kids. As an adult how it ends leads to quite an interesting train of thought I’m not sure young children will catch. This is my second time reading it. I remembered enjoying it thoroughly when I read it back in middle school. I can’t honestly say one way or another if I caught the concept revealed at the end of the book back then. I enjoyed it just as much this time around as an adult.

Lenora is a young teenage princess from a people who all have the power to create whatever they want. To imagine it is to make it be. She doesn’t understand why it’s law not to create worlds and change things to suit your will. Why were people afraid to change the color of their hair or imagine bright pink puppies?

After one incident too many her parents decide to marry her off to Prince Coren. They feel it will ground her, get her head out of her fantasies and make her a sensible woman. To that end they even plan to set a full brigade (4K-11K men) to think her solidly on the island she and Coren will make their future home, thus making escape impossible.

Angry, frightened, and confused Lenora escapes into somebody else’s world when making one of her own is impossible. Unfortunately, she also dragged the object of her distress with her. Coren, gangly redheaded and freckled, can’t even stand up without tripping over his feet. Could he be any more useless? It turns out he can – where’s his sense of adventure?

Rating: 4 Stars

Makes me want to check out the sequel More Minds!

Buy: Of Two Minds

Spoilers:
Pg193

“I’m not dreaming?” Lenora said. “How do I know that for sure?”
“Well,” Lufa smiled, “I suppose none of us really knows that. Perhaps this is all a dream, a fantasy we will wake out of.”
…
“And if all her imaginings could be real, then who was to say that her reality wasn’t somebody else’s dream?”
…
Surely something this real couldn’t be just somebody’s imagination. Could it?

Ah, but couldn’t it? Especially in light of her adventure with Coren. Is her story her own or the very imaginings of others?

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The classic story of Sleeping Beauty retold by Catherine Murdock in Princess Ben takes on a life of its own. When her father, mother, and uncle are brutally murdered under the orders of King Renaldo of Drachensbett, Benevolence is summoned by her aunt, the queen, to take her place as the heir to Montagne.

Ben is resentful of all the tortures Queen Sophie inflicts on her from classes in deportment and dancing to limiting her food in an effort to slim her figure. Ben has never been one of those silly princesses, who dined on air and compliments. She was plump and happy about it. She enjoyed her food and having it taken away is a terrible injustice!

After her latest punishment from Queen Sophie, Ben cried and raged and somehow stumbles upon a secret doorway. Behind the doorway is a stairwell, and the stairwell leads to a room. In the room there’s a book, a magic one, and in the dead of night Ben steals away and practices magic in secret. One spell creates a sleeping body double.

Prince Florian of Drachensbett, believes in destiny and true love… until he realizes that the sleeping girl who can not be woken from his prophecy is the sullen rotund Princess Ben. Despairing, Florian chooses to lead warriors against Montagne, but thoughts of war can’t block out Princess Ben. He dreams of her, as she dreams of him, much to his disgust because the girl in his dreams is nothing like the Princess Ben he met.

This book is weird to read as its first person omniscient. Queen Benevolence is recounting her tale to readers and at times it reads from young Ben’s point of view, but you get voiceovers from the present older Ben. I felt like I should believe the experiences were happening to a fifteen year old girl, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around it with the narrator voice being so much older.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

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I picked up Graceling because somebody said it was the next Twilight to get behind as Po and Katsa were a very hot couple. As far as I can tell Graceling is a stand alone and not the first in a series. It's also rated for YA ages 14 and up, but I highly doubt some parents allowing their 14 or even 15 year old children to read this novel if they knew that the evil bad guy is a sexual pervert who mutilates young children (mostly girls) and animals. There is also sex in the novel, not something you usually see in a book that claims to be for young teens.

Mislabeling aside, I found the editing to be pretty off. There were lots of sentences that began with and, run-on sentences connected by well ands, and in general ignore rules of proper grammar. The diction fits into the young adult category. I wasn't particularly challenged or inspired by it. The world building was excellent though and quite interesting.

Gracelings are identified by having two different colored eyes, like a cat. All those who are Graced with something useful (cooking over swimming for instance) stay with their king. The king then uses them as he sees fit. The heroine, Katsa, is Graced with Killing. Her eyes are blue and green and her Grace was revealed when a scummy sexual deviant tried to touch her intimately as a young girl. Nobody knew this except her and when he got too close - Katsa killed him.

Randa uses Katsa, his lady killer, to bully and inspire fear in all the land. Don't you dare double cross him! Katsa is sick with being used like a rabid dog on a leash. In response to Randa and the rest of the six kings' callus behavior, Katsa started the Council. It is comprised of people from all seven kingdoms, working together to act against the injustice they see. Rescuing Grandfather Tealiff is the catalyst for this story... one pebble becomes an avalanche as a mystery nobody knew existed reveals an king far more evil than the rest of the cruel kings combined.

Rating: 2 Stars.

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