Carly Phillips's Blog: Carly's Web Blogs, page 104

Welcome Guest Blogger Eve Silver!

A huge thank you to Carly and the rest of the Plotmonkeys for having me visit.

I've had crazy deadlines the past few years, and that means I have to guard my time like a mama bear with her cub. But I'll let you in on a secret. I'm a Plotmonkeys lurker. I'll pop by and take a peek at the posts when I break from writing because there's always something interesting going on here. So, I dropped by a few weeks ago and started to read Carly's post about paranormals. I nodded when she mentioned Michele Bardsley and Larissa Ione and Meagan Hatfield. Then I got to the end of the paragraph and realized that Carly was now talking about me…well, not me. My book. Sins of the Heart.

And what she had to say made my day because she was talking about the very thing that had made me delve into the world of the soul reapers in the first place.

Carly wrote:

"So I naively go into her world of SOUL REAPERS and I am shocked to my toes when the HERO reaches into someone's chest, rips out his heart, places it in a bag, and then goes back into the body for his soul. Yep. I'm floored. In a, am I really reading about this kind of way. But I'm determined to keep going. How can I like this hero or fall in love with him? I have to find out. And sure enough, once I hit halfway, I'm IN THIS WORLD and I'm OK with it, LOL. This dark twisty hero (I think I'm missing my Grey's Anatomy fix … where else would dark and twisty come from?) would invoke his powerful father's name to keep her safe. Yeah, I'm hooked. And in love."

The first time he introduced himself to me, Dagan Krayl—the hero of Sins of the Heart— was standing in the shadows wearing faded, low-slung jeans, a well-worn leather jacket, and a splatter of blood. At first I thought the blood was Roxy Tam's. After all, Dae was the villain, so it made sense that it would be the heroine's blood on his hands. Then he stepped up to stand beside Roxy, and from the way he looked at her, it was obvious he had no intention of harming her.

Because the villain, Dagan Krayl, was the hero.

Then I met his brothers: Alastor the suit-clad, über-controlled, incredibly sexy hero of Sins of the Soul, and Malthus, the bad boy, adrenaline junkie hero of Sins of the Flesh, and I realized that the heroes of the Otherkin books had evolved from a question that kept nagging at me. What if the villains were the heroes? What if I took three guys who aren't good or noble or heroic and made them the heroes of the stories…could I make them likeable? Could I make them laudable somehow? Could I make the villains heroes?

Could readers fall in love with these heroes? Or should I say antiheroes?

It's happened to me. I'll watch a movie or read a book and the villain of a previous story is the hero of the new one, or a man who is anything but likeable ends up being loveable. Some examples that jump to mind are Dexter Morgan from Showtime's Dexter, Terrible from Stacia Kane's Downside/Chess Putnam books, Jericho Barrons from Karen Marie Moning's Fever series, Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent from Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas.

So what about you? Can you think of some favorite morally ambiguous heroes to add to the list? I'll send a copy of Sins of the Heart, Sins of the Soul or Sins of the Flesh (your choice) to one random commenter. Thanks for dropping by!

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I'm a Lucky Girl

Because so many people care about me! Thank you for all the good wishes and thoughts and prayers. My dad's sick and Buddy, my beloved doggie boy, is having age related issues and I've been in a fog for a good few weeks. I appreciate all of your understanding. Dad started treatment, we're still trying to figure out Buddy's problems, but my book is written and finished a few days ahead of deadline, even with all this going on in my life.

Today the best I can give you is to update my knitting. Last year I showed you some basic scarves I made on my first go-round. This year, I've progressed to more advanced yarn … it's been very soothing and cathartic for me during this time.

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and

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The black is harder to see against my black shirt but it's fake Cincilla.

I can't promise I'll be back to lots of Internet time soon, but I will try. It all hinges on how things go at home. But thank you all for your understanding!

Carly's Sunday Winner and Funny

The winner of the $25 Amazon Gift Card is

# 101 KRIS!

Congratulations! Please email me at: carly phillips @ mac . com (no spaces) with your info. so I can send your gift card!

And the winner of Saturday's ONE THING with Louisa Edwards giveaway is:

# 36 Nancy Alexander!

Congratulations! Please email Julie: at julie leto at gmail dot com (no spaces) with the word "winner" in the subject line) and she'll take care of getting you your prizes!

Congrats to all!

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And now for the Sunday Funny! ...

Carly's Friday Jungle Madness

Sorry I'm late! Today's giveaway – a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

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You know the drill! Comment for a chance to win!

Deadline and Personal Stuff

Thank you Janelle for posting for me last week. I'm going through some personal family stuff and I have a book due Oct. 1 so it's hard for me to focus or concentrate. I hope you all understand if I just toss out something easy to discuss. Movies. I want to see WALL STREET the sequel and Social Network. What do you all want to see?

L'Shanah Tovah

Well, I planned a follow up to last week's bookclub, but that will have to wait another week. I'm sorry! Hubby had shoulder surgery yesterday, Wed. night and today are the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashonah, which is the start of the Jewish New Year, and I'm just fried. So instead, I'm going to celebrate both the new year and last night's news – LOVE ME IF YOU DARE hit both the MAIN New York Times List (#16) and USA Today's Top 50 (# 44). A huge thanks to all of you who bought the book! And ...

KISS ME IF YOU CAN Book Club!

[image error] Welcome to the KISS ME IF YOU CAN Bookclub!



I'm so excited to be here with you guys today to talk about KISS ME IF YOU CAN. I asked for questions and you guys answered! In case you didn't see Sunday's post, I had promised I'd pick 3 winners to receive signed copies of LOVE ME IF YOU DARE. Thanks to all who submitted questions!

The winners are:

Patricia Sinclair

Denise Sutton :applause

Bella Franco

Congratulations! Email me at: carly phillips @ mac . com no spaces to confirm...

Carly's Sunday Funny and Winners

Good Morning! Happy Sunday. Sorry I'm late. I was up until after midnight reading Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh and I BAWLED through the last 1/4 of the book! (if you're on Twitter you know I'm on a reading BINGE – 8 BOOKS in the last two weeks! all by Nalini Singh.) Anyway, so I'm sure you want the winners, LOL!

The winner of Friday's Jungle Madness / Janelle's Birthday Contest, a $25 Amazon Gift Card is:

# 18 – Stacy!

Congratulations, Stacy! Email me at: carly phillips @ mac . com...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR JANELLE!

Usually we do a whole birthday story with images, but today we're just going to do a tribute to one of our own. Each one of the Plotmonkeys brings something unique to the group. Today we honor the more silent one of the four. The one who is content to sit back and watch, taking in everything, missing nothing, and knowing just when to step in – when she's needed most. To me, this is the most valuable kind of friend, the one you know will drop everything to be there for you!

Julie here:...

Love Me If You Dare

The countdown is here! 6 days until LOVE ME IF YOU DARE hits bookstore shelves and the same 6 days until the KISS ME IF YOU CAN Bookclub here at Plotmonkeys! I don't think I've ever had back to back books out before and this is exciting! Just as one release month dies down, another begins. I am so grateful for all the enthusiasm you've shown for this series. In case you want to preorder, click HERE for an easy set of links to the online bookseller of your choosing!

Okay now that the...