Felicity Heaton's Blog, page 99
December 13, 2011
Must we love the hero from the start?
I finished reading through Masquerade (Vampires Realm #10) today, ahead of the final edit on the book before Christmas, and it got me thinking about something. So while I sit here in my living room, surrounded by my beautifully colourful Christmas tree and my net of lights in the window that is highlighting the rainy darkness outside, and I'm sipping hot chocolate, I'm going to ponder the following on my blog.
Do we always have to love the hero right from page one?
I rarely write heroes that aren't one hundred and ten percent attractive from the word go. Okay, some of them might need a little work to smooth out their rough edges, a grudge they have, or some other flaw, but I can't recall ever writing one that wasn't already drop dead sexy in some way other than good looks.
This is what I've done with Masquerade, and therefore I'm experiencing weird feelings about it. I knew when planning it that the hero wasn't going to start out as the apple of the reader's eye because he's complicated and is reacting in a rather brash male manner to certain events prior to the book. He is the way he's meant to be at the beginning of the book, otherwise the story just wouldn't work the way I wanted it to, but it still feels strange to me to have a hero who isn't going to be capturing women's hearts from the word go.
But should we really have to love all our heroes from the moment we meet them?
I don't think so, and speaking to a few readers, and two lovely ladies in particular who have read the book for me, I feel that there is room for books where the hero starts out as a bit of a bastard / idiot / enemy / sexist pig / complete ass (delete as appropriate) as long as that hero redeems himself during the course of the story.
That's the key thing in a romance involving a hero who starts out as a bad apple that needs a good polishing. Women love to redeem men, or fix them, or generally change them in some way. A hero who starts out acting like a complete ass has a certain appeal as long as the reader has faith that either the heroine is going to whip him into shape or, even better, he will realise the error of his ways and work his backside off to redeem himself and make things right.
I have read books where I haven't enjoyed the hero at first. His attitude towards the heroine has sucked or he's acted like a sexist pig, or he's had no redeeming qualities… but in the end he's proven himself worthy of my little show of faith in him and sorted himself out, and gone on to win the heroine's heart.
As I ponder heroes who start out almost unlovable I can't help thinking about heroines too. I think women love to fix men. Come on, admit it. And because the primary audience for a romance is a woman, it's quite acceptable to have a hero who needs a little or a lot of fixing in order to make him a suitable contender for the heroine's love.
But can a heroine be someone we don't like at the start of the book?
See, this is where I think it wouldn't work. We the reader play the role of the heroines in the books we read and I wouldn't want to envisage myself as someone I didn't like, or who was weak or acting like a complete ass. I have no desire to fix other women, or have to read a hero fixing a heroine's flaws so they can eventually end up together. Funny how that works.
What do you all think about it? Are you happy reading books where the hero starts out a little bit of an ass as long as you trust the authors to introduce a good butt-kicking by the heroine to whip him into shape or him waking up and realising his errors and redeeming himself, fighting harder than ever to win the heroine's heart? Could you read a book where the heroine started out as someone you didn't like? I'd love your opinions on this!
Do we always have to love the hero right from page one?
I rarely write heroes that aren't one hundred and ten percent attractive from the word go. Okay, some of them might need a little work to smooth out their rough edges, a grudge they have, or some other flaw, but I can't recall ever writing one that wasn't already drop dead sexy in some way other than good looks.
This is what I've done with Masquerade, and therefore I'm experiencing weird feelings about it. I knew when planning it that the hero wasn't going to start out as the apple of the reader's eye because he's complicated and is reacting in a rather brash male manner to certain events prior to the book. He is the way he's meant to be at the beginning of the book, otherwise the story just wouldn't work the way I wanted it to, but it still feels strange to me to have a hero who isn't going to be capturing women's hearts from the word go.
But should we really have to love all our heroes from the moment we meet them?
I don't think so, and speaking to a few readers, and two lovely ladies in particular who have read the book for me, I feel that there is room for books where the hero starts out as a bit of a bastard / idiot / enemy / sexist pig / complete ass (delete as appropriate) as long as that hero redeems himself during the course of the story.
That's the key thing in a romance involving a hero who starts out as a bad apple that needs a good polishing. Women love to redeem men, or fix them, or generally change them in some way. A hero who starts out acting like a complete ass has a certain appeal as long as the reader has faith that either the heroine is going to whip him into shape or, even better, he will realise the error of his ways and work his backside off to redeem himself and make things right.
I have read books where I haven't enjoyed the hero at first. His attitude towards the heroine has sucked or he's acted like a sexist pig, or he's had no redeeming qualities… but in the end he's proven himself worthy of my little show of faith in him and sorted himself out, and gone on to win the heroine's heart.
As I ponder heroes who start out almost unlovable I can't help thinking about heroines too. I think women love to fix men. Come on, admit it. And because the primary audience for a romance is a woman, it's quite acceptable to have a hero who needs a little or a lot of fixing in order to make him a suitable contender for the heroine's love.
But can a heroine be someone we don't like at the start of the book?
See, this is where I think it wouldn't work. We the reader play the role of the heroines in the books we read and I wouldn't want to envisage myself as someone I didn't like, or who was weak or acting like a complete ass. I have no desire to fix other women, or have to read a hero fixing a heroine's flaws so they can eventually end up together. Funny how that works.
What do you all think about it? Are you happy reading books where the hero starts out a little bit of an ass as long as you trust the authors to introduce a good butt-kicking by the heroine to whip him into shape or him waking up and realising his errors and redeeming himself, fighting harder than ever to win the heroine's heart? Could you read a book where the heroine started out as someone you didn't like? I'd love your opinions on this!
Winter Warmers Blog Tour - Hunter's Moon at Satin's Bookish Corner!
Today my Winter Warmers blog tour takes me to Satin's Bookish Corner where I'm talking about Hunter's Moon, the ninth book in my popular Vampires Realm romance series, and sharing a tasty excerpt from the novel as well as hosting another giveaway for some signed goodies.Hop on over to Satin's Bookish Corner to read about Hunter's Moon and enter the giveaway!
Don't forget to check out the previous posts and enter the giveaways there too!
Winter Warmers Blog TourDecember 2nd - Chatting about ASCENSION @ Bookin It Reviews
December 6th - Chatting about WINTER'S KISS @ Madame D's Boudoir
December 7th - Chatting about VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS @ Page Flipperz
December 8th - Chatting about FORBIDDEN BLOOD @ The Enchanted Book
December 9th - Chatting about SEVENTH CIRCLE @ Paromantasy
December 12th - Chatting about PROPHECY TRILOGY @ Fade Into Fantasy
December 13th - Chatting about HUNTER'S MOON @ Satin's Bookish Corner
Teaseday - Vampire for Christmas - vampire romance book
Today my Teaseday post comes from
Vampire for Christmas
since it's getting closer to the holidays.
Vampire for Christmas
is a seasonal vampire romance book and it's available now for just $0.99 on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader, Smashwords and other retailers.
At the moment, I have a fantastic offer on a selection of my ebooks. There are plenty of fantastic reads to choose from, all priced between $0.99 and $2.99 and in a range of lengths between novella and long novels, and a variety of paranormal romance sub-genres including sinful angels, sexy vampires, seductive werewolves, and even a super-hot demon and sassy witch pairing. Offers end 15th January 2012.
Find out more about the books, including excerpts and reviews, and these great offers at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/paranormal-romance-ebook-offers.php
Vampire for Christmas
Felicity Heaton
It was one last mission. Shannon, a demon hunter with the agency, is looking forward to leaving behind the small town and the vampire she's been stuck with for the past two years. Things are getting complicated fast and she wants out. A fresh start, free of her vampire partner, awaits her if she can survive their final mission and the lonely Christmas holidays.
It was one last mission. Rafe, a vampire doing time with the agency, watches it approach with dread weighing heavily in his stomach. Two years of working with Shannon has been difficult, especially since he started falling for her, but he doesn't want their partnership to end. He has barely a few days to make her face her feelings and stop her from leaving, and he intends to do just that.
When a slimy demon threatens the season of peace and goodwill, it's the chance Rafe has been waiting for and the moment Shannon secretly fears. Rafe's determination to prise open her heart and her own resolve to keep it closed clash as violently as they do with the demon, and threatens to end as messily.
Can Rafe make Shannon see that his love for her is real and that she feels something for him too? Can Shannon face her fears and her past, and stop herself from running away from both? Will a wish on a star bring her what her heart truly desires—a vampire for Christmas?
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004AM59T6/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011177187/
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/vampire-for-christmas/_/R-400000000000000359154
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Vampire-For-Christmas/mix-rLsihKs-8EyfN3Zf7TR7tA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/29379
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004AM59T6/
Apple iBookstore USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore UK: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Australia: http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/isbn9781452356044
EXCERPTHis favourite prey.
Rafe stood on the lawn, his dark eyes following her from room to room in her large house. Shannon disappeared from view on the top floor only to reappear in the living room. He couldn't see much through the open curtains but his senses made up for what he lacked in vision. He tracked her with them, focusing until the dark world around him drifted into the distance and there was only her.
She was muttering.
A smile tugged at his lips.
How many times had he told her not to mutter?
She reappeared and stood in the middle of the living room, tying her long fair hair up into a ponytail, her gaze on the television. The twinkling lights hanging around the room cast a myriad of colours, turning the scene from warm to cold and back again. She looked pale tonight. Had she been getting enough sleep? They had last worked together two weeks ago and she hadn't seemed herself. He had tried to ask her what was wrong, but had failed to find his voice, instead leaving her to mull over whatever was bothering her in silence.
Rafe had killed the vampire that night. She hadn't even noticed it. He'd had to report it to the agency. In a toss up between her being angry with him for telling her superiors about her dangerous lack of concentration and her being safe, the latter would always win with him.
She smiled.
His chest ached.
He hadn't seen her smile in a long time. He stood in silence, unmoving, absorbing this rare beauty before him. She was a goddess when she smiled, and it always tugged at his insides, luring him to her. She turned towards the window and her smile slowly faded, her expression turning distant.
What was she thinking in there?
She couldn't see him. Human eyes weren't sharp enough to pick him out in the shadows of the tall trees on her lawn. The lights in the room would steal what little night-vision she had. He could observe her from the darkness without fear, could watch her and think over the things that plagued him every night.
The feelings.
During the day, Rafe could almost pretend they didn't exist. The sun stole the world from him and his emotions with it, leaving him in a deathly slumber. At night, when he came to her, when he saw her again, everything returned, and each time it came back stronger.
He knew that Shannon didn't like working with him, and the past two years had been difficult for them both at times, especially at the start, but it didn't stop him from feeling something for her. They had been through so much together, so many fights for their lives, so many long nights passed in quiet company when no demons showed up, and so many long conversations when her guard slipped. When they had first been assigned to each other, he had wanted out of the deal straight away, but now he almost looked forward to the times they were required to work together.
His dead heart called him a liar.
He didn't almost look forward to it at all. He waited for it. Yearned, in fact.
Rafe sighed and leaned back against the broad rough trunk of the pine tree.
It was no use anyway.
Come the New Year, the agency would separate them and relocate them at opposite ends of the country.
He was going to miss her.
His little vampire hunter.
He had never wanted a partner, but she had changed that. Now, he didn't want any partner except her.
Shannon smiled again and zipped up her red jumper, until the tall collar of it covered her neck. She pushed shorter lengths of her hair behind her ears and then looked out of the window again, and he felt as though she was looking right at him. She was so beautiful when she was unaware of him. Naturally so too. No trace of make-up touched her oval face. No kohl to highlight the depths of her green eyes, or lipstick to enhance the sensual swell of her coral lips. Everything about her was natural, right down to her curvy shape. He had tended to her wounds a few times before, each time battling his desire as he swept his fingers over her soft skin and laid eyes on the toned body she hid beneath her clothes. She trembled for him sometimes and refused to look at him whenever she did, and he was convinced that her shivers weren't born of fear. He was convinced that part of her was attracted to him too. Her gaze shifted and settled on something partially obscured by the pale curtains.
He frowned and tried to make out what it was.
Ragged dark shape that tapered upwards. Shiny coloured lights. Glittering orbs. Tufted strings of foil.
A Christmas tree.
It surprised him that she celebrated the occasion. He had thought she would be indifferent to such human things since she was a demon hunter, but there she was, standing in a room bathed in twinkling lights, tinsel and festive trimmings. The entire street was alive with flashing reindeers, singing Santas, and fake snow on roofs. No decoration touched the outside of her two storey home, but it was different on the inside.
Rafe studied her as she adjusted a bauble on the tree. He might have been talking about her. The exterior she showed to him and others was different to how she was on the inside. He knew that best at times like these when he was watching her from the shadows. This was the real her, the one she hid beneath her armour and would never let him see. This was his only way of seeing the side of her that he wished she would show to him, and he couldn't help himself.
He told himself that it wasn't stalking. It was observing. It was hunting. It was having the chance to see the woman he wanted her to be around him and taking it.
Shannon moved away from the tree, towards the back of the house, her hips swaying in her snug blue jeans. His gaze slipped to her backside and he growled, desire spearing him in the gut. He loved the way she walked even when she thought no one was watching. There was something sexy about it, alluring. He cocked his head to one side and fought the urge that rose inside him.
It was useless.
She would never be his.
She had looked at him differently sometimes, almost as if he was human, but those moments rarely lasted. The barriers were swift to come back up, protecting her heart before he could reach out and capture it. During their past few hunts, he had struggled with the right words, trying to form them into a semblance of order and put his feelings in a way that she wouldn't reject outright, in a way that would make her see that his emotions were real and that he would never harm her. He had never found the perfect moment though, or the perfect words.
And time was running out.
The ticking clock made him reckless. It didn't matter anymore if she rejected him. He couldn't let the chance slip through his fingers again. It was now or never.
This was their last mission together.
He wouldn't leave without trying to make her see what he felt for her.
Shannon came out of the back room, her jacket in her left hand, and stopped in front of the Christmas tree again. She touched the same bauble she had before but this time her expression changed, turning troubled and distant. What was on her mind? Rafe had seen that look before, normally when she was lost in her thoughts, like the time he had reported to her superiors. They had told him not to worry about it and that they would speak with her. He wanted to be the one to speak to her about it. He wanted to know why she had joined the agency. She was young, barely over thirty, and she had never mentioned her family. Did her reason for hunting demons have something to do with them? Did it have anything to do with vampires?
He only hunted his own kind because the agency had him by the balls on several murder cases. He was a vampire. All of his species were susceptible to temptation and he was far from saintly. He had fought his addiction though and had come out the other side a better vampire for it. A stronger vampire because of it. He didn't kill anymore. He could control that side of him now, and maybe it was time he made the agency realise that and made them let him go.
Rafe shook his head at the way he sounded. Childish. Petulant. Everything that a vampire his age shouldn't be. And why? Because he didn't want to leave her. He didn't want to be reassigned to someone else, or sent off to work alone. He wanted to stay here, with Shannon, where he belonged.
She tugged her short black wool jacket on and Rafe knew it was time to make a move. She was expecting him and he had never been late before.
He moved further back into the shadows on her front garden when she approached the window. She didn't see him. She closed the curtains, hiding her from view, and he resorted to tracking her with his senses again.
A car passed along the street behind him. The sound of carol singers drifted on the chill breeze. Rafe looked up at the crisp night sky and the twinkling stars. Christmas. He couldn't remember if he had ever celebrated it.
He had forgotten so much about his former life on becoming a vampire.
His gaze dropped and stuck on something on her porch.
Mistletoe.
Rafe raised an eyebrow and then smiled as he left his hiding place and walked towards the front door.
Some traditions he definitely remembered from his life as a human.
* * * *
There was a knock at the door. Shannon knew from the impatient clip it had who would be waiting on the porch, and she took her time because of it. It wouldn't look good if she rushed to answer it. The last time she had opened the door within a minute, because she had been passing it at the time, Rafe had teased her the whole night about how she had been waiting for him on the other side, desperate to go out with him again, and how attracted to him she was.
Total crap of course.
She wouldn't be attracted to him if he was the last man on Earth. Shannon smiled to herself. He wasn't even a man. She would have to be down to the last vampire too before she would ever consider him in that way.
Shannon slipped a stake into the inside pocket of her thick black wool jacket and another into the back pocket of her dark jeans. It was always a good idea to be well armed when out on a hunt. She wasn't about to let the holiday season lure her into a false sense of security. Wretched demonkind didn't celebrate the occasion, and some of her busiest times had been over the Christmas period. Besides, the stakes weren't just for use on the bad vampires. Sometimes she considered using them on the apparently good vampires too.
Shannon opened the door.
Rafe stood on the other side, six feet plus of dark handsome devil perfectly capable of pushing every right button in a woman.
At least, every woman except her.
The left side of his sensual mouth tugged into a half smile that revealed the tip of a canine and his deep brown eyes slid up towards the porch ceiling. Her eyes followed out of curiosity.
Mistletoe.
Her gaze snapped back to him. He had to be kidding. He stared at her, dark eyes locked on hers in a silent challenge, and rocked expectantly on his heels. He clasped his hands behind his bottom, the action dragging his long black coat back too, revealing the athletic physique that his dark shirt failed to hide.
Shannon stepped backwards into the safety of her house.
Rafe frowned.
She could almost hear what he was thinking, could read it in his eyes. She didn't care if he thought she was rude because she had never invited him into her home. She had neglected to do so for good reason. It was handy at times like these when he was making her heart jitter and pulse race.
She was not going to kiss him.
There were a million reasons why, but she settled on the safety aspect because her heart couldn't overrule that one.
If she abided by tradition and kissed him, she would be placing herself firmly within his grasp, and that was a place she didn't want to be. What would start as a harmless festive kiss would end as a bloodbath with his fangs in her throat. Just the thought of it happening shook her deep inside, dredging up memories best left forgotten and pain she had fought to erase. She would never let anything like that happen again.
Never.
Rafe continued to stare, his dark gaze cool but demanding.
Sometimes, Shannon wished the agency hadn't paired them together. She had never wanted to work with one of nature's freaks. She just wanted to kill them and get revenge for what they had done to her and her family.
"Never going to happen." Shannon pushed past him, slammed the door behind her, and locked it. She didn't break her stride. Before he could respond, she was at the end of her garden path and walking towards the centre of town.
She didn't hear him move. One moment he wasn't there, and the next he was keeping pace beside her. Her heart leapt at his sudden appearance.
"I told you not to do that." She drew her hand away from her back pocket. It had jumped to the stake on instinct. One of these days, he was going to surprise her and she was going to give him a nasty surprise of her own.
"No need for that." He appeared on the other side of her, his hand slipping over hers and easing it away from the stake. He smiled at her, his cool fingers lingering against hers. "There is a no staking your partner policy at the agency, remember?"
Shannon snatched her hand back and wished she didn't remember. It was the only thing stopping her from killing him. A quiet voice at the back of her mind whispered that it wasn't the only reason she couldn't bring herself to stake him. She shooed it away.
"So, where are we heading?" Rafe's deep voice swept around her, bathing her in warmth she tried to deny, and she kept her gaze fixed ahead. If she pretended he wasn't there, she might just make it through the next few hours, and then she was home free. It was one last mission.
For some reason, that caused a dull ache to settle inside her.
She had thought she would be happy. She should be happy. No more working with the enemy. They were reassigning her to warmer climes and a partner-free role. She had proven herself worthy of working alone, just as she had wanted from the start of her career with the agency, and she was finally getting that wish.
So why wasn't she happy?
"Town," Shannon said distractedly, frowning at the pavement and trying to piece together an answer to her own question. There had to be a reason and it couldn't be the vampire walking beside her. She had grown used to him. That's all it was. He had become a sort of friend. The only person she actually spoke to apart from her handler and a few people at the agency, and she had never told them a thing about herself. She had never talked them, not as she had to Rafe. Shannon cursed herself. She should have kept her distance and not gotten involved, just as she had planned, but two years was too long to work with someone without saying anything to them.
Rafe had slipped in unnoticed, had passed the first of her defences and somehow got her talking one night, and since then, she couldn't stop her mouth sometimes. Sometimes it all became too much and she had to speak to someone, and he was always there, willing to listen to her silly troubles and doubts about her ability to hunt, her skill, and her future with the agency.
And he always reassured her, and made her feel better.
"Anywhere particular in town?" Rafe said and her attention snapped back to him. She stared up at him, still half lost in her thoughts, and found herself looking straight into his eyes. Windows to the soul. Rafe's hid nothing from her. They betrayed everything that he was feeling, and sometimes it frightened her.
Not when he was showing his vampire side. His pale eyes didn't scare her or the malice that she saw in them, the hunger for violence and bloodshed. It was this side of him that scared her. The gentle side. The one who looked at her with warmth and undeniable affection.
"Are you feeling alright?" He cocked his head to one side, his gaze holding hers, sparkling with tender concern.
Shannon forced her eyes down to the pavement and studied the cracks as she walked, unable to bring her voice above a whisper.
"I'm fine."
There was a long pause, full of expectation and unspoken things.
Sometimes, when this feeling washed over her, she had a sense that he wanted to say something to her. He never had though, and she often found herself wondering what it was he couldn't put a voice to.
"So, where are we going? Into town, or beyond town... perhaps you called me all the way out here on a freezing cold night just to make me go gift shopping with you. If that is the case, I have to say it is in poor taste, as I am a vampire... I do not celebrate Christmas as you do."
"I don't." Shannon wished she could take those two words back. They were going to cause questions that she didn't want to answer. She glanced at Rafe, briefly making eye contact, and then looked away to her right, her gaze eating the streetlamp lit grass and shrubs that she walked past. He sighed but said nothing. She waited a moment longer, afraid that he might just be building up to it, and then released the breath she had been holding. "The report states that there was a demon sighting in the local cemetery just outside the town centre."
"Cemetery?" Rafe sounded positively disgusted.
She glanced at him again. He looked it too. He seemed to take it as a personal affront whenever they had to hunt demons in places like old churches, cemeteries and disused factories.
"Some demons have no taste."
Shannon smiled. "Speak for yourself."
He frowned at her but it didn't stick. It melted into a smile that threatened to steal her breath and she averted her gaze again. What was she doing? Her heart skittered about in her throat and she knew he would be listening to it, and he would know that he was affecting her. She could do this.
It was just one more mission.
And then she would be able to escape these feelings.
She was not going to fall for him.
He was a vampire. She was a hunter.
Her gaze snuck back to him, studying his noble profile, and her heart thudded hard against her chest.
There was no love more forbidden than this.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004AM59T6/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011177187/
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/vampire-for-christmas/_/R-400000000000000359154
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Vampire-For-Christmas/mix-rLsihKs-8EyfN3Zf7TR7tA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/29379
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004AM59T6/
Apple iBookstore USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore UK: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Australia: http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/isbn9781452356044
At the moment, I have a fantastic offer on a selection of my ebooks. There are plenty of fantastic reads to choose from, all priced between $0.99 and $2.99 and in a range of lengths between novella and long novels, and a variety of paranormal romance sub-genres including sinful angels, sexy vampires, seductive werewolves, and even a super-hot demon and sassy witch pairing. Offers end 15th January 2012.
Find out more about the books, including excerpts and reviews, and these great offers at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/paranormal-romance-ebook-offers.php
Vampire for Christmas
Felicity Heaton
It was one last mission. Shannon, a demon hunter with the agency, is looking forward to leaving behind the small town and the vampire she's been stuck with for the past two years. Things are getting complicated fast and she wants out. A fresh start, free of her vampire partner, awaits her if she can survive their final mission and the lonely Christmas holidays.
It was one last mission. Rafe, a vampire doing time with the agency, watches it approach with dread weighing heavily in his stomach. Two years of working with Shannon has been difficult, especially since he started falling for her, but he doesn't want their partnership to end. He has barely a few days to make her face her feelings and stop her from leaving, and he intends to do just that.
When a slimy demon threatens the season of peace and goodwill, it's the chance Rafe has been waiting for and the moment Shannon secretly fears. Rafe's determination to prise open her heart and her own resolve to keep it closed clash as violently as they do with the demon, and threatens to end as messily.
Can Rafe make Shannon see that his love for her is real and that she feels something for him too? Can Shannon face her fears and her past, and stop herself from running away from both? Will a wish on a star bring her what her heart truly desires—a vampire for Christmas?
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004AM59T6/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011177187/
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/vampire-for-christmas/_/R-400000000000000359154
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Vampire-For-Christmas/mix-rLsihKs-8EyfN3Zf7TR7tA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/29379
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004AM59T6/
Apple iBookstore USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore UK: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Australia: http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/isbn9781452356044
EXCERPTHis favourite prey.
Rafe stood on the lawn, his dark eyes following her from room to room in her large house. Shannon disappeared from view on the top floor only to reappear in the living room. He couldn't see much through the open curtains but his senses made up for what he lacked in vision. He tracked her with them, focusing until the dark world around him drifted into the distance and there was only her.
She was muttering.
A smile tugged at his lips.
How many times had he told her not to mutter?
She reappeared and stood in the middle of the living room, tying her long fair hair up into a ponytail, her gaze on the television. The twinkling lights hanging around the room cast a myriad of colours, turning the scene from warm to cold and back again. She looked pale tonight. Had she been getting enough sleep? They had last worked together two weeks ago and she hadn't seemed herself. He had tried to ask her what was wrong, but had failed to find his voice, instead leaving her to mull over whatever was bothering her in silence.
Rafe had killed the vampire that night. She hadn't even noticed it. He'd had to report it to the agency. In a toss up between her being angry with him for telling her superiors about her dangerous lack of concentration and her being safe, the latter would always win with him.
She smiled.
His chest ached.
He hadn't seen her smile in a long time. He stood in silence, unmoving, absorbing this rare beauty before him. She was a goddess when she smiled, and it always tugged at his insides, luring him to her. She turned towards the window and her smile slowly faded, her expression turning distant.
What was she thinking in there?
She couldn't see him. Human eyes weren't sharp enough to pick him out in the shadows of the tall trees on her lawn. The lights in the room would steal what little night-vision she had. He could observe her from the darkness without fear, could watch her and think over the things that plagued him every night.
The feelings.
During the day, Rafe could almost pretend they didn't exist. The sun stole the world from him and his emotions with it, leaving him in a deathly slumber. At night, when he came to her, when he saw her again, everything returned, and each time it came back stronger.
He knew that Shannon didn't like working with him, and the past two years had been difficult for them both at times, especially at the start, but it didn't stop him from feeling something for her. They had been through so much together, so many fights for their lives, so many long nights passed in quiet company when no demons showed up, and so many long conversations when her guard slipped. When they had first been assigned to each other, he had wanted out of the deal straight away, but now he almost looked forward to the times they were required to work together.
His dead heart called him a liar.
He didn't almost look forward to it at all. He waited for it. Yearned, in fact.
Rafe sighed and leaned back against the broad rough trunk of the pine tree.
It was no use anyway.
Come the New Year, the agency would separate them and relocate them at opposite ends of the country.
He was going to miss her.
His little vampire hunter.
He had never wanted a partner, but she had changed that. Now, he didn't want any partner except her.
Shannon smiled again and zipped up her red jumper, until the tall collar of it covered her neck. She pushed shorter lengths of her hair behind her ears and then looked out of the window again, and he felt as though she was looking right at him. She was so beautiful when she was unaware of him. Naturally so too. No trace of make-up touched her oval face. No kohl to highlight the depths of her green eyes, or lipstick to enhance the sensual swell of her coral lips. Everything about her was natural, right down to her curvy shape. He had tended to her wounds a few times before, each time battling his desire as he swept his fingers over her soft skin and laid eyes on the toned body she hid beneath her clothes. She trembled for him sometimes and refused to look at him whenever she did, and he was convinced that her shivers weren't born of fear. He was convinced that part of her was attracted to him too. Her gaze shifted and settled on something partially obscured by the pale curtains.
He frowned and tried to make out what it was.
Ragged dark shape that tapered upwards. Shiny coloured lights. Glittering orbs. Tufted strings of foil.
A Christmas tree.
It surprised him that she celebrated the occasion. He had thought she would be indifferent to such human things since she was a demon hunter, but there she was, standing in a room bathed in twinkling lights, tinsel and festive trimmings. The entire street was alive with flashing reindeers, singing Santas, and fake snow on roofs. No decoration touched the outside of her two storey home, but it was different on the inside.
Rafe studied her as she adjusted a bauble on the tree. He might have been talking about her. The exterior she showed to him and others was different to how she was on the inside. He knew that best at times like these when he was watching her from the shadows. This was the real her, the one she hid beneath her armour and would never let him see. This was his only way of seeing the side of her that he wished she would show to him, and he couldn't help himself.
He told himself that it wasn't stalking. It was observing. It was hunting. It was having the chance to see the woman he wanted her to be around him and taking it.
Shannon moved away from the tree, towards the back of the house, her hips swaying in her snug blue jeans. His gaze slipped to her backside and he growled, desire spearing him in the gut. He loved the way she walked even when she thought no one was watching. There was something sexy about it, alluring. He cocked his head to one side and fought the urge that rose inside him.
It was useless.
She would never be his.
She had looked at him differently sometimes, almost as if he was human, but those moments rarely lasted. The barriers were swift to come back up, protecting her heart before he could reach out and capture it. During their past few hunts, he had struggled with the right words, trying to form them into a semblance of order and put his feelings in a way that she wouldn't reject outright, in a way that would make her see that his emotions were real and that he would never harm her. He had never found the perfect moment though, or the perfect words.
And time was running out.
The ticking clock made him reckless. It didn't matter anymore if she rejected him. He couldn't let the chance slip through his fingers again. It was now or never.
This was their last mission together.
He wouldn't leave without trying to make her see what he felt for her.
Shannon came out of the back room, her jacket in her left hand, and stopped in front of the Christmas tree again. She touched the same bauble she had before but this time her expression changed, turning troubled and distant. What was on her mind? Rafe had seen that look before, normally when she was lost in her thoughts, like the time he had reported to her superiors. They had told him not to worry about it and that they would speak with her. He wanted to be the one to speak to her about it. He wanted to know why she had joined the agency. She was young, barely over thirty, and she had never mentioned her family. Did her reason for hunting demons have something to do with them? Did it have anything to do with vampires?
He only hunted his own kind because the agency had him by the balls on several murder cases. He was a vampire. All of his species were susceptible to temptation and he was far from saintly. He had fought his addiction though and had come out the other side a better vampire for it. A stronger vampire because of it. He didn't kill anymore. He could control that side of him now, and maybe it was time he made the agency realise that and made them let him go.
Rafe shook his head at the way he sounded. Childish. Petulant. Everything that a vampire his age shouldn't be. And why? Because he didn't want to leave her. He didn't want to be reassigned to someone else, or sent off to work alone. He wanted to stay here, with Shannon, where he belonged.
She tugged her short black wool jacket on and Rafe knew it was time to make a move. She was expecting him and he had never been late before.
He moved further back into the shadows on her front garden when she approached the window. She didn't see him. She closed the curtains, hiding her from view, and he resorted to tracking her with his senses again.
A car passed along the street behind him. The sound of carol singers drifted on the chill breeze. Rafe looked up at the crisp night sky and the twinkling stars. Christmas. He couldn't remember if he had ever celebrated it.
He had forgotten so much about his former life on becoming a vampire.
His gaze dropped and stuck on something on her porch.
Mistletoe.
Rafe raised an eyebrow and then smiled as he left his hiding place and walked towards the front door.
Some traditions he definitely remembered from his life as a human.
* * * *
There was a knock at the door. Shannon knew from the impatient clip it had who would be waiting on the porch, and she took her time because of it. It wouldn't look good if she rushed to answer it. The last time she had opened the door within a minute, because she had been passing it at the time, Rafe had teased her the whole night about how she had been waiting for him on the other side, desperate to go out with him again, and how attracted to him she was.
Total crap of course.
She wouldn't be attracted to him if he was the last man on Earth. Shannon smiled to herself. He wasn't even a man. She would have to be down to the last vampire too before she would ever consider him in that way.
Shannon slipped a stake into the inside pocket of her thick black wool jacket and another into the back pocket of her dark jeans. It was always a good idea to be well armed when out on a hunt. She wasn't about to let the holiday season lure her into a false sense of security. Wretched demonkind didn't celebrate the occasion, and some of her busiest times had been over the Christmas period. Besides, the stakes weren't just for use on the bad vampires. Sometimes she considered using them on the apparently good vampires too.
Shannon opened the door.
Rafe stood on the other side, six feet plus of dark handsome devil perfectly capable of pushing every right button in a woman.
At least, every woman except her.
The left side of his sensual mouth tugged into a half smile that revealed the tip of a canine and his deep brown eyes slid up towards the porch ceiling. Her eyes followed out of curiosity.
Mistletoe.
Her gaze snapped back to him. He had to be kidding. He stared at her, dark eyes locked on hers in a silent challenge, and rocked expectantly on his heels. He clasped his hands behind his bottom, the action dragging his long black coat back too, revealing the athletic physique that his dark shirt failed to hide.
Shannon stepped backwards into the safety of her house.
Rafe frowned.
She could almost hear what he was thinking, could read it in his eyes. She didn't care if he thought she was rude because she had never invited him into her home. She had neglected to do so for good reason. It was handy at times like these when he was making her heart jitter and pulse race.
She was not going to kiss him.
There were a million reasons why, but she settled on the safety aspect because her heart couldn't overrule that one.
If she abided by tradition and kissed him, she would be placing herself firmly within his grasp, and that was a place she didn't want to be. What would start as a harmless festive kiss would end as a bloodbath with his fangs in her throat. Just the thought of it happening shook her deep inside, dredging up memories best left forgotten and pain she had fought to erase. She would never let anything like that happen again.
Never.
Rafe continued to stare, his dark gaze cool but demanding.
Sometimes, Shannon wished the agency hadn't paired them together. She had never wanted to work with one of nature's freaks. She just wanted to kill them and get revenge for what they had done to her and her family.
"Never going to happen." Shannon pushed past him, slammed the door behind her, and locked it. She didn't break her stride. Before he could respond, she was at the end of her garden path and walking towards the centre of town.
She didn't hear him move. One moment he wasn't there, and the next he was keeping pace beside her. Her heart leapt at his sudden appearance.
"I told you not to do that." She drew her hand away from her back pocket. It had jumped to the stake on instinct. One of these days, he was going to surprise her and she was going to give him a nasty surprise of her own.
"No need for that." He appeared on the other side of her, his hand slipping over hers and easing it away from the stake. He smiled at her, his cool fingers lingering against hers. "There is a no staking your partner policy at the agency, remember?"
Shannon snatched her hand back and wished she didn't remember. It was the only thing stopping her from killing him. A quiet voice at the back of her mind whispered that it wasn't the only reason she couldn't bring herself to stake him. She shooed it away.
"So, where are we heading?" Rafe's deep voice swept around her, bathing her in warmth she tried to deny, and she kept her gaze fixed ahead. If she pretended he wasn't there, she might just make it through the next few hours, and then she was home free. It was one last mission.
For some reason, that caused a dull ache to settle inside her.
She had thought she would be happy. She should be happy. No more working with the enemy. They were reassigning her to warmer climes and a partner-free role. She had proven herself worthy of working alone, just as she had wanted from the start of her career with the agency, and she was finally getting that wish.
So why wasn't she happy?
"Town," Shannon said distractedly, frowning at the pavement and trying to piece together an answer to her own question. There had to be a reason and it couldn't be the vampire walking beside her. She had grown used to him. That's all it was. He had become a sort of friend. The only person she actually spoke to apart from her handler and a few people at the agency, and she had never told them a thing about herself. She had never talked them, not as she had to Rafe. Shannon cursed herself. She should have kept her distance and not gotten involved, just as she had planned, but two years was too long to work with someone without saying anything to them.
Rafe had slipped in unnoticed, had passed the first of her defences and somehow got her talking one night, and since then, she couldn't stop her mouth sometimes. Sometimes it all became too much and she had to speak to someone, and he was always there, willing to listen to her silly troubles and doubts about her ability to hunt, her skill, and her future with the agency.
And he always reassured her, and made her feel better.
"Anywhere particular in town?" Rafe said and her attention snapped back to him. She stared up at him, still half lost in her thoughts, and found herself looking straight into his eyes. Windows to the soul. Rafe's hid nothing from her. They betrayed everything that he was feeling, and sometimes it frightened her.
Not when he was showing his vampire side. His pale eyes didn't scare her or the malice that she saw in them, the hunger for violence and bloodshed. It was this side of him that scared her. The gentle side. The one who looked at her with warmth and undeniable affection.
"Are you feeling alright?" He cocked his head to one side, his gaze holding hers, sparkling with tender concern.
Shannon forced her eyes down to the pavement and studied the cracks as she walked, unable to bring her voice above a whisper.
"I'm fine."
There was a long pause, full of expectation and unspoken things.
Sometimes, when this feeling washed over her, she had a sense that he wanted to say something to her. He never had though, and she often found herself wondering what it was he couldn't put a voice to.
"So, where are we going? Into town, or beyond town... perhaps you called me all the way out here on a freezing cold night just to make me go gift shopping with you. If that is the case, I have to say it is in poor taste, as I am a vampire... I do not celebrate Christmas as you do."
"I don't." Shannon wished she could take those two words back. They were going to cause questions that she didn't want to answer. She glanced at Rafe, briefly making eye contact, and then looked away to her right, her gaze eating the streetlamp lit grass and shrubs that she walked past. He sighed but said nothing. She waited a moment longer, afraid that he might just be building up to it, and then released the breath she had been holding. "The report states that there was a demon sighting in the local cemetery just outside the town centre."
"Cemetery?" Rafe sounded positively disgusted.
She glanced at him again. He looked it too. He seemed to take it as a personal affront whenever they had to hunt demons in places like old churches, cemeteries and disused factories.
"Some demons have no taste."
Shannon smiled. "Speak for yourself."
He frowned at her but it didn't stick. It melted into a smile that threatened to steal her breath and she averted her gaze again. What was she doing? Her heart skittered about in her throat and she knew he would be listening to it, and he would know that he was affecting her. She could do this.
It was just one more mission.
And then she would be able to escape these feelings.
She was not going to fall for him.
He was a vampire. She was a hunter.
Her gaze snuck back to him, studying his noble profile, and her heart thudded hard against her chest.
There was no love more forbidden than this.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004AM59T6/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011177187/
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/vampire-for-christmas/_/R-400000000000000359154
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Vampire-For-Christmas/mix-rLsihKs-8EyfN3Zf7TR7tA/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/29379
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B004AM59T6/
Apple iBookstore USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore UK: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Australia: http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781452356044
Apple iBookstore Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/isbn9781452356044
12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Blog Hop!
It's time for the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop hosted by Intoxicated by Books !
This wonderful hop runs from from December 13th to December 24th, so there is lots of time for you to enter and also visit the other amazing blogs that are participating.
I'm keeping it simple again with this one, but the prize this time is bigger...
PRIZE ON OFFER:Signed and personalised paperback of your choice plus signed book cover postcards, bookmarks and romance trading cards
Paperbacks available are: Heart of Darkness, Love Immortal, Ascension, Forbidden Blood, Her Guardian Angel, Her Angel anthology, Hunter's Moon, Winter's Kiss or Seventh Circle. All are paranormal romance books.
ENTER NOW:Make sure you follow the instructions on Rafflecopter clearly in order for your entry to count.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.
This is an international giveaway. Giveaway ends December 25th at 00:01 EST. Winner will be announced and contacted on December 26th. The winner has 72 hours to respond and claim their prize, otherwise a new winner will be drawn.
Remember to do the mandatory entry and leave your comment before visiting the other blogs in the hop:
December 12, 2011
Winter Warmers Blog Tour so far
I'm touring at the moment with my Winter Warmers offer and the paranormal romance books that are discounted in it. The tour started last week but I was having a terrible week so didn't have a moment to pop online to blog about it. Each blog stop has a post about one of the paranormal romance books in the offer and also has a giveaway, so be sure to follow the tour for your chance to win some signed book swag!Today I'll round up the previous posts in the Winter Warmers blog tour and also talk a little about today's stop at Fade Into Fantasy!
Winter Warmers Blog TourDecember 2nd - Chatting about ASCENSION @ Bookin It Reviews
December 6th - Chatting about WINTER'S KISS @ Madame D's Boudoir
December 7th - Chatting about VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS @ Page Flipperz
December 8th - Chatting about FORBIDDEN BLOOD @ The Enchanted Book
December 9th - Chatting about SEVENTH CIRCLE @ Paromantasy
And today I'm over at Fade Into Fantasy chatting about the Prophecy Trilogy because I have all three books in the trilogy on offer until January 15th. I love the Prophecy Trilogy because it is the reason that the Vampires Realm series exists, and that's one of my favourite series to write. At the moment, all three of the books are available for just $0.99 each, which is a saving of $6. At Fade Into Fantasy I talk a little about the book, the series, the offer and share one of my favourite scenes from the books, as well as offer you all a chance to win some signed book swag! Read the post here.
Tomorrow I'm at Satin's Bookish Corner talking about Hunter's Moon, another book in the Vampires Realm series of paranormal romances.
Manday Hotties Hop!
It's time for the Manday Hotties Hop again! Be sure to follow the links in the list below to get your full fix of mancandy! This week I'm going back to my lasting favourite, Josh Kloss, with an amazing new photo shoot that a friend alerted me to last week! Plus an old favourite too.
I think that second picture... he's just waiting for someone to come and run their hands over him.
Don't you think?
Visit the other blogs in the hop:
December 11, 2011
Romancing Christmas Giveaway Hop
It's time for the Romancing Christmas Giveaway Hop hosted by Seduced by the Book !
This wonderful hop runs from from December 10th to December 16th, so you have plenty of time to enter the hop and visit all the other amazing blogs that are involved too.
I will keep it as simple as possible to enter this blog hop since it only runs for a short period of time. I'll offer one set of prizes but it is available internationally, and I think you'll all like it.
PRIZE ON OFFER:Ebook of your choice from my backlist plus signed book cover postcards, bookmarks and romance trading cards
ENTER NOW:Make sure you follow the instructions on Rafflecopter clearly in order for your entry to count.
You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.
This is an international giveaway. Giveaway ends December 17th at 00:01 EST. Winner will be announced and contacted on December 17th. The winner has 72 hours to respond and claim their prize, otherwise a new winner will be drawn.
Remember to do the mandatory entry and leave your comment before visiting the other blogs in the hop:
December 9, 2011
Naughty Not Nice Giveaway Hop
[image error]
It's time for the Naughty Not Nice Giveaway Hop hosted by Seduced by the Book !
This wonderful hop runs from from December 9th to December 12th, so you have plenty of time to enter the hop and visit all the other amazing blogs that are involved too.
I will keep it as simple as possible to enter this blog hop since it only runs for a short period of time. I'll offer one set of prizes but it is available internationally, and I think you'll all like it.
PRIZE ON OFFER:Ebook of your choice from my backlist plus signed book cover postcards, bookmarks and romance trading cards.
ENTER NOW:Make sure you follow the instructions on Rafflecopter clearly in order for your entry to count.
You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.
This is an international giveaway. Giveaway ends December 13th at 00:01 EST. Winner will be announced and contacted on December 13th. The winner has 72 hours to respond and claim their prize, otherwise a new winner will be drawn.
Remember to do the mandatory entry and leave your comment before visiting the other blogs in the hop:
It's time for the Naughty Not Nice Giveaway Hop hosted by Seduced by the Book !
This wonderful hop runs from from December 9th to December 12th, so you have plenty of time to enter the hop and visit all the other amazing blogs that are involved too.
I will keep it as simple as possible to enter this blog hop since it only runs for a short period of time. I'll offer one set of prizes but it is available internationally, and I think you'll all like it.
PRIZE ON OFFER:Ebook of your choice from my backlist plus signed book cover postcards, bookmarks and romance trading cards.
ENTER NOW:Make sure you follow the instructions on Rafflecopter clearly in order for your entry to count.
You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.
This is an international giveaway. Giveaway ends December 13th at 00:01 EST. Winner will be announced and contacted on December 13th. The winner has 72 hours to respond and claim their prize, otherwise a new winner will be drawn.
Remember to do the mandatory entry and leave your comment before visiting the other blogs in the hop:
December 8, 2011
Amazon Kindle Owners' Lending Library
It's been a strange week so far, but an interesting one. My schedule has been all over the place due to factors beyond my control, but I've got things done somehow, and have managed to get Crave edited in second draft, as well as writing a whole bunch of guest posts for my Winter Warmers blog tour.
The highlight of my week was an email from a lovely lady at Amazon KDP asking if she could call me and discuss something "confidential". Of course I said yes because curiosity is a weakness we all share with cats. When Amazon email you wanting to discuss something confidential and offering to call you whenever is good for you, how could you say no?
Being sworn to secrecy is always difficult for me but I somehow survived and at least I can talk about it now. The nice lady wanted to discuss the new Kindle Owners' Lending Library. It's something they're adding for Amazon Prime customers and rather than it being Kindle users lending their books to each other, it acts more like a real library. There's a $500,000 kitty for the month of December, and each time your book is borrowed from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, you get a share of that kitty. Say there are 100,000 downloaded books in that month, and your book was borrowed 1000 times, you get $5000 that month as payment for your book being in the library. Sounds great doesn't it? They believe they'll get a $6 million kitty for the whole of 2012, so retaining that $500,000 a month.
Of course, there's always a flip side to everything. In order to be a part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, your book has to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days. Yep, you read that right. Amazon wants your book exclusively for three months... a quarter of a year... and if you forget to opt your book out near the end of those 90 days, it gets enrolled again.
There are added incentives to lure us indie authors into going along with our books being unavailable elsewhere for those 90 days, such as the fact that it will still be available for sale on all the Amazon Kindle Stores worldwide so you'll continue to make money on it as you would normally too, and you get 5 days where you can have a free promotion on your book. You get to choose the days via the new look KDP, and can select either 5 consecutive days or non-consecutive. I'm interested to see whether they will promote those free books somehow so customers know about them, or whether they'll just be free and only people who come across your book will know about it, or those you promote it to yourself.
The part I liked most about being asked by Amazon to enrol my books in the scheme was reading this on the blogs today:
Yes, I was rather pleased to see that I had made enough progress with my life as a writer that I am considered one of the top 50 KDP authors. I shouldn't really be surprised considering that I have sold over 110,000 books on Amazon this year as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton, but it was nice to see it there spelled out for me. I had wondered why Amazon had chosen to contact me. Now I know.
I was honest when speaking to the lady and told her that I wouldn't enrol any of my current releases in the library because it is the run up to the biggest retail week of the year and I've been working hard to promote my books over the past few weeks and get them into prime position for the Christmas period. Plus, as I said to her, I once tried to get Barnes and Noble, via Smashwords, to remove my books back when they were heavily discounting and causing me problems on Amazon, and several emails and four months later and they were still for sale on B&N. She did say that Amazon would give a two week grace period during which the author would have to remove their books, or make a very obvious effort to do so.
90 days is a very long time to have your book exclusively on one retail site. Okay, Amazon is the biggest, and the thought of getting a nice slice of the kitty plus the regular royalties for sales of the book is very alluring, but I do think it's a long time to have your book in just one place.
Also, if you remove your books for sale on websites like Barnes and Noble, Apple iBookstore, Sony Reader Store, Kobo Books, etc then you're going to lose rankings on those sites, as well as reviews most likely. You're basically killing your previous marketing efforts for that book on those sites, and resetting everything. You'll have to work doubly hard to get your book up the rankings again, and get reviews back. Of course, I'm sure Amazon knows this. The lure of a share of that pot will likely tempt people into giving it a go though.
Let's do the math. Rather than opting one of my current releases in, I asked if I could add a new book to the site. The lady said yes so I added a book to the site before the deadline and supplied the ASIN for that book to Amazon. The book is a fantasy romance short story entitled The Night by Felicity Heaton. You can see it on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-ebook/dp/B006IWCR5A/
When you look at the Amazon book listing page, like you see when you search for a book title, it shows like this:
So people can immediately see that the book is available free if you're a member of Amazon Prime. That should entice people for a start.
I'm selling the book for $0.99. That means I get around $0.35 per sale. If a Christmas miracle were to happen and the book is borrowed 1000 times, and only 100,000 books are borrowed in total from the library, then I get $5000 from the library kitty.
How many $0.99 books would I need to sell to get that in normal sales? Around 14285 books.
So, if the book you're enrolling in the library is only $0.99, it makes a little financial sense to enrol it in the library like I have and see what happens. Even a $2.99 on 70% royalty option would have to sell close to 2500 books to make the same money as a book lent 1000 times. Plus, let's be honest, you're more likely to get someone reading your book for free from a library than paying for it. People love free stuff.
Is it worth not having your book on all the other retailers for 90 days? I'm not sure. I guess it depends on how many you think you can sell on those sites during that period. In reality, most of us would be likely to shift on average around 600 copies a month of a $0.99 book on Amazon. I have managed to do more than 3000 of a $0.99 in a month before though. Still, it's not the 14000 I would have to sell to make $5k. In my personal experience, sales across all other sites are substantially lower than I get on Amazon. On average totalling around 200 a month across the other sites for a $0.99 book. Lose those 200 sales and risk gaining more money through the lending library? It's a hard call. Since I can't enrol in Pubit because I'm not American, I don't make that many sales through B&N. Apple is my second biggest revenue source. Even then Amazon dwarfs it.
Still, I don't think I would rush out and remove my books from other retailers. I am tempted to use the Amazon Kindle Owners' Lending Library in a different manner though. I often work quite a way in advance on my releases but in 2012 I'm aiming to have them completed a few months before the advertised release date. I could do a soft launch on Amazon a little over 90 days prior to the book's release, enrol it in the library for those 90 days, and offer it exclusively on Amazon until the official release date. Promotion wise, it would have to be very minimal until the official launch, but the book should sell some copies without me crooning about it all the time or touring the blogs with it. I just don't know how readers would react to it. Would they be annoyed that they can't get the book at Sony or Kobo or Apple or B&N or my own website for those 90 days? Most likely. Would Amazon users feel a little privileged because they could? Most likely too. Would I do it? It depends on how readers feel really. I'm not about to start alienating my readers to gain a few extra dollars. A lot of it would depend on the opinion of my readers and on how well my initial book in the library performs. Do I think Barnes and Noble, Apple and other retailers are going to be miffed? Absolutely!
Read more about the Amazon Kindle Owners' Lending Library: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000739811
Read more about The Night:
The Night
Felicity Heaton
A powerful seventh level wizard, the last thing Zane expected to happen in his life was being cursed, even if he did deserve it. Each night he turns into a cat and remains that way until dawn breaks. His search for a cure uncovered rumours of a powerful witch who might be the only one in the world who could save him. From the moment he set eyes on the beautiful and mysterious Celene, he was lost.
Celene took Zane in without question a year ago and since that night she has been falling for him. Fearing he will leave if he discovers the truth about her, Celene learns all that she can from books and does all in her power to help him, but nothing is working and from daybreak to nightfall she must leave him to fight on alone.
When she realises that time is running out for Zane, Celene redoubles her effort to cure him but his stubborn refusal to tell her anything about the curse only hampers her efforts. But Celene can be stubborn too, and when she finds a slip of parchment with the clue she's been hoping for, she sets about forcing Zane to confront his past.
Will Celene be able to save the man she's come to love? And will Zane finally discover the truth about Celene and break his curse?
Price: $0.99
Available at Amazon Kindle Stores:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006IWCR5A/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006IWCR5A/
The highlight of my week was an email from a lovely lady at Amazon KDP asking if she could call me and discuss something "confidential". Of course I said yes because curiosity is a weakness we all share with cats. When Amazon email you wanting to discuss something confidential and offering to call you whenever is good for you, how could you say no?
Being sworn to secrecy is always difficult for me but I somehow survived and at least I can talk about it now. The nice lady wanted to discuss the new Kindle Owners' Lending Library. It's something they're adding for Amazon Prime customers and rather than it being Kindle users lending their books to each other, it acts more like a real library. There's a $500,000 kitty for the month of December, and each time your book is borrowed from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, you get a share of that kitty. Say there are 100,000 downloaded books in that month, and your book was borrowed 1000 times, you get $5000 that month as payment for your book being in the library. Sounds great doesn't it? They believe they'll get a $6 million kitty for the whole of 2012, so retaining that $500,000 a month.
Of course, there's always a flip side to everything. In order to be a part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, your book has to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days. Yep, you read that right. Amazon wants your book exclusively for three months... a quarter of a year... and if you forget to opt your book out near the end of those 90 days, it gets enrolled again.
There are added incentives to lure us indie authors into going along with our books being unavailable elsewhere for those 90 days, such as the fact that it will still be available for sale on all the Amazon Kindle Stores worldwide so you'll continue to make money on it as you would normally too, and you get 5 days where you can have a free promotion on your book. You get to choose the days via the new look KDP, and can select either 5 consecutive days or non-consecutive. I'm interested to see whether they will promote those free books somehow so customers know about them, or whether they'll just be free and only people who come across your book will know about it, or those you promote it to yourself.
The part I liked most about being asked by Amazon to enrol my books in the scheme was reading this on the blogs today:
Amazon says "31 of the top 50 KDP authors have already enrolled 129 titles."
Yes, I was rather pleased to see that I had made enough progress with my life as a writer that I am considered one of the top 50 KDP authors. I shouldn't really be surprised considering that I have sold over 110,000 books on Amazon this year as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton, but it was nice to see it there spelled out for me. I had wondered why Amazon had chosen to contact me. Now I know.
I was honest when speaking to the lady and told her that I wouldn't enrol any of my current releases in the library because it is the run up to the biggest retail week of the year and I've been working hard to promote my books over the past few weeks and get them into prime position for the Christmas period. Plus, as I said to her, I once tried to get Barnes and Noble, via Smashwords, to remove my books back when they were heavily discounting and causing me problems on Amazon, and several emails and four months later and they were still for sale on B&N. She did say that Amazon would give a two week grace period during which the author would have to remove their books, or make a very obvious effort to do so.
90 days is a very long time to have your book exclusively on one retail site. Okay, Amazon is the biggest, and the thought of getting a nice slice of the kitty plus the regular royalties for sales of the book is very alluring, but I do think it's a long time to have your book in just one place.
Also, if you remove your books for sale on websites like Barnes and Noble, Apple iBookstore, Sony Reader Store, Kobo Books, etc then you're going to lose rankings on those sites, as well as reviews most likely. You're basically killing your previous marketing efforts for that book on those sites, and resetting everything. You'll have to work doubly hard to get your book up the rankings again, and get reviews back. Of course, I'm sure Amazon knows this. The lure of a share of that pot will likely tempt people into giving it a go though.
Let's do the math. Rather than opting one of my current releases in, I asked if I could add a new book to the site. The lady said yes so I added a book to the site before the deadline and supplied the ASIN for that book to Amazon. The book is a fantasy romance short story entitled The Night by Felicity Heaton. You can see it on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-ebook/dp/B006IWCR5A/
When you look at the Amazon book listing page, like you see when you search for a book title, it shows like this:
So people can immediately see that the book is available free if you're a member of Amazon Prime. That should entice people for a start.
I'm selling the book for $0.99. That means I get around $0.35 per sale. If a Christmas miracle were to happen and the book is borrowed 1000 times, and only 100,000 books are borrowed in total from the library, then I get $5000 from the library kitty.
How many $0.99 books would I need to sell to get that in normal sales? Around 14285 books.
So, if the book you're enrolling in the library is only $0.99, it makes a little financial sense to enrol it in the library like I have and see what happens. Even a $2.99 on 70% royalty option would have to sell close to 2500 books to make the same money as a book lent 1000 times. Plus, let's be honest, you're more likely to get someone reading your book for free from a library than paying for it. People love free stuff.
Is it worth not having your book on all the other retailers for 90 days? I'm not sure. I guess it depends on how many you think you can sell on those sites during that period. In reality, most of us would be likely to shift on average around 600 copies a month of a $0.99 book on Amazon. I have managed to do more than 3000 of a $0.99 in a month before though. Still, it's not the 14000 I would have to sell to make $5k. In my personal experience, sales across all other sites are substantially lower than I get on Amazon. On average totalling around 200 a month across the other sites for a $0.99 book. Lose those 200 sales and risk gaining more money through the lending library? It's a hard call. Since I can't enrol in Pubit because I'm not American, I don't make that many sales through B&N. Apple is my second biggest revenue source. Even then Amazon dwarfs it.
Still, I don't think I would rush out and remove my books from other retailers. I am tempted to use the Amazon Kindle Owners' Lending Library in a different manner though. I often work quite a way in advance on my releases but in 2012 I'm aiming to have them completed a few months before the advertised release date. I could do a soft launch on Amazon a little over 90 days prior to the book's release, enrol it in the library for those 90 days, and offer it exclusively on Amazon until the official release date. Promotion wise, it would have to be very minimal until the official launch, but the book should sell some copies without me crooning about it all the time or touring the blogs with it. I just don't know how readers would react to it. Would they be annoyed that they can't get the book at Sony or Kobo or Apple or B&N or my own website for those 90 days? Most likely. Would Amazon users feel a little privileged because they could? Most likely too. Would I do it? It depends on how readers feel really. I'm not about to start alienating my readers to gain a few extra dollars. A lot of it would depend on the opinion of my readers and on how well my initial book in the library performs. Do I think Barnes and Noble, Apple and other retailers are going to be miffed? Absolutely!
Read more about the Amazon Kindle Owners' Lending Library: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000739811
Read more about The Night:
The NightFelicity Heaton
A powerful seventh level wizard, the last thing Zane expected to happen in his life was being cursed, even if he did deserve it. Each night he turns into a cat and remains that way until dawn breaks. His search for a cure uncovered rumours of a powerful witch who might be the only one in the world who could save him. From the moment he set eyes on the beautiful and mysterious Celene, he was lost.
Celene took Zane in without question a year ago and since that night she has been falling for him. Fearing he will leave if he discovers the truth about her, Celene learns all that she can from books and does all in her power to help him, but nothing is working and from daybreak to nightfall she must leave him to fight on alone.
When she realises that time is running out for Zane, Celene redoubles her effort to cure him but his stubborn refusal to tell her anything about the curse only hampers her efforts. But Celene can be stubborn too, and when she finds a slip of parchment with the clue she's been hoping for, she sets about forcing Zane to confront his past.
Will Celene be able to save the man she's come to love? And will Zane finally discover the truth about Celene and break his curse?
Price: $0.99
Available at Amazon Kindle Stores:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006IWCR5A/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006IWCR5A/
Book Review - The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter (Lords of the Underworld #4)
During my break in Scotland, I read three books in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series.
Over the past two weeks I have posted my four star review of The Darkest Kiss and my five star review of The Darkest Pleasure, and this week I'm posting my review of The Darkest Whisper!
So here's my candid review of this paranormal romance book by Gena Showalter.
The Darkest Whisper
Gena Showalter
He is the keeper of Doubt and his entire world's about to be rocked.
Bound by the demon of doubt, Sabin unintentionally destroys even the most confident of lovers. So the immortal warrior spends his time on the battlefield instead of the bedroom, victory his only concern…until he meets Gwendolyn the Timid. One taste of the beautiful redhead, and he craves more.
Gwen, an immortal herself, always thought she'd fall for a kind human who wouldn't rouse her darker side. But when Sabin frees her from prison, battling their enemies for the claim to Pandora's box turns out to be nothing compared to the battle Sabin and Gwen will wage against love...
REVIEW
The Darkest Whisper, the fourth book in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series, starts off with a bang that soon fades as the book progresses. The plot wasn't amazing in this one, mainly focusing on the romance blossoming between the hero, Sabin, the leader of the Greece Lords and keeper of Doubt, and Gwen, a young Harpy female. There are a few fights thrown in to spice things up a bit, but they all felt a little convenient to me. There was no real hints that danger was coming or the enemy was going to launch a full-scale attack. Everything was pretty much fine one moment and total pandemonium the next. It did leave me feeling that they were tossed in there because the author felt there needed to be something happening in the book other than the romance.
We learn a few new things about the world and the overall plot arc in the book though, but it isn't Sabin or Gwen who learn them. They're mostly out of action dealing with each other. I think I would have preferred it if the leading couple had been more involved with the plot. Most of the time, Sabin and Gwen were busy training together or generally resisting their desire for each other, rather than moving the plot along, flimsy as it was. The Darkest Whisper was more about the romance than anything. The ending was fairly unbelievable and actually came close to ruining this book for me. Gwen's decision would have driven the Lords to totally butcher her and I doubt they would have listened to Sabin and given her the choice when securing their fate and future is within their reach. It just seemed out of character for all of the immortal warriors that they would let it go down that way. Also, the epilogue was dire and extremely cheesy, and utterly pointless. It sort of made me cringe.
However, Sabin was delicious and I really liked Gwen, and their romance was one worth reading. Since Sabin is the keeper of Doubt, he has a tendency to drive women to lose all confidence in themselves and eventually commit suicide. He doesn't have a great track record with the ladies, so has kept clear of them, until he finds Gwen locked in a glass cage in a Hunter lab in Egypt. Saving her becomes priority one for the man who is normally so focused on war and fighting, willing to do whatever it takes to win. It's that side of him that makes Gwen cautious and unwilling to fall for him, even when she can't stop herself from desiring him. Her Harpy side delights in the presence of such a strong handsome man and she's fairly smitten from the moment he saves her. Sabin uses the excuse that he's keeping her around because he wants to make timid little Gwen into a weapon, harnessing her Harpy side and training her to unleash it at will. As the story progresses though, he comes to admit that he's keeping her around because as far as he's concerned, she belongs to him now and he won't let her go. He also realises that he can't use her in the manner he first wanted to, and that she's changing him and smoothing out his rough edges.
Gwen was a brilliant heroine too. I always enjoy it when we get to witness a heroine coming into her own. She goes from being afraid of her Harpy side and pretty much everything around her, scared that she'll lose control and harm people she cares about, to being a strong confident woman in control of herself and her destiny, and determined to bring Sabin to his knees. I love how possessive she became of him, her Harpy side taking the reins whenever someone dared to just look at him the wrong way.
Read this book for the romance and just take the randomly thrown in bit of plot at the end as a bonus. It was great that the series has taken a leap forward though, the revelations coming thick and fast now, but some parts of it just didn't fit with what we know of the Lords and how they work and react to things. I would still recommend it though. I want to give it a four because I loved the romance side of things, but I can't get passed the fact that it just sucked a little at the end, so it's going to have to receive a three from me. It's really a 3.5, and I know I normally bring those up to a four, but I just can't do it with this one without my stomach turning.
Read reviews of The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5509920-the-darkest-whisper
Over the past two weeks I have posted my four star review of The Darkest Kiss and my five star review of The Darkest Pleasure, and this week I'm posting my review of The Darkest Whisper!
So here's my candid review of this paranormal romance book by Gena Showalter.
The Darkest WhisperGena Showalter
He is the keeper of Doubt and his entire world's about to be rocked.
Bound by the demon of doubt, Sabin unintentionally destroys even the most confident of lovers. So the immortal warrior spends his time on the battlefield instead of the bedroom, victory his only concern…until he meets Gwendolyn the Timid. One taste of the beautiful redhead, and he craves more.
Gwen, an immortal herself, always thought she'd fall for a kind human who wouldn't rouse her darker side. But when Sabin frees her from prison, battling their enemies for the claim to Pandora's box turns out to be nothing compared to the battle Sabin and Gwen will wage against love...
REVIEW
The Darkest Whisper, the fourth book in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series, starts off with a bang that soon fades as the book progresses. The plot wasn't amazing in this one, mainly focusing on the romance blossoming between the hero, Sabin, the leader of the Greece Lords and keeper of Doubt, and Gwen, a young Harpy female. There are a few fights thrown in to spice things up a bit, but they all felt a little convenient to me. There was no real hints that danger was coming or the enemy was going to launch a full-scale attack. Everything was pretty much fine one moment and total pandemonium the next. It did leave me feeling that they were tossed in there because the author felt there needed to be something happening in the book other than the romance.
We learn a few new things about the world and the overall plot arc in the book though, but it isn't Sabin or Gwen who learn them. They're mostly out of action dealing with each other. I think I would have preferred it if the leading couple had been more involved with the plot. Most of the time, Sabin and Gwen were busy training together or generally resisting their desire for each other, rather than moving the plot along, flimsy as it was. The Darkest Whisper was more about the romance than anything. The ending was fairly unbelievable and actually came close to ruining this book for me. Gwen's decision would have driven the Lords to totally butcher her and I doubt they would have listened to Sabin and given her the choice when securing their fate and future is within their reach. It just seemed out of character for all of the immortal warriors that they would let it go down that way. Also, the epilogue was dire and extremely cheesy, and utterly pointless. It sort of made me cringe.
However, Sabin was delicious and I really liked Gwen, and their romance was one worth reading. Since Sabin is the keeper of Doubt, he has a tendency to drive women to lose all confidence in themselves and eventually commit suicide. He doesn't have a great track record with the ladies, so has kept clear of them, until he finds Gwen locked in a glass cage in a Hunter lab in Egypt. Saving her becomes priority one for the man who is normally so focused on war and fighting, willing to do whatever it takes to win. It's that side of him that makes Gwen cautious and unwilling to fall for him, even when she can't stop herself from desiring him. Her Harpy side delights in the presence of such a strong handsome man and she's fairly smitten from the moment he saves her. Sabin uses the excuse that he's keeping her around because he wants to make timid little Gwen into a weapon, harnessing her Harpy side and training her to unleash it at will. As the story progresses though, he comes to admit that he's keeping her around because as far as he's concerned, she belongs to him now and he won't let her go. He also realises that he can't use her in the manner he first wanted to, and that she's changing him and smoothing out his rough edges.
Gwen was a brilliant heroine too. I always enjoy it when we get to witness a heroine coming into her own. She goes from being afraid of her Harpy side and pretty much everything around her, scared that she'll lose control and harm people she cares about, to being a strong confident woman in control of herself and her destiny, and determined to bring Sabin to his knees. I love how possessive she became of him, her Harpy side taking the reins whenever someone dared to just look at him the wrong way.
Read this book for the romance and just take the randomly thrown in bit of plot at the end as a bonus. It was great that the series has taken a leap forward though, the revelations coming thick and fast now, but some parts of it just didn't fit with what we know of the Lords and how they work and react to things. I would still recommend it though. I want to give it a four because I loved the romance side of things, but I can't get passed the fact that it just sucked a little at the end, so it's going to have to receive a three from me. It's really a 3.5, and I know I normally bring those up to a four, but I just can't do it with this one without my stomach turning.
Read reviews of The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5509920-the-darkest-whisper
