Dani Harper's Blog, page 9
February 3, 2016
Corrected Link - LOVE IS IN THE AIR Giveaway Hop
Corrected Link! Sorry for the goof! https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Blog/Articles/Love-Is-In-The-Air-2015
Night Owl Reviews is hosting one of their now-famous scavenger hunts during the season of love -- and I can't resist the opportunity to be part of the fun!
The hunt is a great way to discover dozens of new authors and new books, and it's EASY-PEASY to enter. Just go to each author's page on Night Owl and read a book blurb so you can fill in the missing word. (And no, you're not required to do every one on the list --- but you could!)
MANY WINNERS! Dozens of Amazon Gift Cards will be up for grabs, plus a Grand Prize of a $100 Gift Card!
There'll be a Winner's Chat on Feb. 29 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. Come for the fun if you can, but you don't have to be present to win.
TO ENTER, go to https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Blog/Articles/Love-Is-In-The-Air-2015
Night Owl Reviews is hosting one of their now-famous scavenger hunts during the season of love -- and I can't resist the opportunity to be part of the fun!
The hunt is a great way to discover dozens of new authors and new books, and it's EASY-PEASY to enter. Just go to each author's page on Night Owl and read a book blurb so you can fill in the missing word. (And no, you're not required to do every one on the list --- but you could!)
MANY WINNERS! Dozens of Amazon Gift Cards will be up for grabs, plus a Grand Prize of a $100 Gift Card!
There'll be a Winner's Chat on Feb. 29 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. Come for the fun if you can, but you don't have to be present to win.
TO ENTER, go to https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Blog/Articles/Love-Is-In-The-Air-2015
LOVE IS IN THE AIR Giveaway Hop - Dani Harper
Night Owl Reviews is hosting one of their now-famous scavenger hunts during the season of love -- and I can't resist the opportunity to be part of the fun!
The hunt is a great way to discover dozens of new authors and new books, and it's EASY-PEASY to enter. Just go to each author's page on Night Owl and read a book blurb so you can fill in the missing word. (And no, you're not required to do every one on the list --- but you could!)
MANY WINNERS! Dozens of Amazon Gift Cards will be up for grabs, plus a Grand Prize of a $100 Gift Card!
There'll be a Winner's Chat on Feb. 29 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. Come for the fun if you can, but you don't have to be present to win.
TO ENTER, go to https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Pages/Articles/Scavenger-Hunt (this link goes live on Feb 4th)
January 28, 2016
GOODREADS GIVEAWAY of THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT
Go to this site and scroll down the page to find the giveaway:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27126039-the-holiday-spiritGoodreads is giving away THREE paperback copies and YOU could win one!A woman who talks to ghosts. A man mistaken for dead. An ancient evil that stalks them both.
Writer Kerri Tollbrook spends her free time counseling the newly departed, but the tall, dark and handsome spirit she meets at the shopping mall claims he's not dead. Is he just in denial? Or is something more sinister at work?
Firefighter Galen McAllister has felt like The Invisible Man ever since a malicious spell separated him from his still-living body. Kerri is the first person he's met who can actually see him. Now if only he can get her to listen ... because the nightmare creature that trapped him between two worlds is far from finished!
GIVEAWAY OPEN TO US, CANADA, AND UK Entries accepted between January 28, 2016 and February 11, 2016
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27126039-the-holiday-spirit
January 6, 2016
"Hello Giveaway Hop" - Dani Harper's Post
Many thanks to hosting this great giveaway event!In keeping with my New Year's resolution to wrestle order out of chaos in my office, I've cleaned out my closet of long-forgotten swag and found some surprising goodies. (One of them is being offered as part of my prize!)But first, this Blog Hop requires me to dust off some lesser known facts about myself! So here goes...
1. I'm seriously addicted to gnomes. I pick them up as souvenirs whenever I travel, plus I rescue them from folks who don't appreciate them. Over the years, I've accumulated a flourishing colony. And as you might expect, they've taken over the yard. In fact, the gnomes recently applied for a permit to begin building an apartment complex....
(BTW, it's no surprise that gnomes even crept into my recent faery PNR - Storm Warned!)
One of many gnome families in my garden******************************2. I'm a HUGE science nerd! I realize now that I should have followed a career in geology, astronomy, physics or biology -- but probably didn't because I couldn't narrow it down! Tough to specialize when you're interested in EVERYTHING! I admire big-brained folks like Albert Einstein, Nicola Tesla, Stephen Hawking, Lynn Margulis, E.O. Wilson, Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker, and Richard Dawkins. I adore fictional smart guys as well, like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Mr. Spock (I'd make a terrific Vulcan!). Though I don't have an advanced degree in anything but hard knocks, I've read enough to be able to hold my own in an episode of Big Bang Theory -- especially since I also have a passion for comic books!
My favorite comedy show.******************************3. Maybe I'm just unusually balanced, but in addition to my love of hard science, I have a passion for the paranormal. I collect myths, lore, legends, superstitions, and folktales from many different cultures, and I draw inspiration from them for the stories I write. I also have several sets of tarot cards, a drawer full of crystals, and shelves of books on magic. 
One of the decks in my collection,The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson ******************************
4. I ADORE chickens! I have a friendly flock of 14 who follow me everywhere in the yard. My current favorites are Araucanas (they lay BLUE eggs!), Cuckoo Marans, Cochins, Speckled Sussex, and Crested Polish! Looking forward to chicks this spring and a chance to become acquainted with some new-to-me breeds like the Salmon Faverolle!
This is Bigfoot, a black Cochin rooster, witha Buttercup hen in the background.******************************5. I collect Maneki Nekos ("beckoning cats" in Japanese) just because they make me SMILE. These good luck felines are often seen in Asian businesses. The cat is most often white with spots, but can be any color. One paw is always raised in a welcoming gesture to draw customers into the establishment. All my lucky cats live in my office in the form of clocks, posters, and figurines. Even my desktop mousepad has a Maneki Neko on it! (The PC was replaced by a laptop long ago, but I refuse to part with this mousepad!)
I have this particular figure on my windowsillin my office, watching me as I write this blog post.
The more kittens a Maneki Neko has, the luckier it is!******************************a Rafflecopter giveaway**********************************************************
There's a giveaway at every stop in the hop, so be sure to visit them all! Here's the LINKY LIST of participating sites:
');
December 29, 2015
Ensuring Good Fortune for 2016 - Tradition of the First Footer
While most folks may be thinking about what to wear, what to serve (and in my case, what to watch on TV!) for the advent of 2016, some will be taking steps to ensure their luck for the new year.
For instance, once the clock strikes midnight and the new year arrives, did you know it's often considered bad luck for anyone to leave the house? (Not even to take out the garbage and the empties!)
In Ireland, it's luckiest to have a handsome,
dark-haired man enter your door after midnight!Instead, many people still wait for the “first footer” to arrive – the very first person to cross the threshold and enter your home in the New Year. Whoever that first footer is will influence your luck for the next twelve months!
This belief in the importance of the "first footer" is found in a surprising number of cultures all over the globe! For maximum good luck in Ireland, a dark-haired man should be first through the door. If he’s handsome and single, so much the better. And it’s really lucky if he arrives on a horse! (I'd have story material for the whole year after an entrance like that!)
In Vietnam, the first person through the door influences the family's prosperity for the entire year. A person of great prestige, success or integrity is actively sought to be their first footer. (At New Year's, no one visits a home uninvited!) You'll find the same tradition in Greece, where the first footer is specially selected in advance. Once he's crossed the threshold after midnight, the lady of the house passes out treats and coins to all of the guests to ensure good fortune.
Bread and salt are traditional
gifts to ensure good luck.As with many first footer traditions, the man should bring a few symbolic gifts with him such as:
a loaf of bread a bag or bowl of salt a lump of coal or peat for the fire a branch of evergreen some silver coins
Ideally, the first footer will make his way through the entire house and then leave by a different door. (And yes, the first footer may well have more than one house to visit!)
Sorry - red heads may have to
wait to get in!So who wouldn't make a good first footer? In some parts of the British Isles, it was considered very bad luck for your first visitor after midnight to be a woman! A fair-haired man wasn't always welcome either – too much like the Viking invaders of old. Other first footer rejects included people with red hair, doctors, ministers, thieves, grave-diggers, or anyone with crossed eyes or flat feet!
Also on the "no" list was anyone whose eyebrows met in the middle of their forehead – it was thought to be a sign of being a werewolf! (The Macleod family from my Changeling series would find this rather insulting.) Any such visitors would be shooed away from the doorstep or made to wait until someone more desirable had entered the house first.
Not even garbage should leave
the house on New Year's Day!In most countries with a first footer tradition, it's critical for the very first traffic across the threshold to be headed IN rather than OUT. (Remember what I said about taking out the garbage? I know it's tough to resist but DON'T DO IT!) The symbolism is simple – it's desirable for people and prosperity to flow towards your home during the year to come.
My favorite "first footer" tradition of all is said to come from the southern United States. The sex of the first visitor through the door doesn't influence prosperity, but is said to shape the balance of power in a marriage for the coming year! If a man enters, then the husband will have more power. If it's a woman, the wife will be the more powerful partner. (As for myself, I think I'd invite a couple who had been happily married for many years to step over the threshold at the same time. I think that would be the luckiest thing of all!)
Wishing you a positive, safe, happy New Year -- and an adventure or two for fun!
Dani Harper http://www.daniharper.com/
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
For instance, once the clock strikes midnight and the new year arrives, did you know it's often considered bad luck for anyone to leave the house? (Not even to take out the garbage and the empties!)
In Ireland, it's luckiest to have a handsome,dark-haired man enter your door after midnight!Instead, many people still wait for the “first footer” to arrive – the very first person to cross the threshold and enter your home in the New Year. Whoever that first footer is will influence your luck for the next twelve months!
This belief in the importance of the "first footer" is found in a surprising number of cultures all over the globe! For maximum good luck in Ireland, a dark-haired man should be first through the door. If he’s handsome and single, so much the better. And it’s really lucky if he arrives on a horse! (I'd have story material for the whole year after an entrance like that!)
In Vietnam, the first person through the door influences the family's prosperity for the entire year. A person of great prestige, success or integrity is actively sought to be their first footer. (At New Year's, no one visits a home uninvited!) You'll find the same tradition in Greece, where the first footer is specially selected in advance. Once he's crossed the threshold after midnight, the lady of the house passes out treats and coins to all of the guests to ensure good fortune.
Bread and salt are traditionalgifts to ensure good luck.As with many first footer traditions, the man should bring a few symbolic gifts with him such as:
a loaf of bread a bag or bowl of salt a lump of coal or peat for the fire a branch of evergreen some silver coins
Ideally, the first footer will make his way through the entire house and then leave by a different door. (And yes, the first footer may well have more than one house to visit!)
Sorry - red heads may have towait to get in!So who wouldn't make a good first footer? In some parts of the British Isles, it was considered very bad luck for your first visitor after midnight to be a woman! A fair-haired man wasn't always welcome either – too much like the Viking invaders of old. Other first footer rejects included people with red hair, doctors, ministers, thieves, grave-diggers, or anyone with crossed eyes or flat feet!
Also on the "no" list was anyone whose eyebrows met in the middle of their forehead – it was thought to be a sign of being a werewolf! (The Macleod family from my Changeling series would find this rather insulting.) Any such visitors would be shooed away from the doorstep or made to wait until someone more desirable had entered the house first.
Not even garbage should leavethe house on New Year's Day!In most countries with a first footer tradition, it's critical for the very first traffic across the threshold to be headed IN rather than OUT. (Remember what I said about taking out the garbage? I know it's tough to resist but DON'T DO IT!) The symbolism is simple – it's desirable for people and prosperity to flow towards your home during the year to come.
My favorite "first footer" tradition of all is said to come from the southern United States. The sex of the first visitor through the door doesn't influence prosperity, but is said to shape the balance of power in a marriage for the coming year! If a man enters, then the husband will have more power. If it's a woman, the wife will be the more powerful partner. (As for myself, I think I'd invite a couple who had been happily married for many years to step over the threshold at the same time. I think that would be the luckiest thing of all!)
Wishing you a positive, safe, happy New Year -- and an adventure or two for fun!
Dani Harper http://www.daniharper.com/
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
Ensuring Good Fortune for 2016 - Legend of the First Footer
While most folks may be thinking about what to wear, what to serve (and in my case, what to watch on TV!) for the advent of 2016, some will be taking steps to ensure their luck for the new year.
For instance, once the clock strikes midnight and the new year arrives, did you know it's often considered bad luck for anyone to leave the house? (Not even to take out the garbage and the empties!)
In Ireland, it's luckiest to have a handsome,
dark-haired man enter your door after midnight!Instead, many people still wait for the “first footer” to arrive – the very first person to cross the threshold and enter your home in the New Year. Whoever that first footer is will influence your luck for the next twelve months!
This belief in the importance of the "first footer" is found in a surprising number of cultures all over the globe! For maximum good luck in Ireland, a dark-haired man should be first through the door. If he’s handsome and single, so much the better. And it’s really lucky if he arrives on a horse! (I'd have story material for the whole year after an entrance like that!)
In Vietnam, the first person through the door influences the family's prosperity for the entire year. A person of great prestige, success or integrity is actively sought to be their first footer. (At New Year's, no one visits a home uninvited!) You'll find the same tradition in Greece, where the first footer is specially selected in advance. Once he's crossed the threshold after midnight, the lady of the house passes out treats and coins to all of the guests to ensure good fortune.
Bread and salt are traditional
gifts to ensure good luck.As with many first footer traditions, the man should bring a few symbolic gifts with him such as:
a loaf of bread a bag or bowl of salt a lump of coal or peat for the fire a branch of evergreen some silver coins
Ideally, the first footer will make his way through the entire house and then leave by a different door. (And yes, the first footer may well have more than one house to visit!)
Sorry - red heads may have to
wait to get in!So who wouldn't make a good first footer? In some parts of the British Isles, it was considered very bad luck for your first visitor after midnight to be a woman! A fair-haired man wasn't always welcome either – too much like the Viking invaders of old. Other first footer rejects included people with red hair, doctors, ministers, thieves, grave-diggers, or anyone with crossed eyes or flat feet!
Also on the "no" list was anyone whose eyebrows met in the middle of their forehead – it was thought to be a sign of being a werewolf! (The Macleod family from my Changeling series would find this rather insulting.) Any such visitors would be shooed away from the doorstep or made to wait until someone more desirable had entered the house first.
Not even garbage should leave
the house on New Year's Day!In most countries with a first footer tradition, it's critical for the very first traffic across the threshold to be headed IN rather than OUT. (Remember what I said about taking out the garbage? I know it's tough to resist but DON'T DO IT!) The symbolism is simple – it's desirable for people and prosperity to flow towards your home during the year to come.
My favorite "first footer" tradition of all is said to come from the southern United States. The sex of the first visitor through the door doesn't influence prosperity, but is said to shape the balance of power in a marriage for the coming year! If a man enters, then the husband will have more power. If it's a woman, the wife will be the more powerful partner. (As for myself, I think I'd invite a couple who had been happily married for many years to step over the threshold at the same time. I think that would be the luckiest thing of all!)
Wishing you a positive, safe, happy New Year -- and an adventure or two for fun!
Dani Harper http://www.daniharper.com/
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
For instance, once the clock strikes midnight and the new year arrives, did you know it's often considered bad luck for anyone to leave the house? (Not even to take out the garbage and the empties!)
In Ireland, it's luckiest to have a handsome,dark-haired man enter your door after midnight!Instead, many people still wait for the “first footer” to arrive – the very first person to cross the threshold and enter your home in the New Year. Whoever that first footer is will influence your luck for the next twelve months!
This belief in the importance of the "first footer" is found in a surprising number of cultures all over the globe! For maximum good luck in Ireland, a dark-haired man should be first through the door. If he’s handsome and single, so much the better. And it’s really lucky if he arrives on a horse! (I'd have story material for the whole year after an entrance like that!)
In Vietnam, the first person through the door influences the family's prosperity for the entire year. A person of great prestige, success or integrity is actively sought to be their first footer. (At New Year's, no one visits a home uninvited!) You'll find the same tradition in Greece, where the first footer is specially selected in advance. Once he's crossed the threshold after midnight, the lady of the house passes out treats and coins to all of the guests to ensure good fortune.
Bread and salt are traditionalgifts to ensure good luck.As with many first footer traditions, the man should bring a few symbolic gifts with him such as:
a loaf of bread a bag or bowl of salt a lump of coal or peat for the fire a branch of evergreen some silver coins
Ideally, the first footer will make his way through the entire house and then leave by a different door. (And yes, the first footer may well have more than one house to visit!)
Sorry - red heads may have towait to get in!So who wouldn't make a good first footer? In some parts of the British Isles, it was considered very bad luck for your first visitor after midnight to be a woman! A fair-haired man wasn't always welcome either – too much like the Viking invaders of old. Other first footer rejects included people with red hair, doctors, ministers, thieves, grave-diggers, or anyone with crossed eyes or flat feet!
Also on the "no" list was anyone whose eyebrows met in the middle of their forehead – it was thought to be a sign of being a werewolf! (The Macleod family from my Changeling series would find this rather insulting.) Any such visitors would be shooed away from the doorstep or made to wait until someone more desirable had entered the house first.
Not even garbage should leavethe house on New Year's Day!In most countries with a first footer tradition, it's critical for the very first traffic across the threshold to be headed IN rather than OUT. (Remember what I said about taking out the garbage? I know it's tough to resist but DON'T DO IT!) The symbolism is simple – it's desirable for people and prosperity to flow towards your home during the year to come.
My favorite "first footer" tradition of all is said to come from the southern United States. The sex of the first visitor through the door doesn't influence prosperity, but is said to shape the balance of power in a marriage for the coming year! If a man enters, then the husband will have more power. If it's a woman, the wife will be the more powerful partner. (As for myself, I think I'd invite a couple who had been happily married for many years to step over the threshold at the same time. I think that would be the luckiest thing of all!)
Wishing you a positive, safe, happy New Year -- and an adventure or two for fun!
Dani Harper http://www.daniharper.com/
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
December 18, 2015
CHRISTMAS TREATS GIVEAWAY HOP - Dani Harper's Treat!
HOSTED BY HERDING CATS and BURNING SOUPDon't miss a single giveaway!
Links to ALL the participating sites are at the bottom
of this post Many thanks to Herding Cats and Burning Soup for this great holiday hop! They asked the participants to talk about the TREATS we like, so here goes...
Chocolate, coffee, cinnamon buns ... as much as I adore these types of treats, they just can't compare to my ultimate favorite: BOOKS!
Ask my hubs, he'll tell you I'm a certified bookaholic. Our Amazon account sends me Christmas cards. My Kindle is in imminent danger of exploding, and I have a TBR pile of paperbacks on my nightstand that towers over my bed and will someday crush me in my sleep... And still I can't resist another book.Part of it is probably that I always have more than one book on the go, which leaves me with a compulsive need to be surrounded by an abundance of reading material! (This will definitely happen if that TBR piles tips...)
Right now, I'm reading the latest from JR Ward, BLOOD KISS (Book 1 of the Black Dagger Legacy). Sigh. I love me some BDB, and it's a treat to return to this world and the characters I love so hard -- plus meet new ones.
BLOOD KISS: Paradise, blooded daughter of the king’s First Advisor, is ready to break free from the restrictive life of an aristocratic female. Her strategy? Join the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training center program and learn to fight for herself, think for herself...be herself. It’s a good plan, until everything goes wrong.
I'm also reading another just-released novel, LUCKY DEVIL by Cat Miller. I confess, I have a soft spot for stories set in Vegas!
LUCKY DEVIL: In Sin City, Luc Christianson is the king of all things wicked. A ruthless hotel and casino owner, he has an aversion to gamblers who risk more than they can afford to lose. Everly Parker is risking it all. After her father wagers the family cattle ranch on a game of cards and loses, it's up to Everly to find a way to get it back.
For my Christmas Treats Hop Giveaway, I'm offering one lucky winner 3 Kindle ebooks! The two that I'm reading right now, plus a copy of my own new paranormal release, THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT
A woman who talks to ghosts.
A man mistaken for dead.An ancient evil that stalks them both.
Writer Kerri Tollbrook spends her free time counseling the newly departed, but the tall, dark and handsome spirit she meets at the shopping mall claims he's not dead. Is he just in denial? Or is something more sinister at work?
Firefighter Galen McAllister has felt like The Invisible Man ever since a malicious spell separated him from his still-living body. Kerri is the first person he's met who can actually see him. Now if only he can get her to listen ... because the nightmare creature that trapped him between two worlds is far from finished!
******************************************************
a Rafflecopter giveaway *******************************************
LINKY LIST TO OVER 100 PARTICIPATING AUTHORS!
Stop by each blog for a chance to win fabulous books and gifties for the Holidays!');
November 19, 2015
WINTER WONDERLAND BOOKLOVER CONTEST by Night Owl Reviews
NIGHT OWL REVIEWS has done it again! Just in time for the holiday season, they're bringing us the WINTER WONDERLAND BOOKLOVER CONTEST
and I get to be one of the sponsors! WOOT!
Readers will be able to discover some great new reads AND enter to win one of several Amazon Gift Cards!
Nov 20th - Dec 17thEasy-peasy to enter -- Just visit each author's page and read a book blurb. On the entry form, you'll see a sentence from the same blurb that is missing a word. Fill in the word! That's all!
Make sure to check out my new Christmas PNR along the way - The Holiday Spirit
My newest release is part of the hunt!
MANY CHANCES TO WIN!
Total of $1300 worth of gift cards up for grabs!
Grand Prize is a
$100 Amazon Gift Card! All the winners will be announced on the evening of Dec 21st.Ready to get started?
Click on the contest graphic above or go to https://www.nightowlreviews.com/V5/Blog/Articles/Winter-by-Wonderland-2015
November 12, 2015
Dani's guesting at Cat Miller's Reveal Party! Authors and giveaways!
If you're in the mood for some fun, mark Cat Miller's reveal party for "Lucky Devil" on your calendar. Party down with about a dozen guest authors (including me!). Excerpts, games, and giveaways! You could even win a Kindle Paperwhite!
Day: Tuesday, November 17
Time: 5:30pm to 10:30pm Eastern Time (2:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific Time)
Location: Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/1516640815322085/
........................................................................................................
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Day: Tuesday, November 17
Time: 5:30pm to 10:30pm Eastern Time (2:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific Time)
Location: Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/1516640815322085/
........................................................................................................
a Rafflecopter giveaway
November 10, 2015
Goodreads Giveaway for THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT
From November 11 to 19th, you can enter to win a paperback copy of The Holiday Spirit!
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Holiday Spirit
by Dani Harper
Giveaway ends November 19, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter Giveaway
