Sarah Ballance's Blog, page 44

Romance is in the Air #Giveaway Hop Feb 8th-14th (INT $10 GC + ebook)

Welcome to the Romance is in the Air Giveaway Hop sponsored by I Am A Reader Not A Writer and co-hosted by Rachael Anderson. For this hop I am giving away a $10 GC for Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice) AND a digital copy of HAWTHORNE (clean adult romance / ghost story to be sent as a gift copy directly from Amazon or B&N). One winner takes all.

To enter, please leave a comment with your contact info. (If you put your email address in the comment form, I will be able to see it. You do not have to post it publicly.) I would also greatly appreciate if you’d consider following my blog (email box at the top of the sidebar) and liking me on facebook (“like” box a bit further down in the sidebar) but the only requirement for entry is to leave a comment.

For 150+ more fantastic giveaways, click the image above or head to the linky list by clicking here to see all participating blogs.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For full giveaway rules, please click here.

Charmaine Gordon: Blueberries and Sex

A guest blog from author Charmaine Gordon.

Blueberries and Sex

While on a beach vacation at Cape May with my daughter and 4.6 year old grandest granddaughter last summer, two young women stopped by our beach chairs for a friendly chat. One of them asked my age and when I told her I was born when dinosaurs roamed the earth, she said, “What’s your secret? How do you stay looking so young?”

I said, “Blueberries and sex.”

“Mom,” my daughter said, giving the word at least two syllables, “you don’t have sex.”

I smiled my secret smile and said, “How do you know?”

You see, kids don’t believe parents have sex. Ever. They forget that after all, in some mystical way, egg and sperm mate and form a child or two. Sometimes more. But not their parents.

When our last child went off to school, I’m talking about kindergarten, sex was the first thing my husband and I thought of when the door closed. Alone at last. Just as we were before all those children.

My Romance writing is not erotic. A bit steamy, yes but no gratuitous sex. We all know what goes into what so why carry on about it. Make sure there’s an emotional lead-in before heat and passion. In writing romance, I’ve discovered sex has to mean something, otherwise it’s the romance equivalent of Chekhov’s gun never being fired. The actor in me pictures the scene as I write aware of using the five senses to enhance and capture the reader. Add voices to fit the characters, descriptions to enrich whether it’s clothes, furnishings, setting. Read what you’ve written out loud; listen to your words. Tweak mercilessly or someone will fast forward your precious book, your baby.

I’m an author, new to the craft, in love with fictional worlds I create.

Sometimes even after a loved one has gone to a better world, he returns. . .especially when a conflict is unresolved and husband and wife can’t let go.

Excerpt from my novel “NOW WHAT?” a paranormal romance.

I dreamed a wondrous dream. A shimmer in the woods beckoned me closer. A shadowy shape I couldn’t resist. Without fear I moved into the shimmering layers of silver white, gold and purple. Enfolded in the sparkle of white light, heat rocked my insides, shot through every opening, poured like liquid gold from head to toe until a final pulsating hammered at my feminine core. I cried out for my husband, knowing he was with me. Slow withdrawal as my heartbeat returned to normal and joy filled my life even though the glow of his spirit faded.

It wasn’t a dream, wondrous as it was, I realized the next morning. Bob’s message was clear. He watched over me just as my mother, gone for many years, still remained close. This would be another well kept secret; this gift of acceptance without fear when visitations from the departed occurred.

Available @ Amazon (ebook and print), Barnes & Noble, Smashwords ebook & Print

Charmaine on Goodreads | Amazon author page

Charmaine Gordon

After years of working as an actor on daytime drama, stage, movies and television, I had an idea for a story. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was like a sponge, soaking up knowledge as I read scripts. When I decided to write, it became an adventure. I wrote a scene, painted in the scenery with words instead of a paint brush, gave the characters direction and soon the characters took over.  I knew I couldn’t continue acting and begin a new career so I kissed the sweet time goodbye and took a chance.

Now I have six books with Vanilla Heart Publishing; “TO BE CONTINUED” romance; “STARTING OVER”-romance/suspense; “NOW WHAT?”paranormal romance; RECONSTRUCTING CHARLIE  romance/suspense; SIN of OMISSION second in the series after RC; and soon to be released THE CATCH third in the series: each a stand-alone story.

Thank you for having me here today, Sarah!

Sarah here: My absolute pleasure, Charmaine! Thank you for such a great post. I’ve enjoyed your visit! Readers, here’s a question for you: Would you leave a career you loved for another opportunity? What would encourage you take the plunge?

Elizabeth Morgan: I Aim to Unnerve You (Guest Blog, #Giveaway)

A guest blog from author Elizabeth Morgan.

I aim to unnerve you.

I’m not a horror writer, nor am I a thriller writer. I enjoy writing romances and will always lean toward the paranormal before any other genre. So, why have I written a book which is classed as an erotic thriller?

It all goes back to my author tag line, “Pick ‘n’ mix genre author: I’m not greedy. I just like variety.”

I enjoy trying new genres and the main reason for that – and forgive me if this sounds terrible – but it is because I want to see where my boundaries are. I don’t want to be restricted to one genre, or just a few. When I have a story idea that doesn’t fall under my usual genres I don’t want to sit there and go “sorry, can’t write you because you’re not my usual flavour.” I want to figure out my strengths and weakness as a writer. I want to at least try everything once.

That is why I decided to have ago at writing a thriller or more to the point an erotic thriller/horror. And I say thriller/horror because I personally feel that “Creak” is on the borderline. It may fit in one or the other, or both.

So far, six of my stories (four published, two work in progress) have been inspired after reading a submission call from certain e-publishers. I have to admit, I’m a little odd. I like to check out upcoming releases, and view peoples covers – I’m a big fan of cover art – and check out the submissions section. I can’t help it. It’s a habit I have kinda hung onto from the early stages when I originally was looking at all this because I wanted to become a published author. Old habits are hard to break, they really are.

Anyway, every now and again I will see a submission call that sparks my interest or conjures an idea. That was the case with my latest release, “Creak.” I sat and read the requirements for this Halloween anthology – which ended up falling through due to changes in the company – and just thought “I like horror. I’ve watched tons of movies. So, why not give it ago?”

So, deciding to write a thriller story was the easy part as it usually is. The next part was coming up with a good enough idea. I’m actually rather critical when it comes to horrors/thrillers, and the reason for that is because they don’t frighten me, and isn’t that the point of a horror/thriller? To frighten, or disturb, or at the very least unease you?

I would now like to apologize to every director of every horror/thriller I have watched and not been impressed with. Coming up with a story is hard no matter what, but horror/thriller is hard because it is the fear and discomfort that makes it what it is.

I didn’t want to write a story about a mad man running around with a knife, gutting people and all that. So that left me looking at all the aspects of these horrors that I didn’t like. Looking at the situations I wouldn’t want to be in.

I had to make myself uncomfortable in order to write this book. I had to place my characters in situations – and places – I wouldn’t want to be in. I had to give them a sense of false security and make the unimaginable happen to them.

I basically picked at my own fears.

Being in the middle of nowhere:

I don’t think a lot of people would like being stuck in the middle of nowhere, let’s face it, why would you? I don’t like that you basically become isolated and cut off from everyone. Anything could happen to you out there; get lost, get injured, get killed . . . and you may never get found.

Strangers:

I would like to believe that you can trust anyone in this world, but unfortunately it’s not true. There are a lot of cruel and deceitful people out there. So, how do you know who to trust? Can you trust the man at the gas station? Has the woman in the cafe given you the right directions?

How do you know these people mean you no harm? How do you know you are truly safe in this environment that you have stumbled into for a brief moment of time?

Motels:

I have never stayed in a motel, and I mean no disrespect to the people who run these particular establishments. I understand the point and purpose of them and they are extremely useful, but the idea of complete strangers pulling up outside my room at whatever hour of the night, of them walking past my door . . . paper thin walls in which you can hear everything . . .

They give me the chills. Especially, the motels that are out in the middle of nowhere. Like I said, I get the purpose of them, but something about a solitaire building out in the open, in which anyone can come off the road and wander into . . . I wouldn’t feel secure in the slightest.

So, take those three factors in to account and I have the basics for my story. Once I had my characters in that motel in the middle of nowhere my imagination went wild with scary possibilities.

And isn’t that the point when writing these particular books, or making a movie? Don’t you need to get freaked out by what’s going on? If you’re not semi-freaked about it how will your readers be affected by it?

I wrote “Creak” hoping that I would be able to write a decent horror/thriller. Honestly, this book isn’t scary, but it is unnerving. I was uncomfortable writing certain scenes – which you will probably figure which ones if you decide to read this book – so my hope is that by freaking myself out this book will make you all very uncomfortable while you read it. Maybe give you chills for a couple of reasons. If I can achieve you discomfort than I will consider it a job well done. Ha.

I would like to leave you with an excerpt now, but before I do I want to say a big thank you to Sarah for letting me ramble on with myself yet again. J

~ * ~

EXCERPT:

Chapter Two

Friday, September 12th, 2014

9:38 p.m.

We had lost the sun about two hours ago, the helpful lights of the other cars and the freeway about an hour after that.

We had all agreed to cut through the small town of Silver Creek in order to knock an hour off our journey—a decision I was beginning to regret.

My face had been practically glued to the window for the last half an hour as I tried to figure out where the night sky ended and the ground began. It was pitch black out there. Not the kind of night painted in a mixture of dark hues with the added color jumping out once in a while. This was total and complete darkness, the type that seemed to move with us. The half moon and clear blanket of stars above had become our only indication that we hadn’t just driven into a tunnel with no end.

The headlights of Kacey’s green camper van continued to guide us along the narrow road and further toward Silver Creek, which I still wasn’t sure if we had arrived in or not.

In the dim orange glow of the overhead light, I turned to look at Kacey. The blood had drained from his knuckles due to the grip he had on the steering wheel, and his plump lips were set in a firm line. He was pissed. I would even say livid. Which meant only one thing, we had gotten lost.

“Kay?” I said softly. “You might as well pull over.”

His eyes narrowed to slits. His focus stuck to the ongoing road. “No.”

“It’s pitch black. There are no lights anywhere. No sign of life. Pull over, and let’s all spend the night in the van. We can set off early tomorrow, when we can actually see, and figure out where the hell we are exactly.”

He may have been a mechanic, but puncturing a tire or crashing into a tree was the last thing any of us needed.

“There’s a Motel.”

I looked at the surrounding darkness with wide eyes. “I don’t see one.”

He turned the GPS we had attached to the dashboard toward me, and pointed at a small blue square. “It should be here somewhere.”

I stared at the small screen and then back out the front window. Who the hell would put a motel out here? Then again, I suppose if it’s a small trade town, and people did cut through like we’re doing….

“There’s the fucker.” Kacey declared and put his foot on the gas.

The van jolted as we went over a bump in the road, and a groan came from the back. “What the hell, Kay?” I turned to see Tyler rubbing the back of his head, and looking at us through hooded lids. “Are we there yet?”

I shook my head. “We’re lost.”

“We’re not lost.” Kacey stated sharply. “I came down the right route. It’s just fucking taking forever because I have to go at a tortoise pace because some stupid asshole didn’t think about putting up lights on this shitty back road.”

Tyler yawned. “So, we’re lost?”

Kacey growled. “We’ll stop here and set off in the morning.”

I looked back out at the road and watched the speck of light that had suddenly emerged from nowhere, growing bigger and bigger, and finally forming in to a readable size and shape.

The tall sign to the “Creek Motel” flickered in the on-going darkness. The faulty light to the isolated establishment appeared to be the only indication that actual people lived in the area. After an hour of nothing but darkness, the sight caused a pop of relief to tickle my stomach.

Kacey slowed and turned the van in to the small parking lot.

Apart from the two cars sitting along the front of the L-shaped building, the only other sign that the motel operated came from the dull light seeping through the curtains of a few rooms. The van filled with soft groans as Tyler woke up the others and Kacey maneuvered into a free space.

“Are you kidding me?” Disgust leaked in to Jayne’s sleep-filled voice.

Kacey scrubbed his hands down his face. “What did you expect, the Hilton?”

“I expected to be in a packed parking lot with tons of people, and lights and loud music.” She yawned. “Where are we?”

He cut the engine, and slid out of his seatbelt. “We’re stopping here for the night.”

“Where is here?”

“We’re in Silver Creek.”

“Yeah, which is just another name for we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

Kacey twisted in his seat. “Look, it’s too dark. So we’re stopping here. We’ll set off in the morning and be at the festival in no time. Deal with it.”

Dry laughter scraped her throat. “You’re so grumpy. Jesus. It’s not my fault we had to set off at half past five. We should have set off tomorrow morning.”

Kacey popped his jaw, and slid a look at me. “I’ll go get us signed in, shall I?”

“I’ll come with you.” I pushed the door open, and climbed out of the van.

I pulled my jacket tightly around me as we made our way across the rough gravel ground toward the entrance. In the silence, I could hear each small gust of wind whipping around the solitary building.

I followed Kacey through the open doorway in to the dingy, snug reception, which had bare brick walls with old photographs lining them and a heavily worn and scratched wooden floor. Kacey hit the small brass bell sitting on the reception desk and we both stood looking at the closed office door.

“Do you think the manager has gone to sleep?” I glanced at him, watching as he squinted in some weak attempt to see through the misted glass of the door.

“Not much else to do round here, so it wouldn’t surprise me.” He hit the bell again. “There’s light flickering in there though, so he or she is probably watching a bit of porn.”

“Why do you have to assume its porn?”

He looked at me, and shrugged. “If I got stuck out here, sleeping and jacking off would be the best way to pass the time.”

“You have serious issues.” I shook my head and looked back at the office door as it opened. A scrawny middle aged woman with faded brown hair stopped in front of us, her grey beady eyes almost glacial.

She studied us both. “How can I help you?”

“Hey, yeah we would like three rooms if that’s possible?” Kacey asked.

The corners of her mouth curled, and a spark of delight lit her cold eyes. For some reason, the sight caused a shiver to run down my spine.

“It sure is. We charge only for the rooms, and they’re thirty dollars a night.” She glanced out into the dark lot. “You kids lost?”

“That depends, are we in Silver Creek?” Kacey asked as he pulled out his wallet.

“You sure are.”

“Then no, it’s just a little too dark for us to be driving.” Kacey placed ninety dollars on the counter. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” She took hold of the money before she turned and walked over to the wooden cabinet on the wall and collected three sets of keys. “I’m afraid we only have rooms with double beds, I trust that won’t be an issue?” she asked as she walked back over to us.

Kacey grinned. “Not at all.”

“Great.” She placed the keys on the counter and then tapped the open page of the guest book. “If you’d just sign your name?”

“Sure.”

“If you have any questions or anything, you just pick up your phone and hit one and then hash and it will direct you straight to me —I’m Sarah, by the way —or my husband, Ernie.”

“Do you own this establishment?” I asked.

“Goin’ on four years now.”

“It’s lovely and we’re so lucky that you’re here, otherwise it would have been a crammed night in the van.”

Sarah’s smile grew impossibly wide, revealing a full mouth of crooked teeth. “Oh heck, we couldn’t have that now, could we?”

My own smile faltered as uncertainty twisted in my stomach. I couldn’t take my focus off the small woman standing before me. The longer I stared at her smile, the more I felt like a tiny fish standing in the presence of a hungry shark.

Kacey placed the pen on the book. “There we go.”

“Well, that’s everything.” She looked between us. “You all have a lovely night’s sleep.”

“We will, thank you.” Kacey grabbed the keys from the counter.

Sarah tilted her head and stared at me. “Good night.”

“Night.” I replied softly.

Kacey wrapped his arm around my waist and we left the reception. I glanced over my shoulder as we headed back to the camper van and unease washed over me at the sight of Sarah standing at the window, watching us. Her smile had vanished. Her gaze fixated on us.  A stern expression clutched her face.

“She’s watching us.”

“She probably doesn’t trust us.” Kacey replied, giving my waist a gentle squeeze. “No doubt she’s thinking we will keep her other customers up all night.”

“She gives me the creeps.” I looked around the lot. “This whole place is giving me the creeps.”

“Are we good?” Tyler handed me my bags once we stopped by the van.

“Yeah, seventeen dollars each, so y’all can pay me back when we get home.” He threw a set of keys at Craig. “You two love birds get your own room, which leaves…huh, Tyler and Jayne, and you and me, baby.”

I looked up at him, knowing that I should tell him to go to hell, but staying with him would have made me feel better. Something didn’t feel right about the place.

Kacey chuckled. “Holy shit. You are actually freaking out, aren’t you?”

“Freaking about what?” A hint of concern licked Tyler’s tone.

“She thinks the manager is creepy.”

“She is.” I turned back to look at the window of the reception to find Sarah had gone.

Jayne plucked a set of keys from Kacey’s hand. “Well, no offence Ty, but you really don’t do it for me. So, Nikki and I will be sharing, and you two get to continue with your bro-mance in private.”

“Believe me, I’m not offended.” Tyler replied, with a slight twitch of his lips.

“Whatever.” I watched as Jayne headed over to the ongoing strip of windows and doors. “Are you coming, Nikki?”

I looked between Tyler, and Kacey. “We shouldn’t stay here.” I told them as I hefted my bag onto my shoulder, and followed Jayne.

~ * ~

Creak

(An Erotic Thriller)

By Elizabeth Morgan

BLURB:

“What happens in Silver Creek, stays in Silver Creek.”

After spending the summer as a recluse due to a bad break-up, Nicole Saunders agrees to go to The Heat Wave Festival with her best friends, Kacey and Tyler.

Along with three other friends they plan to take a shortcut through the small town of Silver Creek; the last thing any of them expected was to become lost and end up pulling in to a motel for the night.

The Creek Motel is isolated and the last place Nicole wants to be, especially after meeting the glacial owner, but her discomfort is soon forgot as she finally gives in to her feelings and asks Kacey and Tyler to spend the night with her.

A decision she quickly regrets when she discovers that their friend has mysteriously disappeared from her locked room in the middle of the night. Worried, Nicole presumes the worst, but quickly discovers that Jayne’s disappearance is more disturbing than any of them could have guessed.

BUY LINK: click here

~  * ~

Competition Time!

I’m giving away one copy of “Creak” to a lucky commenter. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is leave me a comment- with your email address – in reply to the following question:

Which horror movie would you hate to be in?

The competition ends on February 11th at midnight – 6pm est time – I will then pick a winner with the help of Random.org. and email their copy to them. Good luck! J

 

Follower Love #Giveaway Hop Feb 5th-11th (INT $15 GC)

Welcome to the Follower Love Giveaway Hop sponsored by I Am A Reader Not A Writer and co-hosted by The Reader’s Antidote. For this hop I am giving away a $15 GC for Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice).

To enter, please leave a comment with your contact info. (If you put your email address in the comment form, I will be able to see it. You do not have to post it publicly.) I would also greatly appreciate if you’d consider following my blog (email box at the top of the sidebar) and liking me on facebook (“like” box a bit further down in the sidebar) but the only requirement for entry is to leave a comment.

For 150+ more fantastic giveaways, head to the linky list by clicking here to see all participating blogs.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For full giveaway rules, please click here.

Feb.03.2013 #WeWriWa #SixSunday #8Sunday (whew!) with Last Call

Welcome readers! And for my fellow authors, whether you’re here from Weekend Writing Warriors (WeWriWa, also known as the new 8 Sentence Sunday) or as a refuge from the old Six Sentence Sunday group, I’m thrilled you’ve joined me. Today I’m sharing eight sentences from my romantic suspense LAST CALL, which will be just 99 cents when it releases from For the Muse Publishing later this month.

Coming Soon: romantic suspense for only 99 cents!

Nick and Rhys’s investigation led them to an affluent neighborhood where their prime suspect is holding an afternoon gala fundraiser.  As Rhys steps into the house, a butler approaches and things take an interesting turn.

“Miss Clark … this way, please.”

They’d found her. They knew her name. Worse, the butler was guiding her away from the crowd.

Away from Nick.

She turned, relieved to see he was right behind her. But his cold expression offered little comfort. Wordlessly, Nick placed a hand on the small of her back and followed her—no, pushed her—after the butler into the empty darkness of a wing clearly closed to the party.

(If you find Nick’s behavior confusing, suffice to say he has his own secrets and they’re about to hit the fan.)

For more 8 Sentence Sunday Snippets, please click the image below.

$50 Book Blast: The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport ($50 #Giveaway)

The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport

Thrust into the savagery of the Civil War, a Chinese immigrant serving in the Union Army, a nurse doubling as a spy for the North, and a one-armed Confederate cavalryman find their lives inextricably entwined.

Fleeing drought and famine in China, Johnny Tom arrives in America with dreams of becoming a citizen. Having survived vigilantes hunting “yellow dogs” and slave auction- blocks, Johnny is kidnapped from his Mississippi village by Confederate soldiers, taken from his wife and daughter, and forced to fight for the South. Eventually defecting to the Union side, he is promised American citizenship in exchange for his loyal services. But first Johnny must survive the butchery of battles and the cruelties inflicted on non-white soldiers.

Desperate to find Johnny, his daughter, Era, is enlisted as a spy. She agrees to work as a nurse at Confederate camps while scouting for the North. Amidst the unspeakable carnage of wounded soldiers, she finds solace in Warren Petticomb, a cavalryman who lost an arm at Shiloh. As devastation mounts in both armies, Era must choose where her loyalties lie—with her beloved father in the North, or with the man who passionately sustains her in the South.

A novel of extraordinary scope that will stand as a defining work on the Chinese immigrant experience, The Spy Lover is a paean to the transcendence of love and the resilience of the human spirit.

Review from the Huffington Post

“…A great story told with such beautiful prose I am hoping The Spy Lover will be picked up by Ang Lee or Steven Spielberg. Kiana Davenport is a brilliant writer. [Based] on her ancestors from the American South and global East, The Spy Lover takes the incredibly difficult…topics of race, gender, slavery and war and artfully weaves them into a specific story. Davenport is genius at capturing complex times, and complications of the heart. It’s been a long time since I cried while reading a novel, and that happened several times while reading The Spy Lover…I couldn’t wait to finish the story, but grieved when it ended. That’s exactly how I felt when I finished reading Gone With The Wind so many years go. If you need a holiday escape…or want to spend time in a different world read… The Spy Lover!” – Ellen Snortland for The Huffington Post

Purchase
Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Author Kiana Davenport

KIANA DAVENPORT is descended from a full-blooded Native Hawaiian mother, and a Caucasian father from Talladega, Alabama. Her father, Braxton Bragg Davenport, was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, stationed at Pearl Harbor, when he fell in love with her mother, Emma Kealoha Awaawa Kanoho Houghtailing. On her mother’s side, Kiana traces her ancestry back to the first Polynesian settlers to the Hawaiian Islands who arrived almost two thousand years ago from Tahiti and the Tuamotu’s. On her father’s side, she traces her ancestry to John Davenport, the puritan clergyman who co-founded the American colony of New Haven, Connecticut in 1638.

Kiana is the author of the internationally best-selling novels, SHARK DIALOGUES, SONG OF THE EXILE, HOUSE OF MANY GODS, and a new novel, THE SPY LOVER, now available in paperback and on Kindle. She is also the author of the collections, HOUSE OF SKIN PRIZE-WINNING STORIES, CANNIBAL NIGHTS, PACIFIC STORIES Volume II, and OPIUM DREAMS, PACIFIC STORIES, VOLUME III. All three collections have been Kindle bestsellers. She has also been a guest blogger on Huffington Post.

A graduate of the University of Hawaii, Kiana has been a Bunting Fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Writer at Wesleyan University, and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant. Her short stories have won numerous O. Henry Awards, Pushcart Prizes, and the Best American Short Story Award, 2000. Her novels and short stories have been translated into twenty-one languages. She lives in Hawaii and New York City.

Website * Blog * Twitter * Facebook

Praise for Kiana Davenport

“An epic feminine saga!  Davenport’s prose is sharp and shining as a sword.”

-Isabel Allende on Shark Dialogues

“Deeply Moving.  You can’t read Kiana Davenport without being transformed.”

-Alice Walker on Song of the Exile

“A powerful and moving experience.”

-The Washington Post on House of Many Gods

THE SPY LOVER

By Kiana Davenport

Kiana Davenport’s latest novel is a powerful epic about the American Civil War, which extends this beloved writer’s vision to an entirely new level. Based on her family history, it is at once an historical novel, a haunting love story, and a brilliant expose on the treatment of minorities during the Civil War.  Meticulously researched, it is finally a story of human sacrifice and personal redemption.  A magnificent novel that crosses all genres, THE SPY LOVER is a work of astonishing beauty that promises to become a classic.

Johnny Tom, a Chinese immigrant, and his beautiful Creek Indian wife, and daughter, Era, live in Shisan, a Chinese settlement along the Mississippi River. Their life is simple and idyllic, until Confederate soldiers invade the town, kidnap the men and force them into service, fighting for the South and slavery. At the first opportunity, many Chinese soldiers defect to the Union Army. In revenge, the Confederates return to Shisan to rape and torture their wives and daughters. Defiled and half-mad, Era sets out to find her father and is plunged into the full savagery and horror of the War.  Lured by Union officials to pose as a nurse while spying on the Confederate army, she falls in love with a wounded Confederate cavalryman, and her loyalties become divided between her beloved father in the North, and the gallant soldier who sustains her in the South.

THE SPY LOVER is ostensibly a novel about the abiding love between a man and a woman, between a father and daughter, and the love of a man for his country. Ultimately, it is a meditation on the ethical choice, on honoring one’s moral obligation.

“I never planned to write an historical novel, or a love story, or a spy thriller, or a story about how brave Chinese soldiers were used as throw-aways in the Civil War. I simply set out to tell the story of my ancestors, who fought on opposing sides of that War.”

- Kiana Davenport

Points of Interest

•U.S. Civil War Research – Kiana’s research for THE SPY LOVER was exhaustive.  For five years she studied correspondences and documents and traveled to the battlefields of the Civil War, discovering facts that she hoped would fascinate her readers.  She learned about Southern women collecting urine from which to distill niter for making gunpowder. And she learned how women planted and harvested poppies, then scored and gathered from poppy-pods the sap known as opium.  She read books on spy-codes used in the War, what spies were paid, and how they were executed when caught by the enemy.  She lived and breathed the Civil War, letting it engulf her as she wrote her novel.

•Kiana’s Heritage – Kiana’s ancestor, Warren Rowan Davenport, was a cavalryman who rode for the Confederacy in the Civil War with a famous unit known as the Prattville Dragoons, of Prattville, Alabama. Her research on Warren Davenport entailed reading over forty books on the War, then basing her fictional character, Warren Petticomb, on her Southern ancestor. Johnny Tom is based on another of Kiana’s ancestors, John Tommy Kam, who emigrated from Canton, China, to Hawaii and finally to the East coast of the U.S. While Kiana had access to tattered correspondences and documents from Warren Davenport, she had little but word-of-mouth stories from her Chinese uncle about his ancestor, John Tommy Kam. Eventually, she uncovered articles about Chinese soldiers who had fought valiantly in the Civil War, including two articles about John Tommy Kam.  Finally, she discovered his war records, and the grounds at Gettysburg where he is buried with his comrades, the Excelsior Brigade of New York State.

•Multicultural Themes – THE SPY LOVER is the story of Chinese soldiers who fought valiantly for a country that, afterwards, refused them American citizenship. It also unveils the gross mistreatment of Native Americans, African Americans, “mix-bloods” and other minorities who served honorably in the American Civil War. Importantly, it is also the tragic story of Native American women – mothers and daughters – kidnapped and raped by slave-owners who used them as breeders of a more “superior” kind of slave.

MORE PRAISE FOR KIANA DAVENPORT

“Torrid, yet intelligent…her writing compares with Toni Morrison.”

—Glamour on Shark Dialogues

“The strengths of this novel are many.  Davenport is a superb storyteller!”

—The Seattle Times on Song of the Exile

“Davenport mines the depths of emotion…Readers who enjoy a Doctor Shivago-like saga will appreciate the broad scope of this novel”

-Library Journal on House of Many Gods

“Complex, resonant … handles the sweep of history and the nuance of the personal equally well.”

— San Francisco Chronicle on Shark Dialogues

BookBlast $50 Giveaway

Ends 3/14/13 – YOU MUST CLICK HERE TO ENTER VIA RAFFLECOPTER

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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$100 Book Blast: Silver-White by Shawn Underhill ($100 #Giveaway)

Silver-White by Shawn Underhill

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”

~ Robert Frost

*Evie’s family has been holding out on her …

Big time.

On an unexpected visit to her grandparents’ house in New Hampshire’s secluded North Woods, the sixteen-year-old literally runs into the truth of the long-hidden family secrets, and finds herself thrust without warning into the clandestine world of the Great North Pack—a wild and exhilarating world of rugged beauty, heart-pounding adventures, and long nights running under a sea of stars … but as she’s set to discover, a world also fraught with potential dangers lurking in the shadows.

Praise

“Simply put, this book was amazing. I’ve read more fantasy novels than than I can count, but this one is certainly one of the best. The heroine isn’t some wishy-washy pansy that screams at everything, and the focus of the story isn’t on some unbelievably beautiful teenage girl who suddenly becomes the biggest, baddest member of her species falling in love with some big, bad, sexy member of her newfound species. It’s about a girl becoming something she never knew existed, finding her place within the pack family she values more than ever before, and an age-old feud that threatens everything she loves.” ~Morgan

Purchase ~ just .99 cents
Amazon Kindle

Author Shawn Underhill

Shawn is a part-time writer from New Hampshire, where he spends his free time hiking in the mountains, camping, racing dirt bikes, or anything else that keeps him outdoors. Dogs are his very favorite people. He is also the author of the novel All Things Different.

Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter

BookBlast $100 Giveaway

$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 2/13/13 – YOU MUST CLICK HERE TO ENTER VIA RAFFLECOPTER

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Print Book #Giveaway Feb 1st-7th (INT)

Welcome to the PRINT BOOK ONLY giveaway hop hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer! Please be sure to visit the full list of participating blogs, each of which is giving away a clean read in PRINT!

Win a Paperback Copy of Hawthorne!

Yes, that’s right. If you’ve escaped this former best-seller this long, here’s another chance to succumb to it. :c) For this hop, I am giving away a paperback copy of my novella HAWTHORNE, a sweet romance with a ghostly twist. Here’s the blurb:

After a terrifying encounter with the unexplained, it took ten years and the news of her grandmother’s passing for Emma Grace Hawthorne to return to her childhood home.   She sought peace in saying a proper goodbye, but what she found was an old love, a sordid family history, and a wrong only she could right.

Living in the shadow of Hawthorne Manor, Noah Garrett never forgot about Emma Grace.  In a house full of secrets, his search for missing documents revealed a truth that could cost him everything.  What he found gave Emma the freedom to walk away from the mansion, her heart free and clear, but at what price to Noah?

GOODREADS | ASTRAEA PRESS | AMAZON KINDLE | B&N NOOK

THIS BOOK WILL SHIP INTERNATIONALLY. If Amazon will not deliver to your address or the cost of shipping exceeds $15, I reserve the right to substitute a $20 Amazon gift card. (This has never actually happened, but if you don’t agree please don’t enter).

How to Enter

To enter, please leave a comment with your contact info. (If you put your email address in the comment form, I will be able to see it. You do not have to post it publicly.) I would also greatly appreciate if you’d consider following my blog (email box at the top of the sidebar) and liking me on facebook (“like” box a bit further down in the sidebar) but the only requirement for entry is to leave a comment.

For 100+ more fantastic PRINT giveaways, click the image above or head to the linky list by clicking here to see all participating blogs.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For full giveaway rules, please click here.

“Holding Off For a Hero” by Gail MacMillan (Contemporary Romantic Comedy) #giveaway

Holding Off For a Hero

Beautiful, vivacious Emma Prescott has a love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation.  Fact is, Emma’s holding off for a hero.  When she moves to a cabin at wilderness Loon Lake and meets her one neighbor biology professor Frasier MacKenzie, he’s still just another guy, even with his killer blue eyes and body that just won’t quit…until he rescues her and her Pug from one danger after another.  Then he definitely falls into hero territory.  But the professor has no intention of filling the role of white knight in Emma’s life.  All he wants is to be rid of her and her annoying little dog so he can get on with his research. In fact, he’s ordered to get rid of them whether he wants to or not.  Looks like Emma may have to go on holding off for a hero…

Excerpt

She floored the gas, and they took off with a squealing of tires.

“Hey, hey!” he yelled. “Slow down! The speed limit is 100 km. You’re heading to 130!”

“Look, I told you, I’m in a hurry!” she exploded.

“I’ve got a ton of things to do back at the cabin. You see,” she continued, quieting and sounding sly, “I’m having a party tonight. I have to get ready.”

“A party? You’re having a party? At the lake?”

Ah, man, that just about tears it.

“Actually, a bachelorette bash. One of my teacher friends is getting married next week, and a

bunch of us decided we’d give her a real whing-ding of a sendoff…up at my cabin where there’ll be no witnesses. Teachers and the likes of myself have reputations to think of, you realize.”

She cast him a wicked glance.

“So there’ll be music and a lot of noise and…”

The Professor’s blood pressure would skyrocket when he gave him this information.

“Oh, y-e-a-h.” She dragged out the last word.

“Couldn’t you have it somewhere else? Like a male strip joint in town?”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said about teachers and others of that ilk? We can’t be seen parading into one of those places. Our superintendent would suspend every last one of us. Anyway…” She looked over at him. “I don’t see why it should be such a big deal for you. You don’t have to keep banker’s hours. If the noise bothers you, stay up, watch a video, and sleep in on Sunday morning.”

“Okay, okay, but will you please keep your eyes on the road? And slow down! There’s a speed trap somewhere along…”

Behind them a siren wailed.

“Quick!” she ordered, pulling over as the police cruiser rolled alongside. “Hunch over and clutch your chest!”

Gail MacMillan

Gail MacMillan is a three-time Maxwell Award Winning writer and author of 26 published books.  A graduate of Queen’s University, she lives in New Brunswick Canada with her husband and two dogs, Fancy a Little River Duck Dog and Bruiser the cover guy and hero of Holding Off For a Hero.

Gail’s web site is http://www.gailmacmillan.ca and she’s also on Facebook and Twitter.

Holding Off for a Hero is available in both print and e-book from:

Amazon.com:  e-book and Print | The Wild Rose Press

Giveaway and Tour Schedule

Gail will award two $5 Amazon GCs and three digital copies of “Lady and the Beast” to randomly drawn commenters during the tour. The more you comment the more you win, so be sure to comment here today to enter, then check out the other blogs for more chances to win!

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