Laurie London's Blog, page 15

Day One of Switching to a Macbook Pro

On Saturday, when my computer screen went blank in the middle of composing an email, I knew it wasn't good. My laptop was fairly old (4 1/2 yrs) but it wasn't one of the hard drives that failed, it was the video card. For a long time, I'd been waffling about what to do--Mac or PC--so my video card failure decided it for me. I took the opportunity to go with a MacBook Pro 15" dual core (not the newer quad core) processor.

[image error] It's definitely not fun and games when you have deadlines to meet. Every time I think I understand something, another issue rears its ugly head.

But I'm not going down without a fight!

Memorial Day Contest Winner!!!

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The winner of my Memorial Day contest is.......

Merry/Karen

Congratulations!!!! Please email your mailing address to Laurie at LaurieLondonBooks dot com and I'll pop your prize pack in the mail.

And thank you to Jennifer at Books Make Me Happy for the lovely Winner banner!

The winner of my Memorial Day contest is.......Merry/Kare...

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The winner of my Memorial Day contest is.......

Merry/Karen

Congratulations!!!! Please email your mailing address to Laurie at LaurieLondonBooks dot com and I'll pop your prize pack in the mail.

And thank you to Jennifer at Books Make Me Happy for the lovely Winner banner!

DarkTour Has Begun + Free Download of Hidden By Blood

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Come join Erin Kellison and me as we give away lots of cool prize packs at each #DarkTour stop to celebrate the release of our e-novellas. Here's our schedule along with our planned topics, so spread the word.

Also, this just in: Hidden By Blood is free for a limited time!!! Go forth and download...then come stalk us.

5/31 Dark Faerie Tales - The Shadow and Sweetblood Worlds
6/2  SmexyBooks - Character Chemistry
6/6  Parajunkee - Excerpt Day
6/7  Lush Book Reviews - Villains
6/8  All Things Urban Fantasy - Setting
6/9  Qwillery - Coffee with Brenna and Ellie
6/10 Vampire Book Club - Finn and Cam talk
6/13 Rex Robot - Story Conflict
6/14 Candace's Book Blog - My Favorite Things
6/15 DemonLovers - Author to Author
6/17 Harlequin Paranormal Blog - Themes or Inspirations

Happy Memorial Day - Book Giveaway to a Veteran or Spouse

Hi everyone! Happy Memorial Day here in the US. It's the day when we all take the time to reflect on the service and sacrifice of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. Because of the sacrifice of military people AND their families, we live a pretty great life.


[image error] As a Memorial Day thank you, I'm giving away the stuff you see pictured there ---> 1 signed copy of Bonded By Blood, book 1 in the Sweetblood series, along with a bookmark and romance trading cards to a random military vet or spouse (with a US or APO mailing address). Just comment here on my blog--my actual blog, not the feed that goes to FB (they have new contest rules now) or Goodreads or...can't remember where else I have this thing going. LOL I'll leave it open all week and let Randomizer pick a winner on Friday 6/3 at 5pm PDT, so spread the word.

Contest for: Book, bookmark, set of romance trading cards
Who is eligible: Any US military vet (past or present) OR spouse w/ US/APO mailing address
How: Just comment here on my blog that you want to be entered. One entry per person.
Contest ends: Friday 6/3 at 5pm PDT

Good Luck and THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!!

Two Authors, Two Novellas, One DarkTour

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Some of you have heard me talking about an evil master plan I've been cooking up or you may have noticed the new button on my blog sidebar. *rubs hands together and twists handlebar mustache* I'm so excited to finally tell you what that's all about. Erin Kellison and I are doing a mini blog tour together to promote the releases of our e-novellas, SHADOW TOUCH and HIDDEN BY BLOOD. Thus our tagline: Two authors, two novellas, one DarkTour.

Since our e-novellas both come out June 1, we decided to team up. Give you a two for one. We're doing 10 blogs together (actually 11, because Harlequin asked us to come on their Paranormal Blog, even though Erin is with a different publisher) and giving away a lot of stuff. At EACH stop on our blog tour, we're giving away my book, her book, links to our e-novellas, a book by another author, Shadow and Sweetblood Romance Trading Cards, and bookmarks. It's quite a giveaway!

Here's a list of the DarkTour. Please come join in the fun!

5/31 Dark Faerie Tales
6/2  SmexyBooks
6/6  Parajunkee
6/7  Lush Book Reviews
6/8  All Things Urban Fantasy
6/9  Qwillery
6/10 Vampire Book Club
6/13 Rex Robot
6/14 Candace's Book Blog
6/15 DemonLovers
6/17 Harlequin Paranormal Blog 

Updated Website + Embraced By Blood on NetGalley

Embraced By Blood, the second book in the Sweetblood series, just went up on NetGalley for reviewers! Lily and Alfonso's story won't be out till June 21, but reviewers can get an advanced electronic copy now. Many publishers still produce paper ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) to give reviewers a chance to read and review the books, but my publisher is green-conscious, and tries to use NetGalley when it makes sense. Yay Harlequin!

If you're a book blogger and plan to review Embraced By Blood, thank you! I hope you enjoy it.

Also, to celebrate the new book, I've updated my website. Having clicked on it a few times now, it feels strange not to see Bonded By Blood's golden cover displayed prominently on the first page, but Embraced By Blood's icy blue cover instead. Make sure to check out the excerpt, too! (It's when they first meet...again.)

Easter Blog Hop Winner

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The winner of the Easter Blog Hop giveaway is Meggerfly. Congratulations! You won a signed copy of Bonded By Blood, 4 Sweetblood trading cards, and a book mark. Please check your email.

Thank you, everyone, for stopping by and participating. And thanks to Lush Book Reviews and JoJos Book Corner for hosting this fun blog hop.

Your "sentences" had me laughing all weekend!

Welcome to my stop on the Easter Blog Hop

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet on this leg of the Easter Blog Hop! When Danielle from Lush Book Reviews asked me to participate in my first blog hop, it sounded like so much fun that I had to join in. Besides, the guy she and JoJosBookCorner used on the button is verra handsome and I wanted him on my sidebar.

[image error] Blog Hop Giveaway
I'm giving away a signed copy of my debut paranormal romance Bonded By Blood, a set of Sweetblood romance trading cards (4 cards total), and a book mark to one random commenter who does the following:

Use these words in one creative sentence:

Easter bunny, vampire, and insane asylum

Good luck!!! (Scroll past the list of participating blogs to get to the comments section.)

Open to US/Can addresses only

**RULES**
Must be a Google Friends Connect follower
Must include your email in your message so that I can easily contact you if you win.

**EXTRAS** (Leave each link in a separate comment)
--Tweet this link
--Share this link on Facebook
--Post this link on your website or blog

RT Booklovers Convention Round Up

It was a whirlwind few days here at RT. I left my house on Monday at 6am and arrived in LA around noon. The days were filled with a mixture of workshops, talks with readers and authors, and crazy, zany parties.

[image error] Bollywood PartyWednesday night was the Ellora's Cave Bollywood Party and people's costumes were gorgeous. Since this was my first RT, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I didn't bring much in the way of costume attire. On the backs of all the chairs were hip scarves with lots of dangling charms. Perfect! Here are a few authors we ran into: Shelli Stevens, Lynn Raye Harris, Jennie Lucas, and me. The Bollywood dancers and music got everyone into the partying mode and we ended up dancing until midnight.

[image error] Meg from ThailandAt Club RT, a casual way for readers and authors to connect, I met some bloggers I had only known online as well as several booksellers. Here is Meg from Thailand, who was instrumental in getting her local bookstore to carry romance. Now, she's their buyer. What a thrill for me when I heard she'd read Bonded By Blood clear over in Thailand!

Thursday night was the Faery Ball, hosted by a dozen or so authors. People's costumes were amazing. Almost everyone had on faery wings of some sort and a mask. Note to self: pack wings and a mask for next year.

[image error] Vampire Ball with Shelli StevensFriday night was the Vampire Ball. I must've missed the memo that it's basically a stripper/slutty goth costume party. Boy, did they go all out for this one! People's costumes ranged from goth Victorian steampunk attire to little more than underwear. Fortunately, I did pack my red feather boa, so along with a few other borrowed items, I dressed as a vampire stripper--a fully-clothed vampire stripper.

[image error] Me with Mr. RomanceSaturday night was the Mr. Romance competition. Nine really hot guys competed for the title, with the winner to grace the cover of a Kensington romance novel next year. Although I voted for the guy from my home state, Len Gunn, owner of a landscape company, won the competition. He seemed really nice and was genuinely thrilled to have won. I'm really excited for him and can't wait to see his cover.

We wrapped up the final night with the Carina Press cocktail party and the Harlequin dance party, where I unfortunately didn't win an Ipad 2 or the NookColor. 

Now that I know what to expect, I'll make sure to bring my faery wings to Chicago next year.