Tanith Davenport's Blog, page 6
July 17, 2023
Share one interesting fact you know
I really had to think about this topic from Long and Short Reviews, because while I know quite a few useless facts, how many of them are interesting is open to question. For instance, the fact that First Lady Dolley Madison's favourite ice cream flavour was oyster is one that has stood me in good stead at quizzes, but isn't likely to do much more than raise an eyebrow at any other time. (I know a lot of junk about US presidents and First Ladies, and none of it will ever do me any good unless I get accepted to go on Pointless.)
One that did come to mind recently, though, was when I was discussing the Brontes with a friend. I've always been a great fan of Anne Bronte and we were talking about visiting her grave in Scarborough, where she is buried apart from her family as she died while on a trip there. My friend's comment was "It's a shame she's not buried in Haworth near that curate she was so in love with."
Oh yes, the story of Anne Bronte being in love with William Weightman, which was a huge part of the Bronte canon for years.
My friend was utterly amazed when I told her that Anne was not, in fact, in love with Weightman. There is no evidence whatsoever that she was - the only thing it's based on is a throwaway comment from Charlotte about Weightman eyeing Anne up in church and Anne ignoring him, which doesn't seem unreasonable in the circumstances. I had thought that this had been disproved some time ago, but apparently it's still a thing.
So there we are - it's not a thing. Anne Bronte was not in love with her father's curate.
So what interesting facts do you know?
July 12, 2023
Making It Hard review tour starts today!
Today my review tour for "Making It Hard" begins - all the stops are below:
July 13: The Avid Reader
July 13: The Faerie Review
July 20: Country Mamas With Kids
July 20: Lynn's Romance Enthusiasm
July 27: D.S. Dehel
July 27: The Reading Addict
August 3: Maggie Blackbird
August 3: Iron Canuck Reviews & More
Enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card, and happy reading!
July 11, 2023
Release day!
It's Release Day for "When I Look In The Mirror"!
When hairdresser Tatum Fox takes part in a séance at aparty, her only thought is of the attractive man sitting beside her, themysterious Zack, who appears in her dreams that night and who she hopes to seeagain. However, when she begins to experience paranormal activity and findsherself confronted by an unnerving client at work, she discovers that theséance summoned a demon – and Zack may be the only person who can free her ofhim.
Zack reveals himself to be an angel, and shows Tatum thatshe also has the power to battle supernatural creatures – a power that isincreased through sex with him. Their connection soon strengthens, but is Tatumstrong enough to defeat the demon with Zack by her side – and can there be afuture with an angel, or is their passion doomed to end?
Books 2 Read: https://books2read.com/u/bOPO7W
Amazon US: https://tinyurl.com/28sjjkcr
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/when-i-look-in-the-mirror-2
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1417354
I hope you enjoy it!July 3, 2023
How I stay cool during heatwaves - and new pre-order
Ugh. This topic from Long and Short Reviews is definitely appropriate at the moment.
I live in the UK, so most houses don't have proper aircon like they do in the States, and we're simply not prepared for this sort of ridiculous weather. It's not too bad today admittedly, but I've been spending my days dressed as little as possible while I watch my two cats melt into the carpet. So how do we try to stay cool in this sort of weather?
I open all the windows and doors to try and get a draught through the house.
I drink as many cold, iced drinks as I can.
And, at night, we have a ChillMax box which we can put ice in to create a wave of cold air across the bed. It's not perfect, but it helps.
I also tend to avoid certain posts on social media, because whenever we have a heatwave in the UK certain people in hotter areas will go "Pfft! That's sweater weather for me!" That's nice, I'm roasting.
And while I'm here, I have a new book on pre-order.
When hairdresser Tatum Fox takes part in a séance at aparty, her only thought is of the attractive man sitting beside her, themysterious Zack, who appears in her dreams that night and who she hopes to seeagain. However, when she begins to experience paranormal activity and findsherself confronted by an unnerving client at work, she discovers that theséance summoned a demon – and Zack may be the only person who can free her ofhim.
Zack reveals himself to be an angel, and shows Tatum that shealso has the power to battle supernatural creatures – a power that is increasedthrough sex with him. Their connection soon strengthens, but is Tatum strongenough to defeat the demon with Zack by her side – and can there be a futurewith an angel, or is their passion doomed to end?
Books 2 Read: https://books2read.com/u/bOPO7W
So how do you stay cool during heatwaves?June 19, 2023
Things I like and dislike about the romance genre - and NEW RELEASE!
Since I write erotic romance, this topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. I was never a reader of romance until I began to write it, primarily because I grew up in the era of the too-stupid-to-live heroine, which frankly put me off. I'm very glad that these days we're getting strong, intelligent heroines who are capable of living their lives without constantly having to be rescued by men.
My favourite element of romance is, of course, the happy ending. Unless you're reading Nicholas Sparks, happy endings are a given with romance and - in spite of the fact that I also enjoy horror, which is famous for having nasty endings - I do love it when a love story ends happily. I read quite a lot of fanfiction in the past where they tried to subvert expectations by throwing in an unexpected sad ending, and it always led me to refuse to read any more of that person's stories.
There are, however, two things I hate about the genre. One is "tears before bedtime", which is unfortunately necessary to keep the plot going, but I always hate it when the hero and heroine are parted by something that could have easily been resolved if they talked to each other. I usually try to twist things by having a different type of conflict point, such as in "Photograph" where my heroine got shot right after fighting with her sister.
The other is a trope that I always avoid in my writing, which probably has a name but I'll call it "How dare you be a virgin!" I've seen this pop up in a lot of books, where the tough guy hero has sex with the virginal heroine and is utterly shocked and horrified to discover he's deflowered her. How dare she not tell him this first! Now she's going to have Expectations! Ugh! As a result, my heroines are never virgins and my heroes never ask these sorts of questions as it simply isn't important how many people she's slept with.
And while I'm here, I can't resist announcing my new release, "Making It Hard".
He wants her. She wants him – but she’s going to make ithard for him.
Vlogger Angel Metzler likes to create content on her twofavourite things – rock music and classic cars. So when lead guitarist JudahKallam approaches her at a car show and asks her to do some promotion work forhim, she accepts – and when she notices someone filming them as he’s flirtingwith her, she kisses him, hoping this will result in good publicity.
Judah tells her he plans to quit his band Vegas Dreams to gosolo and is happy to get any publicity he can by any means necessary.Irresistibly drawn to him, Angel agrees to make public appearances with him,but knows it will go no further – she has made a private vow never to datemusicians, having been let down by too many in the past.
But when the press attention grows too much to handle, Angeland Judah are thrown closer together and the heat growing between them temptsAngel to break her vow – but will Judah still be interested when the promotionis done, or is she just a groupie to him?
Books 2 Read: https://books2read.com/u/3LjDQ1
So what do you like and dislike about the romance genre?
Things I like and dislike about the romance genre
Since I write erotic romance, this topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. I was never a reader of romance until I began to write it, primarily because I grew up in the era of the too-stupid-to-live heroine, which frankly put me off. I'm very glad that these days we're getting strong, intelligent heroines who are capable of living their lives without constantly having to be rescued by men.
My favourite element of romance is, of course, the happy ending. Unless you're reading Nicholas Sparks, happy endings are a given with romance and - in spite of the fact that I also enjoy horror, which is famous for having nasty endings - I do love it when a love story ends happily. I read quite a lot of fanfiction in the past where they tried to subvert expectations by throwing in an unexpected sad ending, and it always led me to refuse to read any more of that person's stories.
There are, however, two things I hate about the genre. One is "tears before bedtime", which is unfortunately necessary to keep the plot going, but I always hate it when the hero and heroine are parted by something that could have easily been resolved if they talked to each other. I usually try to twist things by having a different type of conflict point, such as in "Photograph" where my heroine got shot right after fighting with her sister.
The other is a trope that I always avoid in my writing, which probably has a name but I'll call it "How dare you be a virgin!" I've seen this pop up in a lot of books, where the tough guy hero has sex with the virginal heroine and is utterly shocked and horrified to discover he's deflowered her. How dare she not tell him this first! Now she's going to have Expectations! Ugh! As a result, my heroines are never virgins and my heroes never ask these sorts of questions as it simply isn't important how many people she's slept with.
So what do you like and dislike about the romance genre?
June 5, 2023
Older books more people should read
While I liked the sound of this topic from Long and Short Reviews, I did twitch a little at the word "older". I'm constantly being reminded that now that I'm past forty I'm considered "older" myself, so I'm dreading seeing books listed that I don't think are old at all.
The ones I'm going to list, in any event, are the "Ring of Bright Water" trilogy by Gavin Maxwell, and "Gavin Maxwell: A Life" by Douglas Botting.
I discovered these in my teens, reading the biography first and then moving on to Maxwell's books. Gavin Maxwell was a complicated man and I certainly didn't agree with everything he did during his lifetime, but he cared deeply for animals and was an amazing writer.
So which older books do you think more people should read?
May 30, 2023
Someplace I'd Love To Visit Someday
This topic from Long and Short Reviews took a bit of consideration, because I love to travel (or rather I love visiting new places - I hate the getting there part, I'm a terrible flyer) and there are still many places I would love to see. Realistically I'm not great in extreme heat or humidity so if we're looking for somewhere perfect it would have to be within Europe - much as I would love to see Mauritius, I think I'd collapse after a day.
So I eventually settled on Venice in Italy.
I've been to Rome and the Amalfi Coast, but would love to visit Venice. It's probably not going to happen because my husband thinks the place is an open sewer. But to me it feels like an extended version of Amsterdam with all the canals, and it's always felt romantic to me. I'd love to give it a try, even for a long weekend.
So where would you love to visit someday?
May 28, 2023
I'm With The Band - blog tour upcoming!
My blog tour for "I'm With The Band" starts on May 30th, with great thanks to Goddess Fish Promotions for putting it together.
My tour will be stopping at:
May 30: Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 30: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
June 6: Sandra's Book Club
June 6: Travel the Ages
June 13: Country Mamas With Kids
June 13: Maggie Blackbird
June 20: Beverley A Baird
June 20: Lynn's Romance Enthusiasm
I'm very much looking forward to it, and I'll be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter, so make sure you enter to win!
May 23, 2023
Favourite YouTube video
I'm now back from my holiday and found this topic from Long and Short Reviews to be very interesting. I watch a lot of YouTube and follow a lot of different channels, including CinemaSins, Jay Exci, FoundFlix and The Birdman, plus a lot of others on film in general.
My favourite video at the moment is this one from Your Movie Sucks: Oldboy
Your Move Sucks do some great videos on good and terrible films alike, and this one is a direct comparison between the original "Oldboy" and the American remake. I've seen both and considered the original to be the best by far - much as I love Elizabeth Olsen, the remake has a tendency to copy scenes from the original without understanding the context, and as a result they make very little sense.
It's also an hour and a half long, so plenty to get your teeth into.
So what's your favourite YouTube video?
