Lia Davis's Blog, page 48

Coastal Magic Secret Santa Blog Hop

 

 

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, my lovely reader friends!! Now that Thanksgiving has passed (and while we’re all trying to fit back into our clothes after yesterday’s dinner) it’s time to start passing out presents!!! Ok, maybe not ALL the presents, but how about some virtual “Secret Santa” presents to our favorite characters in the urban fantasy and paranormal romance world, and some very real convention registrations for two of YOU!!

 

That’s right. One blog hop commenter will win free registration to the 2014 Coastal Magic Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida, in February. A second winner will win registration to the 2015 event!! This is a weekend full of fun panels, meet & greets and face time with some of your favorite authors in the UF/PNR genre. Over 50 authors will be featured, and you’ll be surrounded by fellow book lovers.

 

A few of the participating blog hosts are Featured Bloggers for the Coastal Magic Convention, and a few are Featured Authors. Be sure to ask them questions or leave them comments about the con if you’re curious about it, or if you’re planning to attend. They’ll be thrilled to hear from you!! To find a list of confirmed Featured Authors and other information about Coastal Magic, be sure to check out the website.

 

 

In addition to the two overall, grand prize winners… some of the blogs will be featuring individual prizes, so keep an eye out for those as you’re checking out the other stops on the hop!!

 

Here’s how to enter:

 The ENTIRE urban fantasy and paranormal romance world is yours to choose from. Imagine every name in a giant Santa hat… whose name do YOU pick?? List that person’s name, what book they’re from, and what gift you would give them in the comments section of this blog.
Click on the Rafflecopter link and complete the entry tasks you’d like to participate in. The ONLY mandatory entry is your “secret santa” comment, but there are a few other ways to get extra entries. (just a few, I promise )
Visit other blogs on the list between today and December 6th to play again!

 

So… easy peasy, right?!? I’m excited to see who each of you chooses!!!

 

GOOD LUCK, everyone!! Let the season of giving begin!!

 

Participating Blogs:

Coastal Magic Convention Official Website
Books Make Me Happy
Little Read Riding Hood
Readers Confession
Smart Girls Love SciFi and Paranormal Romance
Sarah Nicolas
Aria Kane
Lucienne Diver
Shiloh Walker
Lia Davis
Sandy Williams

 

In addition to the Coastal Magic giveaway, I’m also giving away a signed ARC paperback of my up coming release, Divided Loyalties, a $5 Starbucks gift card, and a swag pack. Leave leave your secret Santa comment and I’ll choice a winner via random.org.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Things I’m thankful for

This post was part of my A Rebel’s Heart tour post from Sunday, but I thought it was appropriate to repost here.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Many of us are just too busy to stop and think about what we are thankful for. The older we get the faster time seems to go by and the busier we become. We just don’t take time for ourselves and our families and friends. The holiday season is the time to slow down and reflect on the year and take a long look at what we have, where we’ve been, and who is in our lives.

I’m thankful for a lot of things this year. Here’s my top five things that make me feel blessed.

 

My husband: he’s one of my best friends, soul mate, and he knows me better than I know myself. He showers me with affection even when I’m being grumpy, and he can always make me smile.

My BFF and Business Partner: Carrie Ann Ryan and I met in an online critique group and hit it off from the start. That was a little more than 2 years ago. Since then, we opened our company, Fated Desires Publishing, LLC and supported each other in our writing and personal lives. I’m thankful to be able to call her a wonderful friend and grateful to be taking this business journey with her.

Living the Dream: This past July I was able to quit my day job and work at home fulltime on writing and helping Carrie Ann with Fated Desires. Both of which are growing beyond what I thought could happen in just a short time. It’s been an awesome year.

My Readers: I love each and every one of you. Without you I wouldn’t be about to release my 9th book in January 2014 with 10 and 11 on its heels. Thank you guys!

New grandbaby: Even though my daughter and her boyfriend are young and have a long bumpy road ahead of them, new life is always a blessing. I’m thankful they have each other and the wonderful family support from both sides. I can’t wait to meet little Isabelle Marie.

 

I want to wish everyone a safe, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving and holiday season.

Blessings to you,

Lia

Book news quicky

Hi! Happy Thursday! I just finished the proofs on Divided Loyalties this morning! Now it’s off to the formatter. Yay! I’m so excited to have the 4th books in Ashwood Falls release earlier than expected. It will release on December 17th!

Divided Loyalties is Hayden’s story. It gives you a look into the wolves of Ashwood and reveals a little piece of info about Luna and how she became the first female Alpha of a Pack. I can’t wait to share the story with you.

I’m having a Facebook release party on Friday, 12/20/13 from 7-11 EST. Join the event here.

Also, my newsletter will be going out on the 1st, and I’ve included a free read with Nevan and Dani titled Gift of Winter. Don’t miss it. I also give away a $50 gift card each month. If you’re not already, sign up for my monthly newsletter by clicking here.

 

 

Confession: Why self-publishing is perfect for me

I have always loved to write. My love for it started around the third grade. I lived in Memphis at the time and my class had creative writing. The teacher would give us a choice of three topics and we’d write a short story about the topic we picked. I can’t remember what my topic was or the details of the story. I do remember it was a love story about a carrot and an eggplant. It’s okay to laugh. I was in the third grade. The teacher loved it and thought it was cute. I got an A on that story.

When I was jr. high school, I graduated from writing about vegetable romances to writing steamy plays with a friend of mine. We’d alternated acts. She’d write one, then I’d pick up the next. It was a lot of fun plotting the next scenes together and watching how the whole play changed as it went on. I have no idea where those plays are today.

After that I got busy with life and didn’t pick up writing again just after my divorce. I tried to write a story to just release some built up hurt and anger from the stress of the divorce. It used it as an outlet to direct all the negativity that was in my life at the time. that why I could use up the positive with the kids. Nothing became of that story. In fact the story really didn’t develop into much. I made the choice to go back to school and get my degree in Accounting. So writing was put on hold.

The next time I pick up the pen, or by this time the keyboard, was in 2007 after discovering paranormal romance. I read everything I could one after another and loved the worlds of vampires, shapeshifters, witches, and magic. So I set down and wrote. It took me a good six months of brainstorming and starting a number of stories only to find they didn’t work before I got a solid plot going.

That was when the Divinities were born.

At the time I had no idea what I was going to do when I finished Forgotten Visions . I didn’t know about self-publishing. I researched the process of getting publishing and was very intimidated. I don’t have a lot of patience and I’m a control freak. I knew that going through 100+ rejections while waiting for an agent or publisher to love my voice and story enough to take it would only wear me down. So the drive to make it a career wasn’t there. I wrote because I enjoyed. I didn’t believe I’d make money at it.

Then I got an email ad from Barnes & Noble about their Pubit program (now called Nook Press) and thought, “No way. It’s couldn’t be that easy.”

It’s not that easy. I’ll get to that in a minute.

I’ve talked to a co-worker about my writing and she said she has friends that publish through kindle. This opened up a whole new research project. My drive was back. I looked up indie authors and bought books about self publishing. I was going for it. I was going to make money off my writing.

When I finished Forgotten Visions, I joined a critique group. It was in that group that I decided to go through the submission process because I learned that there were many options when it came to choosing a publisher.

FV was picked up by a publisher in late 2011 and released in July 2012. Within that time frame I wrote and submitted my 1Night Stand to Decedent Publishing. I still planed to self-publish a future series. A number of events surrounding the process of getting FV ready for release pushed me to release the rest of the series as an indie author. I will not go into details about by experiences with that publisher. It is a successful publishing house with some amazing authors. But not all publishers fit with every author. I’m too much of a control freak to not be part of the process. That’s just my personality. I need to know what is happening and schedule things and stick to that schedule. As for Decadent, I LOVE them and will continue to submit to them for special submissions.

So that brings me to the pros and cons of self publishing. The lists below are according to my experiences over the last two years, and they are my opinions.

Pros:

I have full control over cover art, the editing process, marketing, and release dates.
I don’t have to follow a “standard” set of pub-house rules. I’m able to cross genres and heat levels. I can also break a few rules within reason.
I make more per book
I can view my actual sales numbers and see a clear trend in the market so I can write accordingly.

Cons:

Full control. You are doing this alone. You have to make sure edits are prefect, the formatting is correct, and upload to each retailer. Many use Smashword and their extended market, but Fated Desires does not.
Time management: dealing with editors, formatters, and retailers, marketing and branding your name and books, tracking sales and payments are all time consuming. I’ve been writing full time for five months now and I still work from 6 AM to 9, sometimes 10, PM. And I have a business partner that helps. (These long hours are not standard. I have goals I want to meet so I choice to work longer to meet them.) Time management and balance is very important. If you don’t have the time to dedicate, then self-publishing may not be for you.
Marketing: Again you are on your own. yes, you still have to market your work if you are traditionally published, but you also have the backing of you publisher and an established readership, but with self-publishing it takes time to gain the following. It’s completely up to you to sell your name and work.

 

I can’t stress enough that if you plan to self-publish critique partners/groups are very important. (CPs and beta readers are not friends and family, they are experienced and aspiring writers that want to make a career out of writing. Friends and Family will love your writing because they love you and may not give you the critical advice you need to push you.) It is also important to have your book edited by a professional editor. There are many freelance editors out there. I suggest having your book go through a couple of rounds of edits and a round of proofreading before publishing. I go through a couple of CPs, 3 rounds of edits, and a proofreader.

Have a wonderful week!

Overdue updates and a few announcements

Hi! I have a few updates I wanted to pop in and let you know about as well as some reminders.

Updates:

I have a Fan Club on Facebook. If you’d like to join to hang out with other fans, talk about my books and the hot characters and just hang out to have a little fun, then feel free to hop over and join. I will try to go in as much as possible and mingle with everyone.

Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/368820509920377/

Divided Loyalties has a release date! January 21! Yay! I’m so excited about Hayden and Christa’s story and can’t wait to be able to share it with you. So mark that calendar!

I’m working on the first book of the Sons of War, War’s Passion. Let me tell you that the sparks are flying between Markus and Gwen. What do you except when you have the son of Ares, God of War, and the granddaughter of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love.

I’m also working on wrapping up The Divinities series. Yes, I said wrapping it up. I’m starting on one of last three books. One of those maybe only be a novella, but I’ll know more as I get into that plot a little deeper.

 

Reminders:

My newsletter goes out monthly now. That means more updates and more giveaways! It also means special content from time to time. The December newsletter will include a free read! So be sure you are signed up to get them each month.

Ever After, the paranormal anthology that includes A Rebel’s Heart, is available the major eRetailers. If you haven’t done so, go pick up your copy. There are FIVE (5) awesome BRAND NEW novellas packed inside that book.

I believe that is it for now. If you aren’t following me on Facebook, I recommend it. I post random updates about life, kids, writing, and other stuff. Below are my links.

Facebook Friend - https://www.facebook.com/lia.davis.52

Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Lia-Davis/137761469629592

I’m also on Tumblr - http://novelsbylia.tumblr.com/

 

Have a great rest of your Sunday!

Sleep schedules and the baby kitty

It’s almost 7 o’clock here in not-so-sunny Florida and I’ve been up since 6:30. Usually I sleep until about 7:30 on the weekends. but not this weekend. Bit days I’ve been woke by a cute, sweet ball of fur that demanded I get up and feed her.  It starts with tiny paws patty my face. When that doesn’t work, she plays with my legs, then my hands. If I continue to ignore her, she bites my fingers until I finally get up.

Even if I didn’t have Nyx as my furry alarm clock, I’d get up anyway. It steams from years of getting up at 5 AM to go to the day job. Your sleep pattern is hard to change. Your body gets use to the time if day and the length of time you sleep. It did take Nyx long to learn mine and Hubby’s sleep patterns. She just hadn’t learned that two days out of the week we can actually sleep in a little. I really need to train that kitty on what weekends are made for.

Here’s some recent pics of the sweet little back kitty. She’s getting so big. *sniff, sniff*

 

Positively Beautiful

Beauty can be found in anything. I love to sit and watch the things around me, feel the things around. My all time favorite place to do this in outside because all my senses are working to take in the world around me. I’m blessed that I get to live on about 3 acres of land where 75% of is natural and heavy with trees. My brother-in-law lives behind us, and the mommy-in-law lives behind him. Together we have about 8 acres. The only property that’s closed off is Ma and Pa’s, but it’s done with tall hedges and within those beautiful natural walls are small flower gardens all over the 2 acres. It’s absolutely beautiful.

I favorite spot in my yard is under the old, large oak tree. Pic is below.

 

 

While you’re out this weekend, no matter where you go or you do, try to see the beauty in something. It’ll bring a little positive bust to your day. Have a wonderful weekend.

 

Ever After, a paranormal anthology

It’s here! It’s here! Ever After released yesterday. I’m so happy to have a story in this awesome paranormal anthology with 4 other wonderful authors.

 

Find it on eBook at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | All Romance eBooks | iTunes | Kobo

 

My story, A Rebel’s Heart is number 3.5 in the Ashwood Falls series. It’s Nevan’s and Graham’s mother’s, Sarah, story. I have an excerpt for everyone.

 

Excerpt:

Damian opened his eyes and cautiously looked around the room, not sure where the hell he was. The room held a warmth to it.  The single window was covered with red and gold curtains. The walls were a soft cream color. The whole room reminded him of something. No, someone. Then memories of the fight with the rebel human and Sarah…

Fuck.

He’d come here to protect her. Instead he gotten his ass shot, and she’d ended up protecting him. Way to go, Damian.

You’re such an ass.

He sat up and sucked in a sharp breath as pain shot across his ribs. Peering down at his chest, he frowned and touched the red spot just below his heart. He let out a sigh and pushed to a stand, slower this time. He should consider himself lucky that Sarah had been there and the bullet hadn’t hit his heart. By the look of the healing wound, Sarah must had called a Healer, but from where?

As he got closer to the door, he heard voices coming from the living room. They were speaking low, but Damian could sense the tension in each syllable. A few of the voices were male and made Damian’s puma growl and claw at him from under his skin. Opening the door, he took slow steps down the hall and stopped at the sight of Sarah sitting on the arm of a recliner with her arms crossed over her chest. Her blond hair fell around her shoulders in soft waves, framing her slightly rounded face. A face that held a mother’s scowl, which did nothing to take away from her beauty.

Following her line of sight, Damian saw one of her sons, Graham, sitting on the couch, head in his hands.

Graham let out a sigh and said, “Mom, please. It is much safer for you at Ashwood. Plus you’ll be closer to Nev and me and the kids.”

Sarah snorted in an unamused way that made Damian smile. She was so beautiful. “You mean so you can keep an eye on me.”

Graham sat back on the couch and shrugged. “We can’t help it that we love you and want you safe.”

Nevan stepped out of the kitchen with a very attractive redheaded leopard shifter by his side and stopped to stand next to his stepmother. The female leopard wrapped her arms around Nevan from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder.

The love that radiated from the couple caused a dull ache in Damian’s chest. Too long he’d watched Walt and Sarah share the same love, the same connection. He’d been happy for them. They were his best friends, but it hurt to be around them because Sarah was also his potential mate.

“I’m not leaving my home, and that’s final.”

Sarah’s stern outburst brought Damian out of his thoughts and drew his attention to the only female he’d ever loved. Shaking his head to clear the fog caused by blood loss, he stepped into the living room and said, “I’ll have to agree with your sons.”

Everyone in the room turned to him. Now that he was fully inside the living room instead of hiding in the hallway, he saw the other two shifters in the room. A male and female stood with their shoulders touching next to the patio door. Both of them glared at him.

Whatever. They could send their accusing gazes to him all they wanted. Damian was here to make sure the human rebels got nowhere close to Sarah.

Graham stood from the sofa and turned to face him. Shock, confusion, and anger mixed into his expression and his scent. But it was Nevan who walked toward him with his hands fisted by his side. The human male stopped a foot from Damian and said, “Why are you alive?”

Damian didn’t flinch at the venom in the male’s voice. In fact Damian deserved everything Nevan threw at him, even his fist. Nevan had a right to be angry. They all did.

“I ask myself that question every day,” Damian replied, much too tired to spar with his best friend’s son. The thing was Damian didn’t have any answers, at least none Nevan wanted to hear right now. He looked at Sarah and locked gazes with her. “Your life is in danger.”

Sarah’s expression didn’t change as she said, “For all I know, the human I killed was after you and not me.”

It was a lie. He knew it, but not by her scent. No, her scent didn’t change. He knew by the way her left eye twitched in that subtle way it did when she was nervous and hiding her feelings from her boys. That only confirmed to him that she already knew she was a target, but how?

Sarah let out a low growl and addressed her sons and their mates. “Please leave us.”

The male standing behind Graham who Damian didn’t recognize moved forward to stand in front of Sarah. There was a power surrounding the male that Damian could only describe as an Alpha’s power. The male held out his hand to Sarah and said, “You are always welcome to Ashwood. Just say the word, and I can have a place set up for you. Hell, you’re welcome to stay with us.” The male looked back at Graham and the female before continuing. “Or even with Nevan and Dani.”

Sarah eased her shoulders and placed her hands in his. “I know, Blaine. I’m just not ready yet.”

Blaine nodded and tugged Sarah into a hug. Damian had to force his feet to stay planted in place. Jealousy rushed through him, making his cat pace within.

Sarah was the first to pull out of the hug, and her gaze met Damian’s for a brief moment as if she sensed his mood shift. “I’ll be fine. Damian won’t hurt me, and I’m not alone now.” When no one moved, she rolled her eyes. “I promise to call if things change. Please.”

Blaine nodded. “I’ll send some sentries over to guard the property.”

That made everyone but Damian, and Sarah by the way she pursed her lips, a little happier. They said their goodbyes and left Damian alone with Sarah and her pissed-off stare.

 

 

A Friday treat for you

Happy Friday! I have a treat for you. To celebrate my upcoming release of A Rebel’s Heart (Ashwood Falls 3.5) that is coming out on Tuesday, 11/12, I thought I’d give you a little tease of what’s to come. Enjoy!

~~~~~~

Damian watched as Sarah turned away from him and went to the sliding glass doors and peered out into her backyard. “I got a heartfelt package in the mail today.” The sarcasm in her tone set his puma on alert, but he remained quiet and let her continue. “I didn’t know who sent it until you told me about the rebels.”

He growled, unable to hold it back. Shield had reached her faster then he’d expected. If they had her address to send threats, then they’d been watching her, but for how long he didn’t know. “What did they send you?”

She reached into her jeans pocket and turned, her brown eyes shiny with tears he could tell she tried to keep from falling. Holding out her hand, she opened it. His heart stopped, and he was sure he stopped breathing for a moment. Lying in her palm was a gold wedding ring. Tentatively he reached out and picked it up.

“It’s Walt’s, or at least it’s identical to his, right down to the engraving.”

Damian closed his fingers around the ring and, with his free hand, gripped her arm and tugged her into a hug. She tensed at first then relaxed and wrapped her arms around his waist. After a moment she pulled back and took the note out of her pocket and handed it to him. “This note was with it. They said I was next.”

He pulled back to peer into her face. Lifting her chin so they made eye contact, he said, “They will not hurt you. That’s why I’m here.”

She drew back to study his face. “What?”

He laced his fingers with hers, led her to the sofa, and sat, drawing her down beside him. “Walt and I both were part of a shifter rebel group that were created to stop Shield and other groups like them.”

Sarah shook her head. “Walt wouldn’t lie to me. He couldn’t. I’d know.”

“He didn’t have a choice. However, he didn’t lie to you. I did.”

“I don’t understand how that was possible.” Her tone grew more annoyed.

“We were spellbound not to speak about the group to anyone.”

Her expression tightened as anger entered her scent. “Not even to his own mate and your best friend?”

He reached for her, but she jerked back. Letting out a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes and spoke softly. “Neither one of us wanted to keep it from you, but it was safer for you and the boys.”

She stood and started to pace. “Those boys were old enough to kick ass and protect us from threats. So it’s my turn to call bullshit.”

He moved fast and gripped her by the arms before she could track him. The startled expression on her face told him that. “It wasn’t our call. Damn it. I wanted to tell you. Hell, it killed Walt to not tell you.”

She sagged into him and rested her head on his chest. “I loved the both of you. I would had helped in every way possible.”

His heart skipped several beats before picking in a rapid rhythm. “Say that again.”

“I’ve always felt a strong connection to you. It wasn’t as strong as the one I had for Walt because he was my bonded mate. I thought back then it was like a connection to a Packmate.” She averted her gaze to his T-shirt, which she smoothed out with her hand.

“And now?” he prompted.

She lifted her lashes to peer up at his face. “I’m confused. I want to be mad at you for lying to me, for making me believe you were dead all this time when you were out there hunting my mate’s killers. I deserve that task.”

He ran his knuckles down her cheek. “I was afraid of facing you, afraid you’d blame me. Hell, I blamed myself.”

“You’re here now. Why? To warn me?”

She narrowed her eyes and that tiny twitch under her right eye indicated her anger had returned, sparking the fire inside her he knew hadn’t died like she thought. “Yes, to warn you and to stop those bastards from taking someone else I love away.”

She stilled and searched his face. “Don’t say that.”

He stepped closer, closing the gap between them. “Say what? That I love you? Sarah, I’ve known from the moment I saw you that you were my mate.”

© Lia Davis 2013

 

A Rebel’s Heart is part the a paranormal anthology Ever After

Ever After Anthology

Authors:   Carrie Ann Ryan,   Marie Harte,   Rebecca Royce,   Lia Davis,   Leia Shaw

From five bestselling authors comes five brand new novellas sure to heat up the night.

From Carrie Ann Ryan‘s Dante’s Circle series, a demon from the fiery depths of hell must make his choice to follow in the footsteps of his father or love the submissive wolf who lays claim to his heart in His Choice.

From Marie Harte‘s Beasts of Burden, Eira, a fierce valkyrie, has spent fifty years trying to get a rise out of her goddess’s guardians. But when the battle-cat shifters give her what she wants, can she handle the heat—and the danger—that comes from loving them?

From Rebecca Royce‘s brand new series, the Alphas of each Werewolf Pack are on the brink of war. Travis Michaels will use all in his power to keep innocent Lilliana out of danger and into his arms…away from rival Alpha Cyrus Fennell.

From Lia Davis’s Ashwood Falls series, buried pain, old lies, and dangerous secrets aren’t enough to keep the sparks from flying as Sarah Mathews and rebel leader, Damian Archer, try to survive a new threat against their race.

From Leia Shaw’s Shadows of Destiny series, a war is brewing in the supernatural world. Rebel shifter Dalton’s only passion is protecting the colony, and flirtatious misfit, Eden, is a distraction he can’t afford. But as danger approaches, he learns that underestimating the sexy little wolf is a big mistake.

It’s November! Do you know what that means?

Hi! It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. In the last week and a half it’s been hard to keep up with things. My son went into the hospital with a ruptured appendix last Thursday. So I’ve been hanging out with him everyday. I’m just glad that my job is mobile. I was able to work Divided Loyalties, slowly. I have ONE more chapter to go and it’s off to the editor. YAY!

So what’s so special about November? It’s National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNo)! And yes I singed up this morning.

Over the last month I’ve been getting questions about when the next Divinities novel will come out. So in my last minute decision to join NaNo (I signed up this morning), I chose The Dark Divine as my NaNo novel. So i’ll be hanging out with Zach and Lydia and of course Khloe, Kalissa and the rest of the witches in Maxville for the next 30 days.

I will also be working on finishing and editing Divided Loyalties and starting my dragons (Sons of War series). I have a plan (insert evil laugh).  I’m also very excited about all my projects and look forward to sharing all my updates and news with you.

Speaking of news, my newsletter went out today. There is a giveaway in there. If you are signed up and didn’t get it this morning, please check your spam folder. if you aren’t signed up the following are the links to the November newsletter and the sign form.

 

November Newsletter

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