Leanne Crabtree's Blog

One book stalled (for now) but another on a roll

So at the minute Provoked, my rather erotic romance has stalled, but a possible second book for Charlotte and Sebastian is very much on a roll right now. Admittedly I’ve not long since started it and trying to match up bits from the first book is driving me a little mad BUT I  think it could be good if I get the  storyline how I want it.

I just haven’t figured out who her love interest should be yet and whether they are going to be human or vamp but I will say  that even as I’m writing this I’m thinking human and someone who’s  been through the same thing as her… and now I’m not sure anymore. Huh, the joys of being a writer lol.

Well I’m off to carry on. Current word count : 1622

I can be a TERRIBLE Blogger

Lately, I’ve been pretty crappy in keeping everyone updated on what’s happening in my world. Truth is, I’ve been busy with work and reading way more than I should if I want to get any writing done. I’ve even had weeks off and done more reading than writing.

But today, luckily for me, the wi-fi connection was out when I put my laptop on so I opened my latest story, currently titled Angry Sex 1 (though it’s real name will be Provoked), put some music on and have just written nearly a 1000 words. To some people this is nothing but to me this is like a miracle. I open the document every day just in case I suddenly think of something awesome to write and generally it’s about 50 words. The internet always manages to drag me away to do something else–mainly book related. Thank God the connection wasn’t there!

Word count upon opening the document today: 20302

Word count now (17:25): 21160

I haven’t even finished my current chapter either, so fingers crossed I can get more down tonight.

I’ve also just been re-reading previous chapters and I have to say I am so proud of what I’ve written so far. It’s much more erotic than my previous books and I can hardly believe some of it came from me–though I did have a little/more than a little help from a friend at work. Cheers, Vicks!

Off to write some more!

Numbers in Book Titles

I’ve been a really bad blogger–you’re more likely to find me on Goodreads (I’m there all the time!), Booklikes (not as often as Goodreads) than on here–lately and I know but I feel I have to share this that I’ve just seen on Booklikes: http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com/post/1199155/books-with-numbers-in-the-title

You’d be surprised how many books have got numbers in the title. I was thinking I’d probably have about 10 out of the 1269 books on my Goodreads but surprisingly it turned out to be more.

I may be cheating a little with this–using first/once/second–but here’s my list:

1

Another One Bites the Dust

Caught on Camera: Part One

Dark Soul, Vol 1

First Book of Demons

First Debt

First Night

First Grave on the Right

First Three Rules

Hate F@*k: Part One

Heartless: Episode 1

Just One Night

Once Bitten

The One

One Foot in the Grave

One for the Money

One Perfect Summer

One Small Thing

The One that I Want

One to Hold

One True Thing

One Week Girlfriend

2

Dark Soul, Vol 2

Miranda’s Second Choice

Second Chance Boyfriend

Second Grave on the Left

Texas Two Step

Twice Bitten

Twice Tempted

Two for the Dough

Two Roads

Two Weeks Notice

3

Dark Soul, Vol 3

Third Grave Dead Ahead

Three Years

4

Four Corners

Four Score

Fourth Grave Beneath my Feet

5

The 5th Wave

The Fifth Favor

Fifth Grave Past the Light

Five Dates

Five Miles

6

Six Brothers

Six of Hearts

Six Ways from Sunday

Sixth Grave on the Edge

7

Seven Sons

Seven Years

Seventh Grave and No Body

9

The Ninth Star

10

Ten Tiny Breaths

13

Thirteen Weddings

15

Fifteen Shades (Of Gay for Pay)

28

Twenty Eight and a Half Wishes

29

Twenty Nine and a Half Reasons

50

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades Freed

374215

Prisoner 374215

Total: 59

I may have to start taking part in more challenges on Goodreads in my groups.

Ivory Guard Re-release

So my author friend, Natalie Herzer, is re-releasing her book Ivory Guard after it has had a good editing. In response I feel it’s only right to help her get the word out and I’m going to post my original review as well as the book info.

Ivory Guard

Natalie Herzer

Paranormal Romance

Life will make you stumble…

One peaceful afternoon Lillian finds two angels in her living room – wings and gloriole and all – telling her she is an Ivory. Half human and half angel, she is born to fight for humankind and guard the hellholes where the membrane between worlds is at its weakest.

She, an important warrior? Yeah, riiiight.

Life can make you fall…

Raz might be an angel, but he doesn���t do compassion. His job is to train and make her a leader. So Lillian will just have to suck it up when she discovers the deadly truth behind his words. When she does exactly that, he has to admit there���s more to the bookworm than he thought. Much more. But there���s one thing he shouldn���t forget ��� in his world feelings come with a price. Is he willing to pay?

Love will give you wings.

My Review

4.5 stars.

I’ve been Natalie’s plot tester/beta reader with this, as well as it’s proof reader, from early on and I really enjoyed it, now I’ve finally gotten to read it’s ending.

The thing with Natalie is she always come up with something original. This is the first time I’ve read a book, or even heard of a book, about a team of half angels/half humans who are trained by angels to takeout demons. The same could be said about her Patroness series; once again, I’ve never read anything like it. That’s what I like about her books: they’re different.

I’ve been Natalie’s plot tester/beta reader with this, as well as it’s proof reader, from early on and I really enjoyed it, now I’ve finally gotten to read it’s ending.

The thing with Natalie is she always come up with something original. This is the first time I’ve read a book, or even heard of a book, about a team of half angels/half humans who are trained by angels to takeout demons. The same could be said about her Patroness series; once again, I’ve never read anything like it. That’s what I like about her books: they’re different.

I don’t want to give too much away but this is a story of good (angels) versus evil (demons) to put it simply. The struggle of eighteen year old Lillian as she realises her life is about to change whether she wants it to or not and her journey from bookworm to fearless leader with the help of her Ivory Guard and Raz, the angel of secrets.

I really enjoyed it, like I did her Patroness series and I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series, Ebony Fight, to see how everything works out for her and her team.

Freebies at Smashwords

I’m putting my book’s Charlotte & Sebastian and Cat’s Wolf free on Smashwords if you use these codes:

Charlotte & Sebastian: AM45 U

Cat’s Wolf: AX63C

The codes will be valid until the end of this month.

Happy reading!

Rating a book

How do you rate a book? Are you someone who if they enjoyed a book they give it five stars and then work the ones they liked less by so many stars? Or do you base it on a scale of your choice because it had this or that in it? Do you give��out 5 stars all the time? Or save it for those extra special books that you fall in love with?

As you can see from the above image from Goodreads, I’m rather picky about giving out 5 stars and have to be blown away by the storyline and the characters. If I give a book a half star rating then I round it up instead of down which is probably why I have so many 4 star ratings.

I can’t help but wonder how others rate books so feel free to leave comments :D

Happy New Year & New Years Resolution

First things first, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope you had a great year and read lots and lots of good books!

* * *

I’ve decided that for this year it’s going to be to be a better blogger.

I’ve been rather bad in updating this blog over the past couple of months with my new job and Christmas getting all my attention.

I have to admit though that I haven’t really been writing much. I have two stories on the go: a sort of paranormal/police case/romance story that will likely not go anywhere but I’m enjoying writing it nonetheless, and a Bounty Hunter romance–inspired by my reading of book 1 in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series–that may also not end up going anywhere but we’ll see.

I’m hoping to get the blog up to date soon and to keep it updated. I’ll also try and do some more author spotlight posts, where I focus on not-so-well-known authors whose stories I’ve enjoyed.

That’s it for now. Ciao!

My Love Affair with NYC is Over

So after six trips to New York over the past eight years, I think my love affair with the city is over. I think everything has been done by us that could have, apart from an actual boat ride to the Statue of Liberty but we did get on a boat and go around the island so I think that’s close enough.

This year there were a lot of road works and things happening and it made everything seem so crowded and I didn’t like it. But me and my mum did two things we hadn’t done before; we went to the Central Park Zoo and we went to The Highline.

I’ve added a few pictures I took while there:

One of Lord & Taylor’s Christmas Window displays

Warlords.com Advertisement in Times Square

A view of a painted building from the Highline Park

A snow leopard in Central Park Zoo

I also didn’t get much reading or writing done although while waiting in Manchester Airport, I got a brainwave for how to overcome the bit I was stuck on in my new writing project–the P.I. Romance–and I’ll be writing it in soon and seeing if I can finish the current chapter.

As for the reading, I only managed one and a half books–the Morganville series–and I have to admit I’m not really in any hurry to finish it as it will be hard to leave Claire, Shane, Eve, Michael and the rest of the gang for good…but I must.

Ciao for now :)

Tomorrow is the day

In about 7/8 hours me and my mum will be piling into our car and heading off to Manchester airport ready for our flight to New York.

Books: PACKED

Notepad: PACKED

Clothes: Erm…? lol :P

Yeah, so I’ll be gone a week and when I get back I’m going to do my best to put this blog in order (Sorting out the side widgets and my “Read in 2014″ page)

Books for Holiday

So I think I’ll be taking 5 books away with me because although we might spend a good 8 hours walking around throughout the day, we also spend quite a few hours between trips out in the hotel room.

I’m hoping to finish off Rachel Caine’s Morganville series meaning Fall of Night and Daylighters (books 14 and 15). I’m also going to take book 3 in Julie Kagawa’s Blood of Eden series, The Forever Song. And then the last two will be Gena Showalter’s Alice in Zombieland and Alice through the Zombie Glass.

Hopefully I’ll get at least three and a half books read in the 6/7 days I’ll be abroad :D