Xio Axelrod's Blog, page 11

Join me in Las Vegas!

I’m so excited to sign at my first, big book fair during the RT Booklovers Convention next month.

I’ll join more than 625 authors who will autograph books, posters and bookmarks. You can bring your “keepers” and have them signed. This year, traditional and indie authors will all be in one room and fully intermingled, so you can visit all of your favourites.

The Saturday Giant Book Fair ticket is included in the full general convention registration fee. This event is also open to the public, and tickets can be purchased for just the Giant Book Fair. You can purchase a ticket at the door the day of the event. Pre-ordered tickets can be picked up at the hotel on the day of the Giant Book Fair.

You can bring two books from home per author to the Giant Book Fair on Saturday. However, you can only bring 10 books from home into the book fair ballroom at a time. There will be a book check area where you can store your extra books and swap them out for 10 more and then you can re-enter the room. Easy peasy!

I’ll be signing copies of The Calum, Falling Stars, and Starlight. And I’m also bringing some goodies with me to share with you all. Tabletop Duff might make an appearance too!

FoX Friday with author Grace Burrowes – Win a signed book!

Hello my lovelies! I’m so thrilled to welcome my dear friend Grace Burrowes here as this week’s FoX.

Grace is the NY Times and USA Today best-selling author of over fifty novels and novellas. She began writing as an antidote to empty nest and soon realized penning happily ever afters is a good antidote for life

She’s written romances set in Georgian and Regency England, Victorian and contemporary Scotland, and the contemporary USA. She’s a practicing child welfare attorney, and loves to hear from her readers.

She also a wonderful mentor for fledgling authors such as myself, not to mention a connoisseur of fine whiskies. Grace is here today with her latest release, Will’s True Wish. And she’s offering three signed copies. Enter now!

I asked Grace a few fun questions about her life as an author.

Name one way the publishing industry has changed since you released your first book?

Borders is gone…. But what’s this we hear about several hundred new stores opening?

Right? I get giddy when I stumble upon an independent bookstore. I feel compelled to go inside. What is your ideal writing space?

My kitchen table, with two dogs at my feet, a cat in my lap draped over my left forearm (right hand is for mousing), and two more cats hogging the heated throw my mom sent me (ME, do I look like a cat?) at Christmas.

LOL! That’s quite a menagerie. What would be the title of a movie about your life?

Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Love it, it’s perfect. How do you celebrate each book release?

By doing the emotional equivalent of walking into walls. In five years, I’ve had about forty release days, and they always, ALWAYS, catch me unaware. I’ll play a solid hour of hearts, and then realize, “This isn’t like me. This goes beyond a focusing ritual, Grace….” THEN I realize, “It’s a release day.” I can’t get anything done, I’m anxious, I watch the rankings when I know that’s pointless… the only thing I know to do to manage the fretfulness is open the WIP and get to work.

Grace at Eilean Donan

How do you balance writing with your personal life?

Not very well. I’m through the child-rearing decades, and the learning curve in the law office leveled off years ago, so I WALLOW in the writing. Love it, can’t wait to get to it each day, resent interruptions bitterly. I have yet to get to the point where I’m tired of writing and just want to do a little socializing. I clear my writing buffers, and then I want to research, read, revise, rest… and get back to the writing. I’m also not very effective at balancing the life of the mind with the life of the body. I am FAR too good at sitting in a chair for hours at a time, and not nearly good enough at getting up and moving regularly.

I am so with you on that last point. I got a Fitbit just as a physical reminder to get up off my butt every hour or so. It works. Sometimes. So what can readers expect from you next?

More books! I’m working on a trio of Regency romances, have just finished a Scottish contemporary, and would like to add to my collection of Scottish contemporary novellas. I have a little novella coming out on March 15 in the Dukes in Disguise anthology, and I’m sharing a novella duet with Mary Balogh in May, Once Upon a Dream.

Exciting! Here’s a little more about Will’s True Wish

Will Dorning, as the Earl of Casriel’s heir, guards his older brother’s back and keeps a watchful eye on his rambunctious younger siblings, though Will’s closest companions are the dogs he’s treasured since boyhood. When aristocratic London is plagued by a series of dog-nappings, Will’s brothers are convinced he’s the only person who can save the stolen canines from an awful fate.

Shy, bookish Lady Susannah Haddonfield has no patience with loud, smelly beasts of any species, but must learn to present herself as a dog fancier, lest she offend her sister’s only marital prospect. Susannah turns to Will, who has long admired her, but lacks the means to offer for her.  And yet, as they work together to recover the purloined pets, it’s loyal, dashing Will who steals Susannah’s heart.

Grace was lovely enough to share an excerpt with us. Enjoy!

Lady Susannah Haddonfield is meeting with Mr. Will Dorning in a secluded corner of Hyde Park to work on Susannah’s skills as a dog fancier. Susannah is not that enamored of dogs, but her feelings for Mr. Dorning refuse to come to heel…

“We can conclude our session now if you’ve had enough for today,” Will said. “Perhaps you’re missing the Bard?”

The dogs panted gently, the rhododendrons were nearly in bloom, the squirrels were jabbering and leaping overhead. Shakespeare would be waiting for Susannah, even when Will Dorning was immured in the Dorset countryside, teaching another young collie, “Away to me,” and “come by.”

Even when Susannah had read through all of dreary Milton and silly Sheridan.

“I’m happy to toss a few sticks,” Susannah said, “though I’m sure you have other places to be, Will Dorning.”

Will ceased casually tugging on Sampson’s ears and Susannah’s sanity. “There is no place I’d rather be, Lady Susannah, nobody I’d rather while away the morning with, and fetch is a reward for the dogs. They enjoy it, and so do I.”

Will’s hat sat on the bench along with a bag that held extra treats and Susannah knew not what else. The same breeze that snatched away errant kites tousled Will’s hair, and the same affection he frequently turned on his dogs laced his voice.

Susannah pretended to survey the nearby hedgerow rather than try to fathom what she saw in Will’s lovely eyes.

“Shall we find the very best sticks in the entire park, Mr. Dorning?” She marched over to the bracken beneath the rhododendrons, Georgette panting at her side.

Will even had requirements for a fetch stick. Sturdy, not too heavy, still a bit green, not enough long to cause difficulty for the dogs. Susannah nudged a toe through last year’s leaves beneath the ferns and bracken, pretending to look for a stick when she was instead trying to gather her wits.

Why must Will Dorning be poor and honorable? Why must he be devoted to his younger siblings at the expense of his own ambitions? Why must he be so handsome and dear and kind?

“This one will do,” Will said, plucking a stout length of wood from the undergrowth. Sampson hopped about as Will passed Susannah the stick. A little hop from a dog of that size was enough to make a lady uneasy.

Will, however, took no notice of Sampson. Ignoring misbehavior figured prominently in his training scheme. He never raised a hand to the dogs, never shouted, but he ignored mistakes and expressed disappointment on occasion, rather like a very patient governess. He praised good behavior often, even the simple good behavior of quietly waiting.

“You have never lost your temper with a dog?” Susannah asked, pushing aside more dead leaves and ferns with her boot.

Georgette snuffled among the leaves as well, and Sampson could not seem to hold still.

“Once I lost my temper,” Will said. “when I was about Cam’s age. My dog, the one I’d raised from puppyhood, chewed a corner of the family Bible to bits. I hadn’t realized he was trapped in the library for most of the day, so the fault was mine. My step-mother was in hysterics, and my father—who did not care a whit for the Bible—was wroth with me because of her upset.”

Sampson got his jaws clamped around a protruding piece of deadfall twice as long as he was.

“Sampson, drop,” Will said.

The Sampson looked at his owner without turning loose of his prize, mischief and longing in his doggy eyes.

Will met that hopeful gaze. “Drop, Sampson.”

With the air of a small boy forced to sit still in Sunday services, Sampson let go of the branch.

“You lost your temper over the incident with the Bible?” Susannah asked. Under the trees, the morning was cooler, the shade welcome.

“I shouted at my dearest companion,” Will said. “Called him every name a gentlemen doesn’t use before ladies. Kicked him hard, once in the shoulder, and then couldn’t believe I’d done that. He forgave me before the sun went down. Slept at my feet that night, and woke up, tail wagging, ready to join me in the garden the next morning, the same as any other day.”

Let not the sun go down on your wrath was a biblical proscription from Ephesians. Susannah had never had much luck with that one.

“You didn’t forgive yourself,” Susannah said. “Sit, Georgette.”

Georgette obeyed, then leaned against Susannah’s leg. The dog’s weight was comforting, an I’m-here sort of presence, patient and solid.

“Sampson, sit,” Will said, though the dog only half-obeyed. “I didn’t forgive myself. I’d betrayed the trust of an animal in my care, first by leaving him in the library, where temptation was all around, then by punishing him for behaving simply as a bored dog will. Sampson, sit.”

Sampson settled in the leaves, but with a quivering, “where’s my stick?!” reluctance.

“We make mistakes,” Susannah said, twitching a wrinkle from Will’s cravat. His dress was conservative to the point of plainness, and yet understated tailoring only made his good looks more apparent. “I made mistakes, in Kent. I thought a fellow was about to offer for me, and it turned out I’d been hasty in surrendering my trust to him.”

She wanted Will to know this. Wanted him to understand that she wasn’t a pillar of virtue, innocent of what went on between men and the women.

Susannah was not innocent, and she was not good, for regret had kept her up many a night. She did not regret the loss of her virtue per se, but why, if she had to yield her favors outside of marriage, couldn’t she have yielded them to Will Dorning?

“I’m sorry,” Will said, trapping her hand in his own. “Sorry your trust was abused. You deserve much better than that.”

His eyes, so surprising in their color, were grave, and that annoyed Susannah. “You’re not sorry my trust was given to another, rather than to yourself.” She was about to berate him for being honorable, berate him for finding Edward Nash’s bumbling selfishness inappropriate.

“You do trust me, Susannah,” Will said, letting go of her hand. “I hope you always will, and as for my regrets—”

Something flashed by immediately overhead. A squirrel, a bird, Susannah knew not what, but Sampson lunged straight up from his position at Will’s side, twisting in mid-air so his leash wrapped around Susannah, and pulled her hard against Will.

Will struggled to hang on to the leash, but Sampson kept leaping and whining, and then Georgette abandoned her post by Susannah’s side, tangling her leash around Susannah from the other direction.

As Sampson let out one excited bark, Susannah and Will went toppling amid the ferns.

Susannah landed mostly on top of Will, a very agreeable place to find herself. She was like that young dog in the library, temptation on all sides, and nobody to ensure decorum held the upper hand over her instincts.

Knowing she ought not, knowing she’d deserve endless scolding for yielding to her impulses, Susannah bent her head and kissed the daylights out Will Dorning.

***

I want more. Right now, lol. Fortunately, you can buy Will’s True Wish right now from: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, or Kobo.

And don’t forget to enter to win a signed copy from Grace herself!

Catch up with Grace Burrowes on her Website. Sign up for her Newsletter

Catch her on Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads, or on Twitter: @GraceBurrowes

See you next time! oxo

Genre Roulette – Romance Writers Weekly

Hey there! Welcome to another edition of Romance Writer’s Weekly where we give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into our lives as authors.

It’s the time of year when many of us are deep inside our writing caves preparing awesome new stories for you to enjoy. This week, the lovely Leslie Hachtel asked “how do you the genre(s) you write, or do they pick you?”

Hopefully, you just hopped over here after visiting the charming Carrie Elks. I can’t wait to read her response. Her Love in London series is one of my favourites.

As for me, I write contemporary fiction because I am lazy. Really, I am.

I have so much respect and admiration for people who write science fiction and fantasy. Their ability to build worlds, to create something from nothing or bend known concepts into something completely new, astounds me.

I think I could tackle that some day, I have the imagination for it, but it would have to be a few years into my career. Writing books like these take a lot of time and patience, and I have very little of each right now.

Historical authors impress me too. There’s so much painstaking research that goes into what they do. I’m too lazy for that. I know that when I run into a factoid that I don’t like, it’ll be like hitting a brick wall. I’ll want to re-write history. Just being honest.

FoX Friday with Jessica Cale – Win a Kindle Fire!

It’s FoX Friday and we have a brand new FoX this week. Please welcome Jessica Cale! Jessica is here with her upcoming release, The Long Way Home, out 29 February.

“Really brilliant writing that’s so engaging with such endearing characters! I especially love the way Jack and Alice are both so devoted to each other! I was totally absorbed in this exciting and fascinating world Jessica Cale created from the very first paragraph to the last! I read this all in one sitting, staying awake late to finish, just had to!” – Romazing Reader

Come meet Jessica!

Jessica Cale is the award-winning author of the historical romance series, The Southwark Saga. Originally from Minnesota, she lived in Wales for several years where she earned a BA in History and an MFA in Creative Writing while climbing castles and photographing mines for history magazines. She kidnapped (“married”) her very own British prince (close enough) and is enjoying her happily ever after with him in North Carolina.

The Long Way Home is set in France, but your series is based in London. How did you end up there?

The idea of setting this in France started in Tyburn when we find out that sixteen-year-old Jack sells the highwaymen’s loot on the Continent for Mark. I was intrigued by the idea that Jack was familiar with France and I wanted to explore that. I knew I wanted to write Alice and Jack’s story next, but were still kids during the first two in 1671. By the time they would be adults around 1677, the Affair of the Poisons was just kicking off in the French court, and I couldn’t resist.

What is your writing process like?

I get ideas at really inconvenient times and scribble them on Post-Its that I keep in my wallet. I write long stream-of-consciousness outlines that I ignore, and I write scenes out of order as they come to me, usually inspired by some song that hit me funny on the right day. I write everything on my little Chromebook, paste it all together in one long document, edit it in chunks, and read it over and over again and until I like it. When the first draft is done, I put it on my Nook, leave it a week, and read it like it’s someone else’s book to spot anything that still needs work. Once I’m happy, my husband reads it to fact-check my history (he’s a historian specializing in this period), he always relates to it in a way I don’t expect, and he makes fun of the love scenes. I edit it again with his notes and then I pass it to my beta readers for their thoughts, edit and rewrite based on their notes, read it once more and panic, then decide I can’t judge it properly any more and send it to my publisher.

What, aside from writing, do you like to do best?

I love travel and photography. Most of my off time comes in short bursts, though, so I like to bake or go to the gym. I’ve gotten really into baking macarons over the last couple of years and I spend a lot of time trying to perfect them. They turn out most of the time now, but they’re just contrary cookies. I like to invent new flavors, take photos of them, and then I forget they’re in the fridge.

If you were to make French macarons for one of your characters who would enjoy it the most?

I would say Jack. He grew up very poor and he loves good food, but he’s too shy to ask for it and he won’t spend the money on himself.

What is your favorite fun fact you have learned in your research?

Peas! At the time I’m writing in the late 1670s, the whole French court was crazy for peas. Madame Maintenon mentions them in her letters and says the court is preoccupied with them – enjoying them or anticipating enjoying them again. The way she writes about them, you’d think she was talking about something a lot naughtier. They would actually have dishes of them left in their rooms to snack on in case they got hungry in the night. This is one of the strangest details in The Long Way Home, and it’s true!

Sign up for Jessica’s Newsletter. Look for her on her Website, Facebook, Twitter: @JessicaCale Pinterest, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads Author Page.

 

More about The Long Way Home…

A paranoid king, a poison plot, and hideous shoes…it’s not easy being Cinderella.

After saving the life of the glamorous Marquise de Harfleur, painfully shy barmaid Alice Henshawe is employed as the lady’s companion and whisked away to Versailles. There, she catches King Louis’ eye and quickly becomes a court favorite as the muse for Charles Perrault’s Cinderella. The palace appears to be heaven itself, but there is danger hidden beneath the façade and Alice soon finds herself thrust into a world of intrigue, murder, and Satanism at the heart of the French court.

Having left his apprenticeship to serve King Charles as a spy, Jack Sharpe is given a mission that may just kill him. In the midst of the Franco-Dutch war, he is to investigate rumors of a poison plot by posing as a courtier, but he has a mission of his own. His childhood friend Alice Henshawe is missing and he will stop at nothing to see her safe. When he finds her in the company of the very people he is meant to be investigating, Jack begins to wonder if the sweet girl he grew up with has a dark side.

When a careless lie finds them accidentally married, Alice and Jack must rely on one another to survive the intrigues of the court. As old affection gives way to new passion, suspicion lingers. Can they trust each other, or is the real danger closer than they suspect?

Add to Goodreads.

For a limited time, save 20% when you pre-order with Liquid Silver Books.

Find the rest of the series here.

You’re Invited! RSVP to The Long Way Home Leap Year Ball to chat with your favorite authors and enter to win fabulous prizes all day Saturday, February 27th.

Enter Jessica’s Kindle Fire Giveaway!

Free Download: Lost Chapter from STARLIGHT

Hey my lovelies!

For a limited time you can download a chapter I deleted from Starlight for free, right here on my website.

Spoilers for Starlight, obviously. Read further at your own discretion. =)

The chapter is mostly told from Adam’s point-of-view, (you may or may not meet his lady love.

It’s My Birthday But All The Gifts Are For You!

I’m having a party, people, and YOU are invited!

Come join me on Facebook* today (17 February) at 2pm ET. Lots of my talented friends will be there. We’ll have music, prizes, trivia, and cake. Okay, it’s virtual cake, but the shortbread giveaway is real.

Look at this line-up: Raven St. Pierre, Avery Flynn, Veronica Forand, Kaia Bennett, Kim Golden, Sabine Priestley, S.C. Mitchell, Carrie Elks, Jamie Pope a/k/a Sugar Jamison, Susan Scott Shelley, and Laura Kaye. Plus a few more surprise guests! =)

I’ll have hundreds of dollars in prizes up for grabs, including book bundles, a Kindle Fire, and a ginormous Outlander bundle. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this. RSVP now!

What: Xio’s Birthday and Book Bash

Where: Facebook*

Time: 2pm ET to 8pm ET

See you there!

Xio

 

 

*Giveaways are in no way endorsed or sponsored by Facebook.

We Have a Date and a Dress to Wear! – Monday Morning Sassenach

Wow.

What an awesome Valentine’s Day gift, fellow sassenachs! Not only did Starz announce the premiere date for season two – 9th April – but we also got a sneak peak at Claire’s infamous red dress.

Look. At. That. Dress! And those shoes, my goodness. Terry Dresbach has truly outdone herself with this outfit.

Over on her blog, she explains the construction of these strappy little beauties, made from red silk. I’m dying to ask Cait how comfortable they were. And if she stole them. =)

Did you catch the season two trailer? Even if you have, it’s worth a second (or third, or fourth) look. Am I right?

Guh. I cannae wait!

More details have emerged about the alterations that Ron Moore & company have made to the story line. With the casting of Sophie Skelton as Brianna Fraser, and tweets from both her and Richard Rankin (Roger Mac) from the set, we now know we’ll see them at some point this season. But in the trailer, we also see a distraught Claire in a 1940s hospital, with a relieved Frank there to welcome her back. Say what, now?

Changes are afoot, my friends. Herself has signed off on the deviations from the book(s) but tell me. Do you think you’ll be satisfied?

MMS Mood: Enthralled!

FoX Friday with Mindy Klasky!

Hey there, lovelies! We have a brand new FoX this week. Welcome Mindy Klasky and her new release, JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS. Here’s a bit about the book:

Matt Dawson has returned to Harmony Springs after ten years of pitching in the major leagues. His father thinks he’s a screw-up who should have joined the Army instead of playing ball. His old buddies think he’s a hero with a bottomless bank account. But Matt knows he’ll never be a hero, not like his brother Jon, who recently died in Afghanistan.

Emily Barton once dated Jon but their break-up was brutal, made even worse when Matt tried to intervene. Years later, Emily remains trapped on an emotional treadmill, regularly changing her apartment, her job, and her boyfriend in a futile attempt to regain her earlier success.

Determined to give back to Harmony Springs, Matt opens an American Discount thrift store. But Emily recognizes a threat to the downtown shopping district and she organizes a grassroots campaign. Will she succeed at driving the American Discount store out of town—and Matt out of her life—forever?

Just One of Those Things, the second volume in the Harmony Springs Series, is available as an ebook. (Each volume of the Harmony Springs Series is a stand-alone sweet and spicy contemporary romance and can be read on its own, without the other books in the series.)

You can check out a excerpt from the book over at Mindy’s site. Grab JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, and Nook.

USA Today bestselling author Mindy Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her she could travel anywhere through stories. As a writer, Mindy has traveled through various genres, including hot contemporary romance. In her spare time, Mindy knits, quilts, and tries to tame her to-be-read shelf. Catch up with her on:

Facebook | Twitter | Website | Newsletter

Free Romance for Valentine’s Day!

Send a Little Love is the brainchild of the Other Half Of My Brain, author Sarah Hegger. SALL lets you to send a free romance novel to a friend. That’s right, FREE! (One per sender/recipient.)

There are 22 amazing authors participating in this random act of kindness, including: A.S. Fenichel, Avery Flynn, CeeRee Fields, Collette Cameron, Damon Suede, Gemma Brocato, Grace Burrowes, J.R.Richardson, Juliette Cross, Kim Golden, Kristan Higgins, Kristi Rose, Rhenna Morgan, Sarah Hegger, Susan Scott Shelley, Tamra Lassiter, Terri-Lynne DeFino, Veronica Forand, Virginia Taylor, and me.

Dude. What are you waiting for? Go now. Send someone a little something special. Offer ends on Valentine’s Day! Send A Little Love.

Celebrating African-American Women in Romance

When Black Women Fall is a week long promotional tour of romance novels featuring African-American heroines in the contemporary, historical, paranormal, new adult, and erotica genres. Featured authors are:

Farrah Rochon – All You Can Handle

Lena Hart – Because You Love Me

Xio Axelrod – Falling Stars

Kim Golden – Maybe Baby

Ines Johnson – Pumpkin: a Cindermama Story

Christina C. Jones – Inevitable Conclusions

Victoria H. Smith – The Space Between

L Penelope – Angelborn

Laverne Thompson – Angel Rising

Piper Huguley – The Preacher’s Promise

Twyla Turner – Chasing Day

Harper Miller – Entwined

Rebekah Weatherspoon – So Sweet

All Books $.99 or less, and you can enter to win over $150 in prizes! Be sure to check book prices at the vendor before purchasing.

Click here to download the FREE sampler booklet with excerpts of all the books. (5MB)