Vanessa Barneveld's Blog, page 11
October 3, 2015
Around the World in 21 Days – Part 3
This weekend marks 25 years since Germany’s reunification, so I thought it was only fitting to post my third and last entry Around the World in 21 Days series. After New York and Amsterdam, I flew off to Berlin with my sister, her husband, their children and our cousins for four uber-short days. We booked this fantastic holiday apartment in Prenzlauer Berg, an area which is undergoing gentrification. For years, I had assumed the architecture of East Germany would be austere and functional-looking, but in fact it was full of wonderful neoclassical-style buildings that reminded me of Paris and London. That was the case in Prenzlauer Berg, anyway.
Brandenburg Gate at dusk
Berlin was boiling hot. Who would’ve thought? On the steamiest day of all (35C/95F), we went on a three-hour bike tour with Berlin on Bike. Since the rest of my group was from the Netherlands, the tour guide gave the tour in Dutch. But that was fine because the scenery was amazing and my sister and brother-in-law acted as interpreters for me. Another thing my Dutch companions had on me was bike-riding ability. For the Dutch, it’s no big deal to hop on their bikes and do errands. Their infrastructure is fantastic. Where I live? Hmm, not so much. It had been three years since I last rode my bike. I rode 10 metres on cobblestones and promptly fell off. I had a couple more falls. My fellow travellers seemed to find this very amusing. Look away now if you’re squeamish:
I’m not exactly sure which accident caused that bruise. Up close, my flesh kind of looked like an uncooked bratwurst. It’s so severe that you can still see it, two months on! Despite the accidents, the bike tour was actually one of my favourite bits of the Berlin trip. It’s a great way to see the city. We shared the road with cars for the most part. I believe we did a 15-kilometre trip, tracing the line where the Berlin Wall once stood. It was quite moving (not to mention chilling) to see how the city was divided. Definitely sparked a few story ideas for me.
Food-wise, strangely, I didn’t touch a single wurst and not even a crumb of a schnitzel. A friend gave me firm instructions to go to KaDeWe‘s food hall. Of course, I obeyed and gobbled an amazing chocolate treat whose name escapes me. Something with layers of chocolate sponge possibly soaked in Cointreau plus chocolate ganache. Who cares what it was called? In Galeries Lafayette, I could have gone for a box of roasted crickets and worms, but ate Japanese food instead. The food hall was so packed that I ended up sharing a tiny table with a friendly Belgian man who was on his lunch break.
So after 21 days away, it was sadly time to say goodbye to my family and return to Sydney via London and Dubai. As I mentioned in Part 1, I listened to Qantas’ Inflight Radio on a loop. One of the songs that caught my ear and seems *totally* appropriate for this post was Home By Now by Bombay Bicycle Club. Here it is for you to enjoy:
Look closely and you’ll see London Bridge.
So that brings to an end my short series about a long trip. Click on the links for Around the World in 21 Days part 1 (New York) and part 2 (Amsterdam) if you missed them.
I’ve got a Facebook contest going until Oct 6, Australian Eastern Standard Daylight time. Go to my FB page, tell me your fantasy holiday destination and you could win e-books by Valerie Tejeda and Eric Smith!
October 1, 2015
Facebook Giveaway!
It’s the start of a long weekend in my corner of the world. Hooray! This calls for a flash giveaway! One winner will receive Kindle copies of Valerie Tejeda‘s HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNTER and Eric Smith‘s INKED. Both books are paranormal/fantasy YAs and supremely good reads!
For your chance to win, pop over to my Facebook author page and answer this question: What’s your fantasy holiday destination? Bonus entry points if you:
Like and share the post on Facebook
Sign up to my newsletter so you’ll be among the first to hear about my latest news and giveaways.
Entries for this giveaway close Tuesday, October 6 at 2:59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time. (That’s Monday, October 5 at 11:59pm US Eastern Time.)
Good luck!
INKED by Eric Smith
Publisher’s blurb:
Sometimes your only chance to survive, and what you most fear… is to be INKED.
Tattoos once were an act of rebellion.
Now they decide your destiny the moment the magical Ink settles under your skin.
And in a world where Ink controls your fate, Caenum can’t escape soon enough. He is ready to run from his family, and his best friend Dreya, and the home he has known, just to have a chance at a choice.
But when he upsets the very Scribe scheduled to give him his Ink on his eighteenth birthday, he unwittingly sets in motion a series of events that sends the corrupt, magic-fearing government, The Citadel, after him and those he loves.
Now Caenum, Dreya, and their reluctant companion Kenzi must find their way to the Sanctuary, a secret town where those with the gift of magic are safe. Along the way, they learn the truth behind Ink, its dark origins, and why they are the only ones who can stop the Citadel.
Eric Smith takes you on a fast-paced fantasy adventure, perfect for anyone who has dreamed of being different…only to discover that destiny is more than skin deep. Out now from Bloomsbury Spark
HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNTER by Valerie Tejeda
Publisher’s blurb:
From the moment Iris first learned the truth about witches she knew she was born to fight them.
Now, at sixteen, she’s got witch hunting down to a science. As the lone girl on the Witch Hunters Special Ops Team, Iris has to work twice as hard to prove her worth. But when an A-list actress is murdered on her watch, that task becomes a hell of a lot harder.
But murdered celebrities are just the start…a mysterious new hunter has arrived on the scene, and he’s as cute as he is deadly. But there’s more to Arlo than meets the eye, and there’s more at stake than Iris’s reputation.
Evil is rising in the hills of Hollywood, and it’s up to Iris and Arlo to end this battle. Iris is ready to protect the human race at all costs, even if it destroys her.
Because that’s what witch hunters do.
Flash Facebook Giveaway!
It’s the start of a long weekend in my corner of the world. Hooray! This calls for a flash giveaway! One winner will receive Kindle copies of Valerie Tejeda‘s HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNTER and Eric Smith‘s INKED. Both books are paranormal/fantasy YAs and supremely good reads!
For your chance to win, pop over to my Facebook author page and answer this question: What’s your fantasy holiday destination? Bonus entry points if you:
Like and share the post on Facebook
Sign up to my newsletter so you’ll be among the first to hear about my latest news and giveaways.
Entries for this giveaway close Tuesday, October 6 at 2:59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time. (That’s Monday, October 5 at 11:59pm US Eastern Time.)
Good luck!
INKED by Eric Smith
Publisher’s blurb:
Sometimes your only chance to survive, and what you most fear… is to be INKED.
Tattoos once were an act of rebellion.
Now they decide your destiny the moment the magical Ink settles under your skin.
And in a world where Ink controls your fate, Caenum can’t escape soon enough. He is ready to run from his family, and his best friend Dreya, and the home he has known, just to have a chance at a choice.
But when he upsets the very Scribe scheduled to give him his Ink on his eighteenth birthday, he unwittingly sets in motion a series of events that sends the corrupt, magic-fearing government, The Citadel, after him and those he loves.
Now Caenum, Dreya, and their reluctant companion Kenzi must find their way to the Sanctuary, a secret town where those with the gift of magic are safe. Along the way, they learn the truth behind Ink, its dark origins, and why they are the only ones who can stop the Citadel.
Eric Smith takes you on a fast-paced fantasy adventure, perfect for anyone who has dreamed of being different…only to discover that destiny is more than skin deep. Out now from Bloomsbury Spark
HOLLYWOOD WITCH HUNTER by Valerie Tejeda
Publisher’s blurb:
From the moment Iris first learned the truth about witches she knew she was born to fight them.
Now, at sixteen, she’s got witch hunting down to a science. As the lone girl on the Witch Hunters Special Ops Team, Iris has to work twice as hard to prove her worth. But when an A-list actress is murdered on her watch, that task becomes a hell of a lot harder.
But murdered celebrities are just the start…a mysterious new hunter has arrived on the scene, and he’s as cute as he is deadly. But there’s more to Arlo than meets the eye, and there’s more at stake than Iris’s reputation.
Evil is rising in the hills of Hollywood, and it’s up to Iris and Arlo to end this battle. Iris is ready to protect the human race at all costs, even if it destroys her.
Because that’s what witch hunters do.
September 22, 2015
Facebook Party & Audiobook Giveaway!
My good friend Amy Patrick is throwing a Facebook party to celebrate the release of HIDDEN HOPE, book three in her HIDDEN trilogy. She’s invited a bunch of authors, including me, and we’re giving away tons of great prizes.
I’m offering an Audible audiobook edition of my YA paranormal, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE, to one Facebook party-goer! Now, because we’re celebrating Amy’s third book in the HIDDEN trilogy, there are three ways to enter. You can do one or all of the following three things:
1. Go to Amy’s Hidden Hope Release Party page on Facebook and ‘Like’ my post.
2. Share that post through Facebook.
3. Comment on my Hidden Hope Facebook party post and tell me the most haunted place you’ve visited or want to visit.
You’ll get bonus entry points for clicking ‘Like’ on my Facebook author page and signing up to my newsletter. Please join the Fans of Amy Patrick group at while you’re there!
Entries close Monday, September 28, 5pm EST, U.S. time. Open to U.S. and international residents.
Here’s lovely Amy talking about her upcoming release and par-tay:
September 18, 2015
Around the World in 21 Days – Part 2
Don’t you wish holidays lasted forever? Almost seems like a lifetime has passed since I returned from my Sydney-New York-Amsterdam-Berlin-Amsterdam-Sydney jaunt.
Last time, I blogged about New York, which was hotter than July. Today I’ve got a Dutch treat for you! Most of my family lives in the land of clogs and tulips, and I had a wonderful time with them. Sorry again to my niece for crashing her brand-new omafiets into a pole — at least there was no damage to the bike. Plenty of damage to me, though. Grapefruit-sized bruise on my thigh. A bruised ear. Oh, and a suspected fractured thumb. Ouch! This still doesn’t compare to the bike crash I had in Berlin. More on that next time.
When I wasn’t hanging out with my family and falling off bikes, I was travelling all over Holland as part of my World War II research for a new book — Arnhem, Rotterdam, Maastricht, Utrecht, and dozens of charming little villages in between. We stopped off at Barneveld, a town in the middle of the country and home of the Barnevelder breed of chicken.
I visited a gentleman who was a teenager during WWII and whose father was a member of the Dutch Resistance. I’m really grateful to him for sharing so many fascinating but harrowing stories (and to my brother-in-law for translating). He has a private collection of wartime artefacts, including hollowed-out books that were used by the Resistance to conceal weapons and tiny homemade radios. It’s said Holland’s Prince Bernhard wanted a sabre from this collection, and when the prince wanted something, he usually got it. But my gentleman friend refused to give it to him and sent the prince slinking away empty-handed.
If you’re ever in Amsterdam and want to learn more about how the Dutch dealt with the Nazi Germany occupation, I highly recommend visiting the Verzetzmusem (Dutch Resistance Museum). I visited Anne Frank House on a previous trip to Holland, and that was also incredibly moving.
But my trip wasn’t all about the war. It was also about ice-cream, getting dressed up in funny costumes, finding the perfect patat met (= fries with mayo). In Rotterdam, we went to the awesome Market Hall. An apartment complex arches over the food hall, so if you have a flat there, you can look out your bedroom window at all the cheeses, seafood, vegies, meaty things and sweets. We wolfed down burgers at an excellent joint called Firma Pickles. On the way back, we passed the famous Cube Houses. My pic of the exterior is below, and here’s a YouTuber’s video of the interior if you’re curious. Caution: It may cause dizziness!
Cube Houses, Rotterdam
Maastricht is a gorgeous town right down the very bottom of Holland, near the German and Belgian borders. My sister and I went into a centuries-old man-made limestone cave system. The tour guide turned out the gas lamps after a while and left us to find our way in total darkness for five minutes. All part of the tour, of course. We were told the Dutch hid priceless artworks, like Rembrandt’s Night Watch, deep in the caves during WWII. Maastricht is also home to an impressive cathedral that is now a bookshop. That’s what I call heavenly!
The Netherlands is one of my favourite places on earth to visit. The people are wonderful, especially my family. :) I love, love, LOVE the bike infrastructure as well as the ancient architecture and those tall, crooked townhouses. But a word of warning to travellers — credit cards are not accepted everywhere. I couldn’t use my Australian debit/credit cards for train ticket vending machines, for booking museum tix online, and some physical stores wouldn’t take non-Dutch cards. American Express is pretty much dead to retailers. So try to keep a little cash on you for those patat met purchases.
Next time, on my third and last Around the World in 21 Days post, Berlin! For now, enjoy a bunch of random pictures from my time in Holland.
Dag (= goodbye)!
August 22, 2015
Around the World in 21 Days – Part 1
I’m recovering from an epic holiday that took me from Sydney to New York to Amsterdam to Berlin to Amsterdam and back to Sydney again. This trip was so epic that I’ll have to tell you about it across several blog posts. (And I’ve got to write it down before everything fades from my jet-lagged head.) So here’s Part 1…
In New York, I attended the Romance Writers of America national conference, where I caught up with some of my very best writing friends. Erica O’Rourke introduced me to Courtney Milan, and together we had a veritable love-in over Courtney’s Apple Watch. I honestly had zero interest in getting one until she said you could send someone your heartbeat via the watch.
A super-cool thing that happened in super-hot Manhattan was the OKRWA’s awards reception for the National Readers’ Choice Award. My book, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE, picked up the winner’s trophy in the YA category. Thank you SO much to the judges and everyone involved in this contest — this is a huge honour!
I went to a couple of great Broadway shows. Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons was hilarious as God in An Act of God. At the stage door, he graciously signed autographs for fans. I got a brilliant shot of his forehead. My dear friend Kim MacCarron, who was a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart Award, took me to see Kinky Boots — a colourful, toe-tapping spectacular.
My agent, Beth Miller, took me and hot debut author Pintip Dunn (also my agency sister, critique partner and fab friend) to the Frying Pan on the Hudson River. Once a lighthouse, the Pan is now a floating bar/eatery. Their sangria cured me of motion sickness, I think. ;)
When I wasn’t purchasing discounted shoes at Macy’s or getting my hair did at the Drybar salon with Pintip, I was actually attending writing workshops. In the Seven Sins of Self-Promotion, I learned it’s useful to keep a bunch of promo postcards, bookmarks or even a physical book in your handbag. Give them out at parties, etc, when people ask that perennial question, “So what do you do?” This can be more effective than simply leaving a bunch of promo material in a conference goody room because you’re actually interacting with potential readers.
On my way to JFK airport, my taxi was rear-ended by another driver. It was minor, no damage to either vehicle. Definitely nothing compared to the bike accidents that I would have days later in Europe… More on that next time!
Until then, I’ll leave you with a Qantas Inflight Radio song that haunted me during the many hours in transit, ‘Beloved‘ by Say Lou Lou, a twin-sister duo from Australia/Sweden.
June 29, 2015
How to Host a Regency House Party – with Anna Campbell
Welcome, Anna!
Vanessa, thanks so much for having me as your guest today! It’s always such fun to be a visitor to your blog. Much more fun than most of the guests at my Regency house party are having!
Poor Sidonie Merrick, Lady Hillbrook!
She clearly needs some advice on how to host a house party. The gathering at her palatial country residence, Ferney, in Three Proposals and a Scandal: A Sons of Sin Novella is turning into a major disaster!
House parties are a staple of Regency romance – a couple of weeks in the country offers lots of opportunity for flirtation (and other things!), with all those hedgerows and hidden gardens and woodlands, not to mention isolated shepherds’ cottages (one must isolate one’s shepherds if they don’t bathe regularly!).
Here are a few elements that are de rigueur in the successful house party – and where poor Sidonie is failing so miserably!
Item 1: Delightful sunny weather so one’s guests may wander around the parterre and get lost in the maze for naughty purposes without getting their tootsies wet.
Ooops! Sidonie’s house party takes place in the middle of a deluge – to the point where her husband Jonas gains the nickname Noah! Everybody’s stuck inside and emotions are running high!
Item 2: A carefully chosen guest list of people who get along like a house on fire.
Nuh, Sidonie doesn’t have this either, although that’s not entirely her fault. She arranged this house party so that her husband Lord Hillbrook can persuade the crusty Marquess of Baildon to sell half of Hampstead to him. The guest list was put together specifically to keep Lord Baildon onside, including inviting Lord Desborough, the man he hopes will propose to his lovely daughter Marianne during the fortnight in the country. Unfortunately, Marianne has two other suitors, neither of whom has her father’s approval, and they both pursue her down to the country. Worse, one of them turns up with a whole pack of uninvited friends. Sidonie is stuck having to cope with crowds of cranky, lovesick young men who can’t get home because they’re flooded in.
Item 3: No scandals to titillate the gossips back in London.
Sidonie misses out here too. With Marianne’s ardent suitors on site, passions run high. The awful weather means that the lovely house becomes a crucible where when heat is applied, an explosion is sure to follow.
If you’re game, I’d love to invite you to the season’s most notorious house party which starts on Wednesday, 24th June, when Three Proposals and a Scandal makes its debut at Amazon and Smashwords. And you won’t even have to break the bank to hire a carriage to get there – only 99 cents will gain you admission to all those Regency high-jinks! How can you resist?
So in between following Marianne’s courtship and its wild twists and turns, what else would you like to do at the Regency house party? The weather makes cricket and long walks a little difficult, but I’m sure you could think of plenty to get up to inside!
I’ve got two downloads of Three Proposals and a Scandal: A Sons of Sin Novella (international) up for grabs today, so good luck!
Whose hot kisses will melt the ice princess? All London is agog to know!
As the season reaches its brilliant climax, three very different men pursue beautiful Lady Marianne Seaton. She’s the marriage mart’s greatest prize – even if cruel and unjust gossip paints her as a woman cold and glittering as any diamond.
Lord Desborough is her father’s choice – rich, powerful, safe. Lord Tranter is society’s darling – handsome, dashing, charming.
Then there’s the dangerous, compelling man nobody in their right mind calls eligible. Elias Thorne, son of scandal, reputed deceiver, possessing a rakish fascination no woman can resist. A lady might choose Elias as a lover, but as a husband, he’s too risky a bet. Even if Marianne’s forbidden yearning for him threatens her future and her reputation.
When Marianne’s suitors pursue her to the year’s most glamorous house party, there will be proposals and passion, rivals and revelations, secrets and scandals.
Let battle commence – but will the best man win?
Click to view slideshow.
Hungry for more? Read an excerpt here, and buy now at Amazon and Smashwords.
You’ll find Anna on Facebook and Twitter.
Me and Anna in our best country house party frocks
Anna, thank you so much for imparting your wisdom on hosting the perfect Regency house party. Poor Sidonie indeed — she really could have done with this advice!
Now, readers, please tell us what activities you’d partake in at a Regency house party. (A few hints below…)
June 15, 2015
Accidental Tourist + Contest News!
My sister visited me here in Sydney, and this gave us both a chance to see this city through the eyes of a tourist. We took endless shots of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Lucky for you, I won’t post all 500 photos. Just five…
I received some fantastic news today: My book, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE, is a YA finalist in the First Coast Romance Writers’ National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award! A huge thank you to the judges for nominating AFTERLIFE! My fab critique partner Anna Campbell also nabbed a berth in the finals in the Historical/Regency category with WHAT A DUKE DARES. Congrats to Anna and all the finalists!
Have you played tourist in your own town? What discoveries did you make?
June 3, 2015
Cover Reveal – Viking Warrior Rising by Asa Maria Bradley
Looky here! It’s another dreamy cover reveal for a Dreamweaver (aka a member of my 2014 Golden Heart class)! Asa Maria Bradley‘s debut paranormal, VIKING WARRIOR RISING (Sourcebooks Casablanca), will be out November 3. Congrats, Asa!!!
Release date – November 3, 2015. Click on the cover to pre-order now!
ABOUT VIKING WARRIOR RISING…
Immortal Vikings are among us.
Leif Skarsganger and his elite band of immortal warriors have been charged to protect humanity from the evil Norse god Loki.
Under attack from Loki’s minions, Leif is shocked to encounter a dark-haired beauty who fights like a warrior herself. Wounded and feverish, the Viking kisses her, inadvertently triggering an ancient Norse bond. But when Naya Brisbane breaks away and disappears before the bond is completed, Leif’s warrior spirit goes berserk. If Leif doesn’t find her fast, he’s going to lose himself to permanent battle fury.
But Naya doesn’t want to be found…and he’ll do anything to find her. Because they’re both running out of time.
Add to Goodreads List or pre-order from: Barnes & Noble or Amazon
PRAISE FOR VIKING WARRIOR RISING…
“Asa Maria Bradley creates a swoon-worthy hero who sizzles across the pages in this tale full of passion, blood, and destiny! Sexy, stubborn, and smart lovers clash in a tension-filled race to outwit science and control fate. Bradley is a new force to be reckoned with in the paranormal genre! Move over Highlanders…the Vikings are coming!”
– Rebecca Zanetti, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Dark Protector series
“Strong world-building, and a hero that will make you want a Viking of your very own!”
– Paige Tyler, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the X-Ops and SWAT series
“An intensely thrilling and unique romance that whisks the reader into the intricate, smart, and sexy world of these wickedly hot Viking warriors.”
– Sara Humphreys, award-winning author of Vampires Never Cry Wolf
About the Author
Asa Maria Bradley grew up in Sweden surrounded by archaeology and history steeped in Norse mythology, which inspired the immortal Vikings and Valkyries in her paranormal romances. She also writes romantic suspense and currently resides on a lake deep in the pine forests of the Pacific Northwest with a British husband and a rescue dog of indeterminate breed. Asa graduated from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers MFA program at Eastern Washington University with an MFA in creative writing and also holds a Master of Science in Medical Physics from University of Colorado. She’s a 2014 Golden Heart finalist and represented by Sarah E Younger at the Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
TRIVIA TIME…
Asa and me are crazy about Cheetos. I practically live on those chips when I go to the US. We love snacking while writing/editing. We don’t love cheese-encrusted fingers soiling our keyboards. Asa’s solution? Use chopsticks! (Or ChipSticks — patent pending.)
ChipSticks in action with Twisties, an Australian alternative to Cheetos.
If you missed Asa’s post on my blog about how she comes up with her brilliant story ideas, check it out here.
May 28, 2015
Cover Reveal – Pintip Dunn’s Forget Tomorrow!
Pintip Dunn — remember that name, readers! Pintip’s debut YA, Forget Tomorrow, is due out in hard cover on November 3 from Entangled Teen. This cover reveal is extra special to me because Pintip’s a very close friend. She’s one of the hardest working writers I know and deserves every bit of her success.
Here’s the blurb for Forget Tomorrow:
How do you change your future when it’s already been determined?
It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.
Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.
In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a hellish prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes.
But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all—Callie, herself.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads
Now feast your eyes on the GORGEOUS cover!
About Pintip
When her first-grade teacher asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she replied, “An author.” Although she has pursued other interests over the years, this dream has never wavered.
Pintip graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She published an article in the YALE LAW JOURNAL, entitled, “How Judges Overrule: Speech Act Theory and the Doctrine of Stare Decisis,” and received the Barry S. Kaplan Prize for best paper in Law and Literature.
She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.
I’m in lurve with this cover! It’s so striking and perfect for the story, which I’ve been lucky to enough to read. You won’t forget Forget Tomorrow!
I certainly won’t forget the day I laid eyes on this cover. Hours earlier, I was attacked by an angry little bird in Sydney’s Hyde Park. It pecked my forehead and drew blood! I’m very superstitious by nature, and I’m looking at this as a good omen. This book will fly off the shelves come November.
I thought of Alfred Hitchcock during my random bird attack
