Blog Tour: Death's Servant (VV Inn #0.1) by C. J. Ellisson {Guest Post & Giveaway}

I'm happy to be hosting a stop on C.J. Ellisson's Death's Servant Blog Tour today. C.J. is the author of the popular paranormal romance series VV Inn and is here revealing her top ten dislikes of her favorite genre...stick around, say hi and enter the giveaway!

Top Ten Dislikes in My Favorite Genre: Urban Fantasy by C.J. Ellisson

Hi Lori,

Thanks for having me on the blog! Here is my top ten list of "What I Dislike in My Favorite Genre" (which is Urban Fantasy).

10) Whiny Heroines. I dislike weak women in real life and don't care to read about them in my fiction. Sure, every woman has her doubts and can grow within a story, but a truly weak character who acts Too Stupid To Live, makes me want to throw the book out.

9) Predictable Endings. If we can guess what is going to happen about ¼ of the way through the book then maybe the plot should be changed. Just saying.

8) Excessive romance in my adventure stories. I'm not talking about the sex, that part is great. But if the urban fantasy I'm reading revolves mostly around the sexual tension and growing relationship between the Hero and heroine I get a little annoyed. I know there is a huge cross over of readers from paranormal romance to urban fantasy, but I really prefer the relationship building aspects to be a sub-plot rather than a main pot thread.

7) Really dumb choices by the MCs. Sometimes bad choices seem overly contrived and convenient. Am I the only one who feels this way?

6) Meandering writing. Dude, pick a style and stick with it. Most readers I talk to prefer action and dialogue heavy stories. If I have to read extended descriptions of clothing and hair I get bored and skip pages.

Sinful Sirens Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the SINFUL SIRENS GIVEAWAY HOP!

Summer's almost here and what better way to celebrate than with a blog hop with some fabulous prizes?! This super sexy giveaway hop is hosted by the sinful ladies of Under the Covers Book Blog and Guilty Pleasures. The hop runs from 12:01 AM May 15th through to 11:59 PM May 20th, 2013.

You can find my giveaway below but be sure to check out all participating blogs at the end of this post! ;)

Blogoversary Celebration Winners!

A huge thanks to everyone who made my blogoversary celebration a success and to all the fabulous authors who stopped by and joined in, I couldn't have done it without you! I know it's taken a long time to announce the winners, I'm blaming it on the little gargoyles that are keeping me me late at work lately... <3

AND NOW FOR THE WINNERS....

{Virtual Book Tour} Chapter One Sneak Peek of Fiery Edge of Steel by Jill Archer & Giveaway

Welcome to the final stop on the Fiery Edge of Steel virtual book tour, hosted by Bewitching Book Tours. Author Jill Archer is promoting her latest book in her Noon Onyx series and has been sharing a new excerpt of the first chapter every day on the tour, read on for the last sneak peek and don't forget to enter the giveaway! ;)

Find each excerpt on the tour:

May 6th @ Fang-tastic Books

May 7th @ Urban Girl Reader

May 8th @ Preternatura

May 9th @ Urban Fantasy Investigations

May 10th @ Rabid Reads

May 11th @ Romancing the Dark Side

Guest Post: Lindsay Avalon chats about the Mythrian Realm Series

Those of you who have read my debut paranormal romance, Breaking the Nexus know that I was a bit cruel and left things on a cliffhanger. Not just an cliffhanger, mind you. A ginormous cliffhanger. Yes, I’m evil :)

I know you’re all dying to know what happens next, but book 2 isn’t going to be out for a while. Why? Well, my brain works in mysterious ways. I actually know exactly how Waking the Phoenix will end (and no I won’t tell you :P) but get there can be tricky. I am so lucky to have wonderful betas and the best muse ever who all know how to ask me questions to prompt my writing juju to be generous. Even so, I need a palate cleanser of sorts. You see, when I first wrote Breaking the Nexus, there were mistakes out the wazoo. I stagnated and wanted to rewrite it but couldn’t figure out where to go with things. What did I do? I wrote a novella. As soon as that was finished, BAM! Magically my writing juju was back in full force.

As much as I know you all are dying for Waking the Phoenix, I need a palate cleanser again. A way to reboot my brain so I have fresh ideas. Enter my new novella, Warrior Unleashed. This will feature Sha’s half brother Achaius, a panther Chimerae, and Gaelen (wind) Sorceri Saia. I have an even better reason for writing this novella first than just to give my brain a reboot…

Author Interview with Bec McMaster & win "Kiss of Steel"

RtDS: Welcome to Romancing the Dark Side Bec McMaster, it’s a real pleasure to have you stop by and chat with us today. * Please help yourself to the virtual tea and scones ;) *

BM: Thank you so much for having me! And tea and scones... You just said the magic words.

RtDS: Give us three (3) interesting facts about yourself that may surprise your readers.

BM: 1: Spiders and snakes? No problem. Public speaking? Consider me a wreck.
2: If I wasn’t a writer, I’d love to be an archaeologist, travel consultant or architect.
3: Despite the fact I write steampunk and love imagining devices that could have been, I’m technologically challenged in real life.

RtDS: Describe the relationship between Lena and Will in Heart of Iron, in 140 characters or less.

BM: He’s a virgin, she’s a flirt. He’s tough, rough and dangerous to know and she’s the only one who can wrap him round her little finger.

RtDS: You’ve flawlessly combined historical romance with the paranormal in your dark and gritty world of blue bloods, the Fade, vampires, werewolves and the Echelon. Is there a theme or idea you haven’t written about yet but would love to work with?

BM: Way too many ideas, not enough time. I love anything with a spec-fic nature, so anything along those lines. I’d love to do something apocalyptic/dystopian, but only if it wasn’t the same-old, same-old.

RtDS: Who was the most difficult character to write in Heart of Iron?

BM: Will. I answered that question in one second flat. (Laughs). I think it was because Blade (from Kiss of Steel) came so easily to me, so fully formed. I could see Will – this huge, hulking brute who just preferred to be alone – but I couldn’t get him to talk to me for a long time.

{Blogoversary Celebration} Kait Ballenger's Top Five Bookish Pet Peeves + Giveaways

This is last day of my blogoversary celebration and I have a special guest who's stopped by, author Kait Ballenger! I met Kait a few months ago via blogging and Twitter, she's super cool and loves sexy alphas and strong heroines like yours truly so we hit it off immediately. Her debut new release, After Dark (with Gena Showalter), hits shelves this June, but today Kait's here sharing some of her bookish pet peeves with us...you know you have them too!

A big thanks to all the authors who participated and all the readers and fellow bloggers for making this blogoversary such a fun celebration! I truly appreciate all the love and support you've shown me with your comments and tweets! <3

My Bookish Pet Peeves by Kait Ballenger

I love reading great books, and I think it’s safe to say that pretty much every successful author out there ended up where they are now because one of thing: they love reading, too. What other than love would cause someone to slave away hours a day writing their first unsold novel with no guarantee of pay? As classic book nerds, most authors love to talk about what they love and don’t love about their all time favorite novels, so when Lori asked me to write a post about my top five bookish pet peeves for her blogoversary, it was easy to figure out my top five bookish pet peeves: they’re exactly the things I strive to make sure my novels don’t have. So when I share these five bookish pet peeves, I’d also like to make a promise. I promise that, to the best of my ability, the following things are something you will NEVER find in the pages of a Kait Ballenger novel. So here you have it, from least to greatest, my five bookish pet peeves: