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Sunday, February 2, 2014
So it's been a while since my last post. I went on a much non anticipated hiatus. However, I am back! I also came back with a great read...or so I think it will be a great read. Angel Fire, which is right now for a limited time a free read. Better grab it while you can.



Here is her synopsis from Amazon:
They walk among us. With blades and blood magic, they have kept us safe and ignorant − so far. 

Earthbound for centuries and ruled by the Elders, these dark angels hunt at night, disappearing to their hidden cities before dawn. Alyxandria is a young angel warrior with a fondness for customized knives and illegal night-races. If only she could overcome the taint of her parents, who abandoned her to become Rogues. 

When Alyx saves Israel, a gifted mortal with a past, she is forbidden to see him again. But she can't help herself, drawn to him through their Guardian-bond, an ancient and long-forgotten bond − if he dies, she dies. But why does he need protecting? And from who?

Alyx begins to dig into the Elders' secrets − two thousand years of secrets, which begin with the death of the Archangel Raphael. She is not prepared for what she uncovers. Who can Alyx trust when Good and Evil are no longer clear?

The war for Earth begins.

Sounds great right! Check it out! I will leave my review shortly...In the meantime, it's great to be back and happy reading!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

 
Throughout the history of literature there have been a number of male characters who have caught the eye of female readers because of their complex personalities and good looks. Though there have been quite a few different gentleman who have been popular with the ladies, the five most eligible fictional bachelors are Jean-Claude, Sam Merlotte, Sherlock Holmes, Detective Cooper and James Bond.


Jean-Claude is a character from the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Jean-Claude makes the list for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is that he is a wealthy and successful business owner, running the strip club Guilty Pleasures in the book series. Another reason for his inclusion on the list is the fact that he is both handsome and dashing. Jean-Claude is so attractive in fact that he causes both mortals and vampires to fall hopelessly in love with him at a single glance. Jean-Claude also makes women's hearts flutter because of his numerous powers, including the ability to fly.

 
Another of the most eligible bachelors in fiction is Sam Merlotte from The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. Sam is an incredibly handsome fellow with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He is a US Army veteran and is said to have cut a striking figure in his uniform. Sam is also attractive to the ladies because he is exceedingly loyal to his friends and will do anything in his power to help them. In addition to all of these other winning characteristics, Sam owns the bar Merlotte's, an establishment which employs many of the people in Bon Temps.


The fictional character Sherlock Holmes is another character who can't be left off of a list of the most eligible bachelors. Sherlock is extremely wealthy, supporting himself through his successful detective business. Sherlock is also extremely intelligent and very good at understanding people, a winning combination with most women. Sherlock also wows ladies with his ability to play them beautiful music on his violin.
 

 
 
 
 
 
Next on the list of the most eligible bachelors is police detective "Coop" Cooper from Ann Charles's Deadwood Series. Cooper is a man who believes in supporting and standing by his family, even his slightly crazy uncle Harvey. He has a very good job, owns his own home and is a very dependable person all qualities ladies look for in a mate.

A list of the top bachelors in literature wouldn't be complete without James Bond from the novels by Ian Fleming. James is a physically stunning man with black hair and blue-grey eyes. He is extremely charismatic and charming and dresses to the nines. James also has access to an extensive fleet of luxury cars and fabulous homes, so his lady friends can both travel and live in style.


 

All of these characters are dashing and charismatic, making them a perfect fit for the list of the five most eligible fictional bachelors. Getting most of these gentlemen to settle down would be quite the struggle, but it would be well worth it for the lady who manages to do so.

Loren Stacks’ greatest loves are books and music. On any given day he’s either engrossed in some hot-off-the-press bestseller or chained to his iPod mouthing words to an 80s ballad. Outside of this he works as a freelance writer for companies like SecureYourTrademark.Com. In this guest post he lists five fictional eligible bachelors.




Monday, March 19, 2012
It's that time again. Monday Mentions! So I have been flipping through some interesting pages lately and this is what I have found to be worth a mention this week.


A Taste for Passion, Kendrian Vampires by Patrice Michelle was actually on my TBR list. The book was awesome! It was a little short for my taste, but well worth the read and the time. If you are searching for a hot read, look no further! Lucian is one man..or should I say Vampire, that knows how to please a woman!

I am looking forward to reading more of this author's work...and I found she has a few more titles out there to offer. There may be an extended version of this read out there now, according to B&N's site, which would be great.
 So give Lucian Trevane and Rana Sterling a visit! You will absolutely love them!



Wednesday, March 7, 2012
It's my pleasure to introduce you to my guest author this week, Amy Cross, here today on A Darker Passion! Her first in her Dark Season series, The Last Vampire, is one of eight books in the series.

When Sophie Hart is rescued from a mugging by a mysterious, silent vampire, she discovers that she is part of a dark prophecy. Patrick is the last vampire on Earth, having killed the rest of his species at the end of a bloody war, and he has plans for Sophie. But will she survive?

This volume collects the first 8 Dark Season books, covering the entire first series. Along the way, Sophie encounters not only a vampire but also werewolves, ghosts, evil maids with sharp teeth, crazed psychiatrists and dream-sucking Tenderlings. She travels to Gothos, the ancestral home of the vampires. She discovers a secret hidden inside the body of an old woman, and later she finds another dark secret hidden inside her own body.



Grab your free copy of Dark Season The Last Vampire here!


Hello! First, I want to thank Adriann for asking me to write something for her great blog. I've never written a guest post on someone else's blog before, so I'm kind of nervous. What if I break it? How many words does Adriann want? Does she want something wise? I'm not very wise! Does she want something insightful about the writing process? I'm not very insightful. Does she want something funny? Oh dear, this could be awkward... I'm quite a good speller, though, and I'm persistent. I'll try to bring these two qualities to today's guest post!



I'm going to talk about character names. While I was trying to work out what to write about for this guest post, I was facing a separate problem: I couldn't come up with a name for a character in a book I'm working on at the moment. If you read my books, you'll know that I rarely describe my characters' physical appearance, unless there's something really important I have to mention. If Mr. X has an eyepatch, I'll mention it. If Mr. Y has mousey blonde hair, I'll probably let it slide. So for me the names are more important than the characters' appearances, and I can't get started on a book unless I get the names right. Sophie and Patrick are the stars of 'Dark Season', but if I'd named then Bob and Sue the whole series would probably have been very different.

 Anyway, I figured I'd write something here about character names. I think character names are hugely important. Some people might say that's superficial, that what's important are the themes, the narrative, the structure and so on. That's kind of true, but character names are vital too. Imagine the 'Harry Potter' series if Harry had been named George Smith, or the James Bond franchise if the main character was named Dave. Names tell us something about people, and they define people too. My name is Amy. I grew up with people saying Amy to me a lot. It's a light two-syllable name. If I'd grown up as Gertrude, with people saying Gertrude to me all the time, I think I'd be a different person.


Side note: This reminds me of a scene in the film 'Gentlemen Broncos'. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's by the people who made 'Napoleon Dynamite', and it's brilliant. It's about a guy who writes a book that gets plagiarized by a sci-fi author. There's a scene where the author talks about the importance of character names. Of course, he gets it all completely wrong. Seriously: funniest film I've seen in years.

Anyway, back to the subject. Character names. Yes. Hugely important. Even a slight change can be huge. 'Oliver Twist' sounds like a book about a kid escaping from a workhouse; 'Olivier Twist' doesn't. But while character names are very important, inspiration can come from anywhere, and sometimes the stories behind character names are very surprising. So here, for the first time, I'm going to admit where I got the names for the main characters in 'Dark Season':

Patrick – I immediately imagined Patrick as a kind of brooding, dark anti-hero. Someone with a hint of danger, someone who'd (probably) come good (kind of) (maybe) in the end. I'd recently been watching (don't judge me) some 'Days of Our Lives' re-runs and happened to spot the character of Patrick Lockhart. So that's where I got the name Patrick from, although I never imagined Patrick looking like the guy from 'Days of Our Lives'.

Sophie – This is more complicated. Some names have huge literary significance. For example, the name Alice immediately makes most people think of 'Alice in Wonderland'. The name Cathy makes many people (well, me at least) think of 'Wuthering Heights'. I've always liked the name Sophie, and I've always felt like there's never been a definitive literary Sophie. In other words, I felt the name wasn't claimed by another author. So I took it. Then I remembered the book 'Sophie's Choice'. Oh well...

Vincent – I remember reading an article about the making of the old sitcom 'Newsradio' (seriously, this is the kind of thing I do with my spare time), which mentioned that the character Matthew was the kind of person who insisted on always being called Matthew rather than shortening his name to Matt. I wanted something similar for Patrick's father. The fact that Vincent doesn't shorten his own name to Vince says something about him, I think. Plus, I have a very calm, very smart friend called Vincent and the name seemed like a natural fit.


Shelley – Like I said, I usually think long and hard about the names of my characters. But this time, the name Shelley just popped into my head. I thought “No, there are no teenage girls around today named Shelley”. I planned to change it. Then I forgot. Then it stuck. I liked the idea of this goofy, messed-up girl with such a traditional name. Oh, and Shelley is very important in the 'Dark Season' story. Very, very important. She might seem like a side character, but if you've read 'Dead End', you'll have seen a glimpse. By the very end of the whole saga (which I have all planned out), Shelley will be as important as Sophie.

So there you go. The true story of how 'Days of Our Lives', 'Newsradio' and 'Alice in Wonderland' (sort of) inspired the character names in 'Dark Season'. And writing all of this has helped me with my original problem: I now have a name for the character in the book I'm writing at the moment. I'm going to call him Henry. A nice, simple name that sounds a little old-fashioned and perhaps a little 'safe'. But I like that contrast, because Henry is going to pop up in one of the 'Lupine Howl' books I'm writing at the moment, and he's going to be neither old-fashioned or 'safe'. Henry is going to be a terrible person. Now that I have named him Henry, I have no excuse. I must get back to writing the book.

Well, I have to go now. My dog has just walked into the room, looking like he wants to go for a walk. His name is Barney. That's a good name for him, it makes him sound friendly and good-natured, which is exactly what he's like. I can't help thinking that if his name was Brandon, he'd be a very different dog. So thanks again for letting me waffle on about names here, it's been fun and it's been an excellent distraction from the latest book I'm writing!

Amy Cross is a British writer of paranormal and horror fiction, though she occasionally strays genres.

To grab the full series of Dark Season (8 books) visit http://amzn.to/yumq6R You can also get more info on Amy and her plethora of great books @ http://amycrossbooks.wordpress.com/

Thanks for stopping by....one lucky commenter will win a digital bag of goodies. Just comment and leave your email address!




 
Tuesday, March 6, 2012




Happy Tuesday! Keeping in tune with Monday Mention, I thought I'd pull a paragraph from Dark Season, The Last Vampire. The tidbit for the day:

          The dead girl is Jessica Harper, 20, of Bloomville town. She was found   entirely drained of blood in an upstairs bedroom of the house at 517 Hoover Street. The only wound on her body was a pair of small holes on one side of her neck. There was no sign of a struggle, nor of the girl's blood.

        Jessica Harper's friend Rose Tisser, who was with her the last time she was seen, has not been home in almost five days and fears are growing for her safety.

~ Amy Cross, Dark Season The Last Vampire

Be sure and stop by tomorrow, Witching Wednesday,  to meet Ms. Cross as she introduces herself to you in her guest post!









Monday, March 5, 2012










I recently came across this free book on smashwords and thought I'd give it a try. Some of you may be already familiar with Amy Cross and her books. If not, she may just be your next read! 

Turns out, the book is a good read. Dark Seasons is a series of stand alone novellas that need not be read in any particular order. Each one is about 25k words. It's worth a good mention or shout out! If you'd like more info on Amy, visit her at  http://amycrossbooks.wordpress.com/ . She actually has a great selection of books to choose from and I'm sure you will find one that you will like. I did!





Sunday, March 4, 2012
Here's your chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. It's simple...all you have to do is become a follower of this blog! Leave a comment with your email, stating that you are a new follower and answer the following question. What is the name of your favorite PNR novel? That's it! I will randomly draw 3 followers on March 16th, each to win the $10 gift card...showing my appreciation!









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