Monday, February 29, 2016

LEAP YEAR SALE!

Looking for a full-length Scottish time travel romance filled with kilts, battles, Highlanders, adventure, villains, and spicy lovemaking?


Check out My Lady Highlander
Book #1 in the 
Kilted Athletes Through Time series
This ebook is usually $4.99

NOW only 99 cents
 for a LIMITED TIME! 


(get the special price for Kobo, Nook, Apple, etc.)


Friday, February 19, 2016

Nancy Lee Badger Interviews Author Margot Justes

Margot Justes stopped by to talk about her book A Hotel in Venice, a romantic mystery released in August, 2015. Please tell my readers a little about your book?

MargotI love art, and travel, and I combined my love of both and set my stories internationally. Paris was my first love, and of course the first book had to be set there. My heroine is an artist, since I possess no such talent, I live vicariously through her efforts.

In my latest release, A Hotel in Venice, Minola Grey and her fiancée Peter Riley help a friend while preparing for their wedding. In the process they discover the dark side of centuries old secrets, the hidden mysteries in the exquisite glass blowing business in Murano, and the vile depth some will go to protect those secrets.

Nancy- I have an Art degree, so your heroine intrigues me! Describe the genre of this particular title, and is it the only genre you write in?

Margot- A Hotel in Venice, part of my hotel series, is first and foremost a romantic love story, accompanied by murder and mayhem-I call them romantic mysteries.

On a dare, I also wrote a paranormal vampire love story, where Leonardo da Vinci meets master vampire, Nikolai Volkov. The Mona Lisa plays a pivotal part in Nikolai’s life in modern times. I enjoyed it so much that I’m now writing a sequel to Blood Art.

Nancy- Viewing the Mona Lisa is on my bucket list. When did you start working toward publication?

Margot- I never really did, but I always had stories in my head, and really didn’t think about writing, it was just a way to pass time. Then I had a tough day in the office, came home and tried to read-that usually relaxed me.  Not that day-I sat down with pad and paper and started writing-it was truly bizarre, an unforgettable afternoon, and the birth of A Hotel in Paris. The first thing I had ever written other than office memos. I pitched it at a conference, and a small publisher took me on. My publisher and I have since parted company, and I am an indie author.

The story started out as a full mystery, until the two protagonists met. There was an instant chemical reaction, and I was lost. I had never read romance novels, and needed a quick education. I discovered RWA, and joined the local chapter, and found I really loved the genre, the happy endings-the sheer and total escape from our everyday reality.

Nancy- Do you have any rejection stories to tell?

Margot- I received the usual ‘thanks, but no thanks’, most often no response at all, but one was a hoot, a verbal rejection. At a local RWA conference, I approached an editor from a well known publisher who said she was looking for an original voice, something fresh, and I pitched my story, she listened, told me again how important an original voice was, and in the same breath, asked who do I write like? I was so taken aback, I had no immediate response, other than stand there stupefied until I finally had enough sense to thank her for her time.

Nancy- Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract?

Margot- The first thing is not to give up, accept rejection for what it is-a totally subjective, and far from perfect process. Not everyone is going to like what you write. The advice I have been given, and took to heart is not to chase the popular genres, they change with the wind. Patience and a thick skin are essential in this business.

The agents and publishers have to make money, hence the appeal of what sells well, over and over. Fortunately, the publication world is changing daily. There is a revolution going on, and a writer no longer has to have an agent, or publisher. Indie publication is a fast growing business, and many are succeeding. That being said, it is tough for an unknown writer to make a living at it, it is a slow painstaking process to develop a readership. A good editor is essential to the process, I cannot stress that enough. 

Nancy- Please share three fun facts about you that most people don’t know.

1) Love to belly dance.
2) Have been known to stalk bagpipers when I hear them play.
3) I have no sense of direction, and left-right is open to interpretation.

Nancy- What’s next for you?

Margot- Hopefully, my little niche market of art and travel filled with romance and mystery will expand. I’m working on three projects, a sequel to my paranormal Blood Art, A Hotel in Barcelona-a city with glorious and whimsical architecture, and a novella set in Chicago that follows the secondary characters from A Fire Within. I’ve built a family of close friends.

Book Blurb A Hotel in Venice:
A romantic gondola ride on the Grand Canal, a shimmer reflected in the moonlit night, and the beginning of murder and mayhem for Minola Grey and Peter Riley.

Minola Grey and her fiancé Peter Riley travel to Venice for a romantic wedding surrounded by their friends. However, a romantic Grand Canal gondola ride embroils the couple in a conspiracy as mysterious and mystifying as the city itself. Here, Minola’s notoriety and powers of observation make her a target of someone’s sinister machinations. Worse, someone wants to undermine and destroy her relationship with Peter.

When an old friend asks for help finding a missing Master Glassblower and the art he’d created, Minola cannot refuse. Yet, in the thick of the investigation, she must be careful. Her very involvement may heighten the threat against her and Peter, making them the next targets. Unfortunately, Minola has never been able to resist a friend in need.

Why were Master Glassblower Julio Divini’s glass daggers stolen in the first place? What secrets have been hidden in century old traditions? And will Peter be able to share his own secrets with his future bride? Most importantly, will the wedding happen as Minola and Peter plan… Or not at all?

More about the Author

Born in Poland, Margot Justes has lived in some of the world's most wonderful places, including Israel, France and South Africa. Currently living in the East Coast, she has taken her love of art and travel and cultivated it into unique settings and stories for her writing, 2007 brought her a contract for her first novel A Hotel in Paris.

A Hotel in Bath
 was released February 2013, A Hotel in Venice was released 
August, 2015.  Margot is currently working on her fourth book in the hotel series, set in Barcelona, Spain. She is also hard at work on a sequel to Blood Art .

A Fire Within, 
set in Chicago was released February, 2014.  The story first appeared in the Hearts and Daggers anthology. Her other projects include a novella also set in Chicago, Dazzling Diamonds, scheduled for release August 2016.  She also writes travel articles and blogs.

Margot Justes is a Member of Romance Writers of America, the Chicago North RWA Chapter, as well as the Georgia Romance Writers. She is a past president of the Chicago North RWA Chapter, and the Chicago Chapter of Sisters in Crime.


Friday, February 12, 2016

Donna Steele Shares her New Release: Rth Claimed


I'm pleased to announce that the second book in my Rth Rising series is now out! Rth Rising was my premiere novel. It's been re-edited and released.

Now Rth Claimed continues the story of the colony on New Home.

Kat and Davd were able to escape Puter but that doesn't solve the problem of the potentially terminal code left behind and the thousands of fellow colonists still at risk.

Rth Claimed is the story of Castra, Kat's aunt, a programmer and possibly the only hope for the continuation of the colony. But she has little faith in herself having been shunted aside by Puter – because she wasn't as good as her father, or because Puter saw her as a potential threat? She and her protégé, Setha are on the front lines now to continue Kat and Davd's fight. 

Blurb
Kat and Davd along with a small handful of family and friends have managed to escape Puter and now live outside in freedom. But that leaves thousands trapped inside the arcologies under Puter and the sabotaged programming whose sole purpose is to condemn the colony.

Can Kat’s Aunt Castra and her young protégé dismantle the programming that has already killed Kat’s father and grandfather? And is time running out? 

Excerpt
Torr started to speak, but Roch held up his hand. "We don't have that much time. I might not be able to tell you everything tonight but I've received permission to bring you in. I hope I'm not making a mistake."

"Bring us in? Roch, what are you talking about."

The enforcer took a deep breath. "It’s a complicated story. Your niece, Kat was assigned to bring in a shirker who was part of the enforcer team here at Thirdport. His name is Davd Palfy."

Torr nodded slowly. That was the name Cal had given him that day at their apartment.

"Davd and I work for an underground movement to help people escape the arcologies. We, all of us in the movement, think that we should move out onto the planet. Do you want me to stop now?"

"No," Torr and Castra spoke together and for the first time Roch smiled.

"Good. We could use people like you. First, it is extremely rare for an enforcer to shirk. It's even more rare that when it happens, an enforcer from a different arcology is brought in for the search. There had to be some urgency for doing it that way and I'm not in the loop about that. I'm sure you've heard the story Cal is floating, that Davd murdered Kat and Head when they caught up with him. Davd supposedly threw the bodies into the incinerator to get rid of the evidence. Then Cal was able to overpower Davd and kill him, also tossing his body in the incinerator. The whole thing is a flaming lie. Cal couldn’t overpower a three cycle old except in his imagination. Puter put Cal in the job, so that should explain a lot.

“Davd has worked for cycles helping to lead people out to live in villages we've seeded around Thirdport." He stopped at the gasp from Castra, then continued. "Now Kat is helping in that effort and your mem has become the doctor for one of those villages."

"They're alive, they're safe?"

Roch nodded seeing Castra's relief.

"They won't be coming back."

Roch looked down then shook his head. "But someday maybe you can visit them. If enough people want to leave, we believe they should be allowed. Let anyone who wants to stay inside… fratz remain

Bio
Women strong enough for love.
I write science fiction, paranormal and small town romance eBooks about women coming into their
strength and having the courage to find and accept love.

Now that I have retired from going into an office every day, I created my own at home and write full time. Talk about living the dream!

Since I learned to read I’ve wanted to write. The possibilities of science fiction have always drawn me and I’ve read them all, there just needed to be a little more romance in them. I finally got up the courage to write them myself and I’m delighted that I’m able to share these stories with you.

My premiere novel, a science fiction romance was released in March 2012. Since then I've been fortunate enough to release 16 more works, including my first self-published novel – Alien Embrace. Please stop by my author page for excerpts of my books.

I’m a member of Romance Writers of America, the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA and the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. 

Buy links

RthClaimed      

Friday, February 5, 2016

Nancy Lee Badger Presents Author Rachel Dunning

I have discovered another author whose books have knocked me for a loop! Rachel Dunning stopped by to announce the
99c Pre-Order Sale of DEBT


Over 400 Pages
Standalone Novel
New-Adult Romance / Sports Romance


Expected Release Date:
March 2016

What’s it about? 

The Debt Collector


I pay my debts, and I expect others to.

I was raised in the slums of London, I knew nothing of privilege. My father was murdered when I was seventeen. Morty figured my father's passing meant I would automatically take on dad's debts. I refused.

And I paid for that refusal.

So did my sister.

So now I fight. All I know how to do is fight. The best cash is in the states, so that's where I am now. A big fish called Vito came along offering me a "favor" when I arrived.

Another debt.

I paid for that one too.

I knew Kyla Hensley would be trouble when I met her. But I wanted her. I could see through the falsehood of her wannabe-slutty clothes and her sexy legs. So I chased her.

Besides, trouble is my middle name.

Kyla Hensley

I was brought up in privilege, but I lacked everything else. My father is a business tycoon who buys and sells and doesn't care who gets rolled over in the process.

I never knew my mother, and all I have of her is a photo with a note scrawled on the back in French saying "I'm sorry." The only Female Figure I had growing up is my dad's wife who is a bleach blond with seven boob jobs. We never bonded.

I drink. I party. I meet guys.

But I wasn't always like that.

I've had a string of lovers in the last few years, the worst and most recent of which was Vince Somerset. My best friend Vera was dating a guy called Rory Cansoom who is the opposite of Vince in so many ways, and yet so the same.
She and I hit the road for spring break, getting away from the two college psychos and just trying to have some fun.

But there's a funny thing about trouble, the more you run from it, the more it finds you.

Which is when I met the Debt Collector.

It was only supposed to be sex. He made that clear. I made that clear.

That's all it was supposed to be.

I never expected to fall in love. I never expected to fall so deeply, madly, uncomfortably in love with a man who is wrong, so wrong for me.

And yet...so unbelievably right.

Content Warning: Not intended for readers under the age of seventeen

Genres: New-Adult Romance/Sports Romance

Links:

More About Rachel

Rachel Dunning hit the scene in August 2013 and is the author of the highly praised Naive Mistakes Series, Truthful Lies Trilogy, Johnny Series and the paranormal romance series, Mind GamesA prolific writer, she sticks to stories where Alpha Males aren’t pricks and where women have guts. She’s lived on two different continents, speaks three different languages, and met the love of her life on the internet. In other words, romance is in her blood.

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