Update: The winner of the Amazon.com gift card is…Khristine Stain. Congrats!

Fairy tales inspired all of the BOUND novellas that I wrote.  What can I say? I am one serious fan of fairy tales. Though I’ll confess, sometimes, I wanted to twist things up a bit with those fairy tales, and that twisting? That’s how the BOUND stories came to be…

For BOUND BY BLOOD, well, you may have guessed that one. It’s a classic tale, and I’ll confess, my all-time favorite fairy tale…Beauty and the Beast.  Our heroine is forced to stay with the hero in order to protect those that she cares about…only in my tale, Belle became a vamp and the beast? Well, who better to play a beast than a wolf shifter.

The inspiration for BOUND IN DARKNESS? Snow White.  I know many girls root for the prince when they are younger and reading fairy tales. But I wasn’t exactly a prince kind of girl, so…for my take on Snow White, I wanted my heroine to fall for the man who was *supposed* to kill her. Remember the huntsman with orders to cut out fair Snow White’s heart? Well, in my take on the fairy tale, this guy becomes our anti-hero.   And, of course, he’s a werewolf. 😉

Next up…

Update: BOUND BY THE NIGHT is now available for the Kindle.

Happy Monday!! Hope your day is off to a great start!

I wanted to announce that BOUND BY THE NIGHT is now available on the Nook, at Smashwords, and at All Romance eBooks!

Word Count: 31,000

Blurb:

For the last fifteen years, vampire queen Iona has been dead to the world.  Trapped under the power of a brutal curse, she has been helpless.  A prisoner, locked within her own still body. Then alpha werewolf Jamie O’Connell fights his way to her side.  After defeating the guards that surround her, Jamie gives Iona his blood…and she rises.

The world has changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, and Iona has changed, too. Once known as the Blood Queen because of her dark reputation, she now finds herself longing for the blood of only one man…only he isn’t just a man. She wants the blood of her werewolf—Jamie’s blood.  But Iona doesn’t realize that Jamie has been keeping secrets from her. Very dark, dangerous secrets.  And Iona may have traded one curse for another.

Now that he has Iona, Jamie vows to never let her go. He needs his Blood Queen in order to defeat his enemy, he needs her to make his own beast stronger, and…he just needs her.  Jamie has risked his life to claim Iona, and he won’t let anything break their bond. Not time. Not spells. Not even a wild and reckless vampire queen…

***

I am working right now to get BOUND BY THE NIGHT up at Amazon. I apologize for the delay. When I loaded the file on Saturday, I loaded the incorrect version at Amazon (a version that included html coding errors–so the errors appeared in the text). I immediately uploaded the correct version, but then I worried that some folks might still accidentally get that first version. So, yes, obsessive me then completely took down the book,and I’m in the re-uploading process now. I just want to make sure that only the correct version is delivered to readers.  (And if you happen to be one of the handful of folks who bought a copy on Saturday, and you have not automatically received an updated version, please let me know and I will send that copy to you ASAP!)  Again, my apologies for the Amazon delay. As soon as the book goes live there, I will be back with an update.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

Update: The winner of the giveaway is Kerrie Strong. Congrats, Kerrie!
Happy Sunday!! I hope that you are having a great weekend. Today, guest author Jacquie Johnson is here to talk about one of my favorite things…romantic suspense. Ah, the thrills! The chills! The reading fun. 😉 Jacquie, thanks so much for coming by!

Why I Love Romantic Suspense

I cut my “reading” teeth on Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, Trixie Belden and a host of others.  Even as a child I enjoyed the hint of romance between Ned and Nancy and wished for more.  I did the same thing with Trixie and couldn’t understand why the author played down the budding relationship between Trixie and Jim Frayne.  Everyone could see the chemistry between them.  Well, at least I could.  So even at eight, I liked my mystery with a side of romance.

As I grew up, my tastes matured.  I switched from Nancy Drew to Tom Clancy, but even Clancy offered me a bit of romance with Jack Ryan, a man I could certainly fall for.  No, my husband’s not military, CIA or anything like that.  He’s a finance guy but he does have a black belt in karate.  That counts, right?

By my mid-twenties, I had branched into a sexier form of mystery and fell in love.  Authors like Jayne Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, and Julie Garwood created worlds that I wanted to dive into and never leave.  Anyone else suffer from unrequited love for a fictional character?  I know I do.

Take a good mystery with a strong love story, add a glass of wine and there’s nothing better on a cold night – or a hot one for that matter.

Want to win a Kindle copy of ANGEL ON FIRE? Then tell Jacquie why you enjoy romantic suspense novels (or feel free to ask her any question that you’d like!).  The winner will be announced on 5/1/12. Good luck!

 Blurb:

All Angela wants is to understand why her father, security specialist Mac McKenzie, dropped dead on a sidewalk in Boston. Instead, she is thrust into the midst of an international conspiracy when she discovers that her father was working on a classified project at the time of his death. Now, the FBI, a terrorist and a killer have her in their sights.

Former Navy SEAL turned undercover operative, Chase Romero thinks his boss is overreacting when he orders Chase to small town America to protect Angela. But he changes his mind when her home is burglarized and “accidents” begin to happen. The real question becomes, how can he keep her safe if he keeps tripping over his own heart?

After shooting an intruder, Angela flees the scene, and the FBI issues a warrant for her arrest. On the run for her life and her freedom, she places her trust in Chase. As they travel from New England, to the nation’s capital, to the shores of Lake Michigan, the trail – and their attraction – grow hotter. Together, they team up to prevent a global financial market meltdown and face a killer who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the project Mac protected with his life.

Buy Link for Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Fire-Investigations-ebook/dp/B0079O9W22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333983584&sr=8-1

Okay, so sorry for the delay in posting this! I meant to have my 2nd Recap section up on Saturday. ;(

At RT, there were a couple of big buzz words that everyone seemed to be using. The one I heard the most? Discoverability.  In the world of shrinking bookshelves (okay, shrinking physical bookshelves–our digital ones sure seem to be growing), it is harder and harder for books to be discovered by readers.  When you go to Amazon, how do you discover new authors? How do you discover new books?  Since so many authors are dipping their toes into the self-publishing arena, discoverability is of huge importance. Proper key words and tagging (the tagging is on Amazon) can help to promote discoverability. Facebook ads and Google ads were also mentioned as being 2 ways to increase the discoverability of a book. (Social media promotion was pushed by all for discoverability.)

There were LOTS of self-publishing workshops.  The last time I attended RT (at least 2, maybe 3 years ago?), I don’t remember any self-publishing workshops. (Now, I’m not saying they weren’t there–maybe they were, but this year…Wow. Talk about an explosion.) It truly did seem like everyone was discussing self-publishing or “going indie”.

I’ve been self-publishing my Bound books, so I can certainly understand the appeal. You can experiment with your stories, you can get them delivered to readers faster, you can control price points, covers, you can get monthly paychecks–all great points.

But…I am also still happily writing for NY. I adore my editors. I love writing books for them. I love the support and the distribution that I can get for my print books. (And, yes, there are plenty of people who still want those print books.)

So, before the conference, I considered myself a writer who had a foot in both worlds–self-publishing and traditional publishing. I just didn’t realize there was an actual term for me, not until I attended one of Bob Mayer‘s workshops.  It turns out that I’m a “hybrid author”–and, yes, the name means what you think it does. I don’t just write traditionally. I’m not just indie. I’m both. To me, this is the best of both worlds. I can reach those readers who only want to read print books. I can reach the readers who want my self-pubbed stories and who want those stories delivered quickly on their e-readers.  Being a hybrid lets me reach a maximum amount of readers, and heck, for writers, isn’t that what this business is all about? Reaching readers?

Because that was sure what RT was about.  There were so many readers there. Excitement and laughter filled the air as people talked about books.  It was fabulous to see the connections that people made at the event. Great to feel that wonderful energy in the air.

Ah…a love of books–and whether those books are physical or digital–it’s all the same. They’re stories that make people happy. And don’t we all deserve our happy endings?

***

And, now, ahem, …I’m totally going to do a promo. Here’s the cover for my next self-pubbed book, BOUND BY THE NIGHT–this one will be out on 4/30:

(Hey, I was talking self-published books, so this is totally related…)

For the last fifteen years, vampire queen Iona has been dead to the world.  Trapped under the power of a brutal curse, she has been helpless.  A prisoner, locked within her own still body. Then alpha werewolf Jamie O’Connell fights his way to her side.  After defeating the guards that surround her, Jamie gives Iona his blood…and she rises.

The world has changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, and Iona has changed, too. Once known as the Blood Queen because of her dark reputation, she now finds herself longing for the blood of only one man…only he isn’t just a man. She wants the blood of her werewolf—Jamie’s blood.  But Iona doesn’t realize that Jamie has been keeping secrets from her. Very dark, dangerous secrets.  And Iona may have traded one curse for another.

Now that he has Iona, Jamie vows to never let her go. He needs his Blood Queen in order to defeat his enemy, he needs her to make his own beast stronger, and…he just needs her.  Jamie has risked his life to claim Iona, and he won’t let anything break their bond. Not time. Not spells. Not even a wild and reckless vampire queen…

***

You can find an excerpt from BOUND BY THE NIGHT here.

If you want to share your thoughts about discoverability or hybrid authors, please do! Have a great day.

Update: The winner of DARKEST CARESS is…Cindy Overton. Congrats!

Have I mentioned how much I love it when guest authors come to visit? And I so hope that you enjoy reading their posts, too! I figure you have to get tired of just hearing from me, so why not spice things up by getting some fresh blood?  And today, our “fresh blood” guest is author Kaylea Cross. (And she’s offering a giveaway!)  Kaylea, thanks so much for coming over today! Congrats on your new release!

***

Meet the Empowered

Thanks so much to Cynthia for having me here today to talk about Darkest Caress, my very first paranormal romance.

If you recognize my name at all, it’s likely because of my military romantic suspense books. So why the heck would I ever write a paranormal? To tell the truth, I’d never thought about it seriously until I took a trip to the Baltic States and wound up in coastal Lithuania in a place that fired my imagination.

I’d always known that if I ever did try my hand at paranormal romance, for damn sure it wouldn’t be about vamps or shifters, since other authors have already cornered that market. (*cough* Cynthia Eden and Katie Reus *cough*). Nope. If I was ever going to write a paranormal story, I had better come up with something totally different.

So somehow there I was in coastal Lithuania, standing on the tallest sand dunes in Europe overlooking the gorgeous summer resort town of Nida on one side and the wild Baltic Sea on the other. I’ll admit I was pretty damn inspired by the setting. But later that afternoon when I toured the Hill of Witches with its wooden sculptures depicting Lithuanian legends and folklore…that’s when the magic happened.

I knew right then and there that I would write about a magical race linked to the Lithuanian sea goddess, Neringa. And I was definitely making use of the good versus evil spoken of in every legend. My villain was going to be spectacularly evil. And hell yeah, I was so going to figure out a way to make Baltic amber important in the story too.

While this story is different from anything else I’ve ever written and all my Empowered characters have both Baltic and Celtic ancestry, there’s one thing I just couldn’t give up from my old ways. Every single hero of the series has a badass military background.

I can’t help it. Military heroes make me weak in the knees.

My Empowered heroes are alpha males that are loyal, and lethal when they need to be, but they’re also ultra protective and capable of incredible tenderness with their mates. I hope I did them all justice in Darkest Caress.

What are the character traits you love the most in your favorite heroes? Leave a comment and I’ll enter you in a contest to win a digital copy of Darkest Caress.

Blurb: Two-hundred-year-old Daegan Blackwell is one of the last remaining Empowered, an ancient magical race. Daegan’s duty is to lead and protect his remaining Brethren in the coming war foretold by prophecy. The last thing he expects is to meet the one woman who will either save or destroy him-his destined mate.

Fiercely independent Realtor Olivia Farrell believes darkly handsome Daegan is simply a prospective client. Until she’s attacked by a man with a strange aura-and Daegan fights him off, taking away her pain with just his touch. At first, Olivia refuses to believe she’s part of a magical race, yet mounting evidence and her powerful chemistry with Daegan are too strong to deny.

But as Daegan’s partner, Olivia becomes a target in the battle between good and evil that threatens her life, as well as the very existence of the Empowered. And the only one who can save her is the man claiming to be her destiny…

Happy reading!

Kaylea Cross

Kaylea Cross is an award winning author of edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense. A Registered Massage Therapist, Kaylea is an avid gardener, artist, Civil War buff, Special Ops aficionado, belly dancer and former nationally-carded softball pitcher. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband.

You can find Kaylea through her website, Twitter, Facebook, and her blog.

(And, psst…by the way, my apologies for the delay in posting the 2nd part of my RT Recap–that post will be up on 4/23! Have  a great day!)