March 28, 2013

Book Spotlight: Cassie & Bennett Act Two



CASSIE & BENNETTACT TWO

Bennett Saville is sexy. At the peak of his career, the English star of stage and screen is everything a woman might desire, as fiancée Cassandra Wallace well knows. Together they’ve seen the world, from L.A. to Shangri La, yet shadows persist even in the spotlight. At home they face lust, greed, and ghosts from their pasts—and that’s off stage. There is also “The Val”. The aged London theatre holds a mystery four centuries old, cast in starlight and waiting to be revealed. Intensely personal, impossibly passionate, the play must go on…and Cassie and Bennett must face it together.





Susan Mac Nicol (Sue to most people) was born in Headingly, Leeds in the United Kingdom. When she was eight years old, her family emigrated to Johannesburg in South Africa, where she remained until her and her family¹s return, with husband and two children, to the UK in December 2000.

Sue¹s career as a professional business woman was mainly in the operational side of the Financial Services and Vehicle Leasing markets. Currently her responsibilities have evolved to being the Regulatory Compliance Officer at a financial services company in Cambridge.

Having written all her life, since her first short story was published in a local youth competition when she was just eleven, in between the day job and daily life, the inspiration for the Starlight series of romance novels was born. Her characters, Cassie and Bennett, finally made their debut on the flickering screen of a laptop. The character of Bennett was inspired by someone very special and perhaps one day, if you get the chance to ask her or meet her, over a cup of good coffee, Sue might just explain who this was. She will probably smile wryly and say, Œ"Hopefully without sounding like a teenage groupie."

Her first novel was submitted to various publishers and Boroughs Publishing Group liked what they saw. Sue was offered a contract for her novels and that, as they say in the classics, was that.

Sue is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Romantic Novelists Association here in the UK. She lives in a town house in the rural village of Bocking, in Essex, with her husband, two children and a mixed collie mongrel called Blu, so named because of his two different colour eyes ­blue and brown. Sue is a voracious e book reader and a self confessed geek and Android phone fan. Her office is in her bag most days and without all her gadgets, she confesses she could barely function.






March 18, 2013

Author Interview: Mary Hart Perry



Please welcome to Feed My Need, the fabulous romance author, Mary Hart Perry!

When and why did you begin writing?

I started writing when I was a young mother and my then-husband was in the Air Force, stationed in Italy. We were living in a remote part of the country, in the south, where there was very little to do but read and eat. (Great food! But you can't eat all the time. That's disastrous!) The base library was woefully limited in choices of books, so I started writing my own stories and got hooked. 


What was the hardest part of writing your book? What is the easiest?

Oh, the hardest is definitely the first draft. That's brutal. I'm never happy with it, and it's such hard work getting the basic structure down. But once I have that--I love the rest of the process. Revision is FUN!


What music do you listen to while you write?

I know this will sound nerdy to the extreme but...I love listening to violin concertos while writing. The great thing about them is that there are no lyrics, no words sung, to distract me from the words I'm putting on the page. And they are inspiring music that feels right for the era in which I'm writing--Victorian England.


What inspires you?

I'm inspired by the strength of human beings to strive for justice and to survive against all odds. And by the love they show each other. So much in the news today is troubling and difficult to understand. But it's the stories of bravery and self-sacrifice that most move me.


Do you have any hidden talents?

Ha! Well, I'm not sure you would call them talents. But I love to bake and I often treat my students at The Writer's Center in Washington, DC to cake, cookies or pastries as we work on our writing craft together.
What are your current projects?

I'm so excited that my most recent novel featuring daughters of Queen Victoria is coming out. Seducing the Princess is the second novel in the series. The first, The Wild Princess, has been very popular with readers of romance, historical fiction, and mysteries--because it (both books actually) contain all these elements. And I've had a lot of young-adult readers tell me how much they enjoyed the first book. 

Currently I'm researching and writing the third novel for the series. It will be even more intense than the first two. I can't say much about it yet, but one of the princesses will come face-to-face with Jack the Ripper, a serial killer who terrorized all of London.


What book are you reading now?

I'm reading Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a collection of wonderful short stories with sophisticated and very appealing fantasy. It's by Karen Russell, and she's a marvelous writer.


Quick: Vampires or Shapeshifter? Why?

Oh, definitely Shapeshifters. Although I don't write either vampire or shapeshifter stories, I love the idea of a character who can alter their appearance at will. What a great tool to be able to use in a story, morphing your characters into a variety of beings!


Do you have any advice for other writers?

Yes, don't give up. Today is the time to be writing, perfecting and publishing your work. There are so many opportunities for getting your writing read and growing your fan base. When I started out, if you didn't get published by one of the big-name publishers, you simply didn't exist as a writer, as far as book stores and libraries and the reading public were concerned. Today new writers are springing up daily, many of them publishing their own work and launching very exciting careers. So write a lot, write well, and don't hide your stories away in a closet. Let the light (and readers) shine on them.


Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thank you...thank you...thank you for loving my work. I'm thrilled that so many of you enjoy my romantic thrillers. I have the best fans ever!

Seducing the Princess

Mary Hart Perry’s acclaimed series of romantic Victorian thrillers continues with Seducing the Princess, inspired by the life of Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter Beatrice. Painfully shy and lonely, convinced she is unattractive and unloved, the dutiful Princess Beatrice finally accepts that she will never marry and vows to devote herself to the queen in Victoria's waning years. In fact, her mother has secretly discouraged suitors for Beatrice’s hand. Just when she has all but given up on love and happiness, she meets Henry Battenberg, a dashing nobleman from the Continent who matches wits with the aging Victoria and risks his life and liberty to woo Bea.

But Henry isn't the only man interested in being welcomed into Beatrice's bed. The timid princess has become the target of a cruel plot hatched by her nephew, the madman destined to become the last Emperor of Germany. Wilhelm II sends a ruthless agent, a charming Scot, to seduce the naive princess and spy on the queen. How can the sheltered princess hope to fend off a man capable of murder, and perhaps worse, to get what he wants? But Beatrice is not without her own allies--her older sister Louise and Louise's American soldier-of-fortune and lover, Stephen Byrne. Will Beatrice discover which of the two men pursuing her she can trust, before it's too late? Drama, romance and peril chase the royal family from Buckingham Palace to a storm besieged castle on the Isle of Wight.


March 15, 2013

Book Spotlight: After The Ending





After the Ending
Lindsey Fairleigh and Lindsey Pogue
Sci-Fi / Dystopian
Date Published: 2/22/13


The Virus spread. Billions died. The Ending began. We may have survived the apocalypse, but the Virus changed us.

When people started getting sick, “they” thought it was just the flu. My roommate, my boyfriend, my family…they’re all gone now. I got sick too. I should have died with them—with the rest of the world—but I didn’t. I thought witnessing the human population almost disappear off the face of the earth was the craziest thing I’d ever experience. I was so wrong. My name is Dani O’Connor, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.

The Virus changed everything. The world I knew is gone, and life is backwards. We’ve all had to start over. I’ve been stripped of my home, my dreams…all that is me. I’m someone else now— broken and changed. Other survivors’ memories and emotions haunt me. They invade my mind until I can no longer separate them from my own. I won’t let them consume me. I can’t. My name is Zoe Cartwright, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.

We’ve been inseparable for most of our lives, and now our friendship is all we have left. The aftermath of the Virus has stranded us on opposite sides of the United States. Trusting strangers, making sacrifices, killing—we’ll do anything to reach one another. Fear and pain may be unavoidable, but we’re strong…we’re survivors. But to continue surviving in this unfamiliar world plagued by Crazies and strange new abilities, we have to adapt. We have to evolve.

EXCERPT

Looking around apprehensively, I made my way toward the convenience store in hopes of finding a bathroom. The vacant world around me was eerily silent. All I could hear was the creaking of a giant wooden billboard being assaulted by the wind. How long has it been since anyone was here? Through the dark windows I saw a bathroom sign that looked promising, but I couldn’t bring myself to enter. I wonder if it’s safe…

As I stood outside of the store, I noticed a newspaper box still filled with papers. I leaned closer. The headline read, BILLIONS DEAD, and the paper was dated December 9, right before everything had started to shut down. I inserted a quarter and snatched out a paper. Scanning its contents, my mouth grew dry and my body stiffened.

…the H1N1/12 pandemic…
…looting and riotous outbreaks everywhere…
…end of civilization as we know it…
…survivors losing their minds…
…governments can’t control…
…the Apocalypse…

The newspaper slipped from between my fingers. Frozen in place, I was suffocated by the reality of our situation.
This isn’t going away.
The world ended. Thinking of the strange feelings I’d been experiencing, I once again questioned my own sanity. My thoughts were too loud to silence. My heart thudded, and I couldn’t swallow the lump in my throat. Looking out into the abandoned world around me, I realized how alone we really were. I bent down to reclaim the paper and turned on my heels to head back toward the truck, completely awestruck as the words I’d read replayed in my mind. Each was a reminder that the only world I’d ever known had ended.


Author Bio:

Lindsey Fairleigh lives her life with one foot in a book—as long as that book transports her to a magical world or bends the rules of science. Her novels, from post-apocalyptic to time travel and historical fantasy, always offer up a hearty dose of unreality, along with plenty of adventure and romance. When she’s not working on her next novel, Lindsey spends her time reading and trying out new recipes in the kitchen. She lives in the Napa Valley with her loving husband and confused cats.

Lindsey Pogue has always been a little creative. As a child she established a bug hospital on her elementary school soccer field, compiled books of collages as a teenager, and as an adult, expresses herself through writing. Her novels are inspired by her observations of the world around her—whether she’s traveling, people watching, or hiking. When not plotting her next storyline or dreaming up new, brooding characters, Lindsey’s wrapped in blankets watching her favorite action flicks or going on road trips with her own leading man.




Buy Links
Kindle book on Amazon *Kindle Version will be FREE 3/15 - 3/17*

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March 13, 2013

Book Promo: Russian Dolls






Russian Dolls
By Cristelle Comby
New Adult - Mystery&Detective
Date Published:3/13/2013



Alexandra Neve is a student at University College London whose world suddenly falls apart. When her best friend jumps from the university’s rooftop, she can’t stop herself from asking, ‘Why?’ The police rule her friend’s death a suicide and for them the case is closed — so whom can she turn to for help?
Sometimes the person you need the most is the one you least expect to find, and in this case it’s none other than Ashford Egan, a blind middle-aged history professor, who’s more willing than most to listen to what she has to say. 
Neve and Egan are as different as they come. She’s restless, careless at times, and fearless when the need arises, while he’s almost the complete opposite: a deep thinker with an analytical mind, a highly rational and collected individual.
As they enter the violent world of the Russian mafia, they must overcome their differences and learn to work together. It’s their only chance if they want to survive.

EXCERPT

I don’t find much more information on Anthony Anderson and eventually stop researching for lack of interesting leads. I spend Monday morning tailing him, instead. I leave the flat at the crack of dawn in my mother’s old blue Fiat Punto and drive all the way up to the Andersons’, my camera on the passenger seat.
I park a little farther up the road, turn off the engine and check the camera. Mr Anderson’s dark Mercedes passes me, at six thirty. I snap two pictures, before turning on the ignition and following him at a reasonable distance.
He goes straight to work and disappears in an underground car park that requires an ID card.
I open the car door and move to the boot. I reach down for one of my short winter duffle jackets and a black cap. I shrug both on and then grab a small parcel, before closing the boot and walking to the Credit Suisse building.
I force myself to walk in as casually as I can, and approach the reception with a look I hope is confident.
‘Morning,’ I say to the young man at the desk. ‘Urgent delivery for Anthony Anderson.’
The young lad narrows his eyes on the parcel and then looks me up and down. I square my jaw. Time to see whether my plan’s going to work.
I pinned a badge on my chest. I made it up on my laptop, with a fake logistic company name and logo, and my name and picture. The cap on my head bears the same logo. It’s actually one of my old white caps that I craftily hand-painted last night.
‘Sure,’ the man says with an easy smile. ‘Leave it here; I’ll see that it’s delivered with the morning mail.’
‘Sorry, but it’s hand delivery only.’ I shrug apologetically.
‘Fine.’ The man motions to one of the men minding the elevator. ‘He’ll escort you.’
That’s not what I had planned. I smile nonetheless and follow the bulky man through the lobby.
The elevator doors close after us and I stand immobile in a corner. Porca vacca, Lexa! Why didn’t you think it through? I’ve been too hasty again. How could I think that they would just let me wander the hallways on my own? My cover will be blown if Anderson catches sight of me, and there I am, being escorted straight to him. Way to go, Lexa!
My escort takes me to an office and we stop in front of a secretary.
‘Parcel for Mr Anderson,’ I tell her, fighting hard to prevent my voice from quivering.
He has to be here, just behind the large wooden doors that bear his name. She’s going to call him and he’ll come right out and see me and then it’ll be goodnight Vienna!

Cristelle Comby

Author Bio:

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, somewhere between Geneva and Lausanne, where she still resides.Thanks to her insatiable thirst for American and British action films and television dramas, her English is fluent.She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.Russian Dolls is her first new-adult novel, and she’s hard at work on the next titles in the series.



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March 8, 2013

5 Things You Should Know as a Beginner Writer: A Guest Post

Please welcome to Feed My Need, the cool young adult author, Skyla Madi!

Starting Out As A Writer – 5 Things You Should Know



1. Take your time and don’t rush your writing. You’ll regret it later.

2. Expect rejections and don’t let them get to you. Rejections from publishers can be a little depressing, but they are also a critical part of the writing process—nothing motivates me more than someone that tells me NO.

3. Research publishing companies carefully. Make sure you’re getting the best deal for your book.

4. Don’t let bad reviews get to you. Before my first book was published I’d have all kinds of horrible dreams about bad reviews and I’d freak out and email my publisher (who was very supportive). At the end of the day, bad reviews don’t matter. Not everyone is going to like it and that’s okay. Once you get one or two bad reviews it gets easier to brush off.

5. If writing is something you love to do, don’t let it turn into something that stresses you out. Take breaks when you need to or do something else for a little while and come back to it later.

And if you enjoyed her guest post, make sure to check out her young adult book, Your Guardian Angel!



For Ruby Moore life is far more complicated than that of your average teen,
for she is in no way average. Ruby is a vampire and her life as a vampire is far
from traditional...

It has been one year since her normal life was brutally taken from her. Still adjusting
to the shock of the change from mortal to immortal, her world is rocked again and
she is taken under the wings of a guardian angel back to Sage Sanctum, a school
beyond reach from the vampires that are determined to destroy her.

There, she is freed from her vampire chains and her normal needs and urges return.
However, a new urge arises... Lust. A forbidden lust toward her savior, her guardian
angel.

Attempting to control these desires is difficult, very difficult and when things
couldn't possibly get any worse, her situation becomes life or death as someone,
somewhere in the school is aiding those who want her dead.

March 5, 2013

Excerpt Reveal: The Space Between by Kristie Cook




The Space Between(Book One in The Book of Phoenix Series)
By Kristie Cook
Release Date: April 5, 2013
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance


When Life Falls to Pieces, Answers Lie in the Space Between After a month-long dance tour through Italy, 20-year-old Leni Drago returns to Georgia to care for her great-uncle, only to find him gone, the home they shared empty and any evidence he ever existed wiped out. All that’s left is a journal she can’t open.
Jeric Winters has been searching for a piece of his past for over a year, only to reach a dead-end in Georgia. When an urgent and magnetic pull draws him out of his hotel room, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful dancer who’s been haunting his dreams day and night.
Jeric’s one to stay away from—a bad-boy, hit-it-and-quit-it type—but Leni can’t escape the fervent feelings between them. As their own existences begin to crumble around them and shadowy forms that are more monsters than men attack, they realize there’s more to the connection between them than physical fascination.
To solve the riddle their lives have become, they must embark on a journey that requires them to face their pasts and release their true souls. And they must do it fast—dark ones from another world are closing in, intent on killing them. Permanently.


Excerpt:


LENI – The overhead lights fell dark for the last time as I opened the dressing room door. The back exit stood open at the end of the hall, allowing in enough light from the streetlamp outside to show my way. I inhaled slowly, cherishing the musty smell of an old theater mixed with the odor of dancers’ sweat and the fragrance of white roses. I silently said my goodbyes as my feet carried me outside.
“Thank you, Uncle Theo,” I whispered as I left the theater for the last time. Only because of him did I even have this opportunity. I couldn’t wait to tell him all about it.
A large, muscular body flew at me, swept me into his arms and twirled me around as though we were still on stage. Laughter bubbled out of my chest.
“You ready to celebrate, cara mia?” Alberto asked as he set me down.
“Celebrate that you’re finally getting rid of me?” I teased. 
He clapped his hand over his heart, and his face fell into an exaggerated expression of pain. “Oh, Leni, you do not know how I will miss you and your mane.”
He swatted playfully at the bottom of my curls. He had no idea how I would miss the way he said my name, drawing out both syllables, “laaaay-kneee,” like only an Italian could do.
“But you won’t miss my heels on your toes or my arm in your face?” I said in mock disbelief.
He took my hand and danced me down the cobbled street toward the plaza at the center of town. “You are a stunning dancer, cara mia. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” He spun me under his arm, my duffle bag banging me in the butt the whole time. “Of course, you have become much better since becoming my partner. But everyone does.”
He winked at me before dropping me into a dip. My bag slid off my shoulder and a hand darted beneath me to catch it. Alberto swung me up and around so that I came face-to-face with the most unbelievably stunning vision I’d seen my whole time in Italy. Which was saying a lot. His eyes—blue, I thought, though the light from the corner post wasn’t enough to be sure—enraptured me. He held my bag out with a small smile that hinted at dimples.
“Grazie,” I said breathlessly as I wrapped my hand around the strap of my bag. He gave me a nod almost deep enough to be a bow, his shaggy blond hair falling in his face. Then, without a word, he turned and walked away. My mouth fell open. “How rude.”
“Must be American,” Alberto said. I punched him in the arm.
“Who goes out of their way to catch a falling object and then can’t even say ‘you’re welcome’?” I asked absent-mindedly as I stared after the retreating body that rivaled Alberto’s. No, scratch that. It totally beat out Alberto’s even on his best day.
“What an ass,” Alberto muttered.
“Rude, yes, but I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“No, I mean what an ass that man has.” He let out a low whistle.
I laughed and admired the view as well. “I can agree with that.”
“He’s going to Alonzo’s. Lucky us.”
~ ~ ~
JERIC – I flipped to the picture I’d drawn a couple of weeks ago during my search in Italy. I’d woken from a dream, one I’d been having for years, and as I had previously, I’d felt the need to sketch the girl who had me waking with a painful boner. Now that I’d met her in real life, I couldn’t deny the girl in my sketches was Leni—curly hair, exotic green eyes, full lips and breasts, her skin … as if the absolute best features of both African and European blood had been blended together and given to her. The Leni I’d just met would probably never wear the leather bra, miniskirt, and knee-high boots I’d drawn her in, but damn if she wouldn’t look hot in them. The vision came to me clearly. Too clearly. I had to place the book over my lap to hide the full-blown wood pressing against my jeans.
I needed a distraction. I needed to get her out of my head. I bought several little airline bottles of rum and dumped them in my Coke, but they weren’t enough to blur the image of Leni’s face in my mind. When the smoking hot flight attendant ran her finger over my arm then dropped a napkin with a message on my tray (“Meet me upstairs?”), I couldn’t resist. I snuck up the spiral staircase to the empty upper level and found her in the bathroom wearing nothing but heels and thigh-high stockings, tendrils of bottle-bleached hair barely hiding her fake tits. Flight attendants like this had made me a lifetime member of the mile-high club—they wanted nothing more than something to make the transatlantic flight more interesting. My perfect kind of girl.
Unfortunately, my eyes only saw Leni’s body under my hands.



About The Author:

Kristie Cook is a lifelong writer in various genres, from marketing communications to fantasy fiction. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, traveling and riding on the back of a motorcycle. She has lived in ten states, but currently calls Southwest Florida home with her husband, three teenage sons, a beagle and a puggle.


March 2, 2013

Book Spotlight: Conflicting Hearts





Conflicting Hearts
Contemporary Romance
Date Published: November 2012

   

Synopsis:

Rachel Hayward hoped to have a quiet thirtieth birthday alone. Instead, fate had different plans.

Caught in traffic and late for work, she can do nothing except wait for the freeway gridlock to ease. A three-car pileup has caused the snarl. Just as cars begin to move at a faster clip, Rachel takes her eyes off the road to gawk at the accident and rear-ends the car in front of her.

Sick over having ruined her day, she lowers her head onto the steering wheel and waits for the driver to begin a tirade over her stupidity. Instead, a kind man taps on her window showing genuine concern about her welfare. The brief colliding encounter suddenly starts a relationship between two strangers that takes off under odd circumstances.

When the couple becomes intimate, their relationship turns into a conflicting set of desires and needs. Rachel is bound by a shameful, dark childhood. After she falls in love with the handsome Ian Richards, she is faced with the decision to leave him or finally confront her demons to obtain the one thing in life she's always needed--healing from the sexual abuse she endured as a little girl.


EXCERPT

Ian slowly turns me around so that I’m facing him. We’re nose to nose. Our bodies are touching front to front. This is not good, or maybe it is good. He doesn’t say a thing, except to look at me with a smoldering gaze. A second later, he lazily moves his eyes toward my lips.

I’m frozen. I look at him with half anticipation and half panic. He’s going to kiss me; I know it. His intentions are clearly expressed in his blue eyes, which have turned a shade darker. I’m losing it. Hurriedly, I remind him of his words to fend off the advance.
“Uh, I thought you wanted to be just friends?”

A look of admiration sweeps across his face. He gently brings his hand up to my forehead and brushes a few strands of hair out of my eyes. Ian is silent, but it’s obvious he is thinking this through. It’s driving me crazy being close to his body.
“You want more?” I whisper, trying to get him to say something.
“Do you?”

He answers with a question. It’s annoying. “I asked you first,” I reply, not cracking a smile or giving away my heart pounding in my chest. I can’t look at him any longer. I close my eyes, and silently ask God, who I’ve ignored for years, to help me.

Then I feel the warmth of his breath approach. He circles my lips with his and gives me a long, tender kiss. Sweet Jesus. He tastes so delicious! I hope the breath mint I popped in my mouth a half hour ago is still working. Eventually, he pulls away, and I open my eyes.

“Does that answer your question?”


Read Chapter 1 Online via a Flip Book:


Author Bio:

J. D. Burrows is a pen named used for contemporary romance written by Vicki Hopkins. She has authored four other historical fiction/romance novels. Her recent historical (Dark Persuasion) won the 2012 USA Best Book Awards Finalist for Fiction Romance.
The author lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with a pesky cat who refuses to let her sleep in. She enjoys traveling to England, researching her English ancestry, finding long-lost relatives from the Holland lineage, and creating stories that touch the hearts of women.
For information about her historical romance, visit http://vickihopkins.com



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