Bring the Eleni-fest!

Fellow SA-er Eleni Konstantine is holding an online celebration of writing during the whole month of October.

Join Eleni who will be yakking about grants, writing, conferences & more. For details please go to elenikonstantine.com.

(“This project is proudly supported by the Richard Llewellyn Arts & Disability Trust” ( You go, Eleni!))

She'll be hosting authors such as:

Anna Hackett

Tracey O'Hara

Trish Morey

Anna Campbell

Erica Hayes

Mel Teshco

Website prizes include copy of Heart & Craft by Valerie Parv,
and a copy of Night's Cold Kiss by Tracey O'Hara.
Blog prizes include writer's packs. (Em says, that's cool...)

Sounds like great fun. Check it out!

The big R...

On March 9th this year, I submitted my first ever Nocturne Bites ms. Then, the average wait for a Bites was 3 months.

At some point, the wait time increased to 6-8 months. Ooops.

I might have been one of the lucky ones, but I heard back after six and a half months.

It was a big R. Phooey.

But, now I know.

I have another that is with one of my gorgeous CP's - Rach - and I think it's nearly ready to go, well, unless Rach flays it. Then I will work on it some more, and send that baby on to NY.

The rejected one, I will re-write a little. Anna (Anna Hackett, the other of my gorgeous CP's) wondered if I could give it a bit more snazz. I think I can - I would certainly like to - make it a bit more me-ish... Then I ship it off to another epub. Got one lined up.

The best thing about this R was the support that I've received from Anna & Rach, the girls on the boards at eHQ, and my Twitterati buddies. You all are the rockingest. It's a beautiful thing. Kisses all round!

I know I'm getting some eagerly- awaited CP stuff to read soon, so I'd better get crackin'! To be honest, this current WIP was doing my head in a bit, so I'm glad for the distraction.

Take care, E x

PS - I read me some Gena Showalter and Alyssa Day recently. Yay! Will review soon...

And I've got a LIST! - Intrigue Nocturnes in Australia...

I got mail today:

Please find below the list of Nocturne stories so far as released by Mills and Boon in Australia,
11/2008 DEATH CALLS Nocturne CARIDAD PINEIRO NOT AVAILABLE
11/2008 HAUNTED Nocturne LISA CHILDS NOT AVAILABLE
12/2008 PERSECUTED Nocturne LISA CHILDS NOT AVAILABLE
12/2008 DANGEROUS TEMPTATION Nocturne KATHLEEN KORBEL NOT AVAILABLE
01/2009 DAMNED Nocturne LISA CHILDS NOT AVAILABLE
01/2009 DEVOTION CALLS Nocturne CARIDAD PINEIRO NOT AVAILABLE
02/2009 NEVERMORE Nocturne MAUREEN CHILD NOT AVAILABLE
02/2009 CRY OF THE WOLF Nocturne KAREN WHIDDON NOT AVAILABLE
03/2009 BLOOD SON Nocturne ERICA ORLOFF NOT AVAILABLE
03/2009 BLOOD CALLS Nocturne CARIDAD PINEIRO NOT AVAILABLE
04/2009 TOUCH OF THE WOLF Nocturne KAREN WHIDDON NOT AVAILABLE
04/2009 BLOOD SECRETS Nocturne VIVI ANNA NOT AVAILABLE
05/2009 DARK TRUTH Nocturne LINDSAY MCKENNA NOT AVAILABLE
05/2009 UNBOUND Nocturne LORI DEVOTI NOT AVAILABLE
06/2009 THE DARK GATE Nocturne PAMELA PALMER NOT AVAILABLE
06/2009 FAMILIAR STRANGER Nocturne MICHELE HAUF NOT AVAILABLE
07/2009 RISING DARKNESS Nocturne CYNTHIA COOKE NOT AVAILABLE
07/2009 KISS ME DEADLY Nocturne MICHELE HAUF NOT AVAILABLE
08/2009 NIGHT MISCHIEF Nocturne NINA BRUHNS NOT AVAILABLE
08/2009 DARK LIES Nocturne VIVI ANNA NOT AVAILABLE
09/2009 SAVING DESTINY Nocturne PAT WHITE AVAILABLE NOW
09/2009 THE BEAST WITHIN Nocturne LISA RENEE JONES AVAILABLE NOW
10/2009 SCIONS; RESURECTION Nocturne PATRICE MICHELLE AVAILABLE NOW
10/2009 THE EMPATH Nocturne BONNIE VANAK AVAILABLE NOW
11/2009 GUARDIANS KEEP Nocturne LORI DEVOTI COMING SOON
11/2009 THE QUEST Nocturne LINDSAY MCKENNA COMING SOON


Due to limited warehouse storage facilities, and the fact we publish over 60 titles each month, we only store our books for 2 months, including the current publishing month. To try to locate any old titles, you may wish to contact the bookstore mentioned below. Doreen has a large range of rare and collectable romance titles that have been published throughout the years. We thoroughly recommend both her fast service and attention to all matters.
Doreen Watt4 Webb PlaceWeetangera ACT 2614Phone: (02) 62542793Fax: (02) 62545500E-mail: dmwatt@grapevine.com.au
Alternatively, you may wish to look on websites www.amazon.com or www.eBay.com.au If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards Lynda SkinnerCustomer Experience Representative Harlequin Direct Email lskinner@eHarlequin.com.au AustraliaPh 1300 659 500Fax (02) 8588 1201 New ZealandPh (09 837 1553Fax (09) 915 5291
Please visit www.millsandboon.com.au for the latest books, special offers, author news, and lots more!

A Review - "Wind Kissed, Fire Bound" - Anna Hackett, Silhouette Nocturne Bites, September 2009

It's no secret that I'm an Anna Hackett fan. I know, she's my writing buddy, but that don't mean I don't think she rocks.
Her stories are consistently well-written, the premises great and the tension between the characters is beautifully portrayed. In EVERY BOOK she has published, or slated therefore.
She's just the goods.
WIND KISSED, FIRE BOUND is no different.

THE BLURB:

As Keeper of the Winds, Livia Cavalli needed to focus her power on keeping the evil Tempest Winds trapped in their island prison. What she doesn't need is to be distracted by sexy horse trainer Rafe Donovan. Three hundred years ago, Livia became an immortal Keeper to numb her emotions, but Rafe arouses her in a way she hasn't felt for centuries. For Rafe, Livia is a challenge he longs to solveand take to bed. Once she's in his arms, their desire is overwhelming. But when his own powers reveal Livia's secret pain, he realizes taking her body isn't enough - he wants to heal her soul, too...

Emmeline's TAKE:

This is, I think, my favourite Hackett hero. Rafe is a sexy horse trainer (in my head, he was dressed in a well-stressed pair of long-legged Levis, but I don't think that was actually mentioned...). If you can see the cover from here - he looks EXACTLY like that! Bless you, cover gods.
Livia Cavalli is a strong, centered woman who takes her job very seriously - that being a Keeper of the malevolent Tempest Winds (I KNOW, cool storyline!). If she gets distracted, they bust out, wreaking their havoc on four corners of the earth. She is in control, a career woman if you will, without being the slightest bit sexless.
Of course, they sooo want to jump each other, but really shouldn't. For a few reasons, the least of which being that she's got a job to do.
With extra conflicts woven in, Hackett's story is a tight, compelling quick read. You WILL want more.
This is also the first book in the WindKeepers Series. Book 2, TAKEN BY THE SOUTH WIND is coming out in October from Silhouette Nocturne.
Although these are quite comfortable reads alone, reading this one first would set the stage.

Keep an eye out for more Anna Hackett...

Anna Hackett's second Nocturne Bites WIND KISSED, FIRE BOUND is out now...

Quick, go get it at the eHarlequin site! I love this one, review coming up soon!

REVIEW: "Wild, Tethered, Bound" Stephanie Draven, Silhouette Nocturne Bites, August 2009.

I really enjoyed Stephanie Draven's first Bites MIDNIGHT MEDUSA. So much so, that I made a comment (at the Silhouette Authors Blog) about Renata in that story being one of my favourite Nocturne heroines. Stephanie then asked me what I thought of her newest release, WILD, TETHERED, BOUND.



A lot of the comments that stand for this current story would also stick for MEDUSA, which is a testament to Draven's consistency.

From Stephanie's Goodreads Profile:

Lieutenant NICK LEANDROS is a battle-hardened American soldier who thinks he’s seen everything. But nothing prepared him for the horrors he encounters when he’s separated from his patrol in a dark Afghani forest. What he sees there fractures him–body and soul. Split into three separate men with three savage wills, he struggles to tame the cunning creatures and hold them inside. His only hope of salvation is DESSA, an ancient dryad who lost her Heart Tree on that war-ravaged day. Without a forest to guard, Dessa is bound to Nick by mystic forces and she alone understands the nature of the chimera that he’s become. She also knows that Nick is the only man who can give her the child she’s longed for and the only man who can ensure the future of her country. But the cruelest, most lustful, part of him demands her submission as the price for his help and with her powers waning every day, time is running out for Dessa to save the last forests of Afghanistan…and to heal the man she’s come to love.

This is the offical blurb:

While most dryads had abandoned their woods to live amongst mortals, Dessa continued to guard her forest in Afghanistan and waited for a man to eat the fruit of her heart-tree and become her mate. But when her tree is destroyed, Dessa tries to live in the mortal world--where she is reunited with Lt. Nick Leandros, the soldier who once ate the nuts from her tree and now struggles with the trauma that turned him into a Chimera with the ability to split into three different bodies.
Dessa longs to help Nick and save her lands--but to do so, she will need Nick to giver her a dryad child....

Emmeline's TAKE:

I enjoyed this book a lot. As with Draven's first Bites, MIDNIGHT MEDUSA, this is an intelligent and well-written story. It is refreshing to read Bites that stray from the norm of weres or vamps, and this one links current affairs that people are (or should be!) aware about with a challenging love story. I just love Draven's application of mythical creatures to things that are happenign in our time.
The conflicts and emotions were real and believable, the premise was clever and well-thought out. I enjoyed the characters, particularly the hero, Nick, although the heroine (Dessa) was also very appealing, earthy and deep.
I felt that the relationship between the tortured, resolute hero and the mythical, strong heroine could have been explored a little more, but I understand that these Bites don't allow much room for movement.
I'd love to see a full-length from this author, where the relationships could be more detailed and the build-up of sexual tension more developed, because the rest of her story rocked. :)

Thanks for the chance to read it, Stephanie!

REVIEW: "The Highwayman", Michele Hauf, Silhouette Nocturne July 2009

WORKING ON: Desire Deep Blue, paranormal short. Very. Slow. Going.

READING: I've just popped a new Goodreads widget down there. I've decided to go with Goodreads. Their mobile site is far better than Shelfari's. If you're on Goodreads, hook up with me!

FEELING: Good. Sparky offered to take me out for dinner. I declined (kids are sick), but loved the notion.

LAST SONG: Freak Me, by Silk. I used to love that song. Now, I'm my thirties it makes me feel a bit grotty. Sigh. Middle-age me.



REVIEW:





A while back, on the eHQ boards, I made some wonderfully witty comment about the differing covers on the Nocturne novels (It went something like, "I like the American ones waaaayyy better..."), and Michele Hauf made a comment about the thinness of the Aussie Nocs and the weenyness of the writing. She'd seen one - she'd like to see more.

Me, being one of those people that jumps first and thinks later, offered to mail Kiss Me Deadly over to her when it came out. Deal.

In return, she'd mail me a new one of hers. Cool. Ditto deal.

When the package arrived in the post, with not one, but THREE Michele Hauf books - I plotzed. Right there at the post office. Embarassing, I realised later...

All signed, by Michele and in the case of Faeries Gone Wild, the other authors as well.

I tell ya. Ms Hauf is doing nothing to pour cold water on my author fan crush.

So, first I read The Highwayman because I have a thing for the cover. It's very yum.

Here's the Goodreads blurb:

Max Fitzroy, the legendary Highwayman, had slain scores of demons with a razorlike whip and a burning need for revenge. Now, to rid himself of the demon inside him—who'd cursed him with immortality and stolen all sensual pleasures—Max needed a witch's familiar, the one creature he'd made a career of killing.
But the Highwayman wasn't prepared for the familiar named Aby. The sleek and sexy conduit to the demon world saw past his swirling shadow as easily as he scaled the walls she'd erected to protect herself. Max needed Aby to grant him his freedom, and then he needed to slay her. But how could he destroy the only creature he'd desired in centuries?

Outside review I stole from Michele's website:

"With dangerous encounters, a myriad of paranormal beings and even some subtle humor, THE HIGHWAYMAN is an enchanting love story packed with riveting adventures." — Cataromance.com

And another one:

"Ms. Hauf shares a compelling tale of demons, witchcraft, and the strength of love. The Highwayman is a well-told and fast-moving adventure as romance unfolds between two strong, but lonely, adversaries. I’m so looking forward to Severo’s story in book two of the Wicked Games series. Moon Kissed is due to hit shelves on September 1, 2009." — Darque Reviews

Emmeline's TAKE:

Anyone who has read here knows I have a Hauf thing. And now I have a bigger thing.

I adored this story - The characters had depth, were true to form and completely likeable. Hauf has a wonderful way of linking characters, names, background, premise, conflict and storyline so that the story is a seamless read.

The backstory is complex, and if you've read some other Hauf stuff, you'll recognise it. Not that you need to read other stories to get this one.

It also has a few nice flashback scenes that are well-placed.

Character motivations are real, never forced and particularly in the case of Aby, refreshing.

I am also consistently in awe of Hauf's dialogue. It flows beautifully. We're of an age, so I wonder why mine sounds like a four year old talking to an imaginary friend. Heh... I imagine it's practice.
I read it in a sitting. Which, I think, is high praise for an author.

If you like a bit of action, paranormal fiends, tension and hot love, grab this one - I was quite happy to buy it just for the guy on the cover!

Thanks again to Michele for mailing it over - lucky for me, sometimes the jump firsts pay off... :)