Giveaway: A Copy of Romancing Rebecca by Amber Polo

I’m going through my review books, and I’ve found a couple for giveaways. I’ll start with Amber Polo’s Romancing Rebecca:

1 Woman + 2 Men in 1 Body = 1 Romance

Attorney Rebecca Dumarier uses her no-nonsense style to battle for successful romance writers around the globe. Despite her success in the romance industry, her personal romantic life is a disaster. Sure, she’s a high-powered attorney, but can she handle a little broken heart? Confused by feelings she always keeps hidden, Rebecca jumps a flight to Sedona, Arizona. There she’s caught up in the vortex of a mysterious romance with Max, a man with an intoxicating voice, who sends roses, romance novels, and chocolate, but refuses to reveal his face. To make matters worse, Rebecca thinks she’s falling for shy trance channeler Tom Paxton. His precocious daughter and ex-wife/manager complicate the budding relationship until Tom discovers that someone is using his body for romance and his credit card for internet purchases. Investigating an old diary and using her worldly wiles, Rebecca discovers the identity of the man she truly loves. Now if she can only figure out which man that is.

Entering to win this book couldn’t be easier:

• Comment on this post.
• Tweet a link to this post in Twitter. You’ll need to comment letting us know that you tweeted. Include your Twitter username for verification.
• Post a link on Facebook. Again, comment letting us know that you posted the link.
• Follow The Romantic Journey in the Facebook Networked Blogs application.
• Add The Romantic Journey to your blogroll. Comment that you did that and include a link for verification.
• Post something about The Romantic Journey on your blog. Comment that you did it and include a link for verification.
• Subscribe to the RSS feed or email feed. Comment that you did it to be entered.
• Follow The Romantic Journey on Twitter. Again, comment with your Twitter username for verification.

You receive one entry for each action, so you can potentially receive eight entries.

The winner will be announced 17 May. Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. UTC on 16 May, 2010.

No transfers or substitutions. The contest is open internationally.

Guest Post by Author Kiki Howell: Creating the Setting and Characters in A Questionable Hero

Today, we welcome Kiki Howell, whose newest book A Questionable Hero was  released last month. She is giving us some insight into the back story of the novel.

You might remember Kiki as one of our early guest interviews.

Now, we’ll turn the stage over to her.

When I am creating a story, especially one that starts with only a hero and heroine, I start by asking myself a bunch of questions.  When your hero and heroine are polar opposites of each other, the inquiry can be quite interesting.  I knew I wanted to try my hand at an angel and demon story.  The idea of it just sent my imagination reeling with a demon hero as the epitomy of the bad boy.

The first thing that came to me though was this battle scene with multitudes of angels and demons fighting each other, and then a demon saving an angel’s life.   I imagined her shock, her horror, and if he looked just right, her lust.   I liked the question of what someone would do if they were an angel warrior and the demon that was supposed to kill them saved them getting hurt in the process? Would the angel then help the demon? I like to give myself these kinds of questions to ponder.

Next, I needed the setting for that battle, and, well, the streets of New York came to me in a round about way actually because I had decided I wanted to tie in somehow readings I had recently done about the witch hunts in England.   Stay with me here! During those times, women were thoroughly questioned about having sex with demons.  So, I gave this knowledge to my angel warrior heroine by making her a professor.  This would give her some myth and legend to deal with alongside her own knowledge from fighting demons to have to work through making him her questionable hero. An aside, imagine her anxiety when needing to unclothe the demon to clean the wound on the man’s hip, a man she found quite attractive, after studying a history where demons were said to have iron sexual parts with sharp razor-like extensions.  Sorry, back on track now!  So, in finding her a university to teach at, I came up with an urban college campus in New York.  I  liked the idea also of the battle being on asphalt in a dimly lit city in the middle of the night where at any moment the battle could be interrupted by some human.  I wanted her to struggle through dark alleyways to get him home, her being an angel warrior and him a demon not her only concern.

With those things established,  I keep asking myself, “what would make this even more of a problematic situation?”  I didn’t have any idea how the story would go or how I even wanted it to end, but once I started writing it the characters took care of that for me. It was one of those stories that takes on a life of its own, the characters so real and vibrant to me, that it was written in a very short amount of time. I walked around for those days though pondering if a demon could ever enter Heaven, even a demon who was a Halfling, born of a human mother but raised in Hell!  To take such a creature, and to attempt to redeem him through his love of an unobtainable being, one he knows with every fiber of his detestable presence that he should stay away from – what a moral dilemma for a halfling – and how utterly romantic to write.  I have the best job ever!

— Kiki

A Questionable Hero by Kiki Howell

Genre: Paranormal (angel/demon) Erotic Romance (male/female)
Heat Level: Fire
Length: 21,597 / 103 pages
Price: $4.50
Released 19th March 2010 from Shadowfire Press
Purchase Link: http://tinyurl.com/questionablehero
Author Website: http://www.kikihowell.com

Learning about the Business

Over the weekend, I attended a presentation by author Deb Schneider. She talked about how to write a romance and, more important, how to understand the business.

One of the revelations she had for us was that the billionaire and the virgin trope popular in the category romances baffles many U.S. romance fans because it isn’t intended for us. Those books do well enough in the United States, but their target audience is readers in more conservative cultures around the world. They are extremely popular internationally.

She also discussed the future of publishing. She compared a copy of her newest release, Promise Me, printed by the publisher and one printed at a print-on-demand (POD) kiosk. They were virtually indistinguishable. With the high cost of printing, transporting, warehousing, and returning unsold printed books, POD makes a lot of sense.

And, Schneider shared her thoughts on ebooks and ebook readers. Sales of ebooks grew 176% last year, when most other segments of the book industry saw drops in sales. Yes, they are still a small percentage of the total book market (7%), but with growth like that, how much longer until they represent the majority of sales?

I haven’t yet purchased a POD book, but I am definitely on the ebook bandwagon. I use the Kindle, eReader, and Stanza apps on my iPod Touch, so I’m not wedded to a particular format.

Today, I read a piece on JA Konrath’s blog about a successful Kindle-only author, Karen McQuestion. McQuestion and Konrath both release their books in Kindle at low prices to help potential readers feel good about taking a chance on an unknown author. And they have both seen success with that business model. (Konrath is also a traditionally published author.)

How have you adapted to the changing world of publishing, whether in the romance genre or in other genres?

The Demise of the Dramatis Personae?

Until recently, my genre of choice for pleasure reading was fantasy.

The typical fantasy series has such a wide range of characters and settings that it often includes a dramatis personae, a listing of characters and their relationships. They often also list common places in the fantasy world to help readers keep it all straight. An example is the Sun Sword series by Michelle West. Spanning years and introducing an extremely complex world with castes and allegiances that sometimes changed from book to book, it included a comprehensive glossary of people and places that I used frequently during the six years that I read the series.

Earlier this month, a friend and I were discussing Rachel Vincent’s most recent installment in her Shifters series, Shift. I had finished the book, but my friend was struggling to reacquaint herself with the cast of characters. Vincent did a good job of providing small details to jog the reader’s memory when mentioning a character, but it wasn’t enough for my friend.

I know that Vincent must have a character rundown that helps her keep her characters straight, especially now that she has begun a new series, her YA Soul Screamers series.

Would you find a dramatis personae useful when you are reading the typical urban fantasy or genre-bending romance novel? If you are primarily an ebook reader, would the format affect your ability to use such a tool?

Elisa Lorello Contest Winner

Congratulations to Twitter follower @aprildawnbooks. You have won PDF copies of both Faking It and Ordinary World. Please send your email address to the.romantic.journey@gmail.com to receive your prizes!

Guest Post and Contest: The Evolution of a Character by Elisa Lorello

Today, we are happy to welcome guest author Elisa Lorello on the last stop on her whirlwind blog tour. She is going to talk a little about the evolution of one of the characters from her books Faking It and Ordinary World. And, Elisa will be giving away a PDF copy of each book to one lucky reader. Check back after Elisa’s post for the entry rules.

From Devin to David: The Evolution of a Character

The idea for my novel Faking It was conceived back in 1999.

I had discovered this new television sensation called Sex and the City and didn’t know what to make of it. It was actor Chris Noth who had brought me there—I had become a fan of his when he starred as Detective Mike Logan on the original Law & Order—but the sexual boldness of these characters both intrigued and intimidated me. I had grown up in an environment where sex wasn’t discussed in private, much less in a public restaurant at lunchtime.

A what-if suddenly appeared: What if a woman never learned what she was supposed to learn about sex and dating? What if she met someone who would teach her what she needed to know? What if he was a male escort? The very last what-if was further inspired by my favorite movie, When Harry Met Sally: And what if they became friends?

Thus, my original vision of Devin the Escort was a slightly younger Mr. Big. Charismatic, well-groomed, affluent, and very, very charming. Ok, downright gorgeous. In 2000, I saw Chris Noth perform in a Broadway play called “The Best Man”, and after the show, I met him in the lobby.

“You were wonderful,” I said, gushing. “Excellent performance.” He turned to me, made eye contact, and smiled.
That smile.

His smile was electric. Mesmerizing. For a split second, I was the only woman in that theater lobby. The only woman he saw. The only woman he wanted to see.

I then knew that Devin’s power would be in his smile. His smile and his eyes.

It took another four years before I finally wrote the first draft, and another four years after that before I published Faking It, but by the time I did Devin was more than a handsome schmoozer. He was a man who had a tumultuous relationship with his father. He was an art enthusiast who never realized his dream. As intimate as he was with his clients, there was one thing he never gave away: his heart. And for all Devin has to teach Andi, He also realized that he has a lot to learn.

So how did Devin become David? And does he end up with Andi?

Well, I don’t want to tell. Read Faking It first. Then read Ordinary World to find out.

What I will say is that I love the depth and complexity of the characters in Ordinary World. They have shed their skins, re-invented themselves. They are even more vulnerable, more fragile, more loving. They have grown by leaps and bounds. Despite the fact that Andi is the narrator of both books, I think in some ways Devin is the real star. I remember reading an excerpt from an early draft to my college writing class, and one of the female students blurted out as soon as I’d finished reading, “Oh yeah. I’m in love with him.”

“Me too,” I said. Still am.

Faking It and Ordinary World are available in print and e-book at Lulu.com and in e-book at Amazon Kindle Store.

Elisa Lorello was born and raised on Long Island, New York. In 1995, she moved to southeastern Massachusetts, where she attended University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Her career in rhetoric and composition studies began in 2000, and since then she has been teaching first-year writing at the university level. Currently, Elisa lives and teaches in North Carolina and is co-writing her third novel. She is happily single.

To learn more about Elisa and her other writing projects, please visit her blog “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Official Blog of Elisa Lorello at www.elisalorello.blogspot.com, or her official webpage at www.elisalorello.com.

Here is how you can enter to win a PDF of both books:

• Commenting on this post.
• Tweeting a link to this post in Twitter. You’ll need to comment letting us know that you tweeted. Include your Twitter username for verification.
• Posting a link on Facebook. Again, comment letting us know that you posted the link.
• Following The Romantic Journey in the Facebook Networked Blogs application.
• Adding The Romantic Journey to your blogroll. Comment that you did that and include a link for verification.
• Posting something about The Romantic Journey on your blog. Comment that you did it and include a link for verification.
• Subscribing to the RSS feed or email feed. Comment that you did it to be entered.
• Following The Romantic Journey on Twitter. Again, comment with your Twitter username for verification.

You receive one entry for each action, so you can potentially receive eight entries.

The winner will be announced 12 March. Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. UTC on 11 March, 2010.

No transfers or substitutions.

What’s in a Genre? Crossovers in Romantic Fiction

Over the past few years, more and more successful romances have crossed into other genres.

We’re pretty familiar with the paranormal romances–vamps, werewolves, and Greek gods, oh my! But there are also science fiction and fantasy romances, western romances, romantic suspense, and so on.

Before my recent foray into the world of romance, I was a big fan of fantasy novels. Of course, my favorite fantasies were written by women and included strong romantic storylines, but that’s neither here nor there.

I am a fan of the crossovers because they pull together some of my favorite genres and ideas. I love a great romance that takes place in space, in a land filled with faeries and magic, or just here in our world with fantastical creatures I like to daydream about but probably wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

Now, if only those Winchester boys could just find some nice girls and settle down in season 6 of Supernatural… just kidding!

What do you think about crossover romances? Do you love them, or do you just wish the genres would stay pure?

Guest Interview: Carolyn Haley, Author of The Mobius Striptease

Today, we welcome Carolyn Haley, author of the scifi romance The Mobius Striptease.

To stop invisible forces from harming her sister and lovers—then rippling out to damage the world—Madeline LaRue must use physics and metaphysics to learn the secrets of psychic power and transmute it through body and soul.

Romantic Journey: Thanks for joining us today, Carolyn. You have a history of published nonfiction. What led you to begin working in fiction?

Carolyn Haley: Art. From an early age, I illustrated my romantic and adventure fantasies. And being a literate, introverted child, I gravitated naturally toward augmenting my illustrations with stories.

But I was weak at expanding concept into narrative, so the short-story format defeated me.

Novels came easier, though I have written only two because they take me so long. I thought I had only two books in me, but a nonfiction one squeaked out a few years ago, and now a third novel has started coming alive…

RJ: Is The Mobius Strip Tease your first work of fiction?

CH: No, second. The first one, a YA horsey romance first composed in my teens, lives in a drawer.

RJ: How do you juggle your fiction and nonfiction writing?

CH: Nonfiction writing (and copyediting) is a profession, so it always comes first.

Fiction is an avocation, so I am free to work on it when in the mood and when time permits. This disqualifies me from ever being a professional novelist, but gives me the luxury of really enjoying the process and making the works true to my heart.

RJ: What are your five favorite books? What lessons have you applied from them to your own writing?

CH: Like others, I can’t nail down five favorites. There’s a long list authors I follow and genres I prefer, but I read so heavily that there are too many to itemize.

But I do have a top-of-the-list favorite author: Dick Francis. I adore his books and I admire his style. While I can’t emulate it, I can use it as a model–the way he captures appearance, scene, character, conflict with swift brush strokes and dialogue/action. I’m prone to blah-blah-blah-ing, and telling not showing, so his compact approach is a good beacon for me to follow.

RJ: Are you a chest or buns woman?

CH: Neither. But if I had to pick from these two body parts, it would be chest. For me the whole package has to work, starting with eyes and brain, shoulders and arms . . .

RJ: Who’s your fantasy man?

CH: Dick Francis’s archetype hero! (I ended up marrying the guy who’s closest to him I could find in real life.)

RJ: If your ship were sinking and you could grab one thing on the way to the lifeboat, what would it be? Go on instinct here; don’t let common sense interfere with you as you grab your hairdryer or laptop instead of food to take to the desert island.

CH: I would grab my purse, in response to both instinct and common sense.

Although a wallet won’t do any good in a lifeboat or on a desert isle, my purse still contains simple fire-starting tools, food, painkillers, cigarettes, notebook and pen, and cell phone.

RJ: Thanks again for stopping by, Carolyn. It’ was great to get to know more about you and your work.

Readers, find out more about Carolyn at Author’s Den.

Dating Detox Winners

Congratulations to our winners: Arantza and Sheere.

Please send your mailing addresses to the.romantic.journey@gmail.com. And, come back to let us know how you like the book. It sounds like a great read.

Interview and Giveaway with Dating Detox Author Gemma Burgess

Today, we welcome Gemma Burgess, author of The Dating Detox. Here’s a little description of the book:

If you can’t date anyone nice, don’t date anyone at all.

Dating is a dangerous sport. So after her sixth successive failed relationship, romantically-challenged 20-something Sass decides she’s had enough. The Dating Detox is born. No men, no break-ups, no problem.

The result? Her life – usually joyfully/traumatically occupied with dates, clothes and vodka – is finally easy. Chastity rocks. No wonder nuns are always singing. Everything falls at her feet. Especially men.

Will Sass break the rules? Why does fate keep throwing her in the path of the irritatingly amusing Jake? Will she ever roll the dice and play again? Or is a love-free life too good to risk losing? For the post-Carrie Bradshaw, post-Bridget Jones, post-credit crunch generation of singles, life isn’t beautiful, a bitch, or a beach. It’s a party.

Romantic Journey: Welcome, Gemma. Thanks so much for stopping by today. How did you get The Dating Detox into print?

Gemma Burgess: I sent the first three chapters, plus a cover letter and a synopsis, off to 10 agents in London. Then Laura Longrigg at MBA asked to read the rest, at which point I had to write ‘the rest’. (Ahem. In my defense, I never thought I’d actually get that far…) Then she sent it out to publishers, and Harper Collins offered a deal. There was a lot of waiting and redrafts in between those moments of high excitement, but that was the basic path. If any of your readers want to know the full story, I give a month-by-month synopsis of how I did it on my blog at www.gemmaburgess.com.

RJ: Are you still working as a copywriter, too? If so, how do you juggle your two jobs?

GB: I’m a freelance copywriter – so I just don’t work when I am working intensely on a manuscript. It’s an ideal job for a writer. It also easy, as there’s less of the inevitable politics / pressure that comes with any permanent role. You just turn up, have fun with words, and go home. I used to get very involved in my job – in making sure my team was happy, and making sure I was impressing the right people, worrying about results and reviews and all of that. I don’t think I could have had the headspace to write a novel if I was worrying about work.

RJ: How does a typical day unfold?

GB: When I’m writing (ie, not copywriting), I wake up about 6am, and have coffee and start writing in bed. This is when I try to get big chunks of writing done – I don’t worry about word count so much as getting a particular event or scene done. After lunch, I reread and revise the morning’s writing. And then usually at about 3pm I get cabin fever, and I need to get outside and walk around or exercise. Then most evenings I slowly reread and think and let my mind wander… this is usually when I come up with little ideas and one-liners, rather than big plot chunks. When I’m going to sleep I go over the book in my head and often come up with answers to things or realise I need to change something. I need a notebook; at the moment I wake my boyfriend up and say something cryptic that I know will trigger the memory for me, like ‘Remember this in the morning: Janey emails, Dan says rabbit’ and he mumbles ‘Okay’. He always remembers, bless him.

RJ: Tell us a little about the Name That Bastard site. What makes a good bastard name?

GB: You tell me! Naming is a constant challenge for me – I asked for help on Twitter this week for a new character name, actually. When it came to naming the bastard character in The Dating Detox, I was so fed up of thinking of names that I thought I’d ask my friends about ex-boyfriends they’d like named and shamed. Everyone got very enthusiastic, and I ended up with Rick. So for the second book, I’m throwing it out to the world. So far we’ve had a lot of Daves. Doesn’t it seem like the most innocuous name? Apparently it isn’t…

RJ: What are your five favorite books? What lessons have you applied from them to your own writing?

GB:

1. Bridget Jones – this book made me realise how just the way we think can be funny.
2. Heartburn, by Nora Ephron – this book is so intimate and warm, I love the tone of voice. I aspire to a similar immediacy.
3. Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis – the lead character is delightfully enthusiastic about being negative – you love that about him. And Sass in The Dating Detox is delightfully negative, too.
4. Jilly Cooper – I love everything about her books, but particularly the party scenes. She obviously enjoys writing about people having a raucously good time, it’s infectious and puts you in a good mood… I tried to get that sort of feeling into my party scenes, too.
5. I can’t think of a fifth without having a huge argument with myself, so it comes down to Nancy Mitford, Bret Easton Ellis, Fanny Burney, David Sedaris, Stella Gibbons, Jane Austen, Michael Chabon, Julian Barnes… they’re all inspiring in different ways.

RJ: Are you a chest or buns woman?

GB: Ha! Shoulders, actually…

RJ: We get a lot of shoulder fans. Perhaps we need to broaden our options. Who’s your fantasy man?

GB: Right now it’s Robert, one of the characters in my second book.

RJ: What is your favorite pair of heels? What makes them so special? And, how long can you wear them comfortably? (We would be happy to include a photo.)

GB: Oooo! Good question. I hate to play favourites – I love all my shoes equally, even the grubby Converses – but I just bought a pair of Miu Miu shoes (on sale! that’s God giving me a high-five) from Net-A-Porter to wear at my wedding in April. The picture is attached. I LOVE them. I might go and take them out of their box and give them a little hug when I’ve finished this interview, actually.

RJ: Those are gorgeous shoes! Now our last question: If your ship were sinking and you could grab one thing on the way to the lifeboat, what would it be? Go on instinct here; don’t let common sense interfere with you as you grab your hairdryer or laptop instead of food to take to the desert island.

GB: Uh… the cabinboy?

RJ: Nice. Thanks again for stopping by, Gemma. It was great getting to know you.

Now for the fun part. Gemma is giving away a copy of The Dating Detox to three of our readers. Here is how you can enter to win:

• Commenting on this post.
• Tweeting a link to this post in Twitter. You’ll need to comment letting us know that you tweeted. Include your Twitter username for verification.
• Posting a link on Facebook. Again, comment letting us know that you posted the link.
• Following The Romantic Journey in the Facebook Networked Blogs application.
• Adding The Romantic Journey to your blogroll. Comment that you did that and include a link for verification.
• Posting something about The Romantic Journey on your blog. Comment that you did it and include a link for verification.
• Subscribing to the RSS feed or email feed. Comment that you did it to be entered.
• Following The Romantic Journey on Twitter. Again, comment with your Twitter username for verification.

You receive one entry for each action, so you can potentially receive eight entries.

The winner will be announced 1 February. Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. UTC on 31 January, 2010.

No transfers or substitutions.