Sylvie Skyler, alligator wrestler and naturalist celebrity, expects only to have a hot day of sun on her private Florida beach. Enter Remington, a hunk who turns up the heat from sunlight to sex. What Sylvie doesn’t know is that “Remy” is a man with a secret, a secret which will thrill the ‘gator wrangler.

Gator Bait is a very hot, quickly developed short story, but the characters — especially Sylvie — are very likable, and it is easy to fall into lust along with her. A promising start to a series of shorts!

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Changeling Press
  
• Book Length: Super Short
  
• Language: English
• ISBN:978-1-59596-349-9

To purchase an electronic copy of Escape: Gator Bait click here.

Books in this series in the order they should be read:
Gator Bate
Catch and Release

To visit the author’s website go here.

A sequel to Winter’s previous tale, Gator Bait, Catch and Release is a fun romp on the wild side with an unusual hero and heroine pair that really clicks. In only fourteen pages, you uncover a very sacrificing, touching romance that, in spite of the obvious idiosyncrasies, reads very realistically.

Sylvie Skyler, world-famous naturalist celebrity, has an special connection to alligators — hence her nickname “gator goddess” — but has found more than just another reptile. Her lover, Remy, is a half-blooded alligator shapeshifter, who just might be going against his people’s edicts to spend time with Skyler. But she has problems of her own in the form of a demanding, celebrity’s life, and her status casts too much light on Remy.

It does read a bit like a chapter in a serial tale, but I liked it, and it’s worth picking up the first story, certainly! I’m curious to see what happens in the rest of Sylvie and Remy’s tale — and hope to read more by this author.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Changeling Press
  
• Book Length: Super Short
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-1-60521-027-8
  

To purchase an electronic copy of Heat Stroke: Catch and Release click here.

Books in this series in the order they should be read:
Gator Bate
Catch and Release

To visit the author’s website go here.

In 1861, Annette Pearce (Anne) has seen too much death of her family. She lost a mother, sister and cousin. She was labeled as a murderess by the people in her town even though she had nothing to do with any of them.

Sasha Volaskin was a gypsy until he was turned into a vampire. He sees the pain in Anne and it reminds him of what he was like before his turning. He decides to give her a choice of either death or rebirth. He helps her and guides her as she learns the basics.

Evan Marsten is deeply in love with Anne. They met at a New Years Eve party of a mutual friend and had been together ever since.

In 1861, Anne dresses in her mourning clothes and decides to end her misery. She has no future since everyone in town thinks she is a murderess. Sasha comes to her rescue and gives a better choice. He helps her through her first feeding but tells her only a few things at a time. She ends up going it alone and learning as she goes. In 2008 her life is perfect and she is finally truly happy. A woman comes to her for help and Anne must decide between her two worlds.

This book followed along with Anne as she learned from the very beginning. You saw her grow from that naive young girl to a strong and independent woman. The flash backs helped with the story line instead of taking away from it. It made you understand where everything began and what made her the woman she is today. I truly enjoyed it.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Extasy Books
  
• Book Length: Novel
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-1-55487-057-8

To purchase an electronic copy of Redemption Obsession click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.
To visit the author’s blog go here.

Exclusive Bitten by Books

Interview with Author Rowena Cherry

A big welcome to our readers today! Be sure to read to the end of the interview to find out how to WIN one of the the great prizes being offered up today. The contest runs until 3:00 pm Eastern time tomorrow to give our east coast and international readers a chance to participate.

NOTE: this is not a fixed time event, the post just goes live at 11:00 am PDT. You can stop by any time during the day or evening and leave your questions and comments.

Interview:

Hi Rowena!

Welcome to Bitten by Books, we are excited to have you here today!

I would like to thank you taking the time to join us for the question and answer session with our readers. It has been very interesting to get to know more about you and what makes you tick as a writer! Readers, if you haven’t done so already please stop by and get your copy of Rowena’s latest release Knight’s Fork.

BBB: What do you find the most challenging aspect of writing?

RC: Sex scenes. I’ll elaborate. I imagine you want me to do that? Hmmm. Shall we take it as read that I’ve paid lip service to the most important, most wonderful and most romantic parts in–and of– any modern Romance novel?

I wonder how many ways a writer can describe male parts and a female parts. If anyone wishes to know, I believe that Charlee Boyett-Comp has a decent list of synonyms for genitalia on her website. http://www.windlegends.org I just looked and couldn’t find it, but I did find a link to the Sex Dictionary that had this listing: Anal Beads, Afterglow. If they were true to their alphabetical pretensions, the afterglow would have come before the anal beads. I digress.

I will digress further. Have you noticed that all males who come to your house to repair something, and even spacemen on TV, refer to every funny-looking object that has to fit into another object in order to work as a “male part”? Why?

Meanwhile, back at the sex scene… one challenge is to find something new and different to say about sex. And interesting! And believable!! Honestly, it amuses me most when I can rise to the challenge of writing good coitus interruptus.

In Forced Mate, the interruption was the heroine’s laughter. If you thought Forced Mate is a violent book, you were mistaken. Forced Mate, like all my titles, is a very appropriate chess term. In Insufficient Mating Material, the interruption was the arrival of a former lover, who caught an eyeful of the hero’s dangling splendor from behind and recognized him/them/it.

BBB: What is the most rewarding aspect of writing for you?

RC: This is going to sound egotistical, but it’s the truth. After all the writes, re-writes, proof-reading, editing, galley checking, it’s reading a random passage, and still giggling over what I wrote. I think humor is my strong suit.

Perhaps, though, I misunderstood the question. If compliments from readers count as an aspect of writing then that is far and away the most rewarding. Thank you!

BBB: What or who was your muse that got you started writing?

RC: Cheese, I think. I used to nibble cheese if I woke up the middle of the night. It almost infallibly sent me straight back to sleep, and quite often it gave me fantastic dreams. Tarrant-Arragon and Djinni (Jinny) came to life in a dream that recurred for almost a year before I decided it was too good a story to stay in my head.

BBB: What do you feel are the benefits of the new electronic readers such as Kindle to the environment?

RC: Insufficient Mating Material is available on Kindle. That’s about all I know about Kindle. As for electronic readers, I’ve heard that readers can store and carry around up to 50 books on a device not much larger or heavier than one hardback. That ought to save a lot of trees in theory. However, if forests aren’t being planted for a wood crop, I doubt that wild trees will be left to grow, so e-readers won’t help the environment. I’m passionate about trees. While I don’t hug or kiss them, I have been known to stroke them. I hate to see any of them cut down (or burnt). It’s a terrible irony that the legal term for destroying trees on a property for the purposes of building is “improving” the lot. We’ve lost far too many copses, woodlands, forests… but I’ve digressed.

BBB: What impact do electronic readers create on the bottom line for authors in the end? Do you feel they have a negative impact or positive, or no impact at all that you can see?

RC: I’m not an authority. It depends. If an author retains her electronic rights, self publishes the e-version of a book, and perhaps contracts with a vendor (such as http://www.ebookisle.net), she might get 60% of the sale price (as I do with the electronic version of Forced Mate). If a major publisher puts out e-books as well as print books, I understand that the author gets a very small royalty for either sale, even though there are far greater overheads for the publisher in paper, ink, glue, storage, shipping and so forth in printing and binding the physical book. Not to mention the cost of returns! I throughly appreciate the business case for electronic publishing. However, electronic publication is still relatively “wild west”. Piracy is a major problem for authors once their book is on the internet. Some authors are glad to give away one of their books free as a promotional tactic. Others can’t afford to do so. For instance, many debut authors may never be offered another contract if they don’t sell a decent percentage of their first print run. It’s increasingly hard to do.

A publisher has to cover costs, pay salaries, and make a profit. Sales is a way of keeping score. 50,000 readers might vote in some poll that a book is the best of the year, but if only 500 of them bought it, there may not be the sequel they’re all eagerly awaiting. It’s beyond me how a reader surfing the internet is supposed to know which “free” e-book being offered for sharing is stolen property, and which is being offered with the author’s consent. What I do know is that once you have an e-book on your desktop (regardless of whether or not you paid for it) the only legal way to “share” an e-book is to physically hand the Kindle or the laptop that contains the download to a friend or family member, in the same way that you would physically put a paperback book into a friend’s hand if you wanted to lend or give it to him or her.

BBB: Who among your characters is your favorite and why?

RC: Tarrant-Arragon. He was my “first love”. He was written as my ultimate alpha male hero. He is royal, arrogant, bad, witty, intelligent, devious, incredibly smart, a chess player, sexy, ruthless, compassionate, well-read, well-spoken, a warrior and a commander. Also, he is extremely good in bed. Anyway I spent twelve years dreaming about him. I feel some loyalty! (Tarrant-Arragon’s love story is Forced Mate). Mind you, if I were marooned on a tropical island, it would be Djetth (Jeth) aka Prince Djetthro-Jaso that I’d want watching my back.

BBB: Why is chess so important to you that you created a series around it?

RC: I’ll tell you a secret. I didn’t. Forced Mate was written as a stand alone. It is a spoof, and one cannot–IMHO–make a successful series out of a spoof. It would be like repeating a joke. With Forced Mate, I took what I considered to be every cliche and every stock situation in the sort of Historical Romance sometimes called a bodice ripper (where the heroine is abducted or ordered to marry a gorgeous stranger, and then they set out on a long and dangerous trip together). Then, I had fun. I made the abductor an alien god… like the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, only with far richer potential for misunderstandings and cultural clashes. For instance, because radio waves take time to travel through space, Tarrant-Arragon has been watching Roger Moore era Bond movies and is under the impression that if he behaves like Roger Moore’s Bond, he will achieve similar sexual success in short order.

The chess was always there. At one time, Forced Mate had fifty-two chapters, and every chapter had an appropriate, chess-themed subtitle. My all time favorite Romance, Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades, has a title for every chapter, which is where I got that idea. In Forced Mate, the virgin heroine adapts an Arabian-Nights tactic. Instead of telling the hero a series of stories to make sure she gets through the night intact, she plays chess with him. As a result, he becomes interested in what is between her ears.

When I was offered a contract by Dorchester, my friend and colleague Susan Grant told me that I needed some kind of “branding” on my new website. At the time, Susan (who was an Air Force pilot, and is now a commercial pilot of jumbo jets) was advertising her work as “aviation romance” which I thought was an incredibly cool idea. What did I have? I really had to scrape the barrel of my life to come up with something legitimate that had romantic possibilities, and that related to my book. Before too long, I realized that the obvious answer was right in front of me. Chess! Because of those 52 unused chapter headings, I had enough titles to last me a lifetime, if I wanted. And what could be sexier than “mating”?

BBB: Do you ever worry that some people won’t get your humor?

RC: Naahhh! Their loss. (As Grievous would say). In fact, “my humor” is a great deal more multi-faceted than those who skim my book might assume. There’s much more than bathrooms in my bag of tricks. There’s intellectual humor, wit, artistic mixing of metaphors, bathos, hyperbole, litotes (understatement) meiosis, irony, sarcasm…as well as puns of various degrees of sophistication. My books cost US $6.99; CAN $8.99; AUS $14.95, GBP 5.99 That’s a lot of money. It’s not such a bad value if you derive six to eight hours of amusement from one book, (even better, if –like at least two recent reviewers– you enjoy it so much that you read it again) but for readers who like to skim a book for the plot… I don’t “do” plot.

Here’s my plot: Boy meets girl. Girl has a problem with boy. Boy wants one thing. Girl wants something else. Assorted villains create problems. Boy and girl work together to thwart villains/save the day. The day (or the blood line, or the planet, or the tree) is saved. Boy and girl declare their intention to live happily ever after together. It’s the Who, the Why, and the How that interest me. I write novels of manners, and novels of character.

BBB: Can you tell us how many more books are planned for your current series and when we can expect the next one?

RC: I have it on good authority that three or four books is about the right length for a series. By that analysis, Knight’s Fork ought to be the last of this series, and I have said that it is the last of the “god-Princes of Tigron” aka “Mating Books”. Next, I’m planning “Forking” books, which I’m calling “The Daughters of Demetra”.

BBB: What genre would you classify your series?

RC: If I may begin on a negative, I would like to say what my series is not. Forced Mate, Insufficient Mating Material, and Knight’s Fork are not erotica. Not by my definition, anyway. Mating Net by Rowena Beaumont Cherry was classified as “spicy” by the publisher New Concepts Publishing, after they asked me to add 3,000 words of sex. It is “different”, because the person everyone assumes to be the villain marries and impregnates the heroine. Insufficient Mating Material is probably the “hottest” of the paperbacks. I was induced to venture a bit beyond my comfort zone, and when Djetth was provoked to swear, his expletives were not in the best possible taste. They probably rang true, though. He wasn’t a “Gosh-darn” kind of hunk My publisher calls my books “Futuristic”. I don’t really have a problem with that, although some people do because my books are set in 1994-1995. Speculative Romance would be a better label, but spec rom isn’t widely used. Insufficient Mating Material won an award or two as Fantasy, and I’m cool with that. As soft science fiction romance goes, Insufficient Mating Material was exceptionally soft. The rocketry, terraforming, and other whiz-bang stuff was very underdone.

With the greatest of respect –and thanks to Bitten By Books for welcoming my books to this site– I’m not comfortable under the wing of Paranormal. I think of Paranormal as like a big chicken, with a multi-colored assortment of light and dark chicks, a gosling, and a kitten or two crowded under her wings. There are New Age/Psychic elements in my books, such as runes, tarot, mind-reading, dowsing for lines of force, auras…. but I don’t think aliens and gods from outer space necessarily do well in competition with faeries and/or the undead.

BBB: What motivates you to write about aliens?

RC: The fact that I have been an alien (INS definition) or “Mainlander/foreigner/auslanderin” all my life, and also my peculiar morality. I don’t mind messing with the love lives of imaginary Darth Vader types, but it seems wrong to me to invent geographical countries that don’t exist (our knowledge of geography is bad enough as it is!) or –worse in my opinion–to describe the appearance and performance of real historical figures’ private parts. Gods from outer space are a perfect solution for me, which is why I’ve been writing about them since 1993.

BBB: How do you keep track of your characters and world building?

RC: So far, my detailed, interactive Family Tree is very helpful. http://www.rowenacherry.com/familytree/

BBB: What is your favorite paranormal book of all time?

RC: Vivian Vande Velde’s Dragon’s Bait. Favorite science fiction - Asimov’s The Gods Themselves.

BBB: What do you like to do in between all the time you spend writing?

RC: Apart from playing chess and doing jigsaws? Two years ago I had a binge of doing sudoki. At the moment, whenever I want a break, I play Reversi at the highest setting against the computer. I ought to get more exercise! Walking around the Detroit zoo is a lovely way to combine quality time with my family with outdoor exercise with research into wild genitalia (which I could potentially transplant onto an alien villain). Once at the zoo I saw a hippopotamus with an erection. Hippos have an independently moving, worm like appendage which behaves rather like a weedwacker when in the open. I infer that it is designed to tickle when deployed.

BBB: What did you do before you became a writer? Do you write full time?

RC: Before I married my husband, I was a teacher. Of English language, also English literature. And, occasionally, of History. Yes, I write full time.

BBB: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with our readers here today?

RC: Gosh! Pearls. For readers? I don’t know about that. If any aspiring writers are reading this, I would say “secure your domain name before you become a public figure, or a spammer will buy it, keep writing down all your ideas, persist, network, and say thank you to everyone for every kindness.

To you, Rachel, and to all your readers, I’d like to say Thank You for giving me this interview, and for your interest in me and my books. I’ve had great fun already, and I’m looking forward to chatting with you all today! I’m giving away a special, extra box of Godiva Chocolates for the most interesting question or discussion started by a reader.

Readers, if you haven’t visited Rowena’s website, click here to check it out. You can also read reviews of her books here.

****************************************************

Questions and Contest: Now, I am going to open up the internet floor so to speak and let our readers ask Rowena some questions. Feel free to post as many questions or comments as you like. She will be popping in and out today and tomorrow to answer them.

Readers, here’s how to enter the contest. You can do one or all of these things, and each one will give an additional entry. One lucky participant will be chosen to win GODIVA CHOCOLATES in our random drawing. Then another participant could win some GODIVA CHOCOLATES for the most intriguing, witty, and interesting question or dialog with Rowena!

1. Ask the Rowena questions (ask as many questions as you like, but only two questions count towards entries). Your name will be entered for a chance to win the fabulous prize mentioned above. You can also start a stimulating discussion. Creative dialog counts.

2. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter here on the right hand side of the site. This is for new subscribers only.

3. Post links to the interview here today at another blog or website and you will be given additional entries to win. You MUST post those links in one response here in this thread. The more places you post the event, the more entries you get, so spread the word!

4. Purchase a copy of ANY of Rowena Cherry’s awesome books and send us a copy of the receipt for your purchase to: racoo.smith @ gmail.com (no spaces) for an additional entry. You get an entry for each one you purchase. Check out her books here:
Books in the series in the order in which they should be read:
Forced Mate
Mating Net
Insufficient Mating Material
Knight’s Fork

5. Add us as your friend on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bittenbybooks

Add us as your friend on Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=614064436

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/weirdstuff

6. Stumble, Digg or share the post with any social networking sites. There is a button right at the end of this post that says “Share” that you can use.

7. Twitter the URL for this event: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=1277

8. Read the reviews at Bitten by Books of Rowena’s book here:

http://bittenbybooks.com/?page_id=58&book_author_id=Rowena%20Cherry

Then leave a meaningful comment that shows you read the review, not just a post that says “sounds good” or “nice review”, a couple of sentences would be great! Simply share your thoughts, ideas or opinions.

9. Add Rowena’s Blog to your blog roll or links page: http://www.rowenacherry.blogspot.com/

10. Add Bitten by Books to your blog roll or links page: http://bittenbybooks.com if you leave our link up permanently you will always be entered into our contests automatically. Just be sure to leave the link to where it is.

The contest will run through tomorrow 9/30/08 at 3:00 pm Eastern time to allow our East coast and international readers a chance to win too!

Be sure to include an email and name where we can contact you if you are a winner.

We will be awarding the Godiva Chocolates and announcing the winner to the Bitten by Books website this week.

Day of the Dead starts off out of the gate pretty fast with an opening scene of a ritual to raise the dead. Santos Diaz is a vampire, and he wants to bring back the woman who was taken from him 70 years ago by his sire Valentin. So he calls upon ancient magic to ask Baron Samedi and the Lwa (spirits) to bring his love Esperanza back to him. When he wakes from the rutial he wanders into the cemetery where his love is entombed. There he finds grave robbers, minions of his now dead sire, and Yelina – the beautiful accountant from his office. Making passionate love to Yelina in the cemetery then fighting off the grave robbers make for one exciting night. Then things get really complicated.

Day of the Dead is an interesting story, a classic template with a few nice twists and an pleasant ending. Quinn spins a good yarn about vampires, revenge and love. In my opinion the story was too short in and just a little to engrossed with the sex scenes. Fortunately the story itself was not lost in the erotica.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
  
• Book Length: Short Novel
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9781419915154

To purchase an electronic copy of Day of the Dead click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.
To visit the author’s blog go here.

The strength to bring about change for the betterment of the world. The courage to love one man with every fiber of their being and fight alongside him for the greater good. The essence of a Hussy isn’t in their strength of arms (though they are strong), no, it is in the ability of a woman to inspire change for the better around her while giving the warrior at her side the ride of his life.

One minute in front of her computers, the next high on a cliff surrounded by a rugged coastline and topped by a Gothic castle. Twyla MacAlister figured the waitress must have slipped something into her drink or all her virtual reality game time had finally managed to go to her head or for that matter she must be dreaming as a dead ringer for Lurch (of the famous Addams Family) urges her to enter the rather creepy castle. First captivated by a beautiful and yet anguish filled tapestry depicting a man with wings that mesmerizes her, then to a room that looks like Martha Stewart had been let loose on it, and Twyla is a bit shocked when the statue that she had been envying turns out to have a sort of real life replica who, um, glows.

Discharged from the Navy for supposedly having PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) because he showed a bit too much enthusiasm for his job then they would like, Jhett “Hammer” Ramsey had been going crazy as a civilian until he had signed on as a merc with a extremely secretive organization. After his perfect adrenalin rush of a job that allowed him to kick ass and make a boatload of money doing so turned into a nightmare, Jhett now tries to keep the memories at bay while trying to make it through the day. Though he had lived through the horrors of his captivity, his mind is never quiet as he faces the dreams and memories that plague him, and he knows he will be in hell on earth until some angel of mercy decides to put him out of his misery.

Okay, so not only is this couple endearing and yummy, but the growth of character is well done on Nicole Austin’s part, as Jhett and Twyla travel to a very dark place and gain the knowledge of past lives to find out what strength really is. I enjoyed the characterization of Twyla as she shows you that you don’t have to be petite and delicate to be beautiful and her connection with computers is one that brought me closer to her as I’m rather like that myself. I also enjoyed the interaction with the team which added a splash of humor to a fairly dramatic story that has torture and deals with male rape. This book got off to a bit of a slow start for me and I found some of the plot a bit weak in parts and though there were a few points that could have been better expanded upon, I give Nicole Austin props for writing an intriguing addition to a kick ass series. Btw, I so want Epona.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
  
• Book Length: Short Novel
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9781419917165

To purchase an electronic copy of Flyboy click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.
To visit the author’s blog go here.

Although trained to kill and a master of battle, warrior Lugal Damu-zid from ancient Sumer (ancient as in the third century B.C.) does have honor. Because of his honor and a teensy misunderstanding, he is spared from death only to be imprisoned in eternal servitude to women. (Translation: He is basically cursed to be a genie for all of time.) He is required to give his possessors great pleasure and grant them three wishes. There are restrictions though. He is only allowed to grant wishes that benefit the wisher and do no harm to others and he must go back to his bottle after six months or immediately following the granting of the third wish, whichever comes first. He is only allowed out of the bottle when he has a possessor.

Fast forward five thousand years. Weight loss counselor (and diet veteran) Samantha Rutledge discovers a beautiful box containing a unique glass bottle while at an estate sale with her best friend Rosie. After taking it home and opening it, she is flabbergasted when Lugal emerges from his bottle in a mist. After recovering from her shock and accepting that this is actually real, Sam discovers just how interesting life can be. She takes her time coming up with her three wishes and does something that no one before her has done; she treats Lugal as an equal. Together they get to know each other as people and Sam sees the world through new eyes as she teaches Lugal about the twenty-first century. A twist at the end will surprise as everyone tries to figure out a way for Sam and Lugal to stay together.

I absolutely loved Samantha and Her Genie! The love scenes were smokin’ and the characters in general were well written and extremely likable. The parts where Lugal was taught or introduced to modern technology had me laughing out loud and were some of my favorite scenes. If you are looking for a solidly written book with humor and romance, this is for you and I can’t recommend it enough.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
  
• Book Length: Novel
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9781419915932

To purchase an electronic copy of Samantha and Her Genie click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.
To visit the author’s blog go here.

Many, many years ago, she had a husband and a child and was happy with the world, until her family was killed by a day walker and she was turned into what she is now. A vampire. And through that, the Night Huntress, Raven, was created. Weighted down with grief and guilt over her family’s death, she found the vampire who completely changed her life and killed him. Now, after all this time, still burdened with guilt, she comes across a young man already on the verge of death, and without knowing the reason why or understanding the desire to do so, she turns him too.

Zach never asked to be a vampire. He had everything he could ever want, a good job, a sweet girlfriend, he had a life. And she threatened to take it away. Well, vampire or not, Zach is determined to live as he was when he was human. No drinking blood off humans and no mixing with other vampires. It does not matter if he desires Raven, or feels a pull towards her because of their connection, he wants nothing to do with her. He can find a way to lust after Raven but hate her at the same time.

Zach is fighting a losing battle and his friend Jerry has no doubt about it. Jerry never told Zach about his own involvement with vampires, so it comes as a surprise to Zach when Jerry gives him blood to survive. None the less, Jerry can see the chemistry between Raven and Zach. While Zach is in complete denial about his whole situation, Raven thinks she does not belong in Zach’s world, where he is surrounded by friends and his girlfriend’s laughter.

Night Huntress was a decent read. It was however, a bit cliché. You get two characters with so much tension between them. Then there is lust. And then voila, they discover it is love. The way the story was written is interesting as each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view, and the character of Jerry brought in an added twist to the story.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Book Strand
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1-60601-069-7

To purchase an electronic copy of Night Huntress click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.

Jackie Foster knows normal people don’t trade cars for a handful of supposedly magical beans, but then her father had never been exactly normal and this was right on par with something he would do. When her daughter wakes her the following morning to tell her the beans he had planted the previous day had grown into an enormous beanstalk, you could say she was a little shocked. More so when Haley informs her that he had already started climbing it. After climbing the darn thing beyond the clouds, Jackie finds herself in Silwyn and her father in the grasp of a huge three eyed giant she comes to know as Liam the Large. One unsuccessful rescue attempt later, Jackie finds herself in the hands of a man she overhears the men chasing them call Tarnn the Bloody, possible murdering fiend and rapist. Needless to say she is not happy when he won’t let her go.

He had once been desired by women and sought after by the most powerful of men, but now he is a different man sought after for vastly different reasons. Ballian a.k.a. Tarnn needs the little underworlder to show him to the beanstalk before the prince escapes in order to prove what he says is true, but he can’t help being drawn to her feisty spirit nonetheless. With soldiers on the lookout for both he and the underworlder, Ballian must convince Jackie to stick with him instead of going haring after her father only to get them both caught by the impostor prince’s men. Getting whopped on the head wasn’t part of his game plan. Will he find her again before the impostor prince? Or will something else find her first?

Old Tom, Jackie’s dad, can’t believe five little beans could get him into so much trouble. All he had wanted once the beanstalk exploded through his patch of early spring peas was to find a little old golden egg or two, just enough to help them scrimp together a decent fund for Haley to go to college. Paragliding Nam vet that he is, Tom isn’t going to let some giant carry him off, no way, no how. He finagles his escape and finds himself in a place the giant won’t venture, but then again it’s not exactly someplace he’d want to be either. Will he ever find his way back to the daughter he had last seen in the possession of a man with rock-star hippie hair? Or will he find himself someplace far more dangerous then in the clutches of a giant with infected fingernails?

From the first glimpse of the cited trademarks, I was rather intrigued by this story. How was Ms. Meadows going to fit the mentioned trademarks into a work that presumable does indeed have something to do with a beanstalk? I was wonderfully surprised by the lively and colorful descriptions, similes, and dialogue that appear in this story. Jacqueline Meadows’s use of the English language is highly entertaining and I enjoyed reading it.

A variance from the classic Jack and the Beanstalk, Jacqueline Meadows has definitely put her own twists into this fantastical world and the characters finding their way through it to each other. The romance of Jackie and Ballian is quite lovely, both having issues and problems, but managing to work their way through it nonetheless. I also enjoyed the plot twists that took this tale beyond the first imagined mystery and into a whole new realm of possibilities. On a side note, the characters of Katreen and Tarnn introduced some very interesting history and gave more depth to this story which I enjoyed and I would love to see more of both in the future.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
  
• Book Length: Novel
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9781419916526

To purchase an electronic copy of Jackie and the Beanstalk click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.

When she was taken by the child seller, Astrid had the most gruesome scars covering her entire body. But that is not why she kept calling herself a monster. Ashamed of who she was and how she looked, Astrid felt that life was full of nothing but despair. However when the blacksmith in Guell bought her, Astrid realized that life was beginning to change.

She learned that she has the power to not only shapeshift herself but those around her. She can hide her scars and live as she wants, hiding from her past. She has friends. And she has DiStephan, the dragonslayer who has seen her true form, yet loves her anyway.

Yet, things suddenly began to change however, when DiStephan suddenly disappears after a fight between him and Astrid. Then this new dragonslayer appears, with nothing but avid attention for Astrid. More so, things take a drastic turn for the worse when a rare gemstone comes out from her body and then the world Astrid saw disappeared and the place she called home was destroyed before her very eyes. Her past came back to haunt her and in that tragedy the light revealed who her real friends were and who were her enemies. People are not always what they seem.

Astrid now needs to figure out who she is and where she belongs. For only then can she decide her own path. She can run in denial and fear or she can face her past and bring forth a new life of peace and harmony for those she loves.

This was an interesting tale of self discovery, acceptance, and love. The Dragonslayer’s Sword definitely leaves us with a new meaning of shapeshifting as people are not always what they seem. Also Astrid’s character does not simply go through a physical conflict, but a mental and emotional one as well, which simply added more depth and intensity to her story. Also the metaphor that connects the blacksmith’s iron and Astrid’s own character gave a unique touch to Dragonslayer’s Sword. It is a story that is definitely filled with much, much more than it first seems.

Book Stats:

• E-book and Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Mundania Press LLC (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594264880
• ISBN-13: 978-1594264887

To purchase a print copy of The Dragonslayer’s Sword click here.
To purchase an electronic copy of The Dragonslayer’s Sword click here.

To visit the author’s website go here.