Hello my friends, and happy weekend to you! I can’t believe this is the last day in January. How nutters, right? Time has been zooming by as usual, but we’re still on … blogiversary! In fact, today we have newbie (to ALBTLABS) author Elizabeth Andrews! As she hasn’t been here before I hope you’ll show her lots of love. 🙂 In fact, she responded to a twitter call about posts, and look how it all worked out. Plus she has all the bases covered, so there will be no more commentary from me! So without further ado … Elizabeth!
First of all, I’d like to thanks Limecello for hosting me today. Happy blogiversary! Here’s to many more!
I’ve been pondering celebrations. There are so many reasons for them: anniversaries, weddings, new jobs, retirement, births, birthdays, holidays. Heck, I’ve been known to celebrate just having a day off from my Evil Day-job.
The next ‘celebration’ sort of day is Valentine’s Day in a few weeks. Kind of a big deal in many places. Unless you’re a romance writer, in which case you must torture your hero and heroine for as long as possible, keeping them from their happily ever after until they’ve defeated their issues or villains or both. That means not very many couples in romance novels get to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Not that they’re not taking any opportunity they get for intimacy. But celebrations? Not so much.
I’ve been trying to imagine how Valentine’s Day might go for Andi and Kallan, the hero and heroine in my first book, Hunting Medusa. After they’ve defeated their villains and issues, that is. I’m not sure either of them is especially sentimental, though their relationship changes both of them more than they could have guessed anything would, particularly after all they have to endure for that relationship succeed. In my house, Valentine’s Day is lovely with some chocolate and a little gift or two. Last year, it involved a nice framed poster of my book cover that hangs in our living room now where I (and any female guests) can admire it constantly.
We’ve had some great celebrations in our household over the years–first birthday parties for our kids, a really fun party when my husband turned forty, a lot of champagne when I finally sold my book, and more when the ebook came out last January, still more this month when the paperback was released. I just realized we like champagne quite a lot in my house.
At the time, celebrations sometimes feel like big moments, but when looking back at them, sometimes they’re not as important as you thought. They’re just little steps along the way. Does that mean we shouldn’t enjoy them? Of course not. Personally, I think we don’t celebrate nearly enough. A celebration doesn’t have to be a big party with a hundred guests. An intimate little celebration with just a few important people can be even more meaningful–a few quiet moments to mark something good. Now that I think about it, that’s probably how Andi and Kallan would mark Valentine’s Day, with a quiet evening together, celebrating the simple fact that they’re together.
So, how do you celebrate? Valentine’s Day, an anniversary, or just a little victory. I want to know. And everyone who comments with their method of celebrating will be entered into a drawing via Randomresult.com for an ebook copy of Hunting Medusa. I will do the drawing on February 3, 2015, and I will get him or her the ebook format of their choice.
Happy blogiversary, Limecello! I hope your celebration has been epic!
About Elizabeth: Elizabeth Andrews has been a book lover since she was able to read. Almost as long as she’s been enjoying great books, she’s been attempting to write her own. When she found her mother’s romance stash as a teenager, it was a natural progression to write romances. Along with her enormous book stash, she lives with her husband of twenty years, two young adult sons, and belongs to two cats. When she’s not buried in her personal library, writing, or at the day-job, there’s a garden outside with flowers, herbs and vegetables that requires occasional attention.
So once more with feeling… 😉 (and you know, book information)
Hunting Medusa, The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1
One murderous mission. One killer case of PMS. Who said “the curse” was a myth?
When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster. Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.
Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted on her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise. And ends with the two of them in a magical bind–together. But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester on Andi’s trail…
Exclusive excerpt from Hunting Medusa:
He dug through the same archives he’d dug through during the night, hoping his tired brain had missed something. Anything.It hadn’t.While he skimmed obscure texts and more modern lore, Andrea sat at the table, an open book in front of her. Kallan knew she wasn’t reading though. She hadn’t turned a page in more than half an hour, instead staring down at the book blankly.He debated emailing one of his cousins about the problem, but he didn’t want anyone to know he had found the Medusa. Or worse, that he hadn’t yet killed her.
Goddess, he’d never find the solution this way.
“Let’s go for a walk.”
Her head shot up, blue eyes wide. “You think you can keep up with me?” she asked after a second.
He smiled. “I didn’t say you’d be walking freely.”
Her mouth flattened when he pulled the handcuffs out of his pocket.
To his surprise, she didn’t say anything when he bound them together again, just averted her face.
He led the way out of the house, pausing on the front porch to survey the surrounding area. “This way.” He strode toward the pathway just visible to the rear of her car. Into the forest.
Andrea kept up with him easily as he climbed over fallen trees and rocks in their way. It would have been simpler, perhaps, if he hadn’t handcuffed her to himself, but in addition to keeping her with him, this way she was occasionally forced to accept his assistance, which he enjoyed.
Perhaps he was a sick bastard, he mused, slowing his pace as they went deeper into the woods and the trail narrowed. Realizing the woman he wanted most was his enemy had just turned his world upside-down. His family’s enemy, a monster created by the Goddess.
He frowned up at the dark canopy of leaves above them. He wondered if any other Harvester had ever been tempted by his quarry. Or had surrendered to the temptation. If so, he was certain he’d never find that in the lore.
“Wait.”
He stopped walking at her quiet command, his gaze shifting in the same direction she looked. A doe and her fawn looked poised for flight several yards away, the mother watching them closely. Kallan held his breath as the fawn bent back to the small patch of grass. From the corner of his eye, he saw Andrea’s smile. He caught her hand in his without thinking about it first.
Her fingers were stiff in his for a long moment, then relaxed a little.
He turned to look down at her, studying her. The top of her head reached his chin, her dark hair curling in the slight humidity. Her bright gaze stayed fixed on the deer, but he knew she was aware of him by the way her pulse skittered in the hollow of her throat.
“Did I hurt you?” He kept his tone low, trying not to frighten the nearby animals.
She didn’t move anything but her eyes, shifting her questioning gaze up to his face.
“Earlier. Was I too rough?”
Color washed up her cheeks, and she swallowed, turning her attention back to the doe and her fawn. “No.” It was barely a whisper, her reply.
His heart pounded a little harder as he thought about taking her here, right here in her forest. It was foolish. He couldn’t. She would never agree to it anyway.
But he couldn’t stop the images behind his eyes, not now that he knew what she looked like, what she felt like around him, the way she sounded.
When she turned to look up at him again, he realized he’d tightened his grip on her fingers. Her expression was quizzical, then awareness surfaced, turning her eyes darker, like midnight velvet.
Kallan lifted their joined hands slowly, giving her time to stop him. When she didn’t, he dragged his open mouth along her knuckles.
Her lips parted slightly.
He bit one of her knuckles lightly and felt her shiver. “Maybe I am sick,” he breathed. “But I still want you.”
She shut her eyes, her throat working as she swallowed. “Bad idea, Harvester.”
Remember! One lucky commenter gets a copy of Hunting Medusa in the ebook format of her (or his!) choice!
nice excerpt
husband and I try to go out to eat without the kids.
nice excerpt
I had a rather long day at the EDJ, so coming home and seeing this was a lovely way to improve my day. 🙂 My own mini-celebration, as it were. lol
I’m kinda partial to that little bit of story myself. 😉
Dinner without the kids is a lovely celebration, and all too rare if the kids are young. 🙂
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And thank you again, Limecello, for having me! 😀
A nice family dinner and momento of the special occasion for most celebrations. Valentine’s Day…since we are starting to feel our age…couples massage followed by a quiet evening of winter snuggle at home with a good bottle of wine.
That sounds like a lovely Valentine’s Day!
It was an especially interesting day today at the EDJ (full moon tonight, anyone?), that included a shooting in our parking lot right before the end of my shift. Yikes! But I’m home and just paid a visit to RandomResult.com to do our drawing. According to this, Michelle is our winner! Michelle, please drop me an email at elizabethandrewswrites @ gmail.com (without the spaces), and let me know what ebook format you prefer, so I can get you your book! Congrats! And thank you, bn100, dholcomb1, and Michelle for playing. And thank you, Limecello, so, so much for hosting me! 😀