Friday, October 4, 2013

Interview and Giveaway with Catherine Hemmerling



Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.

I am lucky enough to be a full time writer/crafter/stay-at-home step mom. While I hope the Lady Lancaster series continues for a while, I also have been batting around an idea for a new series. A hard-boiled detective series set in my hometowm. My family has lived here for generations, so it would be fun to include some family history in a series. I guess we’ll see. I also would love to write a young adult novel and play around with the paranormal a bit. I love ghost stories!

Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

Romancing His English Rose is the second book in the Lady Lancaster Garden Society series. I wrote all the books in the series to be stand alone, because I personally don’t like finishing a book with a “to be continued” ending. I guess patience in not my virtue. I want to know what happens now, not three months from now when the next book come out. That said, I also like getting to know characters over time, throughout multiple books. It feels like they become your friends that way. Hopefully, my books do the same to all the readers out there.

Are you a mom (or parent)?

I’m a soon to be step-mom. My fiancé and I will be marrying sometime next year. He has two girls, 12 and 17. I love getting a chance to be a parental figure. They are great kids and I am blessed to have them in my life.

If yes do you find it hard to juggle writing and parenting?

Well, as the step-mom, I’m not as “on the hook” as their mom or dad, plus the daughter that lives with us will be 18 at the end of Sept. Not a lot of parenting left with her. So, no. I don’t have trouble juggling for the most part. In fact, Sara (the oldest) is often a big help if I am having a bit of writers block.

Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events or people from your own life?

I think all my characters (except the villain, of course) have a bit of me in them. You can also find bits of my friends and family in the characters. But no one is expressly one person or another. All the books are based on actual historic events, but the main characters are completely fiction.

Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like readers to connect to?

I think the main message would be, don’t let other people pigeon-hole you. Anyone can do whatever they want; gender, race, economy, o public opinion should never keep you from following your dreams.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

I’ve never been to England. I’ve been to Europe and I have done a LOT of research on England and British history, but I have never been. It is on my bucket list for sure.
When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
When I am not writing, I am supporting my favorite Irish band (of which my finance is the drummer) and I enjoy crocheting, knitting, and making jewelry. My step-daughters are into Steampunk right now. So I have been spending a lot of time at the hardware store finding parts for my jewelry addiction.

Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?

I love Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. I would love to claim those books as mine.

If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?


The next book is Hope’s. The historic event is the Du Bourg Hoax of 1814. It is a stock market scam tailor-made for our math minded Hope to solve. It is probably the historic event with the most details that I have based a book on. I tried to stay as close to the accounts as I could while still creating a compelling love story around it. I think it turned out quite well, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what my readers think.

September 30 Interview
Dalene’s Book Reviews

September 30 Interview
The Simple Things in Life

October 1 Spotlight
Rose & Beps Blog -

October 1 review
silver lining

October 2 Guest blog 
Cloey's Book Reviews and Other Stuff

October 2 Spotlight
Roxanne’s Realm

October 3 Interview
Love Saves the World 

October 3 Spotlight
Author Leah DW

October 4 Interview
The Write at Home Mom

October 4 review
Musings From An Addicted Reader

October 7 Spotlight
LongAgoLove
Historical Romance Books Blog

October 8 Guest blog
Reader's Edyn

October 8 Spotlight and review
Belinda Williams Books 

October 9 Interview and review
Ebook Escapes

October 9 Spotlight
Reviewing in Chaos

October 10 Interview and review
A Chick Who Reads

October 10 Interview
Mythical Books

October 11 Guest blog
Ramblings of a Book Lunatic

October 11 Interview

October 14 Interview and review
Livia Ellis Bookish Writer 

October 14 Guest blog
Sarah Ballance 
Romancing His English Rose
Lady Lancaster Garden Society
Book Two
Catherine Hemmerling

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Entangled Publishing.
Date of Publication:  9-9-13

ASIN: B00EMTDL4C
Number of pages: 174

Amazon

Book Description:

Rose Warren and Simon Trumbull may have been betrothed since birth, but that doesn't mean they have to like each other. Rose is sure the notorious playboy Simon will never willingly settle down, and Simon, well... he agrees. Never one to be forced into anything, he'd rather drink and gamble with his mates than spend time with the bookish, bespectacled Rose.

When the two are thrown together to investigate a potential poisoning mystery, neither expects the sparks that fly. Simon discovers that Rose is, in face, a brilliant sleuth and - even better - hides a delectable body beneath her flowing skirts. Suddenly, falling into bed may be the best idea either has heard, but can Simon convince Rose his romancing is forever?

About the Author:

Catherine Hemmerling has been a technical writer in the software industry for nearly twenty years and has published many user manuals and technical documentation in that time. She has always had a love of writing fiction but has never pursued publication in that genre until now.

Hopefully it is the beginning of a long new journey with Lady Lancaster and the Garden Society girls. Certainly historical romance (especially the scandalous kind) is more fun than writing technical documents!

This author happily resides in Tehachapi, California (near Bakersfield - home of her Alma-mater!) with her family.

Catherine writes for Entangled Publishing's Scandalous historical line and is thrilled to be part of their family of writers!

Website: http://www.catherinehemmerling.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherinehem

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CatherineHemmerling








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Guest blog and Giveaway: Ruby Hill by Sarah Ballance


Ruby Hill
Sarah Ballance

ISBN: 9781622662258

Book Description

From her earliest memories, Ashley Pearce has been drawn to Ruby Hill Lunatic Asylum, and she's not the only one. Decades after the abandoned hospital ended its institutional reign of torture and neglect, something lurks in the shadows. Since she’s a paranormal investigator, it's Ashley's job to find out what.

Crime scene expert Corbin Malone doesn't believe in ghosts. A born skeptic, he has no interest in entertaining the hype surrounding the mysterious deaths at Ruby Hill, but he won't turn his back while more women die. He agrees to an overnight investigation, never expecting his first encounter would be with the woman he pushed away a year ago. But when he discovers Ashley is a target, he learns his greatest fear isn't living with his own demons, but losing her for good.

Amazon    BN  Goodreads

Excerpt:
Death had a flavor. Equal parts bitter and bland, the damnable taste was more sickening than the stickiness in Corbin Malone’s throat. It soured his gut, leaving him with an unease he couldn’t quite swallow, and the deeper they drove into the countryside—the closer the car brought him to Ruby Hill Lunatic Asylum—the more potent the flavor. Five years a cop, he’d neatly sidestepped the ugly aftertaste until things got personal.
Until the body belonged to his brother, Cash.
Nearly six months had passed since Cash Malone fought for his last breath inside the dismal, abandoned halls of Ruby Hill. Though his body now rested six feet under a distant patch of cemetery grass, Ruby Hill remained his tomb—a giant, crouching headstone marring acres of otherwise beautiful, rolling hills. And for Corbin, a visage of murder.

Guest Post:

13 Shocking Reasons Real People were Committed to a Lunatic Asylum

If you thought you had to get your crazy on to land in a place like Ruby Hill, you’d better think again.

The following list of reasons folks were locked up for “treatment” between 1864 and 1889 at the RUBY HILL-esque yet very real Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum is absolutely true. (My commentary, however, may be prone to exaggeration.) (Source)

1.      Bad Whiskey – I don’t know if this guy drank bad whiskey, sold bad whiskey, or manufactured bad whiskey, but you’ve got to feel for anyone forced to sober up a lunatic asylum. I’m pretty sure that type of residence is exactly where I’d most need whiskey, bad or otherwise.
2.      Drospy – I admit I had to look this one up. It’s the old word for edema, which is what happens when you carry excess fluid.  Basically this means if you’ve ever taken off your socks to find they’ve left dents in your legs, you could have been committed. Now THAT is lunacy.
3.      Fighting Fire – Not setting them, but fighting them. Apparently firefighting in the 1800s wasn’t always considered the heroic profession we know it as today. And someone at the admissions desk is a pyromaniac.
4.      Menstrual Deranged – What does that mean, exactly? Aside the menstrual part – we get that. Monthly, even. But deranged? We probably don’t want to know, but what do you want to bet a man came up with that one?
5.      Masturbation for 30 Years – Erm, okay. But why THIS GUY and not EVERY OTHER GUY ON THE PLANET? I’m just sayin’….
6.      Suppressed Masturbation – So what we’ve just learned is there is clearly a target zone for this particular activity—somewhere between once and 30 years’ worth. Good luck with that, boys.
7.      Ill Treatment by Husband – Okay, so he’s a jerk so they lock HER up? I bet a man thought of that one, too. (I’m gaining a whole new appreciation for my fabulous husband, who—in over 16 years of marriage—has not once sent me to an asylum.)
8.      Seduction and Disappointment – I’m not sure who was seduced in this scenario and who was disappointed, but apparently this was not the time to oversell oneself.  (No wonder that one guy just stuck to masturbation for 30 years.)
9.      Scarlatina (Scarlet Fever) – You there, with the contagious disease. Into the criminally over-crowded asylum. Yep, that’ll fix you. That will fix all of you. Muahahaha.
10.   Medicine to Prevent Conception – To be fair, all forms of contraception were made illegal in the United States in 1873, so this was at least technically a crime. By the 1880s, though, there was a handy-dandy sausage casing device (yes, that would be animal intestine) alternative. Might have been worth a shot because…
11.   Dissipation of Nerves – There’s nothing to indicate the dissipation of nerves was in any way related to conception rates, but my husband and I have six children (one of whom was conceived after I was surgically sterilized) and I’m telling you, asylum people. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. It a classic inverse proportion, and if you don’t believe me just ask all those people who see me with six kids and immediately assume I’m crazy.  But I digress.
12.   Carbonic Acid Gas – I’m not sure of the particulars here, but just so y’all know, this is a byproduct of breathing. BREATHING WAS A CRIME.
13.   Novel Reading – ERMAGERD, YOU GUYS. First we can’t breathe, and now they take away our novels! But fear not, for RUBY HILL is not a novel, but a novella. Which can only mean READING RUBY HILL WILL KEEP YOU OUT OF AN INSANE ASYLUM!

Okay, so my logic might be a bit flawed, LOL, but I’m going to distract you quickly so you won’t notice. ☺

Here’s a related little historical twist that blew my mind.

In September, Entangled Scandalous released my historical romance, HER WICKED SIN, which is set during the Salem Witch Trials. Back then, the Salem in question was actually Salem Village, which has since been renamed Danvers. Danvers is home to the Danvers State Lunatic Asylum (reportedly one of the most haunted places in the world, and they turned it into APARTMENTS, y’all!), which sits on Hawthorne Hill, the very site of the gallows where the Salem witches were hanged. Nice little coincidence, right? But it gets better. Back in 2011—long before I’d given any thought to writing about the Salem Witch Trials or a haunted lunatic asylum—I had out there a little novella about a haunted house. Its name?

HAWTHORNE.

Mind. Blown.

Now that you’ve been properly wooed (yes-I-said-wooed), are you ready to dive into the dust, abandonment, terror—and yes, romance—of an abandoned mental institution? (Come on—you’ve got to see how the romance fits in there, right?) If so, I hope you’ll consider a dark, dangerous trek (or, you know, just click over) to your favorite e-tailer for the scoop on RUBY HILL!

PS: I’m probably hiking with grizzly bears as you read this, so bear (ha!) with me if I don’t respond immediately to your comments. I do look forward to your replies—and I have been promised nightly wifi—so if I’m not mauled, eaten, or otherwise incapacitated, I will SO come back for you! ☺


About the Author:

Sarah and her husband of what he calls “many long, long years” live on the mid-Atlantic coast with their six young children, all of whom are perfectly adorable when they’re asleep. She never dreamed of becoming an author, but as a homeschooling mom, she often jokes she writes fiction because if she wants anyone to listen to her, she has to make them up. (As it turns out, her characters aren’t much better than the kids). When not buried under piles of laundry, she may be found adrift in the Atlantic (preferably on a boat) or seeking that ever-elusive perfect writing spot where not even the kids can find her.

She loves creating unforgettable stories while putting her characters through an unkind amount of torture—a hobby that has nothing to do with living with six children. (Really.) Though she adores nail-biting mystery and edge-of-your-seat thrillers, Sarah writes in many genres including contemporary and ghostly paranormal romance. Her ever-growing roster of releases may be found on Amazon , Barnes & Noble, Kobo, For the Muse Publishing, and  ENTANGLED PUBLISHING.

Website: http://sarahballance.com
 
Blog: http://sarahballance.wordpress.com
  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahBallance

Facebook: http://facebook.com/sarah.ballance.author.news
  
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4103362.Sarah_Ballance
  
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Interview and Giveaway with Victoria Danann

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Thursday, October 3, 2013

Guest blog and Giveaway: Northern Light by E.J. Russell



Northern Light
E.J. Russell

ISBN: 9781622662845

Genre: M/M Romance

Book Description:

Nothing gives art fraud investigator Luke Morganstern a bigger rush than busting forgers, the low-life criminals who dare victimize true artists. But when his latest job sends him to a remote cabin in the Oregon Coast Range, he’s stunned to discover the alleged forger is his former lover, Stefan Cobbe, the most gifted painter Luke has ever known.

Stefan, left homeless and destitute after the death of his wealthy partner, doesn’t exactly deny the forgery -- he claims he doesn’t remember, an excuse Luke can’t accept.

But Luke’s elderly client suggests Stefan may be telling the truth and presents another possibility – a dark presence in the woods, a supernatural fury simmering for decades. Luke must face down his fear of the uncanny – and admit his feelings for Stefan – if either of them is to survive.

Amazon    BN    Goodreads

Guest Blog

My youngest (by eight minutes) son is a lifelong aficionado of the macabre. Nick’s favorite book in grade school was an oversized, cheerfully illustrated book on historical disasters (his favorite was – and still is – the Black Plague), and post-grade school, he graduated to all-things-Stephen-King.

It’s only natural, then, that when he was a senior at the local arts magnet high school, he and his friends decided to make a horror movie. Their script involved a too-good-to-be-true free vacation at a B & B that turned out to be the lair of cannibals. The location for the creepy isolated hotel?

Our house.

I didn’t know whether to be insulted or flattered.

True, the very remoteness of our out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere house can be alarming. We live on a six-mile-long, partially paved road, with no feeder streets – you can only enter from one end or the other. Our house, screened from the road by a stand of shaggy Douglas firs, sits at the back of a grove of ancient, gnarled walnut trees that have almost forgotten how to leaf out, and the blackberry brambles looming on either side of the bumpy driveway rival Sleeping Beauty’s daunting thorn hedge.

To my husband, this set-up is a dream come true. For him, our virtual fortress on the hill is the perfect sanctuary, a retreat where he never has to see a neighbor if he doesn’t want to. But for our extrovert daughter, who gets freaked out by the least hint of the weird, it’s a nightmare in the making. She avoids being home alone like she’d avoid Nick’s favorite disaster, and if for some reason she can’t, she turns on every light in the house. Every. Stinking. One.

Nick, pragmatic opportunist that he is, was perfectly willing to exploit the creep factor for his film, even though he’s just as quick to embrace the seclusion when he’s feeling anti-social.

My two heroes in Northern Light have a similar love/hate relationship with rural isolation.

For desperate painter Stefan, the remote cabin in the Oregon Coast Range, off the grid and hugged by the forest, is a refuge. There, away from the stress of his financial difficulties and the reminders of his personal failures, he finally has a chance to reconnect with his artistic vision and start to rebuild his shattered life.

But the solitude that Stefan finds so comforting nearly sends Luke, my art investigator, running for…well, not the hills. He hates those damn hills. For Luke, who once endured a disabling traumatic event in the mountains, safety is a well-populated sea-level community, where he can see the horizon whenever he looks out his window, and know that he’s not trapped.

So how about you? City dweller or country cousin?  Hustle and bustle or peace and quiet? Or are you like Nick, who’ll take which ever one suits his mood at the moment?



Excerpt:

Luke slammed the heel of his hand against his forehead. Shitgoddamnsonofabitch. He'd asked the fucking question. Now he'd have to listen to an answer he could never un-know. His chest heaved and he stared Stefan down, waiting for the words that would either damn him as a liar or condemn him as a forger. Either one would force Luke to choose between rebooting his career or destroying the man he’d once loved.
Stefan blinked. Blinked again, brows drawing together in a tight vee. "What?"
For some reason, maybe aftershocks from his Fiat-flashback or mortification that Stefan had witnessed his resultant freak-out, the bewildered affront on Stefan's face kicked Luke into art investigator asshole mode. "Did you think you'd get away with the fake Arcolettis because he was a relative unknown? Because all his pieces except one are in private hands?"
"Who the hell is Arcoletti?"
Luke guffawed, sounding unpleasant even to himself. "Good one."
"No. I mean it. Who's Arcoletti?"
"Jeremiah Arcoletti. American realist painter. Disappeared in 1945 along with all thirteen canvases from his last collection.” Luke's eyes popped wide. "Holy shit. That’s it, isn’t it? The lost collection." He poked Stefan's shoulders with stiff fingers, peripherally aware arguing in the middle of a dark mountain road was ridiculous and possibly suicidal, but he didn't give a flying fuck. They'd finish this now. "Is that your plan? Recreate the lost collection out here in your little studio in the big woods?"
"Stop it." Stefan batted Luke's hand away, his gaze fixed on the ground, avoiding the question. Pleading the artistic Fifth. Last refuge of the guilty.
"Where'd you see his work? The museum in Amsterdam? Hell, in all those years of prancing around with Marius, you could have seen every fricking one of the privately held pieces. Marius had the connections for it. You could toss his name around to get access to the Gordon letters too. Damn it." He dropped his arms, suddenly spent. "The Stefan I knew would have cut off his hands before he'd counterfeit another artist's work. What's happened to you?"
"What hasn't?" Stefan's eyes were wide, his pupils huge in the combined light of headlights and flashlight. "But I swear. I've never heard of this Arcoletti."
"No? Then tell me. What's coming off your easel these days? Studies in Monochrome? The Picture of Oregon Gray?”
"I…I don't know."
The feeble disavowal flipped Luke's asshole switch back on. "Don't give me that shit. You don't paint with your eyes closed."
"No. I just…" Stefan's voice was hoarse, and he clutched his flashlight to his belly, casting warped, inverted shadows across his face and distorting his features into a death's-head mask. "I've been painting, but I don't remember them. I'm not even sure how many there are."
"Artistic amnesia? Bullshit. You must have seen them when you handed them over to Boardman."
Stefan shook his head and pinched his eyes closed. "Thomas always loaded them into his car. I never looked. Not after…not when they were finished."
"Why? Guilt?"
"No. I was afraid…" Stefan wrapped his arms across his stomach, pointing the flashlight into the woods, and his face was his own again, drawn and haunted.
"Afraid of getting caught?"
"Afraid of what I'd paint next," he whispered.
Luke’s lips twisted. "Denial. It's what's for dinner. No wonder you're so fricking thin."
"Why is everything black and white for you, Luke? Let in some color, for Christ’s sake." Stefan forked the fingers of one hand through his hair. "Even a little gray would be a change."
Luke refused to allow the broken edge of Stefan's voice to influence him. He’d let sentiment sway him once before and it had cold-cocked his career. "Right or wrong, Stef. It's not that tough a choice."
"Fine." Stefan raised his head and met Luke's gaze, his shoulders shifting as if bracing for a blow. "You’ve already made up your mind, as usual. Go ahead. Turn me in to the art police."
Luke searched Stefan's face for some flicker of remorse, some acknowledgement he accepted the enormity of his crime. Nothing. Only the droop of his lips and a telltale glitter in his eyes, hinting at unshed tears. "Can you give me a reason not to?"
Stefan's breath caught in what might have been a laugh if his face weren't so bleak. "Guess not." He saluted Luke with a middle finger. "Enjoy your drive."
Stefan strode uphill, the beam of his flashlight bouncing from road to hillside, and Luke's last trace of adrenaline drained away. He sighed, deep and exhausted.
The lousy car sat perpendicular to the road, driver's door ajar. If he was lucky, he'd manage to creep down the hill by midnight. He shut the damn door before the brainless chime of the key alarm drove him nuts and leaned his forehead against the car roof, the beaded rain icy against his heated skin.
"Shit."

About the Author:

E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she’s spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer and business intelligence consultant. She returned to her childhood love of writing fiction after her twin sons learned to drive and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class.

Her daily commute now consists of walking from one side of her office to the other — from left-brain day job to right-brain author cave — where she’s perfected the fine art of typing with a cat draped across her wrists and a dog attached to her hip. Her stories include gay and straight characters because her life includes gay and straight characters (as does everyone’s).

E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her curmudgeonly husband, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.

Website: http://www.ejrussell.com

Blog: http://ejrussell.com/bloggery

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ej_russell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/E.J.Russell.author

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/ej_russell


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