Book Spotlight: Mommy Blogger by Carla Caruso

Carla Caruso has worked as a newspaper and magazine journalist, government PR and fashion stylist. Mommy Blogger was inspired by applying to write for a parenting website at the start of her freelancing career, pretending she was a mom – when she really wasn’t. Her clueless article ideas, needless to stay, didn’t make the cut – though, the experience at least gave her the premise for a fiction plot! Carla is a member of Romance Writers of Australia.

Website / Publisher / Amazon

Here is a quick blurb for Carla Caruso's new book, Mommy Blogger:

          Stella lands a fab job as a mommy blogger. The catch is she’s never had children. Plunged into a world of insanity every mother faces, she must learn to cope as her lies build upon one another. A sexy ex comes into the picture, forcing her to choose between him or the job and a handsome ‘keeper’ of a coworker. It can’t last forever.

Here is a short excerpt of the book:

          Cleo continues, “Most of our team work freelance from home or part-time in the office. You met Angelique in admin before. There’s also Bethany in accounts, who makes girly accessories for the site under her own label, and Topaz, who helps with packaging and postage. Oh, and Noah, of course, our webmaster—”
A deep male voice, behind me, cuts in. “My ears are burning.”
I swing around and my heart gets a jumpstart. The guy in question is not your garden-variety, weedy IT type. More like a young John Corbett, with mid-length, wavy, brown hair, sea-green eyes and a tall, well-built figure, clad in a fitted, charcoal tee and faded jeans.
Noah extends a hand toward me. I feel the warmth of his hand enclosing mine, before I remember mine’s Oompa Loompa colored. He smells of manliness and soap. Mommy blogging suddenly got a whole lot more interesting.
“Hey,” he drawls.
“Hi, I’m...Stella.” Yup, just forgot my name.
Noah’s gaze lingers on mine. “You're our new girl then?”
“Apparently.”
He nods slowly, as though sizing me up. “You’ll fit right in.”
“Oh, thanks,” I manage, but my mind screams: What’s that mean? That he could see me donning maternity jeans or possibly that I look like a MILF? Or worse, a GILF? (A Grandmother I’d Like To...)
“Look forward to seeing you at the next meeting,” Noah says, dropping my hand. Darn. “Meeting?” I ask mildly as Noah strides away.
There were meetings? I had imagined being a faceless blogger, squirreling away in tracky-dacks in my home office, laughing to myself, while re-runs of Sex and the City played in the background.

Looks like both a humorous and sexy read!

Guest Post: Only Scandal Will Do by Jenna Jaxon

Today's guest is Jenna Jaxon, author of Only Scandal Will Do. Jenna Jaxon is a multi-published author of historical and contemporary romance who has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all of these elements into her own writing.
Jenna lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets. When not reading or writing, she indulges her passion for the theatre, working with local theatres as a director. She often feels she is directing her characters on their own private stage.
She has equated her writing to an addiction to chocolate, because once she starts she just can’t stop.

                                                    Website / Facebook

Take it away, Jenna!

                                               Do You Believe In Magic?
There is magic in the book world. At least, I consider it magic.
My recently released romance novel, Only Scandal Will Do, has gone through the extremely tough process of writing, editing, cover designing, publishing and promoting - necessary steps to a fantastic product that will reach the targeted audience. Hard work? Extremely. Fun? Not always, though very rewarding. And as part of that reward, I’ve been blessed with a bit of the magic that I’ve dreamed about since I began seeking publication.
Only Scandal Will Do has its own book trailer.
Some people may not think that’s a big deal, but being in theatre as well as a romance writer, I understand how valuable it is for audiences to be able to see the vision you have of your book. The book trailer is that very opportunity. Yes, in our writing we are admonished to “show, not tell,” which we do with varying levels of success. But nothing can take the place of the visual experience of a story unfolding before you with colorful images and stirring musical accompaniment. We live in a world that bombards us with television, movies, video games, and music videos. And while the written word is still one of our favorite forms of entertainment, we still thrill to see books we love come to life on the big screen.
And while that is not going to happen on a big scale for most of us authors, we can experience that magic on a small scale--with a book trailer.
I had the great good fortune to win the lottery--not for mega millions, but for a book trailer. The fantastically talented Danielle Fine Tweeted one day that the next two people to Tweet her back would receive a free book trailer. Guess who was one of those lucky people?
Thus began an arduous, but so wonderfully rewarding, experience of creating a bit of movie magic--starring my very own hero and heroine from Only Scandal Will Do. I’d seen some of Danielle’s previous trailers and so I knew mine would be something truly special and magical. We talked, via email, and I gave her some ideas about what I was looking for, filled out her questionnaire, and got to work squeezing my 93K novel down into 56 words and 13 images—one was repeated as a theme several times and one (the final image) was the novel’s cover.
The magic is that those few words and images captured the novel’s plot, mood, and intensity perfectly. The soundtrack, music by Kevin McLeod titled “Five Armies” is also absolutely ideal for the trailer. To sing Danielle’s praises once more, the only suggestion I had for her was that the music should have the same sound as the soundtrack to Pirates of the Caribbean. That was apparently enough feedback for her to find the perfect score. And her timing of images to music is flawless. I may be biased, but to me it’s mesmerizing.
As a promotional tool (which is its ultimate purpose), the trailer has been effective. It hasn’t had as many views on YouTube as I’d like (I think a million views would be nice LOL), but I’ve heard from people who have watched the trailer and said, “That made me want to buy the book.”
And that is probably the best magic of all.
Here’s the link to my trailer for Only Scandal Will Do. Take a look and experience the magic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdak1uQCpcA

Thank you so much for coming, Jenna! The trailer is great!

Guest Post and Giveaway: The Dream-Walker War by Tory Michaels

Today's guest is Tory Michaels, author of two books in the Dream-Walker War series, Blood Rage and Blood Mage Rising. Originally from the Sacramento Valley, Tory packed up and moved all the way to Southwest Florida in 2004 with her husband (a Florida native) under the premise that ‘hurricanes almost never hit that part of the state.’ That year, 4 blasted the area. 4 more came the following year, and her husband blames her for bringing the hurricanes. She now resides in Jacksonville and is relieved that, thus far, no more hurricanes have followed her around.
She began writing in kindergarten when a turnip wished to be human and, other than a hiatus shortly after getting married, has never stopped. Her love of vampires began somewhere in junior high, and combining the two loves didn’t take long. She loves music, considers herself a ‘book slut’ whose reading habits would break her family financially if given free reign, and is (usually) delighted to be a mommy of twin Shrimpettes and a Shrimp.

Tory Michaels Website / Facebook/ The Dream-Walker War Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Take it away, Tory!

                                                        Unreality in the Real World
First, let me say thank you for having me on your blog today. I liked your topic suggestions so much (why vampires or how did I pick my setting), that I’m going to combine them!
My Dream-Walker War (two books out with one almost done and the fourth/final one in the planning stages) takes place primarily in South/Southwest Florida (Tampa and Fort Myers). You might think that’s an odd place to put a bunch of vampires, but…not really, if you think about it. If you put them in somewhere like Washington State, you’ve got those super long days during the summer. Sure, you get nice long nights in the winter, but it’s still a pain. In Florida, and other more globally central locations, there’s far less of a seasonal shift as to length of day. So, to my mind, it’s logical that they’d cluster in Florida despite the frequency of rainy days.
Now, as to why I write about vampires. I’ve been fascinated by the supernatural my entire life. I remember loving the show Dracula: the Series when I was 16 (short-lived sit-com, believe it or not), and the Ben Cross incarnation of Dark Shadows (cut after a single season, which cutting I firmly blame on the first invasion of Iraq). But I look at the undead and see more than the broody/sulky vamps (a la the Angels and Edwards of the world) or evil, soul-less creatures (Angelus and innumerable other purely evil critters). I don’t get why they must lose their souls upon conversion to vampirism (yes, I know the mythology behind vampires). So, I decided to write about vampires who really aren’t that much different than humans. They’re who they were in life, just with really long life-spans and a liquid diet.
My fascination with vampires comes from the ageless/immortal factor. Being immortal seems like a pretty good deal, doesn’t it? Can you imagine the things people would see if they could live longer than our puny 60-100 years? Heck, just a century ago, we were toddling along in the first cars, no internet and movies weren’t even that huge yet. And now, here we are with instantaneous access to movies at home, easy communication from almost anywhere in the world, and we can go from New York to Japan in under a day (assuming you get the good connecting flights). What new and wonderful things are going to change in the next hundred years? Or how about a thousand?
The main male characters (I hesitate to call both of them “heroes” given one is a sociopath) of my books are 1200 and 1000 years old, respectively. One came from Viking society, the other from Celtic. Imagine the changes they’ve seen? Heck, even my heroines aren’t that young (one’s 200, the other 250). I don’t see why a 1000+ y/o vampire would prefer a fresh, young human over a woman who’s been around for a couple hundred years. Granted, Anthony and Dara (Blood Rage) met while Dara was still human, but they didn’t make a real go of things until she was close to her two-century mark. I just like the freedom you’d get after seeing and doing so much. So that’s why vampires.
Thanks for having me here and hope I haven’t bored you. Have a great week!

That is an interesting twist on the classic vampire tales, and thank you for coming, Tory! Now for the giveaway! To enter, just use the Rafflecopter form below!

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