It's a BIG Week at Wayfaring Writer!

This week we have so many cool things going on that I'm literally giddy to the point of people looking at me like I've snapped. I can't wait!

Tuesday: I have a special interview with author Kate Douglas. It's Release Day for her book, Hellfire and the anthology Nocturnal, which includes her novella, Crystal Dreams. She has graciously agreed to giveaway two books. The winners can choose from DemonFire, Nocturnal or HellFire!

Wednesday: My First Blog Anniversary Giveaway begins today. Four winners will win four books each in four genres. It's very cool.

Thursday: TWO blog tours will be going on today!

Kelly Gay, who was my FIRST interview on this blog, is back with her second kick ass book, and I interviewed her again, reviewed her book, plus I'm giving away a copy of The Darkest Edge of Dawn.

Karen Hawkins, author of Much Ado About Marriage, is also on tour with this fun Elizabethan historical romance. This is a first for me as a reader and reviewer. I'll be giving away a copy of this sexy story as well.

Friday: Today I will share something movie related, possibly involving pictures of heroes, or anti-hero, as the case may be, brought to life from a graphic novel. I've been saving up something I think you will enjoy:)

~Brenda

Blog Tour & Contest: Teresa Medeiros

The Devil Wears Plaid
Author: Teresa Medeiros
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Pocket

Summary: Emmaline Marlow is about to wed the ancient patriarch of the Hepburn clan to save her father from debtor's prison when the Hepburn's sworn enemy Jamie Sinclair bursts into the abbey on a magnificent black horse and whisks her away. Jamie is everything her bridegroom is not--young, handsome, virile...and a perilous temptation for her yearning heart. Jamie expects Emma to be some milksop English miss, not a spirited beauty who will defy him at every turn. All of his plans to use her as a pawn in the centuries old Highland feud begin to go awry when passion flares between the two of them. A man can kidnap a bride, but is it possible for him to steal her innocence without losing his own heart?

If you've been reading my blog for long you know I love dark urban fantasy, and kick ass heroines. Historical romance is a fairly new genre for me, and I discovered something while reading The Devil Wears Plaid. I have a soft, girly side that was reduced to tears by the end of the book. Tears. I was weepy, like a beauty pageant winner fanning her face "Oh my Lord, give me a tissue." *swoon* Who knew?

This is my first Teresa Medeiros book, sent to me by the publisher after I requested to join the blog tour. I was captivated from the first page, and read until 2:30 a.m. because I needed to know what was going to happen next. Emmaline, our heroine, is spunky, stubborn, compassionate, courageous and she can dish out the insults with the best of them. I loved her from the first chapter, and cheered her on throughout the entire book. I dare readers to not love her as much as I do.

Jamie, our Highlander hero, starts off brooding and bitter, seeking revenge for a feud that's been going on for 5 generations. We first meet him as he charges in on his "towering black horse" speaking with a "Scots burr so deep and rich it sent an involuntary shiver down Emma's spine". "Slap me silly" I thought to myself, "I am not getting any work done until I finish this book." Seriously folks, The Devil Wears Plaid, is a fast paced romantic adventure with just enough of a twist, and plenty of action to keep the reader entertained until the wee hours of the morning.

I would be remiss not to mention the steamy scenes in The Devil Wears Plaid. The author makes the reader really want those scenes before she gives them to us. The main characters don't throw down with a lusty vengeance until they both are good and ready. The scenes are steamy, emotional and light hearted. They will evoke sighs aplenty from readers.

Teaser Words:
dirt and rock
pistol
ransom
forest ghosts
wooden tub
bell tower
betrayals
dreams

Teresa Medeiros lives in Kentucky with her husband and her cats Willow and Buffy the Mouse Slayer. Her next novel, Goodnight Tweetheart, the story of a man and woman who meet and fall in love on Twitter, will be released in January of 2011. You can join her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/teresamedeirosfanpage, follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/teresamedeiros and visit her website at www.teresamedeiros.com.

WIN A COPY OF TERESA'S BOOK
The publisher is allowing me to give one copy of The Devil Wears Plaid to a random person who comments on this post by answering the following question:

What is the first romance you remember reading?

The contest will end on September 9th, 2010. Please leave your answer plus your email IF it's not associated with your google profile.

~Brenda

Teresa's Top 20 WRITE RIGHT Tips

Teresa Medeiros has graciously allowed me to repost these great writing tips. She used a cool vintage graphic on her blog, so I dug up one of my own that I've been dying to use:)

Teresa's WRITE RIGHT Tips

1) Don't give characters unpronounceable names. Unless you're German, umlauts are not your friend.

2) Almost any sentence except "I am born" can be improved with revision.

3) Don't fear adverbs but actions verbs are always better. Not "He walked slowly" but "He trudged..."

4) It's the 1st sentence of your book that sells that book to the editor or reader. It's the last sentence of your book that sells the next book.

5) A creative silence may be your subconscious saying, "Hush, child. I'm working on a better plan."

6) Characters don't have to be perfect from the first page. Character growth is the hallmark of good fiction.

7) Writing is part talent and part craft. The craft part can be improved with practice.

8) You don't learn how to play the piano by reading books about playing the piano. You learn by practicing.

9) If you can stop writing, you probably should.

10) If you're stuck, go for a walk. Moving forward moves the brain forward. (Thanks to the Dog Whisperer for this tip :)).

11) If you're stuck, go back and do a read-thru from Chapter 1 to pick up the thread of the story.
12) The key to a truly successful romance novel is foreplay--not just physical but emotional.

13) There will come a time in every book when you will hate the story, hate the characters, wish they were dead, wish you were dead...just keep writing and you'll love them and yourself again.

14) Expect some resistance when finishing a book. Your subconscious knows it's the end of a great love affair.

15) Don't foreshadow your characters' every action by revealing their every thought through introspection.

16) If you're stuck for a phrase or word, insert [TK] or something else easily searchable and move on. Return later to fill in.

17) To preserve the sanctity of your imaginary world, consider writing on a computer completely cut off from the internet.

18) Dialogue is the hardest thing to write but the easiest thing to fix.

19) Protect your creativity as if it's a small defenseless child entrusted to your care.

20) When the story is over, shut up and write THE END.

Teresa originally shared these tips on Twitter. Be sure to follow her at http://www.twitter.com/teresamedeiros. You can also join her Facebook fan page at

Kindle Review: Under the Magnolia

Under the Magnolia
Author: Moira Rogers
Format: Kindle Edition
Available on Amazon

SUMMARY: Adelaide has a secret: she can see the future. The visions are always unpleasant, until she catches a glimpse of herself engaged in the hottest sex imaginable with hunky police chief Wesley Saxon, a man she's had a crush on for the past year.
Wes has been watching out for Addie for years, even if she did break his heart in high school. But when his attempt to rescue her from an oncoming hurricane leaves them stranded in the basement of an island resort, Wes will face a danger more terrifying than any criminal: falling in love with her again.

Moria Rogers has captured my attention again with this novella. I'm amazed that they continue to come up with new locations, characters and plots that suck the reader in and take them on a roller coaster of emotion. Under the Magnolia has mystery, romance, suspense and witty banter, which many of you know is my favorite element in a good story. Make me cringe, gross me out, scare the crap out of me if you will, but make me chuckle and I'm a fan forever.

I love the characters in Under the Magnolia. Adelaide is quirky, precognitive, caring and she's a magnet for trouble. Wes is the town Chief of Police with a secret or two. I loved him from the beginning of the story. I could just picture him, shaking his head, driving like a bat out of hell to find Addie. Sigh. What a guy.

I also loved all the side characters in Under the Magnolia, especially Addie's grandmother. I want to be her when I grow up.

Under the Magnolia was written as a serial story on the authors' blog, but I bought it for .99 on Amazon for my Kindle and it was money well spent, just so I have it all in one place, and can read it again and again.

~Brenda

Five Reasons I Love The Losers

This weekend I watched The Losers on DVD twice, and I will be buying it because it's so kick ass. Why, you ask?

1. It's based on a graphic novel written by Andy Diggle, who is a British writer. You can follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/andydiggle . A download of the first issue of The Losers is available free from Vertigo here. He has a cool name, and does snark so well, he could be the King of Snark. He's my hero. This is the description of the comic:

The Company thought it had taken care of the Losers. After they saw a little too much at the wrong place and time, their chopper went down in flames with no survivors and plenty of deniability - and the Losers went down in the records as just another team of black ops foot soldiers tragically lost to one of the CIA's shadow wars.

But the Losers were just playing dead - and now that they've seen what the Company is really up to, they're through with games. Now it's time to take the fight back to its source.

Time for some payback...

2. The main artist for the graphic novel is Jock. Yes, you read that correctly. Jock. How cool of a name is that? According to Wikipedia, Jock is actually a pen name for Mark Simpson, a British comics artist. Cool pen name, dude.

3. Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Who says a man has to be 20 to be sexy? J.D. has it covered in spades:


4.Óscar Jaenada's plays Cougar in the movie, and he rocks. He doesn't have a lot of lines, but the man has it going on. He's tough, mysterious, good looking and he needs his own story.


5. Witter Banter and Cool Explosions: There are more witty lines than I could count and enough cool stunts to please hardcore action fans. The movie rocked.

Have you seen The Losers? What did you think?

~Brenda

Sunday Ramblings & Free Stories

This week was a chaotic one, but I finished The Devil Wears Plaid by Teresa Medieros, and emailed back and forth with the author afterwards in preparation for the blog tour and contest on August 26th. All I will say at this point is "Highlander goodness."

I also read the fifth book in the Jaz Parks series, One More Bite, by Jennifer Rardin. I love this series for the action and intrigue, plus the relationship between Jaz and Vayl, which moves forward in this story. If you haven't tried the series, you really should:)

I've also ran across a few free short stories this week. They can be downloaded as PDF files, which you can read on your computer, or convert them to load on a reader, such as the Kindle.

-A Stroke of Dumb Luck by Shiloh walker is a cool urban fantasy short available on Tor here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/07/a-stroke-of-dumb-luck

-I just received a newsletter this morning from Keri Arthur, and she has a free Riley and Quinn short story here: http://www.keriarthur.com/bantamshort2.pdf

-On Tor you can read a great short story from Deborah Coates entitled What Makes a River. She is a new author to Tor and we will be hearing more about her books later.
http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/08/what-makes-a-river

-Be sure to check out Moon Daughters, a new web comic from Yasmine Galenorn, and J.L. Anderson. A new comic is posted each Friday. Catch up with the first four comics, and follow weekly for new ones. This blurb was on the website, which is here: http://www.moondaughters.net/?body=archives.htm

Moon Daughters offers you a look into the lighter side of the D'Artigo girls--the homey sides, the goofy quirks, the side fights that I just can't be fit into the books. You won't find their adventures against the demons here--those are for the books--but you will be able to see their day-to-day struggles to make it as one, big, dysfunctional-as-any-human, family.

This week is going to be a busy one, but I'm going to attempt to add a new section to the blog with links to my articles and writing online. September 1st will be the start of my anniversary bash, which should be fun for everyone:)

~Brenda

Review: Eternal Kiss of Darkness

Eternal Kiss of Darkness
Night Huntress World, #2
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Avon (7/27/10)
Available on Amazon (Paperback or Kindle)

Summary: Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she's only imagined in her worst nightmares.

At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master vampire who thought he'd seen it all. Then Kira appears - this fearless, beautiful....human who braved death to rescue him. Though her burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life. Yet sending her away is unthinkable.

I have a soft spot for Jeaniene Frost's books. I bought Eternal Kiss of Darkness last week, breaking my self-imposed book buying freeze. (Due to a TBR shelf that's exploding with books.) I have every book Ms. Frost has written, and I've read them so often that I can flip open to a favorite page or chapter if I need a pick me up after a bad day. I often choose the first time Bones and Cat dance from her first book or the infamous Chapter 32 in One Foot in the Grave. There are so many other favorite scenes that I can't possibly name them all here.

Eternal Kiss of Darkness is Mencheres' book. It's the second book in The Night Huntress World, which focus on characters from her Night Huntress series, giving us a more in depth look at them. Right off I want to say that Mencheres had not been one of my favorite characters. I know many of her fans were chanting "Vlad, Vlad, Vlad" over and over. Yes, quietly in my head I joined them, but I thought to myself "Jeaniene has her reasons. She knows things we don't. I can't wait to find out what.". Let me put your scepticism to rest. Mencheres rocks in so many ways I can't count them. Seriously folks, he's THAT awesome. I feel the need to kiss Jeaniene's feet and say "Forgive me for not seeing Mencheres' awesomeness sooner."

Eternal Kiss of Darkness is a compelling tale of a vampire who is over 4,000 years old and the human who challenges him at every turn. Mencheres is powerful beyond anything we can imagine and could have any woman he wants, yet he knows they are attracted to his power, wealth and position, never looking deeper. I loved this book for its depth of emotion. I've read many books with scorching hot love scenes. It's always fascinating to note the spin each author puts on their sexy moments. Jeaniene Frost builds up to that ultimate moment with a combination of sexual tension, humor, and emotion. When Mencheres and Kira finally get their moment, it literally had me holding my breath; it was that emotional.

While the romance and sexiness is abound in Eternal Kiss of Darkness I would be remiss to the action and suspense. Since Mencheres is "older than dirt" we expect him to kick ass with the best of them, but Jeaniene is never one for giving us weak heroines. Kira rocks. She's strong, smart, stubborn, compassionate and has an awesome sense of right and wrong. I love her character, and certainly hope she makes an appearance in more of the author's books.

If you haven't read any of Jeaniene's books you could easily start with Eternal Kiss of Darkness for a taste of the Night Huntress World. After reading it, I can't imagine a reader not going out and picking up every one of her other books. They are every bit as compelling, fast paced and riveting. Eternal Kiss of Darkness takes the reader through a hodge podge of emotions including sadness, fear, surprise, joy, righteous anger and titillation. What more can a reader ask for?

TEASER WORDS
As promised, I'm going to start giving teaser words at the end of each review. These are words from Eternal Kiss of Darkness that give you hints to my favorite parts of the book.

underwater
hospital
exploding doors
bubbles
Big Thunder Mountain
Grand Canyon
akhs
jungle
Symphony Tower

The trailer below is amazing. I love the people portraying the main characters.


~Moonsanity