Guestpost: Fantasy Matured by Philippa Ballantine

Today we are happy to welcome Philippa Ballantine at Book Lovers Inc! Philippa (or Pip to her friends ;-p) is not only New Zealand’s first podcast novelist she is also an author penning stories in a variety of genres: she released urban fantasy, fantasy and steampunk novels! Today she is here to tell us some behind the scenes secrets about her writing, please give Philippa a warm welcome!

Here’s a dirty little secret. Writers write what they know. Yes, even fantasy ones like myself.

So, by definition many of the writers write about characters that are about the age they are. Our life experiences—good and bad—bleed over into what problems our characters face, and how they handle with them. I know that as I have got older so too has the average age of my characters—especially the main point of view ones.

Even with …

My Wishlist: the Absolutely-Must-Read-UF-series Edition – Part 2

Hi Everyone!

I’m back once again to share with you my endless UF wishlist 😀 There are so many amazing series people keep recommending, so my TBR pile is also near exploding…

So let me tell you about a few of my absolutely-must-read-UF-series!

Stray by Rachel Vincent (Shifter series)

There are only eight breeding female werecats left . . .

And I’m one of them.

I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I’d been warned about Strays — werecats without a Pride, constantly on the …

Genres 101: Today’s Lesson – Women’s Fiction

I received an interesting e-mail the other day, asking if I’d like to review a book that was classified as “flit-lit”. It has been at the tip of my fingers for the last several Genres 101 posts to write about, well, let’s start off by referring to it by my main title of “women’s fiction”, but I kept hesitating, thinking there really couldn’t be all that much to talk about. Of course, the e-mail I mention just proves me wrong; offering another subgenre to what is probably a pretty huge list of them. But how different can, say, Chick-lit (the term we’re probably all most familiar with) be from Hen lit? Well, let’s delve in and see…

First to mention is the Romance Novel. This novel has some illustrious roots, with Jane Austen, then Georgette Heyer …

New Releases: June 20 – 26, 2011

Shameless by Anne Stuart

A long string of tragic loves haunts Viscount Benedick Francis Alistair Rohan. Cool and cynical, he’s weary of life’s fickle games and wants a prim and proper wife he can ignore while indulging his sensual appetites.

Lady Melisande Carstairs is nothing less than a tornado storming into Benedick’s measured life. Possessed of boundless energy and the soul of a reformer, Melisande always conquers, whether it’s saving the souls of soiled doves or seducing the man she’s inconveniently fallen for. When she informs Benedick that his brother’s newly revived Heavenly Host has graduated from simple carnal debauchery to sadistic violence, he’s compelled to investigate, undercover. Under those covers, however, is Melisande herself, playing a dangerous game in the name of justice.And the Heavenly Host has just seen her hand, and more…

Interview Author Megan Hart + Giveaway

(c) Scott Church

I’m very happy to welcome one of my all time favorite authors, Megan Hart here at Book Lovers Inc today. I have a shelf dedicated to her books and I treasure every single one of them. Megan’s newest novel, Collide is out in stores today and she is here today to tell us a bit about her work. My review of Collide can be found here.Please give Megan a warm welcome and check out the giveaway at the end. 

BLI: Megan can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Megan: Sure! I was born in Pennsylvania and have lived here almost my entire life. I live in the woods but spend a lot of time at the Delaware shore. I love the beach! I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’m so glad I’m …

Guest Post & Giveaway with Author Shelley Workinger

Happy Monday everyone! Today we would like to welcome to Book Lovers Inc. YA Author Shelley Workinger. Her works include Solid and soon to release Settling. Shelley is here today to share a bit of an insight on how the Solid series began.

At the risk of sounding a bit corny (or should I say flaky?), the “Solid” series came together a lot like a snowman. What will eventually be one complete whole – made up of three dependent parts – all started with just one small speck.

That first idea – the romantic scene that eventually became chapter twelve of “Solid” – was born in a dream. Now, I have vivid dreams all the time, but that one really stuck with me – kind of like good snowman-making snow , I couldn’t stop thinking about how those people could’ve ended up …

Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Welcome to this week’s news post! Got some great goodies, like long-awaited covers and upcoming titles, but also some sad news about some beloved authors.

Sadly the start of this week, news broke about the serious illness that author L.A Banks aka Leslie Esdaile Banks is facing. She has been diagnosed with late stage adrenal cancer. I know there is a couple of auctions being held to raise money, but her family and friends have posted up a donations page to help the costs of her rising medical bills. When I hear the deets about the auctions – I will post them here in the next news post.

I would also like to say that everyone here at BLI – is sending the best of our love and thoughts to Leslie and her family!
Update: This is one of the …

Author Interview with L.K. Rigel + Giveaway

Today we welcome to Book Lovers Inc. sci-fi romance author L.K. Rigel, who pens the epic sci-fi-fantasy-romance trilogy: the Apocalypto series (Space Junque, Spiderwork and Bleeder). Linda stopped by to answer my inquisitive questions and scroll down because now you can get your hands on all 3 books of the series!

(To get a first taste of the stories, you can read my review of Space Junque and Spiderwork here on BLI.)

Stella: Hi Linda, welcome to Book Lovers Inc! Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
 
Linda: I live in California with my cat, Coleridge. I’ve been a newspaper reporter, a singing waitress, the lead singer in a band, and a court reporter, and I’ve written stories and songs all my life.
 
Stella: Can you describe a typical day of writing? …

Romance and Me: The Ex-Factor

Hey Everyone!

If by any chance you don’t know what I’m talking about I have to tell you until last night I had no clue there was a phenomenon bearing such a name. Last night when I asked a couple of my fellow Book Lovers if they had any romance issues I should talk about, our lovely Susi mentioned the X-factor, and me being clueless asked what that was. (I imagined it being some sort of romance novels centered around some kind of American Idol setting lol) And she informed me she was alluding to the exes in a couple. Ahh, lightbulb moment! And I agreed with her problems about these plots. So I am here today to discuss exes and their new portrayal in romances.

Until this spring ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, ex-wives and ex-girlfriends were always portrayed as villains: being jealous, possessive and usually crazy.

But this spring I discovered a new trend when at …

New Releases: June 13 – 19, 2011

Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate

“Every single lifetime, I’ll choose you. Just as you have chosen me. Forever.”Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way. . . .Luce is certain that something—or someone—in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through …