The Good: Interview with cover artist Tony Mauro

As you may have noticed we two are a bit cover art obsessed and we always swoon about the good ones more than it should actually be allowed. One cover crushing later we thought it would be nice to ask the actually artists behind our obsession about what this work is like. 

So here we are- thrilled to no end to welcome Tony Mauro here at Book Lovers Inc today. He’s one of our favorite cover artist and today he will talk a bit about his work. Please give him a warm welcome. 

BLI: Tony can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Tony: After graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1991, I returned to my home town of Buffalo NY and spent a few years working as an airbrush illustrator at a company that specialized in pro sports apparel. In 1994, …

Review: Running Blind by Nicki J. Markus

Format Read: E-Book

Number of Pages: 10
Release Date: 4 March 2011
Publisher: Wicked Nights
Formats Available: E-Book
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon

Blurb:

It seems like any ordinary day as Nick waits for the train, but then a chance encounter with a young woman turns his world upside down. What is it that she is running from and will helping her jeopardise his own secret, making him a target too?

My Thoughts:

Running Blind is one of the best short stories I have read in a long time.

Nick is minding his business on the train when he sees a …

Guestpost: Why I Love a Good Rogue by Stephanie Sloane + Giveaway

We are very happy to welcome Stephanie Sloane here at Book Lovers Inc today. Her new historical romance The Devil in Disguise will be released in May. She writes Historical romance and today she is here to tell us why she loves a good Rogue. Be sure to answer her question at the end for you chance to win.

Last spring, as I exchanged emails back and forth with my editor about the name for my debut trilogy, I began to really think on just how much weight those few words would carry. A series name is, after all, meant to both describe the books and sell them—in two, maybe three words. That’s a tall order, indeed.

“Regency” seemed a natural fit. Not only are all three of my books set in the Regency period, roughly 1811 – 1830, but the word …

Sunny Sunday Full of Winners!

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday I finally forced myself to go out shopping (as you can tell I’m not ecstatic about spending hours in crampy shops, trying on clothes for hours, I find the whole experience so exhausting), but I really needed some spring additions to my wardrobe. Thankfully it was a success: I got a beautiful beige trenchcoat for 1/3 of the price and also bought a cherry red elegant shorter trench for only 15 dollars! Seems it was my lucky day, the universe thought that if I was willing to sacrifice a Saturday of reading for strolling around shops, at least I had to find some bargains, and I did, so thank you Universe! 🙂

So today all I planned to do was get some rest and recover from yesterday’s exhaustions and I just saw that this weekend was the 24 hour …

Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

A few weeks ago, I reported that Amanda Hocking had signed a huge deal with a major publisher for her upcoming series. Not only this produced headlines and a change of direction with the indie self pubbed author, another interesting tidbit emerged during the bidding process. Amazon who is traditionally an online vendor for books and ebooks although they offer self published authors to sell their books via their site. However it was recently known that Amazon teamed up with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt during their bid for Hocking’s new series, with HMH offering the print rights while they would offer the world ebook rights. The combined bid actually beat out St Martin’s Press’ offer – but this is just another sign that Amazon is focusing more on the publishing end of things.

I think right now there will …

Review: Strange Familiar by Cassidy Hunter

Format Read: E-Book

Number of Pages: 146
Release Date: 14 December 2010
Publisher: Etopia Press
Formats Available: E-Book
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon

Blurb:

Fate finally brings Olivia her Familiar… too bad fate is a bored bitch with a dark sense of humor.

At last, Olivia Brew’s Familiar has found her. Now that the search is over, her weakened powers and strength will be restored, and she can get on with her witchy life. But there’s a problem. Her familiar’s not exactly what she expected. And she just might be falling in love with him.

Kane Oliver’s got problems of his …

The Write Factor

Breaking News: The Around the Bookish World News Week-in-Review post has been postponed to tomorrow (Saturday) due to some spontaneous happenings on Twitter (ie. hence the topic of this post).

Yesterday morning a post about grammar errors and typos diminishing the experience of reading had Twitter aflutter. This post made us think about whether ARCs are a different species than finished books, or whether they should be treated the same.

For those of you who don’t know what ARCs are, they are Advance Reader Copies, which are review copies printed from galleys/proofs during the copy edit stage, meaning that both the author and the editor are still going through some proofreading and last minute changes/polishing. Meaning that ARCs are far from being finalised and that is why each and every ARC has two notes/warnings on the cover:
1) that the book we are about …

Interview: Laura Wright + Giveaway!

Today BLI is delighted to welcome Laura Wright, author of the critically acclaimed “Mark of the Vampire” series. Laura has been writing since 1997 when she enrolled in UCLA extension classes and in 2002 her first book was published by Harlequin called Cinderella & the Playboy. Eternal Hunger, the first novel in the Mark of the Vampire series was published to rave reviews on October 5, 2010. Eternal Kiss, Nicholas Roman’s dark, sexy and thrilling paranormal romance, hit the stands this week on April 5, 2011!

Lea: Laura! Welcome to BLI, it’s such a thrill to be able to chat with you today. 🙂

Laura: Thanks so much! It’s great to be here! 🙂

Laura can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Laura: Well… I’m a mom of 2 little balas, a wife to a fantastic and supportive theater …

Review: "Stormy Seduction", by Vivian Arend

Format Read: e-ARC submitted by Novel Sidekick courtesy of AuthorLength: 66 PagesSeries: Pacific Passion Book #2Genre: Erotic, Paranormal, Shapeshifters, MénageRelease Date: April 12, 2011Publisher: Samhain PublishingFormats Available: eBook, Kindle, NookPurchasing Info: Publisher, Author’s Website, Goodreads, Kindle, Nook

Book Blurb:

Sensual water shifters meet volatile air shifters—there’s a storm coming.

As morning-afters go, this one is looking pretty bright. Both air shifter Laurin Marshal and water shifter/shaman Matthew Jentry are aware, though, that trouble won’t be long in coming. And they’re right—before they’ve barely begun to work out the details of their mystical bond, the People of the Air find them to challenge Laurin’s right to choose Matt as her mate.

Fending off Laurin’s would-be suitors is easier than Matt anticipated, but there’s another dilemma still to face. His own people. Laurin is just beginning to trust that his …

Review: "Stormchild", by Vivian Arend

Format Read: e-ARC submitted by Novel Sidekick courtesy of AuthorLength: 50 PagesSeries: Pacific Passion Book #1Genre: Erotic, Paranormal, ShapeshiftersRelease Date: May 4, 2010Publisher: Samhain PublishingFormats Available: eBook, Kindle, NookPurchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher, Goodreads, All Romance Ebooks, Kindle, Nook

Book Blurb:

These elements have no desire to be tamed…

As the new traveling doctor for the Pacific Inside Passage settlements, Matthew Jentry balances dual roles for his water-shifter people—caring for their health as a human-trained physician, and for their spiritual needs as a shaman.

Distractions of the female kind are not on his agenda, but his magical bloodline makes him a target for every marriage-minded woman within range. There’s something about the mysterious Laurin Marshall, though, that he finds far too enticing. It’s just as well that it’s time for him to move on.

Laurin thought she had …