Interview with Lisa Plumley + Giveaway

We are pleased to bring you Lisa Plumley, author of dozens of funny contemporary and sweet historical romances! Today Lisa stops by to tell you all about her latest release, a wonderful holiday love story: Together for Christmas (which in my opinion has one of the best holiday covers!). Read on to learn more about the story, the characters and get your free copy of holiday romances offered generously by Lisa Plumley! 

Stella: Hi Lisa, welcome to Ex Libris! Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Lisa: Thanks, Stella! I’m happy to be here. I’m a writer, wife, and mother from sunny Arizona. My first book was released by Kensington Publishing in 1997. Since then, I’ve written almost three dozen contemporary, historical, and paranormal romances, with five more on the way soon. Writing definitely keeps me busy! When I’m not working, I love to hike, run, …

Romance and Me: Being Snowed in Romances

Hey Everyone!

The holidays are within sight (yay!) and the weather has turned icy as well brr.. Yesterday it snowed, so we spent about 2 hours shovelling snow from our sidewalk so we could access the gate and the door, which reminded me of how much I love “snowed in” romances! You know the kind where the hero and heroine get snowed in and have to spend a couple of days in close quarters and due this forced companionship their attraction sparks to life 😀 I just love that cozy feeling of reading about the elements being wild out there while the characters enjoy the quiet and warm inside, with a roaring fire some hot chocolate/mulled wine and their own personal entertainment 😉

So now that I remembered how much I love this setting I’m looking for some good “snowed in” recommendations, and I hope that’s where …

Review: Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Format Read: e-book provided by publisher
Length: 390 pages
Genre: fantasy
Series: Healer, #1
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Formats Available: mass-market paperback, e-book
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Author’s Website

Book Blurb:

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry …

Guest post by Nadia Lee + Giveaway

Hey Folks, today Nadia Lee is back to tell you about another one of her fairy tale retellings: the steamy Cinderella story of hers titled Ashwyn!  And since Thanksgiving was just last week Nadia thought it would be a good time to ask Ashwyn what she feels thankful for. Leave a comment and you will be entered to win an ebook copy of Ashwyn: Cinderella Retold with an Erotic Twist by Nadia Lee!

What the Cursed Ashwyn is Thankful for

In America, people celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Though I don’t do the giant turkey thing due to the fact that I live in Japan, I still think about the holiday as an American.

So I thought I’d do something a little bit different. Instead of talking about what I’m thankful for (it’s the same every year 🙂 ) I decided to ask Ashwyn, the cursed heroine from …

Review: Like Hearts Enchanted by Kathleen Tudor and Cecilia Tan

Format Read:ebook provided by the publisher
Number of Pages:74 pages
Release Date:May 31, 2012
Publisher:Circlet Press
Genre: Fantasy romance
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website

Book Blurb:

Love is a universal ideal transcending time and place and occasionally even dimensions. Anyone who has ever been in love knows that there is something magical about it, but what happens when real magic gets involved in matters of the heart? From love spells, to the ability to open the eyes and the mind, to a special little something that can make you downright irresistible, anything is possible when magic and love mingle.

Prepare to be enchanted and aroused as these five original short stories help you answer the important questions, like “What if love is right in front of you, and …

New Releases: December 3-9, 2012

Alien vs. Alien (Katherine “Kitty” Katt, #6) by Gini Koch
Genre: urban fantasy
Release date: December 4, 2012 by DAW

Description:

Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini and the rest of the American Centaurion Diplomatic Corps are still recovering from their introduction to Washington D.C. politics, parties, and conspiracies. So when compromising pictures arrive, no one’s too surprised. They’re also the least of anyone’s worries.

Evil androids running amok, birds of all kinds and from all places creating havoc, a Senator trapped in an ever-tightening web of intrigue, and escalating international tensions all seem tough but manageable. But the disappearance of Jeff Martini and Charles Reynolds during the International One World Festival signals more than the usual nastiness — and it looks like even ACE can’t help them.

Then new trouble arrives in old packages and even with the best hackers in the world, beings from near and far, the full might of Earth’s …

Guest post by Grace Burrowes + Giveaway

Today we are pleased to bring you the wonderful Grace Burrowes who is the author of such beloved historical romance series as the Windham series and the Lonely Lord series. She is here today to tell you about her brand new series the MacGregor trilogy, the first novel of which The Bridegroom Wore Plaid was released recently and which Caro loved (read her review here)! So read on and you could even win yourself a copy! 

The Basis for My New Series

I embarked upon a Scottish Victorian trilogy with some trepidation. While I’ve been reading Regencies since… well, for decades, there simply haven’t been Scottish Victorian romances thick on the ground, and my confidence with the time period was not as great.

Jennifer Ashley’s MacKenzie Brothers series was my first temptation to write in the Victorian era. Her novels are set in the 1880s and later, and start …

Review: The Marriage Trap by Jennifer Probst

Format read: ebook
Series: Book #2 in the Marriage to a Billionaire series
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Number of pages: 205 pages
Publisher: Gallery Books
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info:

Book Blurb:

To satisfy his late father’s wishes, hot and single billionaire Michael Conte must find a bride—someone who will fit into his traditional family back home in Italy—and fast, so his engaged sister will be allowed to wed. With no intention of being tied down, Michael “proposes” to fiery, free-spirited photographer Maggie Ryan: if she will play the part of his fiancée during her trip to Milan for a photo shoot, he will keep away from her married best friend, Alexa, and stop making Maggie nuts with their too-close-for- comfort flirtations. But once in Italy, sexual tension sparks the hottest no-strings- attached arrangement on any continent. Could marriage be the most enticing trap of all?

My Thoughts:

In a scenario that’s definitely more fictional than anything us real …

Review: Breath on Embers by Anne Calhoun

Format Read: e-book provided by Novel Sidekick courtesy of Author for Review
Length: 98 Pages
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Release Date: December 3, 2012
Publisher: Carina Press
Formats Available: ebook Kindle, Nook
Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Publisher, Goodreads, Kindle, Nook

Book Blurb

Christmas is the perfect time for Firefighter Ronan O’Rourke to take things to the next level with his sexually adventurous girlfriend. He knows she has feelings for him—and he’s sure of his feelings for her—but when Thea refuses his invitation to sample Christmas in New York City because what they share is nothing more than sheet-burning sex, Ronan sets out to change her mind.

Deep down Thea Moretti knows she cares for Ronan, but she can’t move past her grief over her late husband. Loud music and sex with Ronan are the only things she’s got that her feel alive, so she takes as much of both as she can get. …

Guest Post Anne Calhoun + Giveaway!

We are thrilled to welcome author Anne Calhoun to BLI today. Anne is an award winning multi-published author who is here to celebrate the release of her novella Breath on Embers which releases from Carina Press today. Breath on Embers is an extraordinary story about a woman who feels empty in the wake of the loss of her husband and the special guy who is able to stoke and ignite the tiny ember of light still burning inside her. Breath on Embers left me ‘breathless’ and my full review of Anne’s story will post later today at BLI.

About Anne:

After doing time at Fortune 500 companies on both coasts, Anne landed in a flyover state, where she traded business casual for yoga pants and decided to write down all the lively story ideas that got her through years …