Stacey Kennedy's Tiki Hut Blog Winner

Thanks to eveyone who stopped by to visit with Stacey last week and congrats to StacieDM - your name was drawn as our winner - Stacey will be contacting you soon to get you out your free ebook!

This Week's Special Guest - Stacey Kennedy

This week on our AuthorIsland Tiki Hut Blog, we welcome Urban Fantasy author Stacey Kennedy as she stops by to talk about her book FIRST AND LAST, the latest release in her Magical Sword Series.

Stacey's novels are light-hearted fantasy with heart squeezing, thigh-clenching romance, and even give a good chuckle every now and again.

Her journey as a writer began as a way to keep her brain alive since being a stay at home mom can sometimes be a little...let's say numbing. It was an escape from screaming kids, dirty diapers and plain old mom duty.

It started as a hobby, but as the stories progressed it became a passion. Now, Stacey indulges at nap time, especially the juicy bits! Every mom needs a good thrill!

WEBSITE *** FACEBOOK *** GOODREADS *** TWITTER

FIRST AND LAST

The Magical Sword ~ Book Four

Liquid Silver Books ~ January 24, 2011

One woman, one bond, one final battle … can even Nexi Jones defeat the deepest darkness of evil?

Meet Nexi Jones—Witch, Guardian and now, Lady of the Underworld. Embracing her new role, Nexi begins the task of changing a world led by darkness. But not everyone is happy to see her rise to power. Before long, a resistance within the Underworld is forming.

As the darkness begins to close in around her, Nexi’s magical abilities flourish in response—forcing Nexi to dig down deeper into her past to discover this source and why she was gifted with such incredible strength.

With her Guardian, Kyden by her side, Nexi will meet her greatest challenge yet as she begins to discover that fate might have been a bitch, but she was a bitch with a plan.

You can get a copy of First and Last at any of the locations below:

Buy Links:

Liquid Silver Books - http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&category=Stacey+Kennedy

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004G9KR9A

Fictionwise - http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/a60492/Stacey-Kennedy/?

Now, onto a little something that has come up in conversation lately. First and Last is the final novel in The Magical Sword Series. Through seeing the first three stories published I have received a couple reviews saying, “The novel was too short—it went to fast.”

All of the stories in The Magical Sword series are sixty thousand words, so I wouldn’t necessarily say they are short. But I do understand what they're saying. The thing is, I keep them this length on purpose. Why? Well, it’s quite simple. When I read a story I get bored of lengthy details and drawn out moments. I love dialogue, monologue and descriptions that allow me to envision the world. And that’s about it.

To be honest, I could have easily added twenty thousand words to my stories to up the word count and give long descriptions of everything. But as I said, I’m not a fan of reading a book that has that in it. In truth, I usually just skim those parts to get back to the dialogue and the good stuff.

I love a fast paced novel that leaves me turning the page to find out what happens next. I enjoy hearing the characters interact with each other and I get bored when nothing is happening. Needless to say, it’s not much of a surprise I write the way I do. For me, it’s thrilling to be constantly wondering what’s going to happen next.

So, if you’re like me, a person who skims over the lengthy boring stuff, who enjoys danger, romance that warms your heart and sex scenes that leave your cheeks pink...then come give my series a try!

-Stacey

You can find and get in contact with Stacey below:

Website - www.staceykennedy.comFacebook - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=100000956942180

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3473046.Stacey_Kennedy

Twitter - http://twitter.com/Stacey_Kennedy

WIN - Leave Stacey a comment or question this week at The Tiki Hut Blog, and your name goes in the hat for a download of your choice from any of her book!  Please leave your email address and your choice of which book you'd like to have, so we can hook you up if you are this week's winner - Good Luck!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif's Tiki Hut Winners

Thanks to Cheryl Kaye Tardif for the fantastic post about how she came to write her romantic suspense LANCELOT'S LADY and for offering up three ebook copies of it as prizes for the week!


COngrats to Estella, CJ and Katie - Estella, thanks for leaving your email address, Cheryl will be contacting you soon with your prize.


CJ and Katie you two need to email me at AuthorIsland at yahoo dot com with your email address by the end of February to claim your prize!

This Week's Special Guest At The Tiki Hut - Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Cheryl Kaye Tardif

This week at the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut, we welcome author Cheryl Kaye Tardif who stops by to talk about how she came to write a romance.

Cheryl is an award-winning, bestselling Canadian suspense author. Her novels include The River, Divine Intervention, and Whale Song, which New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice calls “a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart...a beautiful, haunting novel."

Cheryl has finished two thrillers, Children of the Fog, and Divine Justice (book 2 in the Divine series), both of which are slated for publication in 2011. She also enjoys writing short stories, which has resulted in Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories (short story collection) and Remote Control (novelette).

When she is not ruthlessly killing people off in her thrillers as bestselling Canadian suspense author, Cheryl Kaye Tardif, she is busy relaxing in her hot tub, sipping champagne, eating chocolate-covered strawberries and plotting romantic suspense with scintillating sensuality as romance author Cherish D'Angelo.

Cherish's debut romance, Lancelot's Lady placed in the semi-finals of Dorchester Publishing's "Next Best Celler" contest and went on to win an Editor's Choice Award from Textnovel. Currently living in Edmonton, Alberta, she enjoys long walks on the beach, except there aren't any around so she has to make do with trips around the hot tub or a vacation to a tropical paradise. And margaritas.



Booklist raves, “Tardif, already a big hit in Canada…a name to reckon with south of the border.”

WEBSITE   ***   BLOG   ***   TWITTER   ***   FACEBOOK   ***   MYSPACE   ***   GOODREADS

 

What inspired me to write Lancelot's Lady?

Many people have asked me: "What inspired you to switch genres, select a pen name and write a romance novel like Lancelot's Lady?" Well, unlike my other novels, I wasn't inspired by things that happened to me when I was a child (Whale Song), or my mom telling me about some river from which people went missing (The River), or my love of all things weirdly paranormal (Divine Intervention), or by Stephen King (Remote Control and Skeletons in the Closet). No, what inspired me to write Lancelot's Lady was much simpler than these. It all boiled down to one thing: I love a good love story.

When I was a young teen, I was fascinated by the books my mother brought home―ones with a gorgeous woman in a beautiful flowing dress on the front cover and often a barely dressed, dashing man gazing into her eyes. My mother would leave her books open and face down on the table, while she went to get more coffee, and sometimes I would sneak a peek and read a page.

In my home, everyone read. We had crappy TV stations; there wasn't much else to do. My father would read mainly sci-fi and computer books. My mother was into romance novels. My brother Derek read sci-fi and fantasy, and I read everything they did, plus mystery, suspense and horror. Nancy Drew, Dean R. Koontz and Stephen King were my three "best friends" back then. But then so were Danielle Steel, Iris Johansen and other romance authors.

A few years ago I decided to try my hand at a romance novel. I called it Reflections. It was to be a romantic suspense. I wrote about half of it and let a good friend read it. She liked it, but I wasn't sure I really was ready to become a romance author. So I put the manuscript away.

When Textnovel announced they'd partnered with Dorchester Publishing for the "Next Best Celler" contest, a contest where writers could text their chapters (or write via PC) one at a time to Textnovel and have readers vote and comment, I decided to dig up Reflections. After months of rewrites and fine tuning, Reflections merged into what is now Lancelot's Lady, a contemporary romantic suspense set in the Bahamas and showcasing one of the vilest villains I've ever created.

It made it through the contest and was voted as a semi-finalist. That's when I knew I was on the right track. Lancelot's Lady is a far better story than the original manuscript, Reflections, and Textnovel readers loved it. I am so happy that everyone now gets to read the complete novel.

Lancelot's Lady ~ A Bahamas holiday from dying billionaire JT Lance, a man with a dark secret, leads palliative nurse Rhianna McLeod to Jonathan, a man with his own troubled past, and Rhianna finds herself drawn to the handsome recluse, while unbeknownst to her, someone with a horrific plan is hunting her down.

Available in ebook edition at KoboBooks, Amazon's Kindle Store, Smashwords and other ebook retailers. Help me celebrate by picking up a copy today and "Cherish the romance..."

You can learn more about Lancelot's Lady and Cherish D'Angelo (aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif) at http://www.cherylktardif.com/  and http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com/ 

WIN - Leave Cheryl a question this week at the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut and your name goes in the hat for one of THREE ebook copies of her romantic suspense LANCELOT'S LADY!! Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are one of our THREE WINNERS!!

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