Interview with Chloe Neill + Giveaway

Last week, Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads and I had a smack-down with Mandi from Smexy Books over who the best hero from Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series is (naturally I won ;). Today, Colette and I are interviewing Chloe for our book club, Romance Readers Anonymous.



The Chicagoland Vampires series centers around Merit, a grad student who is turned into a vampire without her consent after a vicious attack. So far there are two books in the series, Some Girls Bite and Friday Night Bites. Twice Bitten, the third book in the series, will be released in July.

Colette's Questions:

1. What made you decide to have the series set in Chicago?

I wanted to set the series in a city that was generally familiar to people, but which hadn't been overly done before in the vampire genre. And you can't beat the food and politics in Chicago!

2. Did you have to do any research for the books? If so, what kind of research did you have to do?

LOTS of research. I research a little bit of everything along the way, from information about Chicago (food, geography, architecture, politics, neighborhoods), to magic, to feudal customs, to the French Revolution. I try to infuse the books with factual details to give them context.

3. Do you follow any kind of writing schedule? Do you watch any tv or listen to music to help you write?

I have a day job, so I usually have a minimum per-day word count unless I'm on an editing deadline. Usually the television is on something like Discovery or the Travel Channel while I write.

4. How did you come up with the idea of vampires being in different houses?

I wanted allegiances and alliances to be a crucial element in the story, so I used the House ideas to give the vampires something to root for (their own House) and "enemies" to root against (the other Houses). Humans have baseball and football, so I figured vampires needed teams of their own.

5. I loved how you mention Eureka and Gilmore Girls in the same sentence in Friday Night Bites! Are you a TV science fiction and Gilmore Girls fan? (Am I wrong to think that I see a little Lorelai Gilmore in Merit?)

Thanks! I watch a lot of sci fi (including Eureka), and I LOVED Gilmore Girls. I think Merit has a little Lorelai and Rory in her. Especially the snark.

6. Will Ethan and Morgan have competition for Merit in the third book?

Sorry--can't answer that one. You'll have to wait until July!



Tasha's Questions:

1. Merit's favorite story is that of Tristan and Isolde. Is that a foreshadowing as to how her own story will wind up?

Sorry--that one's a spoiler, too! I will say that I include very few random red herrings in the novels, so if something's in there, there's usually some reason.

2. Is Merit related to the shifters somehow?

Not that I'm aware of.

3. I was a little unclear about the status of the vampire in Merit at the end of Friday Night Bites--is it normal for the vampires to feel separate from their vampire natures like that?

It is very unusual for a vampire not to feel fully and completely connected to their vampire. Merit only knows that it feels "wrong," which is why she's so hesitant about raising the issue to her friends and colleagues.

4. Do vampires have pets?

Absolutely. I think Merit would enjoy having a dog. Problem is, there's no one to take it out if it needed to go out during the day.

6. What is your favorite pizza place in Chicago?

I recently had pizza from CRUST in Wicker Park, and it was fabulous! Four stars.

7. I love the inspiration boards on your website! Do you have one for Friday Night Bites that you're planning on posting?

Thanks! The SOME GIRLS BITE board was actually prepared by Anne Sage of design blog The City Sage. I haven't had time to prepare any inspiration boards beyond the smaller FIRESPELL board, and I didn't even keep a file of materials for Friday Night Bites. I do have some images for TWICE BITTEN, but since the vampires are pretty consistently living in the same House and wearing the same outfits (ditto for FIRESPELL), I only really need one inspiration board per series. :)



Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions, Chloe! Plus, Chloe is generously offering a signed copy of Firespell, the first book in her new YA series, to a lucky commentor on this post! I will chose a random winner later this week. CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED


*Please note that the links to books on this post are Amazon Associate links.

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Battle to the Death

Today I'm fight--uh, I mean, respectfully discussing--who is the better man for Merit from Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series with Mandi from Smexy Books and Colette from A Buckeyegirl Reads.  In case you couldn't guess, I am totally Team Morgan.

To read our catfight lively debate, go to Chloe Neill's blog, The Daily Snark!  And stay tuned for an interview with Chloe by me and Colette, coming next week.

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The Strongest Shape by Tessa Cardenas

Today, in honor of M/M Month, the lovely Mandi from Smexy Books (who inspired the theme for January to begin with) is taking it one step further with a review of a m/m/m book, The Strongest Shape by Tessa Cardenas*. And trust me when I say, this book sounds very very smexy:

After his boyfriend breaks up with him, fashion photographer Caleb Moss finds himself alone in Los Angeles looking for work and friends. He finds both in a group of aspiring musicians, who offer help through their connections. But while building a strong friendship with Scott and Chris, a startling sexual tension flares to life among the three men, and Caleb is afraid the new friendships will fall apart.
It won't be easy for Caleb, trying to find his way when Scott and Chris invite him into their relationship. They face criticism from their friends, but they'll struggle to stay together because they have discovered a three-fold love.

I get many m/m recommendations from Jen at Well Reads and when I saw her review for The Strongest Shape and saw that it is a m/m/m that in her opinion is done quite well, I knew it was a book I had to read. I like reading a m/m/m to see how the dynamics of the relationship are going to work out. Will there be jealousy? Will one always feel left out? And we can’t forget, it is triple the pleasure in bed…..

Caleb, a fashion photographer has just broke up with his boyfriend. He doesn’t know a lot of people in Los Angeles and finds himself very drunk at a club. The performer that night, Jason (a very heterosexual male), takes pity on him and drives him to his place and let’s him crash on his couch. The next morning Jason introduces him to a group of his friends, including Scott, another musician, whose boyfriend, Chris, is out of town at the moment. It doesn’t take long for Caleb and Scott to strike up a friendship, however, things become complicated when Chris gets back into town. Chris is extremely protective of Scott and wants Caleb out of the picture.

As they all start to tentatively hang out, Caleb grows on Chris and one drunken night, Caleb is allowed to watch as Scott and Chris get down and dirty. Although it is very awkward for all three of them in the next two weeks, Scott and Chris make a big decision – they want Caleb in their relationship, and not just to watch. They want him as a full-time partner.

The Strongest Shape really does portray a m/m/m relationship that can work. In some other ménage books I have read, if one of the trio is not at home, the other two often take turns with each other. However, in this book, if one is not present, the other two wait. And with the nature of Caleb’s job, he is sometimes gone for weeks at a time. The first time he leaves he becomes very insecure because they did not discuss what would be happening between Chris and Scott. Caleb is so relieved to find out they are waiting, and when the time comes that they reunite, it is quite a smexy scene.

Because Scott and Chris already have an established relationship of four years, Caleb feels a little left out at some points. Scott and Chris always include him physically, but after being together for four years, Scott and Chris share looks and finish each other’s sentences and it takes Caleb awhile to get there.

It’s a fun relationship to read about – Chris is the alpha – extremely protective over “his boys” and marks them up good if he thinks someone has crossed the line. Scott is very submissive and is the “mom” of the relationship. Caleb is in the middle, maybe a little more dominant, but can take either role. He kind of just goes with the flow. I wanted to see a bit more spunk out of him, it sometimes felt he just glided along and did whatever Scott and Chris wanted him to do. I also would have liked to see the characters interacting more in their everyday lives, not just in the bedroom. The love scenes were hot and there was plenty of them, but maybe a glimpse into normal things they do during the day would have been beneficial.

Overall, The Strongest Shape is a solid m/m/m book and one that I recommend to any smutty heart out there.

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars

Thanks to Heidenkind for having me today!

*This is an Amazon Associates link

Announcing M/M Month!

(Isn't this button awesome? McVane made it for me on twitter!)

In my wrap-up for 2009, I mentioned that I managed to ignore m/m romance all year. But that didn't mean that I wasn't curious. Then Mandi from Smexy Books challenged me to do a m/m month theme, and since I got an ereader (ish--iPod Touch) for Christmas, I decided it was the perfect time to dive into an unfamiliar genre. Or sub-genre, at the very least.

For those of you who don't know, m/m is a subgenre of romance or erotica that focuses on relationships between men. Here is the list of books that I'm planning to read in January (keep in mind that almost this entire list was suggested by Mandi!):

• Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy
• The Dickens with Love by Josh Lanyon
• Bound by Deception and Bound to Him by Ava March
• Among the Living by Jordan Castillo Price
• Blood Noir by Jesse Fox
  
• Forbidden Love by Stormy Glenn, HC Brown, Aleksandr Voinov, and Anna O'Neill
• Love & Loyalty and Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels
• My Fair Captain by JL Langley

I'm also planning a few special guest posts for the month, as well. If you would like to participate in m/m month this January, let me know!

Have you read any of the books on my list? Am I missing any m/m romances that I absolutely have to read?

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Book Recs & Friends

Today's question for BBAW is, "Can you believe it's already day 4 of BBAW?"  Nooooooo, I can't.  Time goes by so fast!  *sniff*  Oh, and also they want to know what the first book was that I read just because a book blogger recommended it to me.

Well, this is kind of complicated answer (not really, but as usual I'm going to make it that way).  The first book I ever read because a blogger recommended it was Odd Thomas.  It was recommended by the lovely and beautiful Amethyst, who is also my adopted mom.  She's not really a book blogger (yet--mwahahaha), and I'm not entirely sure why or how she recommended it to me, but I read it and I loved it!



The second book I read because a blogger recommended it was In Sheep's Clothing by Susan May Warren.  It's one of Ruth's favorite books.  Now, Ruth is a book blogger--but she wasn't at the time she recommended it to me.  I did really enjoy the book and the yummy Vicktor, and the fabulous Russian setting.

With both of these books, I was definitely stepping outside my comfort zone.  I tend to avoid both Christian fiction and horror novels--but because of Amethyst's and Ruth's recommendations, I tried both and really enjoyed them!



If you want to get all technical about it, the first book I read because a book blogger recommended it was Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy:  Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan.  It was recommended by MJMBecky at One Literature Nut on Twitter!  Again, I wasn't too sure about this book, since I'd never read a Jane Austen adaptation before, and I wasn't certain I wanted to read about Darcy and Lizzie gettin' it on.  But it turned out to be an absolutely lovely and romantic book that I really enjoyed.



Aha, but none of those books were ones I actually bought.  Because of my depressing financial situation, I got them all from the library.  The only book I've bought based on a book blogger's recommendation is The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker--mainly because of Katiebab's killer review of it on Babbling About Books, and More.  Then Smexy Books said the hero was like Alan Rickman and, well, I really HAD to buy it after that.  I mean, Alan Rickman's a pretty big selling point.  I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.


And now for the philosophical portion of my day....

The main thing I've found with book recommendations is that it really seems to cement friendships between people when you read a book recommended by a blogger, especially when said book is something you would never consider picking up if he or she hadn't mentioned it.  I think this is because when you read a book based solely on a recommendation, you're not only taking a chance on the book, but on the person who rec'd it as well--on whether she (or he) has good taste, and has paid enough attention to the kinds of books you like, to make a good recommendation.  So far, I've been rewarded on both fronts and have met both wonderful people and wonderful books by taking a chance and stepping outside my comfort zone. 

Have you ever read a book you normally wouldn't just because a friend recommended it?

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Fall into Romance

Image by Clearly Ambiguous

With the changing of the seasons, a lot of people change their reading habits. Several people have blogged about this before, like MJMBecky from One Literature Nut and Amy from My Friend Amy. Going back to school means you have a whole different set of books to read, and a change in pace at work or in school often affects the time people can devote to reading.

I don't really change my reading habits that much based on the seasons except for one thing--I start to read a lot more romance. I guess I just need the warm fuzzies or something. Here are a few romances I'm really excited to read this fall:



Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

Book 300 in the Hathaway series. Haha, not really--it's not that bad yet. But it's getting there. Kleypas is one of my favorite writers, so I'm excited about this new book. I wish there was going to be another Rom hero in it, though.



Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran

Duran might be my new favorite romance writer. After Bound By Your Touch, I'm very excited to read this book, which features James' best friend, Phin.



With Seduction in Mind by Laura Lee Guhrke

Okay, seriously, this is the crappiest cover I've seen in a while. Even by romance novel standards it's pretty bad. Now if there was a guy on cover....

Anywhooo, LLG (don't ask me to type her name because I'm constantly misspelling it) is another one of my favorite writers and has written two of my favoritest romance novels evarrr, so I'm certifiably excited about this book. What is it about? I haz no idea. It doth not matter, my lovelies--I am buying it.



Storm of Visions: The Chosen Ones by Christina Dodd

I really liked Dodd's first paranormal series, so the new one should be just as good (should be). The last series was about a group of men who shifted into animals because of a deal with the devil. This one appears to be about people with extrasensory perception.



The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

I first heard about this book from Katiebabs at Babling About Books & More, and it sounded totally cool. It's a Victorian Gothic ghost story and romance. So I gave in and bought it. I think it's going to be a great book to read during the fall--I mean, who doesn't love Victorian Gothic ghost stories with romance, right? And according to the lovely Mandi at Smexy Books, the hero is modeled off of Alan Rickman! Rawrrrrrrr.



What books are you looking forward to reading this fall?

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