Out of the Blogosphere Reccomendations!

I'm way behind on posting Out of the Blogosphere author tours so today you're getting three new books to sample for the price of well, none! Woot! Sooo lucky you are!!

VISIONS OF HEAT by Nalini Singh
Berkley Sensation / March 6, 2007

Go deeper into the world of the Psy and the changelings, where a gifted woman sees passion in her future-a passion that is absolutely forbidden by her kind...

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous-aching need...exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced-and keep her from Vaughn...

Check out an excerpt.

--------

NEW MOON by Rebecca York
Berkley Sensation; March 6, 2007

It's in one man's true nature to remain by the side of the woman he loves, rather than live without her in his own universe...

Landscape architect Logan Marshall is out for a jog—in his werewolf form—when a trap catches his paw. As it saps his strength, he is saved by another werewolf, who—to Logan's amazement—is female.

Female werewolves aren't supposed to exist. But Rinna is a shapeshifter from another dimension who's traveled through a portal to this world. And the trap that ensnared Logan was set by her former captor, and meant for her...

But as soon as Rinna and Logan touch, an electrifying bond forms between them. Unable to resist his desire for Rinna, in all her many forms, Logan will have to earn her trust, and travel through both dimensions to save her—and earth—from the wrath of her enemy...

Read an excerpt here.

------

SIGHT UNSEEN by Samantha Graves
Warner Books; April 1 2007

Raven Callahan doesn’t do it for the money. She does it for the thrills. As a consultant for API, an art recover company, she gets to steal—legally. But when her colleague is kidnapped during an assignment, Raven is forced to steal a priceless master painting to save his life.

David “Dax” Maddox was the perfect street cop—until a botched burglary raid cost his partner his life and Dax his ability to see color. Now, with his world gray, Dax has only one mission: to take down the murderer. And he’ll use anyone—even a sexy thief with questionable ethics—to get justice.

Soon Dax and Raven are forced together as pawns in a madman’s scheme. From the heart of Cuba to the New York art world, they find themselves in a race against time to stop the ultimate revenge.

Read an excerpt here.

Happy Monday!

First I want to say congrats to my dear friend Barb Ferrer, who double finaled in the RITA awards. Woot! So deserving!! Congrats to everyone else who was nominated for a Golden Heart and RITA as well.

I had a good weekend. Got to meet up with Nadia Cornier and Lauren Barnholdt and her BF Aaron. We went to a wacky place in the village called Jekyll and Hyde's. Sooo silly. But fun. And yummy nachos. However, they don't tell you it's not free soda refills even though they keep refilling your glasses. I think we spent like $30 on diet cokes. Grr...

On Sunday AM I woke up really early and headed over to Tavern of the Green to cover the More Magazine Marathon. Was great to see all those 40 plus women out there running. Inspired, I got out there in the afternoon to run around Central Park myself. Well, part of it anyway. I'm pretty pathetic compared to Marathoners.

I finished my revisions for Moongazer as well. Cheer! Now I just have to revise Girls that Growl and my middle-grade proposal. Oh and finish my #4 vampire book proposal. And then write The Camelot Code. But Moongazer is done!! I dropped it off at Dorchester at lunchtime. Woot!

For dinner on Sunday I met with my agent Kristin Nelson. I'd never met her in person before (she lives in Colorado) so it was a lot of fun to catch up. I like her a lot. And she's certainly doing great things for me. We ate at a lovely Tuscan Italian place called Da Silvano's in the village. Good wine and good food and a really good artichoke appetizer. I'd definitely go back.

So a good weekend, all in all. And lots more fun to come this week! :)

Marianne

Woot - Level 70

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog for a little World of Warcraft videogame geek cheer...

SQUEE!! I dinged 70 on my warrior tonight! Check out my new flying mount!!! Yay Allora!!!!



Woot! Woot! Now I just need to get myself a 7,000 gold elite one and I'll really be styling...

Mar

Busy but good

Hey all,

Sorry I've been a blog slacker. Just been busy, busy, busy! And it's not about to let up either. Next week I've got friends in town attending the PASIC conference so there will be dinners with them and a dinner with my agent (who is in town from Colorado) and then the New England conference (What, I have to go back to Boston?!?!?) where I'm speaking on YA and then a couple days hanging with Liz Maverick while we plan our SHOMI book world domination, etc. etc. Also, I have to work this Sunday covering the More Magazine marathon. Should be fun though and I'll get to meet Mariel Hemingway though, who, while impressive as an actress, also interests me because she's like the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, my writer hero. (Don't worry, I'll play it cool.)

They tell me I'll be interviewing a lot of celebrities in my new job. I think that means I need to buy new clothes. Right?

My new sofa is finally arriving on Tuesday! My apartment will finally be complete and then I promise to take pictures and post them. It's a sleeper sofa so all my friends can come visit me!!

Still slogging away on revisions. It's tough to work all day and then write all night. But I don't mind too much cause I love both jobs. I will be happy when Moongazer is finished, however, so I can move on to other pressing projects.

I'm doing well on my "read one book a week" thing. Really enjoying reading again. It's been too long. Sometimes it can be difficult when I'm on a subway so I think I'll stick to mass market paperbacks over trade. So far since I've been in NY I've read:

* Everyone Worth Knowing - Laura something or other (Devil Wears Prada chick)
* Dream Hunter - Sherrilyn Kenyon
* An ARC of Wired (Liz Maverick's SHOMI book - it's sooo awesome! Wait til you guys read it!!!)
* Idoru - William Gibson (What I'm reading now. Cyber Punk geeky stuff. hehe)

So that's chick lit, paranormal, action/futuristic, geek. I can cycle through those genres pretty easily I think. Oh I should probably add a YA to the mix as well. Maybe normally combine paranormal and futuristic. Then that's one book a month of each.

Anyway, I digress. Will pick a YA book for next week and report in.

Mar

Yay - Friday!

Yay it's Friday! Of course it's snowing. Grrr. Is it NOT time for spring yet? I ask you!

This weekend will be a wash, likely, with bad weather and lots of revisions. But as my friend Mary said today, "You LIVE there, Mar! You don't have to go out and do everything all at once." Too true. I have plenty of time to experience NY, NY.

I did meet up with the lovely Diana Peterfreund last night for a drink. Of course she made me meet her in Times Square where it took a full 10 minutes to navigate four blocks cause of all the foot traffic. :P See, after just under two weeks I'm already a snob, bitching about the tourists. Wait til I've been here a month!! Once I finally found her though, we went and had drinks at a lovely place called "The Library Bar" at the Paramount Hotel, as seen below. It's very chill and you don't feel the hustle and bustle of the world outside. Good choice.

We had fun talking about World of Warcraft and writing. (Cause what else is there? hehe) Diana gave me a lovely ARC of Under the Rose - can't wait to read it! And I gave her a Shomi excerpt booklet. (Since I am a loser who hasn't finished her revisions yet and thus has no lovely ARC of Moongazer to hand over to writer friends one meets at bars.) I did show her Liz Maverick's Shomi ARC for WIRED, hoping I'd at least get some cred for that - through osmosis or something... ;-)

Then I went home, feeling good that I'd at least done one New York thing, and spent the rest of the evening putting together a towel rack to stand above my toilet and eating Chef Boyardee ravioli. Ah, such a glam, glam life I lead.

I really wish it weren't snowing.

Mar

i love ny

I should just rename this blog I <3 NY cause really, what else is there to talk about in life except my undying crush on this amazing city. Perhaps it is only puppy love, perhaps it will fade, or perhaps I will develop the long term relationship of my dreams with this amazing metropolis. There is really NOTHING like it anywhere. It's so much better than Boston. Sooooo much better. I can't even begin to explain. (No offense to Boston - it's just not NY.)

And this is me not having even DONE anything remotely interesting in the city yet. :P I've been way too busy with my new job and unpacking and doing revisions to even enjoy it much. But I'm in love. Serious love. I can now totally understand how NYC was like a character in and of itself in Sex and the City. I really need to buy that box set and rewatch it all.

Ahem. Yeah. Anyway.

Tomorrow I'm going to go meet up for a drink with Diana Peterfreund, who is in town with her family. Will be great to catch up with her. And of course talk about World of Warcraft. I see from her blog she's got a level 24 character now. Ah, the addiction is sinking in. My main is still hovering about midway through 68 as I haven't had a ton of time to play. Very sad. And this weekend I really need to concentrate on my revisions.

Anyway, I'm off to take Molls on a long walk - it's really nice out today. In the meantime, check out Diana's galley gallery. There's a very silly pic of yours truly with my Stake That author copies. What the heck was I thinking??? :P

Mar

Unpacking and Shomi booklet giveaway

Whew! What a weekend! But I'm happy to say I'm all moved in. Mostly unpacked too. Woot! The place is shaping up nicely. I still have to figure out my surround sound and hang pictures up and my new couch isn't coming til April, but besides that, I'm in!

Also my dog has joined me in NYC. Poor thing - I think she's a bit confused as to what the heck is going on. But she does like the new closet. (She loves sleeping in closets!) I brought her on a walk to Central Park and she was very fascinated by all the smells!!

The weather is beautiful. I wish I didn't have to spend the entire weekend moving or I would have been able to enjoy it more. But spring is on the way!

This week I have to do revisions for Moongazer. I can't wait to be done with it so I can move on to writing The Camelot Code. Though I also have to do a few revisions for Girls that Growl and my new proposal. Ah, a writer's work is never done! I'm definitely slowing down my writing commitments this year though. I want to enjoy life a bit, not always be working!!

I finished Dream Hunter. I loved the end with all the Dark Hunter appearances. I hope if Sherrilyn does more Dream Hunter books she incorporates more Dark Hunter characters throughout. I love Ash.

I'm now reading an arc of Liz Maverick's SHOMI book WIRED. It's awesome so far. Very cool and different and suspenseful. I'm only about 50 pages into it so more details later.

Speaking of, would anyone like an excerpt booklet for the SHOMI line? I have a bunch of them. They feature the first couple chapters of the three launch books (Liz, me and Eve Kenin.) If you want one, comment below and I'll take the first five people for now. And keep checking back cause I'll have more to give away soon! :)

MARI

Happy Friday!

For those of you who like to plan ahead, both Moongazer and Girls that Growl are now available for pre-order on Amazon. Woot! Makes it feel all official like!

I'm trying to get my 2008 releases lined up now. Right now it looks like a Jan/Feb'ish adult release from Dorchester (a contemp chicklit/rom-com kind of thing -wow not a paranormal for once!!!) and a YA in early fall - The Camelot Code (which IS a time travel/paranormal). I'm pretty sure we'll also have Book 4 in the Boys that Bite series in the fall as well. Still working on the proposal for that. I wanted to wait until I heard back from my editor on Girls that Growl. Luckily she said this week that she loved it, so I can move forward with Book #4. We're back to Sunny's point of view in this one.

Last night I painted. I think it came out good, especially considering I'd never painted before. :) It's a very pale yellow color to accent one of the walls. Now that I've done it, I'm kinda addicted. I want to paint everything in the place! Maybe I'll do the bathroom next. I was thinking a nice dark blue color...

But first I must give top priority to my Moongazer revisions, which came today. Fun, fun!

Mar

Random Ramblings

Two more days til furniture! I'm so excited to set up my new place, it's been hard to wait.

Yesterday I had to go to Hartford for work - long commute, but it's okay. I can get some writing done on the train. I'm working on a proposal for the fourth Boys that Bite book. My editor read Girls that Growl this week and said she loved it! Yay! So now it's on to book four. We're going back to Sunny's point of view and adventures this time around. I really enjoy writing that series and hope it can continue for a long time.

One thing great about being in NYC is that I now commute on the subway and that means I get reading time again! When I was walking to work in Boston, I never really had that natural time to read. I just finished Everyone Worth Knowing by the Devil Wears Prada author and am almost through Dream Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I think I want to read Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin cause everyone goes on and on and on about how amazing it is and then I will probably check out a few YAs. It's nice to be reading again.

I think I'm going to grab some paint after work and paint an accent wall in my apartment before my furniture shows up. A light chiffony yellow, I think. Did I already write about this? I can't remember.

Oh, here's something cool. I got a MySpace email from the cover artist who did the covers from Stake That and Girls that Growl. Since those are like my favorite covers in the known universe it was great to get a chance to be all fan girl. Turns out cover artists don't usually get author feedback, so it was cool for both of us to connect. I hope he does more of my Berkley covers in the future.

Mar

Day #2 in NYC

My apartment is being painted today, but I think I'm going to paint over their paint and give it a nice color accent wall. I'm thinking a pale yellow that won't clash with my forthcoming red couch. I've never painted before, so this could be interesting...

I only brought a few outfits with me cause I had so much to take with me on the train and I'm already suffering from lack of good wardrobe syndrome. I cannot WAIT for my clothes (and furniture) to arrive on Saturday. Then my real New York life can begin. :)

I found a great pedicure place where they do the added 10 minute back massage while you wait for your toes to dry. I'm a big fan of this because 1) I love back massages and 2) I am a total ADD case who can't sit still 10 minutes, waiting for toes to dry without going crazy.

Oh and I'm reading Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisenberger - of Devil Wears Prada fame. Totally digging the local NYC scene insider stuff now that I'm a resident. All the geography she mentions and places have so much more resonance now that I'm here. I think I should go rewatch the entire Sex and the City series as well.

As soon as my TV arrives...

Marianne

PS It's release date for Alyssa Day's Atlantis Rising. (AKA Alesia Holliday's new paranormal romance.) Go buy it! You won't be sorry!

First Day in NYC

Hey all -

Well I'm here in the city. Had my work orientation today. Am sitting on the floor of my new apartment as my furniture isn't coming til Sat. Everything has been great so far. People are so nice here. I swear, NYC is soo much more friendly than Boston. Everyone in my new apartment building - door people, porter, super, etc. are sooo nice and helpful. And the people at the new job seem great too. Pretty neat to be working for a magazine company, even if I am in the tv department. I feel so Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City.

My apartment is great - it's right in the center of EVERYTHING. It's like, you think about a store and suddenly it's right there in front of you. Insane. Downstairs there's a delish organic bakery that makes dreamy hot chocolate. And there are about 5 nail salon places within a block. I haven't figured out where the nearest Starbucks is yet, but there's one downstairs from my work, so that's good. Oh and when you get takeout, the delivery people actually come up the elevator and deliver the food to your door. (Er, yes, it is the little things in life!)

Okay, I'll stop gushing. Don't want to sound too country mouse. But just wanted to report in and let you know how it was all going so far!!

:)
Marianne

Off to NYC...

Today is my last morning as a New England girl. I'm off to NYC this afternoon, heading down on the train for my first week in the Big Apple. I am traveling light - air mattress, sleeping bag, laptop, clothes -- and then my dad's bringing the rest of my stuff down on Saturday. (Long complicated story why.)

Sooo exciting!!!

Marianne

Snowy Friday

The countdown is on: two days til I move to NYC! Woot. Can't wait to get there. Especially since at the moment I'm in New Hampshire, stuck inside due to a snowstorm. Argh. I'm just trying to remind myself that shoveling = good workout.

So have any of you used those Coinstar machines in grocery stores to count your change recently? I used to use them, but found losing 9 cents per dollar was a bit of a rip-off. But since I had a lot of change, I brought it down yesterday to have it counted. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Coinstar now a fee-free way to get your money - through gift cards! So instead of paying a fee and getting cash, which I would have blown on like random stuff, I got a $30 Amazon gift card! So cool! They offer other gift cards as well. Check it out! I am definitely more inclined to save my pennies now.

I saw a really weird, but cool movie last night. Number 23 with Jim Carrey. It was spooky and very intriguing. Highly recommend it - especially if you like noir. Check out the trailer:

That's about all I have to report right now. Hope you are all well and staying warm!!

:)
Marianne

The terror!

This is the terror--aka puppy--I am dogsitting this week. His name is Brady (as in Tom Brady) and he is 5 months old, I believe. He belongs to my Dad's family. As you can see, my dog Molly--the black one who is 11 years old--is not impressed by his antics...

:)
Marianne

Now Touring: My Favorite Earthling

I have always been a Susan Grant fan girl ever since I first read her RITA award winning book CONTACT. And I devoured her innovative 2176 series a few years back. Now she's back again with a sexy out of this world romp, "My Favorite Earthling" -- given 4 1/2 stars by Romantic Times Magazine. LOVE the cover and I can't wait to read what's inside the book!

MY FAVORITE EARTHLING by Susan Grant
HQN; March 1, 2007

Even a Goddess can have a bad day...Keira, warrior-queen of the galaxy, is as famous for her beauty as she is for avoiding marriage. But when an upstart little planet called Earth threatens her world with its fleet of spaceships, the fate of her people lies in her hands. She must bind herself to a barbarian from the rogue world...or face the destruction of her own!

She's what he never knew he always wanted...Confirmed bachelor Jared Jasper knew the trick Earth pulled on the alien invaders wasn't a permanent solution. What they needed was a peace treaty. It just never occurred to him that he would wind up on the bargaining table. Playing the pushover groom to a mouthy alien babe who knows how to use a plasma sword is not exactly his idea of fun. But with six-billion people depending on him, he doesn't have much choice--sleep with the enemy...or bring on interstellar war.

Strange bedmates? You bet. But this alliance may turn into a romance the likes of which this galaxy's never seen!

Sounds great, huh? You can check out an excerpt or go buy the book!

Marianne

"Adventures" in NH

I don't subscribe to cable, but as I'm dogsitting at my dad's this week, I've been keeping the TV on to see what I've been missing. I've watched THE HILLS (is that a reality show or a drama--I can't tell...) MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN (o.m.g. this IS a reality show. Which means these girls really exist!!!), 90210 (yay repeats on the Soap channel!), and other junk. Let's just say I probably won't be hooking up cable in NYC anytime soon. Oh, and I watched Before Sunrise, which I hadn't seen in years, as my stepsister had it on DVD. I think I understand that movie a lot more than I did when I originally watched it in like high school. It's pretty beautiful and sad and the characters are really realistic--flawed, yet honestly portrayed and not romanticized too much. Now I want to check out the sequel, which I heard was good.

NH is pretty quiet, which means I'm able to get a lot of writing done. I've finished my middle-grade proposal - 50 pages and a synopsis - and will probably be passing it into my agent tomorrow. Then I guess I'll write my 4th vampire book proposal. You see, I don't want to start my new book "The Camelot Code" until I do the revisions for the two books I passed in because I hate to keep switching projects. But at the same time I want to take advantage of my time off. So we'll see...

Argh the puppy is whining again. Did I mention he needed to be taken out like EVERY HOUR?!?
Sigh.

Marianne

A scary moment...

So a lot of you probably remember right before I moved out of my Concord home, lightning struck my house and burned it to the ground. Well, on Thursday night I had a scary deja vu all over again moment when I was returning from a going away party down the street only to find my neighborhood blocked off by firetrucks, the smell of smoke, news vans everywhere. I ran the rest of the way home, my heart thudding in my chest as I had to take detours to get around all the blocked streets and gathered crowd. All I could think of was what if my building was on fire just before I moved out AGAIN!?!? And this time my dog was inside!!!

Anyway, it turned out, the building DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME was on fire - a six alarm blaze that ended up costing $1.5 million in damage and displaced a bunch of poor people. (Luckily, no one was hurt, though they said if it were later at night, it would have been a different story.)

Argh.

Anyway, I did move all my stuff out the next morning and I'm safe and sound at my dad's for the week before heading off to NYC. But I feel so sad for all the displaced people on Endicott Street in the North End. I know that horrible, sick feeling to realize you've just lost everything you own in one night. Bleh.

Mar

Now Touring: Blood Secrets

Today as part of the Out of the Blogosphere blog tour (and because I'm too tired from moving my stuff out of my apartment to type something original!) I give you Vivi Anna's Blood Secrets - one of the new Silhouette Nocture books. I think you'll agree, it sounds really cool -think CSI with vamps....And what a hot cover!

A young human woman is found ritualistically murdered in a downtown Necropolis hotel. It is up to Caine Valorian, a 200-year-old vampire, and his Otherworld Crime Unit to solve the unusual crime, and quickly before the human press can jump onto the story and cause a panic. To add to their already tough case, a new member, Eve Grant, transfers to their lab at the request of the mayor. Not only is she green and eager to impress the boss, but she's human. The first human ever to work in an Otherworld unit. The mayor thought it would be great press especially now with the strange human murder.

Caine has his work cut out for him, especially with his unruly team who don't appreciate any help from a human. Not only is this the toughest case of his career, but he's unusually attracted to the new girl, which can only cause trouble for them all. However, as they sink deeper and deeper into the workings of the case, Caine and Eve become closer and closer. So close that neither of them can see past each other and at the real happenings behind the scenes. The more they poke and prod at the case, the more they realize that something is going on, that this murder is only one step toward a greater purpose. Someone in the Otherworld community is calling on dark forces, in a plot to wipe out the entire human population.

Ready to read more? Here's a link to the excerpt.

And now, I need a nap!
MaR

Done Packing!

Well, I'm about done packing. Tomorrow AM my dad will be showing up bright and early to lug my stuff to New Hampshire where I will hang out for a week, waiting for my NYC apartment to be ready to move into. Phew.

I'm also now 35 pages into my new YA proposal. **happy dance!** I gotta say, though I enjoyed writing my kick-butt action adventure Moongazer, it's also fun to go back to being a teen again. :) For some reason YA writing just comes so naturally to me. It's like breathing and I sometimes can't even type fast enough to keep up with my ideas. And no, please don't remind me it's likely cause I never grew up!! But hey, whatever works, right?

Tonight, some work colleagues are having a going away thing for me at Anthem. Should be fun!! I need to shower first, though! I'm all grubby from packing!!

When stalling with packing I've been searching online for space saving storage type furniture, as my new apartment is a studio and thus small. I came across this from Pottery Barn:

Isn't that great? Atractive and so practical! I could fit so much in those drawers.

Of course, since it's from Pottery Barn, it's kind of pricey. If any of you have seen something similar at a cheaper furniture type place, let me know. If I can't find anything cheaper, I might splurge. It would be soo nice to have the storage space!

Mar

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to bring you this complaint...

I hate packing.

I HATE PACKING.

I HATE PACKING!!!!!!

HATE IT, I TELL YOU!!!!!

How do you people will full houses and kids manage to move? I have a tiny freaking one bedroom apartment and a year and a half ago all my stuff went up in flames so it's not even filled with priceless timeless relics. And yet it feels like a neverending pit of stuff!!!! I can't take it. I am going insane. I've thrown half of it out. How did I amass such clutter in such a short time?

I even wrote 12 PAGES of my new YA proposal today simply because I wanted to avoid packing. Hm, maybe a new strategy. Have a deadline? MOVE HOUSES! Nothing has ever motivated me more to write!!

The good news: the proposal rocks. And at this pace I should be done with it by the end of the week. Woot! Agent will be very pleased.

The bad news: packing is not. And dad is coming at 9am Friday morning to cart it all to his house to store before my move. Sigh. Dad will NOT be very pleased.

Seriously, I'm glad I like my new apartment cause I am NEVER EVER LEAVING IT!!!! I will die in that place and people can drag my stuff out along with my corpse.

Just sayin'

Mar