Welcome Author K D Grace

A Big Welcome from Seduced to K D Grace!!!!

K D Grace was born with a writing obsession. It got worse once she actually learned HOW to write. There's no treatment for it. It's progressive and chronic and quite often interferes with normal, everyday functioning. She might actually be concerned if it wasn't so damned much fun most of the time.

K D's critically acclaimed erotic romance novels, The Initiation of Ms Holly, The Pet Shop and Lakeland Heatwave Book 1: Body Temperature and Rising are published by Xcite Books and are available from all good paperback and eBook retailers.

Her erotica has been published with Xcite Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Harper Collins Mischief Books, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance, Sweetmeats Press and Scarlet Magazine.

Find out more about K D Grace on her website http://kdgrace.co.uk. She's also on Facebook and Twitter


More than Landscapes - blog post from K D Grace

By now everyone who has read anything I’ve written or blogged about my novel, Body Temperature and Rising, knows that BTR, along with the whole Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy, is set in the English Lake District and that I’m totally in love with the place. Most of the places in the trilogy are real places that I’ve walked and explored in the Lake District, and it was the real places that inspired me to write the trilogy. However those real experiences in the landscape also inspired the ‘Magicscapes’ in the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy.

Before I go any further, I’d like to clarify for my American readers just what a fell is, since there seems to be a bit of a language barrier, and some people have thought that the fells are woodlands. A fell is an upland stretch of open countryside, a moor or a barren or stony hill. And the fells in the Lake District are formidable. They include Scafell Pike the highest mountain in England! The word comes from Middle English and Old Norse and means mountain or hill. There! Language barrier crossed!

My husband and I are avid walkers and the Lake District is one of our very favourite places to walk. We had just had four lovely days walking in May sunshine, truly Lakeland Heatwave conditions, when we decided to walk part of a ridge walk known as the Newland’s Horseshoe. We’d heard the weather was supposed to change but it certainly didn’t look like it when we headed up onto the ridge. We were planning to make it on around to the fell called High Spy and then drop down into the village of Rosthwaite afterward for coffee and a break. It wasn’t a particularly long walk. We thought surely we’d beat the weather. We thought wrong.

The rain started just as we reached the top of the ridge. We were just about to the summit of the second fell, Maiden Moor when the mist descended. Before long the mist around us blotted out everything else and we walked in strange silent nothingness that, even though we knew we couldn’t easily get lost on this particular walk, was frightening.

Later when we were sipping coffee and dripping all over the hard wood floor of the tea shop in Rosthwaite, we wondered what it would have been like had we been somewhere we hadn’t been so familiar with and if we’d not known how to use a map and compass. It was a chilling thought.

That was the experience that inspired the opening scenes in Body Temperature and Rising, but it also inspired one of the two magicscapes my characters frequent in the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy. The feeling of walking in thick nothingness was the inspiration for my version of the Ether, the magical void, which is the dangerous place where powerful magic can be worked by witches who are skilled at riding the Ether. The Ether has no landmarks, no light nor darkness, no shape nor form, and in the Ether there is no concept of time, which makes it a particularly dangerous place to hang out. However a powerful witch can create from the void whatever he or she is skilled enough to imagine and bring to fruition. The Ether is like a lot of raw material waiting to be magicked into something useful … or treacherous. And sex in the Ether --- for those brave enough to try it -- totally sizzles. A lot of the action of the second Lakeland novel, Riding the Ether, takes place in this void.

There’s another magicscape that was also inspired by my time in the Lake District … that and by my time snoozing beneath the blankets every night -- the Dream Scape. All three Lakeland Heatwave novels spend a fair amount of time in the Dream World dealing with dream magic, which happens to be the preferred magic of the Elemental Coven’s high priestess, Tara Stone. I found inspiration while walking through thick woodlands in the Lake District with slivers of sunlight filtering down through the darkness. I also found inspiration for the Dream World from the old slate quarries and the ruined landscapes littered with tailings. We all know our own personal dreamscape can be beautiful or horrific, confusing or insightful and all things in between.

It was fun to picture the Dream World and the Ether as other worlds overlaying the beautiful landscape of the Lake District, other worlds that could only be reached through magic. And it was so easy to imagine, with all the caves and mines and dark mysterious woodlands, that you just might be able to walk in through one world and come out into another. To be honest, who am I to say you can’t? Certainly the world of the Lakeland Heatwave trilogy could only have been inspired by my walking in those wonderful places and experiencing the beauty, the magic and sometimes the danger of such an amazing landscape.

Body Temperature & Rising....

American transplant to the Lake District, MARIE WARREN, didn’t know she could unleash demons and enflesh ghosts until a voyeuristic encounter on the fells ends in sex with the charming ghost, ANDERSON, and night visits from a demon. To help her cope with her embarrassing and dangerous new abilities, Anderson brings her to the ELEMENTALS, a coven of witches who practice rare sex magic that temporarily allows needy ghosts access to the pleasures of the flesh.
DEACON, the demon Marie has unleashed, holds an ancient grudge against TARA STONE, coven high priestess, and will stop at nothing to destroy all she holds dear. Marie and her landlord, the reluctant young farmer, TIM MERIWETHER, are at the top of his list. Marie and Tim must learn to wield coven magic and the numinous power of their lust to stop Deacon’s bloody rampage before the coven is torn apart and more innocent people die.
More info, excerpt and buy links http://kdgrace.co.uk/books/lakeland-heatwave-book-i/

Thank you to Writer Marketing for bringing K D Grace to our blog today.  And a Thank you to K D for making the time - Something so simple as a hike turned into one crazy thought :) 

check for our review of Body Temperature and Rising

We have a WINNER

Our winner from Jamie Magee's Blog tour stop is

Heather from Red Headed Bookworm

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

I've already let Jamie know that you have won.  Continue to follow Jamie's blog tour for a chance at the big prize!

Jamie Magee Presents SEE Blog Tour and Giveaway

Coming out this week!!! (May 5th)

SEE - by Jamie Magee (back cover summary)
Forgetting who you are, your ambitions, your love is crippling….but remembering – embracing your purpose with a new sense of determination is more than empowering….its life altering. Charlie Myers is on a life altering path that will cause the damned to humble in silence…


One night…just a few friends how could it go so wrong? That was the question seventeen year old Charlie Myers was asking when she found herself in the ER. Outwardly nothing was wrong with Charlie, she was a vision of perfect heath, internally she was battling a raging headache…one the doctor told her she would overcome shortly, but Charlie knew something else was wrong …very wrong.


Part of her had been stolen….she was missing memories. Those memories were sacred. They held the key to her sanity. They told her that the sinister whispers, the shadows that came to life before her were not as ominous as she felt they were. They held the bond with her late father, a famed musician. They caused her to forget the one talent that allowed her to face the darkness that haunted her every waking hour. They also masked a much deeper bond, the face of the one that had stolen her heart, long before the age of seventeen.


Sitting in the ER with her angry mother she couldn’t figure out what she missing – or even how. Her thoughts told her that she needed to protect Britain, a friend of hers, but that didn’t make any sense – Britain didn’t need to be protected from anyone, he was strong, young, and absurdly wealthy. Charlie also knew that even though her friend Bianca called Charlie her best friend that she didn’t trust her ….she was almost sure she despised her, but she couldn’t figure out why – or understand how random thoughts were telling her that she adored both Britain and Bianca – that they were her saviors – that they brought silence to the unstoppable whispers….but the silence scared Charlie. In her mind anyone or anything that could bring silence to something that dark could not be good.


Charlie wanted to stay in NY, figure out what she was missing, why, and who was behind it all, but her mother had other plans. Against her will, Charlie was sent to Salem to live with her sister….within that small town Charlie found her memories….and so much more.


Her story begins now.

Our Review --

Jamie Magee gives you stories that jump off the page and straight into your heart somehow managing to bring forward emotions mixed with drama and suspense that you feel to your bone.  I’m amazed when I finish the book and I look up and have to blink a few times to come back to where I am.  

See was one of her top books for me.  Magee drops you right in the middle of chaos and you’re desperately wanting to know what’s going on that you are gripping the book (or ereader) so hard.  Magee forms unbreakable connections with her characters.  I love the horoscope/astrological basis for her books.  Soul mates destined to come together based on the alignment of the planets and time.  I get good chills when I read Magee’s books.  

Our Charlie has lost something very important – her memories – and she knows they contain something very important.  As Magee takes you through the confusion Charlie is dealing with, you are able to meet her old friends for the first time just as she has to do again.  You can feel her emotions unfold.  Music is Charlie’s only way to release, she’s never realized how important one particular song could be.  As a music lover (home alone with my kids and the TV’s off and the Radio is on shuffle) I thought Magee’s concept had me feeling right at home in this book.  

If you have not had the pleasure of reading her Insight series (3 books to date) you need to add it to your pile, and then make sure you grab See as there is a little linkage with this series and the Insight series (but you do not have to read Insight before See).  I’m hoping for some very interesting things to unfold in the coming book 2 and the See series and book 4 and 5 in the Insight series (book 4 out in October).  Magee brings in some of our characters from Insight as Charlie is working to learn her past.  Magee says book 2 will be out here soon (July), I’m on pins and needles waiting to “SEE” where Charlie goes.

5 slices for sure

GIVEAWAY!!!!! 

For this stop Jamie Magee is giving away an ebook of SEE to one lucky winner along with some great swag.    You need to make a comment below to be entered into the drawing for our stop.  (we will select a winner from all our comments posted by May 8th)  

Jamie is also combining all the comments from all the blogs on the tour to give away a printed/signed copy of SEE and Insight (her debut) along with bookmarks and picks (we love swag) - as well as a 25$ amazon gift card!!!!! WOW!!! The more you comment, the more chances to win on her big prize.  We have a listing of all the blogs participating below.  ALSO, you get a bonus entry if you follow Jamie Magee's blog and find her on facebook "like" her page and tell her Seduced by Books sent you.  

Blogs on the Tour

May 2nd Sassy Book Lovers ~ http://sassybooklovers.blogspot.com/

May 3rd Jamie Magee’s Blog http://authorjamiemagee.blogspot.com/

May 4th Seduced by Books http://seducedbybooks.blogspot.com/

May 5th The Reading Geek ~ http://thereadinggeek.blogspot.com/

May 6th Page Flipperz ~ http://pageflipperz.blogspot.com/ 

May 8th Taking it One Book at a Time ~ http://takingitonebookatatime.blogspot.com/

May 9th - Moon Stars Fantasy World ~ http://moonstarsfantasyworld.blogspot.com/

May 10th - Better Read Than Dead ~ http://www.angelsdemonsandvampires.com/

May 11th Book Reader Addicts ~ http://bookreaderaddictsgiveaways.blogspot.com/

May 12th Paranormal Reads ~ http://paranormalreadsreviews.blogspot.com/

May 13th Judge Not by the Covers ~ http://judgenotbythecovers.blogspot.com/

May 14th The Shadowed Realm ~ http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Shadow-Realm/275903885816648

May 15th YA Holic http://www.ya-aholic.com/

May 16th Book Reader Addicts (character interview) http://bookreaderaddictsgiveaways.blogspot.com

May 17th - Ya Holic ( interview)  http://www.ya-aholic.com/

Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs

Once again, I’m catching up on reading existing series as well as pushing together a review of the series instead of each book individually.

Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series was a big one to read on my list because once again, it’s mostly shifters :)

Briggs gives you a strong female living on her own as a ….mechanic. She’s a loner coyote raised by werewolves. She’s forced herself to be independent and doesn’t cow down to the local wolf pack or their Alpha who just happens to live behind her. She finds herself in interesting situations throughout the series when she really just wanted to be left alone. Briggs brings in the difficult politics of a wolf pack and the world of the paranormal as Mercy tries to navigate. 

 
Being the lower end of her where she was raised, Mercy has worked hard to take self-defense classes and ground herself to being strong. She’s constantly driving the alpha mad in a both humorous ways as well as sensual. Mercy finds herself in trouble several times throughout the series, but she works to get herself out. Very determined to keep that independent streak. Briggs brings in the romantic twist as her alpha wolf can’t deny her, just when things would start to align, she tosses in a triangle to keep you on your toes.  Briggs turns up the heat and adds some fun play with dating.

I enjoyed the banter as well as the feelings Mercy has to deal with to figure out her life. A favorite, as I’ve said before, I love when the series revolves around the main characters in every book. In the third book, Mercy has already battled the vamps and won, the fae and won, but now she battles an emotional tragedy when she is held captive. There are videos to prove what she’s gone through and her alpha has seen them. It’s a rough go but Briggs did this book so well. The reality of things just don’t go away over night and Mercy really has to work through them just was frankly well done. Supporting characters really show their true colors as they help Mercy heal (loved Ben, with out him who knows what would have happened). As Mercy navigates being the 2nd in the wolf pack betrayals will happen. Through it all she fights to defend herself.

Briggs takes every turn and brings in an interesting paranormal mystery, she pulls in every form of other there is and it just blends so well. I look forward to the next in the series (6 Books so far- in order-, Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed, Silver Borne, River Marked). I’d say books 2, 3 and 4 were may favorites so far in the series.  Excited to see where Adam and Mercy end up next and what happens with Samuel and Stefan.

4 slices for the series

Lover Reborn by J R Ward

What I can say about this one is INTENSE – We all loved Wellsie and what she gave back to John and how Tohr gave himself to her when she passed. Knowing this was Tohr’s book, I went in as open minded as I could. We learned more of his past in Lover Mine and Lover Unleashed as we learned about Xhex and No’One.

Ward definitely turned the corners on this book. So much has happened in the story line. The B.o.B. are in full force, the lessers are coming out of the wood work, and the Brothers still have to validate their worth to the glymera. Ward takes Tohr through some crazy Shasta – because he can not let go, he’s hooked Wellsie in between, she can never settle. Not your typical love story – two broken souls just getting by – most of the book (which is set over about a year) Tohr goes through the motions…it’s not working.

What I love about Ward is one book does not end a couple’s story, and what I loved most about this book, probably because Xhex is one of my favorite characters, is John and Xhex. John is just unbelievable. This installment had me looking inside my own life and reflecting. I enjoyed the dive into Xhex and her mom.

I could have smacked Tohr half the time with some of his comments, but then we have all become to love these guys like our own Brothers. In series, they always have a book that is a bridge between the series continuing on, most of the times that bridge, is a small one and insignificant. This book is the fricking Golden Gate. It’s huge and not just in pages, the story line is up, down, around, flips you back, forward, you name it. It’s all good, as I said in the beginning, Intense. That is the only way I can describe it with out giving anything away. I am so looking forward to the next, Quinn and Blay’s book. After the turns of events here in Lover Reborn, it’s going to be another fricking ride for sure!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I fought hard not to read the Hunger Games series. I didn’t want to read a book just because it was popular. Sure, I would get to it, because I’m obsessed with reading, but in time. Then, the movie was coming out and my friend started to ask me if I got them yet…

So I grabbed it. Let me tell you now - Hunger Games is worth all the hype! The concept of districts in North America rebuilding themselves from the revolution but set in a more sci-fi direction was intriguing. Separated into 12 districts and the Capitol, America is not what it seems.

Book 1 starts to explain where we are and how the Hunger Games have come to fruition. Of course, it comes quickly to the action of Katniss and how she has been “selected” to represent District 12. Lives are impacted drastically, as Katniss is stripped from her family. She no stranger to hardship and fighting for her life. Collins manages to quickly wrap you into her characters emotionally. From less than half way through book 1, you are so emotionally vested, I felt like I was on the train and in the capitol. Collins kept the descriptions real, crisp, I could picture it but not overly descriptive where I wanted to skim.

Peeta and Katniss tackle the Games head on. Katniss is amazing. The character dimensions are so deep. On to the bond Katniss and Peeta form, as much as Kat has been through, when it comes to Peeta she assumes the worst. She’s so intuitive to survive and I just wanted her to fall in love. Trust me , I’m not at all disappointed at Book 1, it caught me offguard as I was expecting one thing to come to another. Could Peeta be the ying to her yang?

The Games … wow, you get the craziness of the entire concept, and with it comes the brutality of what is set to occur. It’s a fight for only 1 to survive. Thank goodness I could roll immediately into book 2. Collins just dug into my heart as she ended book 1 – my heart ached.

Book 2 (Catching Fire) is packed. We’re back from the Games, we’re touring and we’re thrown, spinning in the crazy web of the Capitol. Bonds have been formed, everything is on the table to be broken. Collins delivers intense emotion and action. The train, it gets me every time. Again, we’re invested in these characters. The losses we’ve had, having us together again. Collins brings in new characters and tosses up the dynamic.

Once again, Peeta rocks an interview. I don’t want to spoil anything about these books. What I can say is the shake up is insane! Collins in her cliffhanger end, takes it away with this one. I now know why people were so insane to get Mockingjay.

If I thought Book 2 had so much going on, book 3 tosses so much more into this series. Collins has to take you full circle and conclude the series. I would not have imagined she could do it so well in this 1 book. I felt it was a little rushed toward the end, but I was so pleased with the outcome I could overlook it. Although there is no true “game” in this book, there is still heart-wrenching war and destruction. Katniss has to come to terms with herself and her role in this mess while figuring out who to trust. Collins did a remarkable job.

Overall I give this series a 6 – I did not put it down, nor has any of my friends who read it since. Well played, the romance is sweet and the Games are brutal.

On a movie note, I thought the casting is just as I pictured. Well done and I’m anxiously awaiting the next movies. I hope they keep as close to the book as the first did.

On a “Battle Royale” note, I have this on my TBR pile, I heard of it after I read the series. The book holds a similar story line but with out the romance from what I hear and the continuation as we have in Mockingjay. I don’t think Collins “stole” the story, and I hope that Battle Royale is a great read as well. There are many books out there where there is a similar note, and if one does better than another and brings them both to light, that’s cool. The more there is to read the better. Just want our blog readers to know, I’m not in the blind about the book and will read it as well.

“Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head, and close your eyes And when they open, the sun will rise.”

Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn

A WHOLE LOT OF KITTY!

There are so many series/authors I missed while I was ‘not reading’ after I finished school. I can never thank Amy enough for getting me back into reading 3 years ago. That being said, I’m playing catch up and finding great paranormal authors that have been out long before the “Twilight” craze.

Carrie Vaughn is one of those authors I had on my “To Be Read” list. I finally got the chance to start her Kitty Norville series. As you know I’m a fan of the shifters/weres, while I love all the fae, vamps, witches, etc, shifters remain my favorite. I’m going to combine the reviews for the books as one for the series. I read the 9 books (plus short stories) in about a week so the line between what happens in each is a little blurry for me.

Starting out with Kitty and the Midnight Hour we meet our radio talk show host. Kitty Norville is the ost of the late night talk show and dives into the paranormal talking to callers about their wacky experiences. Guess what….KITTY is a werewolf. Yep, that’s right, her name is Kitty and she’s a dog one night a month, and thus you can see Vaughn sets up a humorous line that keeps you smiling throughout the series. Of course, the radio public starts out having no idea she is a wolf. It’s all taken with a grain to the ‘norms’ of the world as she talks freely about the world of Others and only she has to deal with the angry vamps and weres. As Vaughn sets up the characters, book 1 started out just a little slow, but definitely takes off about midway through. Kitty is in a dysfunctional pack. Vaughn manages to give us a female character that isn’t very tough at all and has been a dependent wolf, but you just instantly like her. Tricky Vaughn pulls Kitty into fighting for her place and building her up to be our heroine. And then, some one puts a hit out on her which comes to light right on her show and the world learns she’s a wolf. Of course, just like you will be, America (and her would be assassin) adores their talk show host and they only want more of her.

Vaughn resolves the hit against Kitty and Book 1 ends with a very violent, emotional end. Kitty is a lone wolf roaming America doing her show once a week at various sister radio stations. As book 2 starts, she’s formed an interesting bond with her former assassin and his cousin, her now lawyer. Vaughn keeps the books packed with humor and action. So far, there is just a little heat tossed in. I will say, I truly love a series where the main character is the main character in all the books, you get to know them and watch their character evolve. (The Hollows, Anita Blake, Merry Gentry, Kate Daniels, World of the Lupi, just to name a few) Vaughn definitely does that here, you are watching Kitty go from a terrified wolf to a loner. Kitty ends up in Washington, and just as her wolf secret was outed before publicly, she is yet in another horrible situation. There is always a main mystery/plot and a few subplots to keep you going in Vaughn’s books. Don’t forget, a little humor and a little heat, which we start seeing much more from Kitty here in book 2 and the remaining books.

I won’t take you through a summary of the other 7 books currently out (book 10 due out July 2012) but these first 2 truly set up Kitty’s character with the crucial events surrounding her wolf. Vaughn further develops Kitty into an Alpha, she ends up treating a turned wolf (and close friend), falling in love, getting married, and all while defending her place in the world. Vaughn doesn’t give you the expected in those scenarios either. Vaughn also doesn’t let everything just ‘work out’, just as in reality, there are things Kitty can’t control and she’s not above the law, you also get aggravated when she doesn’t think some things through. Kitty works with vamps, meets odd packs, has a couple more attempts on her life, and works hard to not lose herself.  As I said, action is not lacking in these books, there a win all around. 

 I give the series 4 slices – Start book 1 and I think you will be pleased and looking for more of this little wolf they call Kitty.