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Reviews, Reviews, Everywhere!

Naughty Karma has been on ereaders for a couple weeks now and more reviews are trickling in.  I confess I have been a bit more obsessive eager to hear what folks have to say about this one, reaching a new level of giddy whenever folks send me links via email and twitter.  And now I pass those links on to you!  So if you enjoy reading reviews, here's a feast for you.

(*Vivi takes a moment to wave to her grandma who reads all her reviews. Hi, Gran!*)

Today we have a short review with excerpt from A Romance Reader - "Loved it!" (Woot!)

And Long and Short Reviews awarded Naughty Karma 4.5 Stars!  "I recommend this for everyone who needs some powerful magic in their lives and their romances."  (Awwwww.)

And it isn't just Naughty Karma getting in on the review love this week.  Spinning Gold, my fairy tale romance retelling Rumpelstiltskin in a whole new light, was reviewed by "The Eater of Books" (love that handle) and awarded 4 Stars!  "I absolutely adored this book!"  (Squeee!!!)

So there you have it.  A bevy of reviews that were sent to me in the last little bit.  All in one yummy package.  Mmm, reviews.

Jeni's! Best Ice Cream Evah.

So, this has nothing to do with writing or really anything else, but I felt the need to share.  Recently, whilst visiting my sweet lil gran in Ohio, I tripped across the Best Ice Cream on the Face of the Planet. (With special thanks to the editors at Samhain for the recommendation!)  It's called Jeni's.  And it is exquisite.  My particular favorite is the Queen City Cayenne flavor.  Yeah.  Cayenne.  It's rich, lovely chocolate ice cream with cayenne.  Oh, the glory of chocolate and spice.  There are dozens of other luscious flavors for the not so spicily inclined, so y'all, if you're ever in the Columbus area?  Look up Jeni's.  DO IT.  You can thank me later.

Fix-It Friday: Runner Runner

Welcome to another edition of Fix-It Fridays!  Today we're fixing Runner Runner.  Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck have done some pretty decent movies and I had high hopes that this would be another.  Alas, my hopes were not to be realized.  You ready?  Let's fix this motha.

**SPOILER ALERT!!  HERE BE SPOILERS!!!  LOTS O' SPOILERS!!!**

You know what I love?  Sympathetic protagonists.  I went to go see Runner Runner thinking it would be decent and twisty and actiony. I failed to take into account the fact that in order for a twisty thriller to be satisfying, you have to actually want the protagonist to get away and live happily ever after.  When you kind of want him to be eaten by alligators, the movie can feel like it goes on for-ev-er even if it's only ninety minutes long.

Justin Timerberlake's character?  Yeah, he's pretty much a douche.

Former Wall Street muckety muck.  He was on the way to being a big shot financial tycoon, wheeling and dealing with other people's money to make mad bank for himself, but then the house of cards crashed down and through NO FAULT OF HIS OWN AT ALL he was left penniless.  But never fear!  Justin got into Princeton for his MBA!  Unfortunately, Justin made so much money when he was on Wall Street (none of which he still has) that he is ineligible for financial aid (cue the tiny violins).  Instead of taking a FREAKING STUDENT LOAN, as any normal human being would do, since those are not dependent of previous income levels, Justin becomes an affiliate for off-shore gambling sites, funneling online poker players to certain websites for a commission.  But that isn't gonna get him his tuition fast enough, so he goes on a gambling streak of his own where he proceeds to build up a massive amount of cash, then lose it all in one go.

But it's not his fault!  No!  He couldn't have just been stupid or unlucky!  He was conned.  He uses someone else's super math powers to deduce that the online poker site really did rip him off.  Goes down to Costa Rica to confront the head of the company, who thanks him for detecting the glitch, gives him a stack of cash, and offers him a job. It seems too good to be true (and of course it is) but Justin snaps up the chance to be insultingly rich (as opposed to just disgustingly rich), walks away from Princeton and becomes the off-shore gambling site's golden boy.

The misogynistic boss (Dear Ole Ben) is the bad guy who is being stalked by the FBI.  The FBI guys are all assholes - who threaten Our Boy, telling him that being an affiliate for a gaming site while on the Princeton campus was a felony.  Really.  A felony.  It might get him kicked out of school, but life in prison?  Are you freaking kidding me?

There are a lot of logical inconsistencies like that in this particular film - like why, if gambling is LEGAL in the country where they have set up shop, since that is WHY they set up shop there, they would then need to bribe everyone and their brother in order to continue operating there.  Unless bribery is just a way of life, in which case I think the tourism board of Costa Rica is well within their rights to sue Runner Runner for defamation of character, but I digress...

Ignoring all the logical wobbles (as much as that pains me to do), the real problem of this film is the lack of a sympathetic main character.  So let's fix that.

First off, there is NO GOOD REASON for Justin to have a history as a Wall Street douche.  It never comes into play and it just makes him look like an asshat who made a lot of money and went through it like it was nothing.  Later in the film, a father with a gambling addiction is used as leverage against our guy.  So why not start there?  His dad is a gambler and he is the young, undergrad student struggling to put himself through Princeton when his father comes to him and claims that he was ripped off online.  Our hero doesn't believe him at first, blaming the dad, but when he looks into it, he uses his OWN super math skills to deduce that his dad was, in fact, ripped off.  He tries to contact the site about the error and the responses is an all expenses paid trip down to meet the boss himself.  Our hero is nervous but as a young guy (I'd make him twenty, not even really legal to drink yet), he's swept away by the wealth and power which is more than he's ever seen.  He's also attracted to the idea of working for the house, because the house always wins and that's something he's learned very well in his life as the son of a gambler.  If he's younger, smart but naive (and not someone who has already made a living at the expense of others), then he becomes much more sympathetic as he is swept away by the lifestyle.  Then, later, when his father's debts are bought by his Boss, he will realize how much he is owned by the choices he made and we won't be thinking "Well, that's what you get, douchebag."

The story is an old one.  It's Faust.  It's the devil's bargain.  It's temptation without looking at the price.  But if the guy signing the devil's bargain is a jerk, you kind of root for the devil to win - or in the case of this movie, for everyone to lose.  They did win in one way... they won the race to the theatres, beating The Counselor onto screens (since they seem to have very similar plots & themes).  Other than that?  Not much win here.

Though at least all the people are pretty.  And I really loved the alligators.

To Surf or Not to Surf, That is the Question

Are we so consumed by the internet that we stop being individuals?  I recently saw this article and this quote in particular:

“And so it seems to me that the writer’s responsibility nowadays is very basic: to continue to try to be a person, not merely a member of a crowd. (Of course, the place where the crowd is forming now is largely electronic.) This is a primary assignment for anyone setting up to be and remain a writer now. So even as I spend half my day on the Internet—doing email, buying plane tickets, ordering stuff online, looking at bird pictures, all of it—I personally need to be careful to restrict my access. I need to make sure I still have a private self. Because the private self is where my writing comes from. The more I’m pulled out of that, the more I simply become another loudspeaker for what already exists. As a writer, I’m trying to pay attention to the stuff the people aren’t paying attention to. I’m trying to monitor my own soul as carefully as I can and find ways to express what I find there.”

I love this, but I also appreciate the irony that I found it online... while bopping around on twitter one morning.  

 

There seems to be this constant war in my life - if I'm not online, am I failing to interact with readers in the way they wish which will lead them to discover and enjoy my work?  But if I am online, do I lose the introspection that enables me to create?  I get some of my best ideas in the car or in the shower - is part of that because I am alone with myself in those moments?  

 

What do you think?  Are we all becoming loud-speakers for the same causes?  Internet is about connection (that's the beauty of it), but is it possible to be too connected?  Do we need a level of disconnect to create?

Books Books Books!

Wanna win some books?  Jeannie Lin is over at the Ruby Blog today giving away some of the books she snagged at the Emerald City Writers Conference in Seattle.  Go forth and win, darlings!

The Next Big Thing?

Dino erotica.  Seriously.  (Segment starts at 4.25)

I heard about this last week in the context of a spoof of the bizarre phenom (The Bodice Raptor... Rex and the Single Girl...).  A writer friend was prompted to ask, "What's next?"  She postulated that perhaps we were heading into the brave new world of sex with National Monuments (among others).  What do you think?  Mount Rushmore Menage.  They can't resist her National Treasure.  "Oh, Mr. Lincoln, what a big hat you have..." "Is that the Washington Monument in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Or maybe 50 Shades of Shutdown... When the monuments shut down, our founding fathers get it up...  Night at the Museum: Horny Presidents Edition

Yeah, maybe not.  I might never write the Next Big (Ridiculous) Thing, but I admit I'm secretly hoping Liz Talley follows through on her joking offer to write Bigfoot erotica.  I would just die.

Overshare?

Today I'm over at the Ruby blog (last minute engagement!) chatting about how much to share about myself, my books and whatnot.  Come on by and tell me what you like to see from writers.

Delilah Devlin Guest Blog

Today I'm visiting Delilah Devlin's blog, to talk again about Naughty Karma - this time chatting about powerful women and the men who balance them.  Come tell me who your favorite pair is.  Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy?  Hawke and Siena?  Eve Dallas and Roark?

Naughty Karma's Ruby Release Party

Today over at the Ruby Blog we're celebrating Naughty Karma's release with an interview and a giveaway.  Swing on over for a chance to win a copy or to ask me any and all questions you have about the series or anything else you might wanna ask. I am an open book today!

Just Paranormal Romance Guest Blog

Today the Naughty Karma release celebration continues over at the Just Paranormal Romance blog!  I'm chatting about temptation and one lucky commenter will win a copy of their choice of any of my ebooks.  Good luck, darlings!

Naughty Karma is HERE!!!

Happy Naughty Karma Release Day, everyone!!! I'm so excited that this book is finally in readers' hands.  I hope you love it even half as much as I loved writing this series! 

Today, I'm celebrating the release with the fabulous Mary Hughes over at her blog.  I'm talking about my favorite Mary Shelley quote, the nature of evil, and redeeming a villain for a hero role.  One lucky commenter will win a copy of Naughty Karma, so come on by! 

I'll also be visiting the Samhain Cafe this afternoon, to share some delicious snippets of the book.

Happy Karma Day!!!

(And for those who haven't grabbed it yet - there are blurbs & reviews & buy links & excerpts HERE.)

Countdown to Karma! (One Day More!) Recap the Last: The Naked Detective

Naughty Karma releases TOMORROW and I am just a teensy little bit excited about this book.  But before it comes out, we have one final Karmic Refresher to do: The Naked Detective.

**WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS**

The Naked Detective opens as The Sexorcist is nearing it's finale.  It's the day of the wedding and everything is going wrong.  Since Chase is in Bali on his honeymoon with Mia, Karma has just called her other best finder to help locate Lucy's missing wedding dress.  Ciara would be at the wedding herself, but Ciara never ever leaves the house...

The Naked Detective

Ciara Liung has an unbelievable record when it comes to locating lost or stolen items - but the psychic ability that causes this success also triggers unbearable psychic feedback whenever her skin is touched.  Forced to shut herself off from the world, she spends most of her days floating naked in her pool, locating items in places she will never be able to go.

Federal Agent Nate Smith doesn't trust anything that's too good to be true - and the Jewelry & Gemstone Division's "consultant" with a perfect record is exactly that.  Especially because she can only recover the stolen jewels, not necessarily catch the thieves.  Recently reassigned to be her liaison after being wounded in action, Nate is certain the so-called psychic is a crook running some scam with the thieves, and until he can figure out what her angle is, he isn't letting her out of his sight.

When a priceless necklace belonging to the royal family of Monaco is stolen from an American exhibit, Nate brings the case to Ciara, but insists on sticking with her while she "searches" for the missing jewels.  Unwilling to strip down in front of the surly (and sexy) federal agent, Ciara tries to do a find with her clothes on, but the fabric provides too much static and she is only able to determine that the necklace is in Atlantic City.

Nate blackmails Ciara into coming to Atlantic City with him, threatening to do a federal probe of all Karmic Consultants activities (and while Ciara is sure Karma's actions are all ethical, she's not so sure about the legality).  To protect the only people who have ever treated her like she wasn't a freak for her abilities, Ciara leaves the safety of her house for the first time in years and goes with Nate.

In Atlantic City, Ciara struggles for days to get a lock on the necklace because Nate is keeping her on such a tight leash she can't sneak away and get nekkid in the water to track it down. Still, the limping Fed is protective and gruffly charming.  If he wasn't so convinced she was a crook, she could almost like him.

When she sees a dunk tank on the pier, Ciara jumps at her chance.  She pulls away from Nate - taking advantage of the fact that he can only move so fast after the bullet that ravaged his thigh muscles - and weaves through the crowd, dodging contact.  At the dunk tank, she strips down and jumps in, activating her gift.

Nate arrives and reaches in to fish her out - but as soon as he touches her, with the water amplifying her abilities, she begins to seize, swallowing water and thrashing, and he can't get the leverage to pull her out.  Ciara knows she's going to drown - when suddenly something shifts and the psychic feedback vanishes. 

Nate hauls her out and the two flee the pier before Ciara can be arrested for indecent exposure.  She knows that the necklace is at the Borgata - but even more exciting, she can touch people.  She kisses Nate, just to see if she can - and boy can she. 

They go to the Borgata, where Ciara believes the necklace is being hidden in a room safe.  She goes a little wild with her newfound ability to touch - shopping, gambling, and dancing with Nate.  It's at the dance club where she sees a woman from her vision and they chase her through the casino and hotel - but the bad guys are onto Ciara & Nate and get the drop on them.  Nate goes all badass Federal Agent and saves the day - with Ciara's help, of course - and they recover the necklace. 

Ciara can't seem to stop touching Nate - and he doesn't mind that a bit.  He believes in her abilites now - and has realized that his damaged leg doesn't have to cripple his life.  And they all live happily ever...

Buy The Naked Detective Now from Amazon :: B&N :: Samhain 

Up next... Naughty Karma Release Day!!!!!

Countdown to Karma! Recap #4: The Sexorcist

The Countdown to Karma (TWO MORE DAYS!!!) continues today with a refresher course on The Sexorcist!

**WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS**

It's a few weeks after the end of Finder's Keeper.  Chase and Mia are about to elope and run off to Bali on their honeymoon.  Wyatt and Jo are living together (though she's resisting all of his attempt to propose to her).  And Lucy and Jake are gearing up for their big white wedding - The Big Day is a little over three weeks away and... well... things aren't exactly going smoothly in the planning department.

The Sexorcist

Brittany Hylton-VanDeere believes in love at first sight and that belief is not limited to love of the person-to-person variety.  She falls in love with Karmic Consultants from the second she arrives there to apply for the receptionist position (which never seems to stay filled for more than a week due to all the odd happenings at KC). 

Unfortunately, Karma isn't sure the bubbly brunette who's never held a job (though she has helped her mother coordinate numerous charity functions) is right for the position.  But when Lucy and Jo burst in on Brittany's interview, frantic with the news that the latest wedding planner has just resigned and the baker is refusing to complete the wedding cake as ordered, Brittany steps in and smooths things over with the baker, earning herself the position of receptionist-slash-impromptu-wedding-planner. 

She's delighted with her success (delight being more or less Brittany's natural state) when her meeting is interrupted a second time.  This time by the most animalistically attractive specimen of masculinity she's ever laid eyes on: Rodriguez.

Karmic Consultants' resident exorcist Luis Rodriguez is having a crappy day.  He's just found out that the local desperate housewives have been intentionally summoning demons just so they can hire his studly tattooed self to exorcize them in an attempt to see which of them can get him into bed first.  Sick of being objectified by the idle rich, he is unimpressed with his boss's newest receptionist - especially when the bright-eyed brunette rear-ends him in the parking lot and then seems thrilled when he tells her that her car is possessed by a demon.

Brittany adores new experiences, but her enthusiasm over the demonic wanes when a creature with shark-like teeth chases her through the flower market where she has gone to secure the flowers for Lucy's cursed wedding. 

And it appears the wedding is indeed cursed.  Everything that can go wrong is going wrong, and Karma is now certain that there is a mischief demon interfering with the wedding.  She assigns Rodriguez to Brittany until they can locate and banish the demon. 

Rodriguez is baffled by Brittany's seemingly endless enthusiasm for everything (from filing to sandwich making), until one night when they are checking out a band for the reception and she reveals to him that she is a heart transplant survivor and tries to make a point of enjoying every opportunity her new lease on life has given her.  She throws herself into every new adventure - including the adventure of falling in love with him.

Brittany and Rodriguez field every new disaster the demon throws at them, but they are no closer to catching the demon himself, or the person who summoned him.  On the night of the rehearsal dinner, the demon spikes the punch at the after party and when Rodriguez drinks it, it plays on all his doubts about his relationship with Brittany.  When one of the housewives who summoned a demon in an attempt to bang Rodriguez recognizes Brittany from their country club, Rodriguez suspects the worst, believing Brittany was in on the bet to get him into bed and was just using him all along.

Hurt by his accusations, Brittany retreats home to her parents - who never supported her sojourn into the real world in the first place and would rather keep her wrapped in cotton for the rest of her life.  She just wants to hide until her new heart stops hurting - but the demon has other ideas.

As soon as the mischief demon kidnaps Brittany, everything at the wedding begins to unravel.  It turns out she is something of a Karmic good luck charm and without her chaos is taking over. (Lucy's dress is missing, among other catastrophes.)  Karma reads Rodriguez the riot act and sends him to save her receptionist.  

Realizing the housewives are involved, if only peripherally, he uses one of them to track down the mischief demon and rescues Brittany.  He banishes the demon - but not before the demon confesses that he was summoned by Prometheus to disrupt the wedding.  (And the demon also implies that Prometheus might be infatuated with Karma...)

Rodriguez apologizes and Brittany is quick to forgive him, not being the sort to hold onto anger or hurt.  Together, they return to the wedding where everything immediately begins to go right as soon as Brittany arrives. 

At the reception, they tell Karma that Prometheus was behind it all and she vows to shut the immoral warlock down once and for all... 

Buy The Sexorcist Now from Amazon :: B&N :: Samhain 

Up next... The Naked Detective.

Countdown to Karma! Recap #3: Finder's Keeper

We resume our Countdown to Karma (T-minus three days!) with a recap of the science vs. psychics in the matter of true love book, Finder's Keeper, which has just released in print!  (Though the sixth story to be released, it takes place in the early spring following the October events of The Ghost Exterminator.)

You guys ready?  Let's do this.

**WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS**

Finder's Keeper

Neuroscientist Mia Corregianni is a born skeptic from a family that's large, loving and extremely superstitious.  They assign the credit for all the happy marriages in the family to an heirloom pocket watch which is passed around the family and believed to have been gifted to her great-great-grandfather by a gypsy.  Every year, the watch's guardian will find their soulmate and fall head-over-heels in love.

Mia avoided her turn with the watch as long as possible, but this is her year, and it's almost up.  Having finally decided that she might want the family-and-kids deal that the rest of her family are so hung up on, she agrees to give the watch a chance - but when she goes to take it out of her safe, it's missing.

Knowing her family will never forgive her if she's lost their precious watch, Mia tears her place apart looking for it and even goes on a little bender, during which she drunk dials Karmic Consultants, begging them to help her find it. 

She regrets the call as soon as she sobers up in the morning, but by then it's too late.  Karma has sent her Chase.

Chase Hunter is a laid back surfer and natural born charmer with a gift for finding things.  He can tap into your innermost desires and find anything - as long as it's the thing you want most in the world in that instant.  But Mia's relationship with the watch is far from simple and the truth is she doesn't really want it back - at least not without the pressure of her family bearing down on her. 

So Chase hatches a plan.  He needs a fake girlfriend to get his friends off his back about the fact that he's been essentially avoiding life (and doing nothing but surfing) since his family was killed in a car accident six years earlier.  Mia needs a date to her niece's Christening to prove to her family that the watch is working - and while she's with them she'll desperately want the watch and Chase'll be able to get a lock on it.

But things never go according to plan, do they?

Chase and Mia are unprepared for the commando matchmaking that reigns in Mia's family.  Though Mia tries to backpedal and claim she and Chase are just friends, her family give him a plethora of advice on how to propose to her and her sweet little Italian grandmother even locks the pair of them in the pantry for Seven Minutes in Heaven.  Chase decides to pay the ransom and kisses Mia - surprising them both with their chemistry. 

They survive the night, but her family is three-quarters in love with Chase - the psychic fitting right into their world in a way Mia never has - and they are no closer to the watch.

Determined to find the watch and eager to see Mia again - the one person who has really made him feel alive since he lost his family - Chase seeks her out and appeals to her in the one way he knows she won't be able to resist: scientifically.  He agrees to let her run test on his brain to see how his psychic powers work.

Everything is copacetic, but the lines between fake dating and real chemistry are starting to blur - especially when Chase takes her to meet his friends and Mia learns about his tragic past.  Suddenly she sees the happy-go-lucky surfer in a new light, but revealing so much to her freaks Chase out and he pulls back emotionally, even though they are still seeing each other for her science and playing at love for her family. 

But when her own family goes through a crisis, Chase is there for her - and the fake relationship falls away to make way for a real one.  Chase begins to let go of the past he's been avoiding dealing with, and Mia begins to believe there might be more to the world than science can explain. 

When she realizes she's in love with him, she races to scan her brain, to see if she can see the changes in her neural network.  Her lab assistants ask how she met Chase and when she tells the story of the watch, the pair immediately admit that they "borrowed" the love watch months ago in an attempt to duplicate its properties.  Just like that, Mia has the watch back and a man she loves - maybe the watch is magic after all.

But when she confesses her feelings to Chase (by showing him a scan of her brain on love), he freaks again and bolts.  Thinking the watch will draw him back to her, she puts it on for the first time.  Instantly, there is a knock at her door.  But it isn't Chase.  It's her ex - another highly cerebral scientist with an itemized list of the logical reasons they should get back together and raise a family of little geniuses.

Chase goes to Karma to tell her that the job is over - and she tells him he's an idiot for letting love slip away because he's too chicken to live again.  He spends the night thinking about what she says and goes to Mia's first thing in the morning - where he finds her having breakfast with her ex.

She tells him the watch must be working and that Peter must be the one she's supposed to be with, but Chase urges her to follow her heart and pick him.  Mia's scientific heart melts and she falls into his arms, kissing him, wanting nothing more than to wear the watch - and only the watch - for him.  In that instant, Chase gets a pure psychic lock on the watch - and realizes the one Mia has on is a fake.

They go to the shop where her assistants took the original watch in an attempt to duplicate it and confront one wily warlock named Prometheus - who switched the magic watch for a fake.  Prometheus gives them back the original, but claims Chase's boss Karma owes him for giving it up - and he will collect. 

Mia, wearing the real watch, and Chase go to her family's party where she will turn it over to the next lucky victim - and where they will announce their upcoming wedding.  They can't get to their happily ever after fast enough.

Buy Finder's Keeper Now from Amazon :: B&N :: Samhain 

Up next... The Sexorcist

Tempt Me Release Celebration!

We take a break from our Countdown to Karma to gush about another new release.  Want something to read this weekend as you're anxiously awaiting the release of Naughty Karma?  Well, you're in luck, boys and girls!  Tempt Me, the latest book in the Underbelly Chronicles by Tamara Hogan, is out now and I'm over at the Ruby Blog interviewing the intrepid authoress herself (and she might just be giving away a copy of the book - hint, hint)!

It's Bailey and Rafe and, you guys, let me just say, this series keeps getting better and better.  This is my favorite yet.

A sex demon and a preacher’s kid? Heaven forbid! 

Technology whiz Bailey Brown is one of two humans alive who knows a very important secret: that humanity has shared their planet with paranormals for millennia. When an obsessed hacker from her past threatens to expose the secret, Bailey and her Sebastiani Security colleagues must use every weapon at their disposal to stop him. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and she can’t let herself be distracted by her boss’s gorgeous brother, even if he is temptation incarnate…

Incubus sculptor Rafe Sebastiani hasn’t produced a decent nude in over a year, since he made the most selfish mistake of his life: sleeping with Bailey Brown. Now, with a deadline looming, his cranky muse has finally allowed him to express his memories of that incendiary night in clay. But when his brother asks him to pose as Bailey’s lover to provoke her dangerous ex, he jumps at the chance…to sculpt her, to protect her, and to earn the right to tempt her—and only her—for the rest of their lives…

Buy It Now:  Amazon (Kindle and Print)– BN – ARe
Read an excerpt!

Countdown to Karma! Recap #2: The Ghost Exterminator

T-minus five days until Karma!

Today, in preparation for the TUESDAY release of Naughty Karma we continue our Karmic Consultants refresher course with The Ghost Exterminator: A Love Story (the book in which we first learn of the existence of Prometheus).  

Enjoy!

**WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS**

 

The Ghost Exterminator: A Love Story

Six months after the events of The Ghost Shrink, Jake has popped the question and he and Lucy are planning a big engagement party... but it's Lucy's cousin, ghost exterminator JO BANKS whose life is about to be thrown for a loop.

Another ghost wrangler working at Karmic Consultants, Jo specializes in forcibly transcending reluctant ghosts who might be causing trouble with their haunting.  (Lucy is all about finesse and talking about your feelings, but Jo is definitely a "buy a bigger hammer" type girl when it comes to problem solving in the ghostly realm.)  But in this new job, a bigger hammer might not cut it.

Bajillionaire hotel magnate WYATT HAINES is having some trouble with his newest posh boutique inn.  He doesn't believe in ghosts, certainly doesn't believe his inn is haunted, but after a series of inexplicable pranks keep disrupting the renovations efforts on the old Victorian mansion, desperation forces him to accept his secretary's suggestion that he bring in someone to clean out the ghosts.

Enter Jo.

The rigid, control-freak CEO and the defiant, punkette ghost exterminator immediately butt heads. He doesn't trust the rebel with the body of a playmate anywhere near his property and she's reasonably certain that the stick up his ass must be interfering with his internal organs.  But eventually he lets her inside to work her mojo. 

Unfortunately, her mojo is no match for the Big Bad inside the Victorian.  Somehow hundreds of child ghosts have been trapped in the house.  She manages to transcend most of them - but Wyatt distracts her at a critical moment and somehow the last two young ghosts are catapulted into the CEO himself.  

 

She's never unhaunted a person before - and she's not sure she can open a portal that will suck out the two ghost souls without also sucking out Wyatt's in the process (supposing soulless businessmen actually have souls, of course).  Wyatt doesn't want to believe in ghosts, but every time he falls asleep, the young spirits take over his body, pulling all manner of pranks.  

 

Until Jo can figure out how to safely exterminate the ghosts, they are stuck with each other.  She drags him along with her as her "date" to Lucy and Jake's engagement party - where Wyatt's ghosts take over and toss one of Jo's brothers-in-law in the pool.  Jo confronts the ghosts - and realizes that the two pranksters are actually the original residents of the Victorian, trying to protect their home.  

She believes that the ghosts will have more impetus to vacate Wyatt's body back at the Victorian, but when they return to the inn, they discover that there are suddenly hundreds more child ghosts haunting the house.  Something is very wrong at Casa Haines. 

Jo is worried that she has completely lost her ghost exterminating mojo - and it is Wyatt, of all people, who comforts her.  Their antipathy has given way to sizzling attraction - though they both know they are far too different to ever have a functional relationship. 

Wyatt has to go to another of his inn's grand opening and he takes Jo along as his ghost babysitter and date.  At the reception, Jo catches Wyatt's secretary hiding a charm at the new inn - and the woman confesses that she hid a similar one at the Victorian.  Believing the charms were simple good juju, she didn't realize the one she left at the Victorian (sold to her by an unscrupulous warlock named Prometheus) was actually designed to lure the ghosts of children onto the premises.

Jo and Wyatt fly back (with a time out for romance on the plane) and immediately go to the Victorian to destroy the charm.  Jo transcends all the ghosts in the mansion - except the two in Wyatt which are released into the tower room where they have always lived.  Wyatt decides to keep the two prankster on, marketing the new inn as a haunted B&B.  And he invites Jo to stick with him as well, as his ghost consultant.  

Their relationship isn't traditional, but he accepts her, ghosts and all, and she keeps his workaholic side from consuming his soul.  And they all live happily ever after... until the next adventure.

Buy The Ghost Exterminator: A Love Story Now from Amazon :: B&N :: Samhain 

Up next... Finder's Keeper

Countdown to Karma! Recap #1: Ghost Shrink and A Cop & A Feel

T-minus six days until Karma!

Naughty Karma is Book Seven in the series, and while it can be read as a stand-alone, it is sort of the culmination of all that has built up in the Karmic Consultants books over the last four years.  Naturally, I would advise you all to reread the whole lot, but since we have lives and towering TBR shelves, I realize this is not always possible, so I thought I'd post some quickie recaps to refresh your memory here as we COUNTDOWN TO KARMA! (This should be read in an echoey announcer voice.)

The series was not released in strictly chronological order (A Cop & A Feel and Finder's Keeper were released out of sequence - and if you want to know why I can give you a long, drawn out explanation about promo anthologies and editors retiring and plans changing and all sorts of fun stuff), but I'm going to recap them in the order they occur in the timeline of the Karmic World.

So today we kick off with the little story that started it all, the one that got me my first contract ever, The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo & The Poltergeist Accountant.  And the little novella that could - A Cop & A Feel.

Enjoy!

**WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS**

It all starts with a dead accountant.

 

The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo & the Poltergeist Accountant

LUCY CARTWRIGHT sees dead people. Naked dead people. Every night she is visited by the horny ghosts of pencil-pushers past and talks them through their unresolved issues so they can move on to the white light. She'd love to meet a nice guy - rather than her usual diet of stripteasing stockbrokers on the wrong side of mortality - but her job as a post-life therapist doesn't really lend itself to a healthy love-life. So when a certified stud-muffin shows up on her doorstep, she's convinced her boss KARMA of Karmic Consultants, has sent her a gigolo.

But JAKE COX is no gigolo. A private investigator on the trail of a recently deceased mob accountant, he also happens to be Karma's younger brother. Sparks immediately fly between the tough-guy PI and the girl-next-door who talks to ghosts, but if they give in to their attraction the ghost of Eliot Mellman might not pay Lucy a visit. They keep their hands off one another until the accountant appears in Lucy's bedroom - but Eliot isn't your average ghost. He's uber powerful and instantly adores the dimpled ghost shrink, nearly going poltergeist when he thinks Jake is trying to horn in on his burgeoning relationship with Lucy.

Eliot sends Jake into a trap at his former boss's warehouse and when Lucy realizes what he's done, she rushes headlong in to rescue him. Unfortunately, she forgets to bring the cavalry. Just one pissy poltergeist. Seeing his murderer, Eliot puffs up in all his post life glory, scaring away the bad guys. With Lucy's help, he transcends and Jake has the evidence he needs to take Big Joe down for a long time.

Lucy is convinced she's blown any chance she had with Jake, but even though her life is crazy, he realizes she just might be the kind of crazy he can't live without. He makes it his mission to keep her so satisfied, she won't have any unfulfilled desires to lure horny ghosts to her in the afterlife.

Buy The Ghost Shrink (et al) Now from Amazon :: B&N :: Samhain

A Cop & A Feel

Big Joe's incarceration left a power void in the organized crime of the area and it is filled by a man named Coretti - but Coretti has ambitions of legitimacy. To prove his honorability to a potential business partner, he agrees to be read by one of Karmic Consultants' psychics, a touch reader named RONNA MITCHELL - but he plans to hedge his bets by doing whatever necessary to ensure Ronna gives him a stellar report.

MATT HOLLOWAY is an ambitious young cop trying to get in with the organized crime task force. When they get a tip that Coretti's favorite hit man, Cutter, has been sent to deal with a "reader" at a carnival (where Ronna moonlights reading palms), he's sent to tail Cutter and protect the person he believes must be a vital witness with information on Coretti. Matt ducks into Ronna's booth to avoid being spotted - and it's love at first touch.

The second Ronna lays her fingers on Matt, she sees their future together - but it is only a potential future, provided they both survive the night. By the time Ronna figures out that Matt is in danger (in addition to being the love of her life), he has already taken off in pursuit of Cutter.

Ronna chases after him and saves his life, but Matt only sees that she's blown his mission and Cutter has escaped. He wants nothing more to do with the crazy lady who thinks she's his one and only and brushes her off - which really tics Ronna off.  If he's her meant-to-be, shouldn't he be a little more open-minded?  She retreats to her booth.. where Cutter is waiting to threaten Ronna to ensure her cooperation.

Matt, tipped off by one of his trademark hunches, bursts in to save her, fighting off Cutter and giving her a chance to escape.  But when the victor emerges from the tent to find her - it is Cutter, rather than Matt.  He catches her, intent on killing her if she refuses to cooperate, but when Ronna sees Matt bloodily stagger out of her tent - still alive! - she discovers a new aspect of her talent, feeding images into Cutter's brain, making him the victim of all the horrors he has inflicted on others and snapping his mind like a toothpick.

All in self defense, but afterwards she is swamped by guilt and the fear that she won't be able to turn this horrible new aspect of her gift off.  She refuses to let Matt touch her - until Karma arrives and forces Ronna to read her.  Her usual gift is still perfectly intact - she did not automatically become a monster in the process of defending herself from one.  She lets Matt touch her - and this time he sees their future in the touch, just as she had.  It's going to be quite the happily ever after.

Buy A Cop & A Feel Now from Amazon :: B&N :: Samhain

Up next... The Ghost Exterminator: A Love Story

Big October Karmic Release Party!!!

Today print copies of Finder's Keeper are arriving in bookstores (and mailboxes for the online ordering inclined) everywhere and next week Naughty Karma hits ereaders!  It's a big release month, so you know what that means, darlings - GIVEAWAYS!!!

Because my obsession with variety prohibits me from ever doing a release giveaway the same way twice, we're changing it up again and this time there are THREE WAYS TO WIN!

WAY ONE:  The Way of the Newsletter
Subscribe to my newsletter!  Simply send an email to news@viviandrews.com with "Subscribe" in the subject line.  (The Fine Print: your email will not be sold, lent, or used for any nefarious purposes.  Newsletters are sent out 2-4 times a year and you can unsubscribe at any time.)  On October 31st, I will randomly select TWO newsletter winners.  One will receive a signed print copy of Finder's Keeper and one will take home the Naughty Karma Chinese Fan (which I picked up for you in Hangzhou, China) and a $10 Amazon Gift Card.  Want to improve your chances of winning?  Refer a friend!  For every new subscriber who includes your name or email address in the body of their subscription email you will receive two additional entries into the final drawing.

(I can't figure out why this picture insists on being sideways, but this is the Karma Fan.  So called because when I saw it, I couldn't help think it would fit right into the decor of Karma's lair.)

WAY TWO: The Way of The Facebooks
Like my Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/viviandrews) and tell your friends!  If the page has 800 or more Likes by Midnight (Alaska Time) October 31, 2013, I will randomly select one page liker to win a $20 Amazon or B&N Gift Card.  And if we go over 1000 Likes, I will randomly select one liker who will get to name the villain in the upcoming release Super Trouble.  (Though, for legal reasons, it must be a made up name or the person whose name you pick must sign a waiver.)

WAY THREE: The Way of The Twitter
Follow me on Twitter!  (https://twitter.com/ViviAndrews)  If I have 1000 or more Followers by Midnight (Alaska Time) October 31, 2013, I will randomly select one page follower to win a $20 Amazon or B&N Gift Card.

So happy release month, boys and girls!  Here's to winning stuff!