Dana Marton - Last Spy Standing

I am thrilled to be able feature, Dana Marton's upcoming January 2012 release Last Spy Standing from Harlequin Intrigue. I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy, and loved it. Last Spy Standing is a fast paced adventure set in the jungles of South America. Dana Marton drops the reader right into the action, and sets the scene so vividly that it makes you wish for a handy machete, so you can cut your way through the jungle along with the characters.

Do you love reading a book set in the jungle? Where there is danger in every step the characters take, and the setting itself is as unpredictable as the enemy. Sparks and bullets begin to fly when Mitch Mendoza the hunky hero, meets the feisty heroine Megan Cassidy. Last Spy Standing is a book that you will not be able to put down. 


There a few elements that can be expected in any story that is set in a jungle. The first thing is snakes, and Dana delivers on that point there are plenty of snakes both poisonous and benign in  Last Spy Standing. The second is spiders, and the spider featured in this book is unbelievable, but very real.  


So, to help any of you that find yourself dropped into a jungle I thought I would point out a snake, and a spider in Last Spy Standing you should avoid. I am personally advocating that you avoid them all, but if you insist . . . First thing's first and in the classic cinematic words of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, "Snakes. Why did it have to snakes?" We will start with the snakes.


The fer-de-lance makes an appearance in Last Spy Standing, and even when he isn't on the page you get a feeling he is hiding in the leaves, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.
The fer-de-lance is a pit viper who is fast, venomous, can climb trees, swim and is easily agitated. Say no more, lets avoid him, but will Mitch and Megan?


Next we have the Banana Spider that gives new meaning to the word creepy. To be fair there are harmless yellow Banana Spider's out there, but the ones in Last Spy Standing are not those. The Banana spider is poisonous and reported to have the most painful of all spider bites. Though how they determined that is something I would rather not consider. Ouch.
                               

Brazilian Wandering Spider aka Banana Spider

I am not a spider person. I used to scream in my room until my mother would come take the offending creepy crawly outside. I am proud to say that I am now able to handle my own spiders, but if this jungle bad boy came my way, trust me I would not hesitate to get out of his way, and call for special ops to handle it. So, a good rule of thumb in the jungle is avoid spiders as well. Dana has some surprising details about this spider, and you'll have to read Last Spy Standing to find them out. 


Last Spy Standing is a must read for Dana Marton's fans, and for those of you who haven't read her books yet, this is a great book to start with. 

Dana is offering one randomly chosen commentator one her books either an e-book or in print. To be entered in the giveaway ( US or Canada please) ask Dana Marton a question in the comments below. Or answer which fictional hero or heroine would you want to bring with you if you were dropped into the middle of a jungle? I know who I'd bring, do you? 

                                                                                                                 
You can find Dana Marton on Facebook - Website - Twitter She loves to hear from readers.

Giveaway ends on Monday January 2 at 9 pm PST. Last Spy Standing is available now at all major online retailers, and at Harlequin.  Please leave an e-mail so I can get a hold of you if you win.

CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK WYOMING

Recently on Twitter one of my favorite Romantic Suspense Authors, Paula Graves was live tweeting from the hospital. I tweeted to her that she need a hunky bodyguard like her very own character, Riley Patterson from the Canyon Creek Police department. Riley is the hero of  CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK WYOMING which is Paula's RITA nominated Harlequin Intrigue and is the first book in her Cooper Justice series. Riley first meets Hannah Cooper the heroine in the hospital in a less than ideal situation. Paula tweeted back "When I meet the Intrigue hero of my dreams, I'd like to have clean hair and no oozing wounds." This tweet started me thinking that the whole premise of most Intrigue's is that the couple meets during a crisis, usually loaded with enough personal baggage to keep the average human being away, and often with little time for social niceties such as clean hair. The ability to move past these obstacles and find love in the face of impossible odds is the very reason I enjoy reading Harlequin Intrigues.

CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING

Heroine:

Hannah Cooper is a fishing guide from a large family, who is vacationing in Wyoming.

Hero:

Deputy Chief Riley Patterson a widowed police officer.

First Meeting Location:

They meet at a hospital in Jackson Wyoming, after Hannah has been attacked and peppered sprayed by a serial killer who posed as a police officer. Riley come to the hospital to question Hannah about the attack because he has a very personal interest in finding out who attacked her.

Hannah's Initial Impression:

Riley Patterson walks into the hospital room wearing a badge, and gets the following reaction."Her heart rate doubled in a span of a second, she opened her mouth and screamed.

Riley's Initial Impression:

"Bandages, blotchy skin and red rimmed eyes disappeared, revealing how pretty she was beneath her injuries." 

Paula Graves

Not an ideal meeting, nor an ideal location, but certainly the perfect setting for an Intrigue to start. This was the first book of  Paula Graves  that I had read. I was instantly hooked, by her cinematic style and carefully crafted stories. I've subsequently read everything else that she has written except for her most recent release from Harlequin Intrigue Major Nanny, which I am saving for a rainy day. 


So, I started thinking which locations and circumstances would make the least desirable romantic meeting places. Personally, I would not enjoy meeting my Intrigue hero at the dentist office, and if that dentist office was on a submarine, well that would be the worst possible romantic suspense scenario for me. Yet an Intrigue heroine might easily find love there, as the dentist would turn out to be a spy and their mission on the submarine dangerous and top secret.


My question for you is, what circumstance would you prefer not to meet your Intrigue hero or heroine in? *

*Everyone who  leaves a comment below before 9pm on December 27th, 2011 (PST) will  be entered in a random drawing and one person will  win a copy of Major Nanny by Paula Graves, and a ten dollar gift card to Amazon. Also, leave an e-mail  for me to get a hold of you. The winner will be posted on December 28th here and on Paula's Facebook page.

http//www.facebook.com/PaulaGravesBooks

Paula Graves upcoming March 2012 book - Secret Identity

Life lessons from Rory Joplin Egglehoff

The Good,the Bad and the Ugly 

Men I've Dated

by Shane Bolks

"This isn't just Star Wars stuff." I give her a stern look."This a life strategy. This is a relationship metaphor, so pay attention." -Rory

Jedi Knight

 "A Jedi Knight, like a knight in a fairy tale, is wise and brave and good. He is strong and powerful with fathoms of depth. Definite boyfriend material." -Rory

Wookiee

"A Wookiee appears to be a Jedi at the beginning of your relationship, but pretty soon his light saber is gone and you are stuck with a lot of hair and grunting." -Rory

Princess Leia

And for just one moment, Princess Leia's pose and beauty flowed into me, and it was a cool confident Rory striding down the catwalk. -Rory

Yoda

In my opinion, there are three truly great philosophers: Aristotle, Confucius, and Yoda. -Rory

Darth Vader

 If I were Princess Leia, I'd never let the Dark Side win. I'd fight for the forces of good to the bitterest end. -Rory

Rory is obsessed with Star Wars, and it defines her relationships with those around her. Most of us probably don't go that far, or at least won't admit it.

But I am going to go with the assumption that everyone has an obsession that might be considered a little geeky. Mine is RPG computer games such as Baldurs Gate and Dragon Age Origins. I also have an odd fascination with the green aliens from Toy Story. Feel free to share your geeky obsession here. Ewoks are welcome.

    My Goodreads review of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Men I've Dated by Shane Bolks. 

I loved this book. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Men I've Dated is packed full of witty dialogue and poignant characterizations. Rory the main character is living in the shadow of her childhood fear, that she doesn't quite fit in with her classmates or her family. As her high school reunion approaches she is desperate to show her former classmates that she is a somebody, but just not the somebody she truly is. To make matters worse Hunter, her childhood crush appears on the scene and much to her surprise takes an interest in her. It sounds like a dream come true, but Rory complicates the situation by not letting Hunter know who she really is. A general knowledge of Star Wars is helpful when reading this book, because it really is a collision between Star Wars and Chick Lit, but in the best way possible. 

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Veterans Day 2011

On Veterans Day

 and every day I would like to say,

thank you to those of you who have stood up to defend this country.

Thank you,

to those who have sacrificed so much to give American's the very freedom we take for granted.

Thank you, and may God bless you.

You are not forgotten.

Halloween Cat Cookies

Halloween is here, and for me it is the beginning of the hustle of the holiday season. There is always so much going on from this point forward that I've found it easier to stick to traditions. For all I know that is how traditions came about. One year a mother tired of being clever, and original decided that it was much easier to do the holiday's exactly the same every year, and traditions were born. 

One tradition we have is making Cat cookies for school. They are a chocolate cookie with candy corn eyes and a M&M nose. I originally found them in the now defunct Hallmark magazine, but I sure they have been around forever.You can find them here at allrecipes.com

The idea is to rapidly place the candy corn and M&M's in while  the cookies are hot. This is where we "traditionally" run into trouble.This year we couldn't get the candy to stick. So we tried putting the candy in before we cooked them, which to be perfectly honest, we've done it that way in  the past and achieved the expected results. If you put the candy in first the candy corn melts, and you have cats with runny eyes.

It's not the end of the world, you can cut the melted edges off, and you have a perfectly lovely cat cookie. But the last batch, we waited to put the eyes and nose in, until there was only two minutes left on the timer. Then we put the cookies back in the oven to finish baking. We piled the cookies into the waiting tray, threw in some loose candy corn and they are ready for school tomorrow.

That is one of our tasty Halloween traditions. What traditions do you rely on to sail through the holidays? 

Magical Mail

I have had another fun filled month of new books arriving almost by magic in my mail box.  Earlier this month, I won Theresa Romain's debut historical novel Season for Temptation from the Vauxhall Vixens during her blog tour. That was a terrific surprise, as I had been following Theresa's journey as a new author on Facebook, Twitter and her blog. I was actual nervous about reading this book, because I had started to get to know Theresa on Twitter, and was concerned that her regency heroine might be packing a light saber and raising a clutch of baby kraken in her rose garden.(Is clutch the proper word for a group of baby kraken? I'll have to ask Theresa as she is somewhat of an expert.) Well, my worries were unfounded as Season for Temptation is a charming tale, with fun characters caught up in an awkward love triangle and nary a kraken in sight. 

Then today, Awakened by a Kiss arrived in the mail from Lila DiPasqua which I had won on her blog. I am excited to read Awakened by a Kiss, because first of all I haven't read any of Lila's books yet, and secondly they are based on Fairy tales. Sounds lovely doesn't it? Did I mention that they were Fiery Tales and reported to be steamy? Now I have your attention, don't I? (How steamy I wonder? Well, I'll just have to read them and find out.) Lila also sent me many bookmarks, and excerpts from her books as well as other authors, which was a wonderful surprise. A little tidbit about Lila DiPasqua is that she has been very close to Gerald Butler. Yes, that Gerald Butler - don't be jealous they were well supervised. Also Lila's husband Mr.D is a frequent guest interviewer on her blog, and has had some very funny interviews with various romance writers husbands. Lila also has a newer book out A Midnight Dance that is getting fabulous reviews.

Both Lila DiPasqua and Theresa Romain have very entertaining blogs and I have posted links to those under Merry Mix of Blogs.

Thanks to both of them for keeping the magic in my mail box. Have you found any magic in your mail box lately?