by Laura K. Curtis | Nov 9, 2013 | Books, Freebies & Giveaways |
I love Nancy Martin’s Blackbird sisters mystery series. I talked about them over on Deb Lacy’s Mystery Playground blog a while back (along with a recipe for yummy sangria) because I think if you like light, fun mysteries with a touch of snark and a feminine feel, you’ll love them, too. But I know it’s hard to try a new author when your favorites have books out and you have limited funds, so I figured I’d give away an e-copy of Nancy’s first Blackbird sisters book, How to Murder a Millionaire and let you see for yourself why I like them!
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by Laura K. Curtis | Nov 8, 2013 | Books, Freebies & Giveaways |
This is not a cookbook. Well, there are some recipes for dinner items you can make ahead so that you can use the leftovers to make lunch, but really it’s a visual exploration of fun stuff to put in your kid’s (or your–many of these items are perfect for adult palates) lunch box. Why go for the same old thing when you can make it fun and different?
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by Laura K. Curtis | Nov 5, 2013 | Books, Romance |
I know y’all are getting tired of hearing my voice every day, so today I am going to introduce you to the fabulous Sarah M. Anderson, who did my Lego trailer for Twisted. And at the bottom of the little interview, you can enter to win any format you choose of Sarah’s Expecting a Bolton Baby, e or print!
LKC: How did you get the idea to do Lego trailers?
SMA: I got the idea for Lego book trailers indirectly from Tessa Dare. She’d done some videos using only toys found in her kids’ room–and, given the number of Barbies, her kids are girls. I thought the videos were hilarious but I have 1 son–not so many Barbies (a few vintage Star Wars ‘action figures’, but not enough to do anything with). “I just don’t have Barbies. I have Legos,” I was complaining to my friend one day and then it hit me–I HAVE LEGOS. We did the first video that weekend, for Mystic Cowboy.
LKC: What part of the trailer production is “mother” and what part is “son?”
SMA: I’d say it’s about 70% Mother and 30% Son. Obviously, my son is in charge of props. He also is in charge of backdrops–he draws the skies for me and we use his science fair posterboard as the base. So usually I’m setting up the shots and shouting to him, “I NEED THE SHARK GUY! WHERE IS HE?” and he has to excavate through the thousands and thousands and thousands of Legos we have for the one shark guy. Otherwise, I’m pretty much making up the script as I go, taking the photos (lighting Lego Dudes is harder than you think!) and then uploading everything to my computer and editing it in iMovie. He hasn’t graduated to editing yet, but when we have the backdrop set up, he usually takes shots for a movie he’s going to make … someday. Last time, it was Star Wars Clone Wars Battle (with surprise Ninjago battalion!)
LKC: What’s your favorite (and least favorite) part of making a trailer?
SMA: I crack myself up. I really do. I make these for my own entertainment. I like seeing what Lego weirdness (or other toy weirdness–like Jeremy the Jet from Thomas the Tank Engine popping up in the Real Cowboy video) I can cram into two minutes or less. The least favorite part is actually taking the photos. I guess I need a better camera with a fancy flash or something, but trying to get close-ups without a flash glare is hard. Or maybe I just need to clean the boy fingerprints off the lenses!
LKC: Tell us a little about the Bolton brothers — how many of them are there, what is their relationship like, how does the family dynamic work?
SMA: They’re a fun bunch–as the video states, they put the ‘fun’ in ‘dysfunctional’! The Boltons are three brothers that own and operate Crazy Horse Choppers, a custom-built motorcycle shop. The first book is middle brother Ben (Straddling the Line)–he’s the numbers guy who runs the company and pays the bills. Billy, the oldest (Bringing Home the Bachelor) is the hard-core biker dude who actually builds the bikes. Baby brother Bobby (Expecting a Bolton Baby) is a marketing genius who frequently butts heads with his brothers. They don’t always get along when it comes to the family business, but Boltons always put the family first. When things go to hell in a handbasket, they can count on each other!
LKC: Can you tell us a little about the newest book (that I will be giving away), Expecting a Bolton Baby?
SMA: Bobby was a challenge because he rubs both Ben and Billy the wrong way with his grand, expensive plans that they have to pay for. He’s a playboy who’s also a marketing genius and he has big, big plans–plans that are all suddenly at risk when Stella Caine shows up at his doorstep and announces that she’s pregnant with his baby. Because Boltons always put the family first, Bobby decides he must marry her. He doesn’t expect Stella to say no–but as a consummate salesman, Bobby doesn’t take no for an answer!
Expecting a Bolton Baby Giveaway
by Laura K. Curtis | Nov 4, 2013 | Books, Freebies & Giveaways |
If you know me at all you probably know that John Connolly is pretty much my favorite author out there. Every serious reader has several “go-to” authors, those whose work is an automatic buy, and Connolly’s top of that list for me. Still, I don’t always sit down and read the book the second I buy it because his work is dark. I mean, really dark. So this one’s for fans of the dark and those things that go bump within it. An e-copy of Connolly’s first Charlie Parker mystery, Every Dead Thing in your choice of e format.
A bit about the book:
Hailed internationally as a page-turner in a league with the fiction of Thomas Harris, this lyrical and terrifying bestseller is the stunning achievement of an “extravagantly gifted” (Kirkus Reviews) new novelist.
John Connolly superbly taps into the tortured mind and gritty world of former NYPD detective Charlie “Bird” Parker, tormented by the brutal, unsolved murders of his wife and young daughter. Driven by visions of the dead, Parker tracks a serial killer from New York City to the American South, and finds his buried instincts — for love, survival, and, ultimately, for killing — awakening as he confronts a monster beyond imagining…
Really, you want to read this book if you haven’t already.
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by Laura K. Curtis | Nov 2, 2013 | Books, Freebies & Giveaways |
The weather is cooling off and that’s the perfect time to warm up with a hot romance from author KM Jackson. Many of you know her on Twitter as @kwanawrites. Kwana read at Lady Jane’s in October and she had the audience in stitches with the internal monologue…she really understands women and knows how to write what they’re thinking.
So while we were at Lady Jane’s, I had her sign a copy of her first book, Through The Lens, and her second, Seduction’s Canvas. I will send these books anywhere in the world, so feel free to sign up no matter where you live!
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by Laura K. Curtis | Oct 17, 2013 | Books, Romance |
Back during the Brenda Novak auction in support of diabetes research, the awesome Sarah M. Anderson and her equally-awesome eight-year-old Lego set-building son put their trailer-making talents up at auction. I was determined to win, and I did. I now present to you the result:
Don’t forget to check out an excerpt of Twisted on my website!
