Crystal Jordan :: Blog

I critiqued this book for Kate Pearce and it was amazing. You need to run out to buy it, for real!

First in a sexy new series that takes a bite out of the court of King Henry VIII…

Desperate to defeat King Richard III and gain the English crown, Henry Tudor made a pact with the Druids that bound him and his heirs to the Druid’s deadly struggle against the Vampires. Ever since, the Llewellyns, an ancient Vampire slaying family, have been in the permanent employ of the monarchy.

Now Henry VIII is on the throne, and his father’s bargain has almost been forgotten. Until corpses drained of blood start turning up in the most inappropriate of places, including the king’s bedchamber. But are these people the victims of the Vampires-or of the Druids?

To save the king from a nameless assassin, Rosalind Llewellyn, Vampire hunter extraordinaire, must form an uneasy alliance with a known Druid slayer. Sir Christopher Ellis hails from a family that has protected the Vampires for centuries, yet Rosalind has no choice but to rely on his help. And with her life threatened and her loyalty tested, Rosalind may even have to acknowledge the unthinkable. This sworn enemy may be her soul mate.

Check out her excerpt page!

By the time you read this, I’ll probably be on a plane halfway across the country, and headed for RT. In happy coincidence, Dakota Cassidy and I found out that we’re on the same connection flight from Dallas, TX to Columbus, OH (where the conference is taking place). I’m bringing the snacks, she’s bringing the trashy magazines.

Saaaaweet! Almost makes up for the crack of dawn first flight I have to take to get to that Dallas connection. Almost.

I found out Friday afternoon that my story, “Naughty or Nice” in the Under the Covers anthology is a finalist in the National Readers Choice Award. Woot!

Even cooler? I had a few friends final in other categories, which means we could all win and I wouldn’t have to feel bad because another friend lost. So, let’s hear it for my friend sweep of the contest!

Patti O’Shea for Edge of Dawn in the Paranormal category.

Gemma Halliday for Scandal Sheet in the Mainstream with Romantic Elements category.

Victoria Dahl for Talk Me Down in the Single Title category.

Sabrina Darby is up for Best First Book with her story “Roses are Rogue,” which I think is a novella in her On These Silken Sheets anthology.

So, the plan today is to pick up Diana Pharaoh Francis, fantasy and urban fantasy author extraordinaire, and drag her around to sign the books the have on stock in the Sacramento area bookstores. On Christmas Eve. Pray for us.

The good news is, we’re not buying anything, so we don’t have to stand in line. The bad news is: traffic and fighting for a parking space. The kind of attitude holiday shoppers have just might make me whip out my inner Valley Girl on their asses. She’s a scary side of Crystal. Me. Whatever.

Some of the fun goodness that might be signed? (I just love showing off the artwork pretties)

So, I’ve been reading a couple of things lately…well, I’m also rereading them because I liked them so well. I give my personal seal of awesome to these books.

Soulless
by Gail Carriger

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Buy it here

Heart Change
by Robin D. Owens

Signet D’Marigold’s lonely life is shaken when a prophet reveals she is a catalyst for change. But to accept her new life-and the charge of the noble child Avellana-means embracing a danger that may be fatal for them both. Especially when Signet’s attraction to her new bodyguard signals a secret enemy sworn to destroy them.

Buy it here

Clockwork Heart
by Dru Pagliassotti

A steampunkish romantic fantasy set in Ondinium, a city that beats to the ticking of a clockwork heart. Taya, a metal-winged courier, can travel freely across the city’s sectors and mingle indiscriminately among its castes. A daring mid-air rescue leads to involvement with two scions of an upperclass family and entanglement in a web of terrorism, loyalty, murder, and secrets.

Buy it here

So, I wasn’t feeling too hot yesterday and decided to spend the day lolling about and reading books. I didn’t finish anything, but jumped around to a few different ones to enjoy favorite passages. Then I figured, why not share what I was reading with you? Maybe you’d like them, too!

First up? Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard. I love Jaine. I love Sam. They made me laugh, they made me want to smack them, and they had great chemistry. What more could I ask for?

Next, I went a little filthy with Robin Rotham’s BIG Temptation. Jillian’s repressed. Barett’s Mr. Domination Freak. These two are a big old powder keg–fun to watch explode.

Then it was the girl’s turn to be on top, in The Vampire Queen’s Servant by Joey Hill. This one, I hadn’t read before, so I was just diving in to the first few chapters. So far, verrrrry entertaining.

The last one was Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells. Unlike the others, this was women’s fiction along the lines of Practical Magic, with a little Steel Magnolias thrown in. Very poignant, but not overly sweet or melodramatic, which is good.

Okay, I’m not really that entertaining or funny, but I’ve been entertaining people lately. I had dinner last Saturday with the very pregnant Gemma Halliday, where I gave her all the latest gossip with me and told her all about RWA, which she had to miss because she has her belly alien about to hatch. I got pics of the baby belly.

Being author-types, we went on to the bookstore to sign stock and found our friend Shelli Stevens’s new book.

We were also randomly amused by some classic harlequin titles.

Then, on Monday, I ran around and scooped Kate Pearce up from her house and dragged her into San Francisco, where we sprang IASPR President Sarah Frantz from the airport during her million-hour lay-over for some food and chattering. The restaurant, suggested by Mr. Pearce, was fabulous. Don’t tell Weight Watchers, but I totally had the chocolate cake with fudge sauce and ice cream. Mmmm.

Sarah and Kate.

Me and Sarah.

Mad Madam M still here! I promise Crys will be back later this week. Until then, you’re stuck with me. In the mean time, I figured I should post at least once about something romance related. It only seems fitting…

Last year I got to attend the RWA conference in San Francisco as Crystal’s plus one. While there, I got to meet Hannah Howell, my favorite author. I own all of her back catalog and have read the entire Highland Series more times than I would ever admit in public. Even Crys knows the names of many of the characters and she’s never read any of the books. Even more telling, I’ve read her books with paranormal elements, something I normally don’t enjoy.

Anyway, I didn’t want to be one of those idiot fans that rambled on about how much I loved the one scene or that one character and so I asked about her upcoming releases. I have to admit, while I love her work, I’d grown somewhat tired of the highland setting. It turns out, she was tired of it as well. She made the comment that she had decided she needed to go in a different direction when she noticed she was using “ken,” “och” and “aye” in her everyday life.

If He’s Wicked is the first book in her new series and boy is it a blast of fresh air! I read it in one sitting…it was that spell-bounding. The characters are fun and the storyline is well constructed and interesting. I will say the cover art and title – as is the case for many books – has pretty much nothing to do with the book. From just looking at the front of the book, I thought it might have werewolves. I mean “wicked” is in the title and there is a full moon in a very purple sky. However, it’s the heroine that has a touch of magic. I totally recommend this book if you are looking for a fun, summer read!

I spent the day wrestling with my insurance company to get everything transferred over to California from Utah (DMV is on Thursday–that wounded-animal whimper you’re hearing is me), and I emerged triumphant! For my pain and suffering, I had to go and buy some new books. Some women like shoes, some like handbags, some want the bling. Me? Books. Lots and lots of book. What? I didn’t become a writer because I hated them, now did I?

I signed a couple of On The Prowls and Carnal Desires, so if you’re at the Pruneyard Barnes & Noble in San Jose, autographed books await you!

However, on to the goodies I bought for myself. I even grabbed a few pictures. Yes, I’m the Casper the Friendly Ghost type chick. Writing is an indoor sport!

First, I hit the Young Adult section (you know, after I scoured the romance area, of course) and picked up Vamped by the awesome agently one, Lucienne Diver.

See? I totally bought it. Hmm…now how do I get her to sign it when I’m west coast and she’s east coast? Must contemplate. P.S. If you don’t read her blog, you really should. I think she’d doing a special week on historicals right now!

Then I moved on to the Science Fiction/Fantasy section (because I’m a nerd and that’s just how I roll) and went all squee fangirl over Diana Pharaoh Francis’s swath of shelving.

And after I divested them of some of their stock, there was magically room to face her books out.

Oh, yes, that book was mine. That one right there. I’m pointing to it. Mine, mine, MINE!

Though I have no idea what my head is doing in that shot. Or why my lips disappeared when I smiled. Ah, well! The good news is, Di’s got the first in an urban fantasy series called the Horngate Witches releasing this fall.

I. Can’t. Freaking. Wait.

What? You didn’t think the fluttery fangirling went away once you were published, did you? Silly rabbits!

Eden Bradley’s over at Hooked on Romance getting interviewed. Go read the fun stuff!