I love group blogs — it’s fun to get to know everyone! I’m going to ask each of you to share a small bit of themselves today. Go up to your little browser window at the top of your screen, click on your little "down" arrow, and let us know the last five websites you visited. It will be like sharing your favorite "hangouts" with the rest of us! You can be as vague or specific as you’d like (for example, I don’t expect you to tell us where you bank, or if you have a sock fetish — but you can if you like).

My most recent five sites (not including this one, of course) have been:

www.cnn.com (I’m a news junkie, so I’ve also visited www.foxnews.com and www.msnbc.com)

www.allrecipes.com (I’m headed out to the grocery store, and needed a good black-eyed pea recipe for New Years)

www.victorianlondon.org (bookmarking a bit of research info for my latest WIP)

www.amazon.com (where I ordered an out-of-print research book from a used bookseller. Woo hoo! My total was under $5)

www.joliemathis.blogspot.com (where yes, I vainly checked my stats, to see who’d come to visit my blog over the last 48 hours!)

What about you? Where have you been this morning?

When I talk about books in public, I try to stick to the ones I like. But I’ve just finished a "guy book" that upset me a lot. So I want to discuss it a little. I won’t tell you the name of the book. But it was about a woman lawyer whose husband was accused of murder. She loved him and defended him at his trial. During the course of the book, I got to know and like the heroine. Several times during the story, she questioned whether her husband was really innocent. But each time, she regained her faith in him. She won an acquittal, and they joyfully went home again. Then the author had the brilliant idea of having her find out that the guy was really guilty. Not just guilty, but a psychopath. When she confronted him, he tried to kill her. And she ended up shooting him in self-defense.

What fun! Not.

I’d gone through a deeply emotional experience with the heroine. I rooted for her to win the court case–in the face of a hostile judge and a lot of dirty tricks from the prosecution. Not only that, during the trial, she almost gets fired from her job. But she triumphed over all of that.

What was her reward? Her life was destroyed. Why? Because it was a neat twist for the end of the book?

As I read, I started suspecting that the author was going to pull a zinger at the end. But I kept hoping for the best and I kept going because I liked the heroine and wanted her to win–and walk away happy. I was involved with the story, but now I’m really upset with investing so much time and emotional energy in the plot–and the characters.

There is no way in hell I’d ever write a story like that. I put my hero and heroine through terrible trials. I test their resolve and their character and their love for each other. But I end the story with them happy together. Because that’s what I want to read. And write. There’s enough bad stuff going on in the world without inventing more.

So what do you think? Do you hate being jerked around by an author who gets you hooked, then pulls the rug out from under you?

Rebecca

On behalf of all the team at Between the Covers, I’m here to wish you a fabulous holiday! We hope today brings you lots of smiles, fun and pleasure. Let it be the right holiday for you, whether that is a big family day, snuggling up with a loved one, or a quiet day with a good book.  Happy Christmas everyone!
 

     The shopping is all done (finally!), the gifts are bought and wrapped, and Christmas cookies have been baked.  I’m ready to PARTY! 

     It’s been a wonderful year for me, with Awaiting the Moon, my first Berkley Sensation, coming out February 7^th and becoming a national bestseller, and then Awaiting the Night, released in November.  I feel so very fortunate and blessed… truly blessed in every way!  And now Christmas is here, and 2007 is knocking on the door.

     Though there is much I enjoy about the season, I’m a fairly solitary person.  Sometimes I find the social commitments and shopping and cooking and wrapping overwhelming.  When that happens, a break with a cup of tea and a good book is just what I need… a few minutes – or hours – of peace on earth. 

     So I always make sure to have a couple of books on hand, just so that in my mind, at least, I can get away from it all.  That’s my holiday wish for you all… a few minutes or hours or days curled up in your favorite spot with a cup of your favorite steaming beverage and a book… or a stack of books! That’s true luxury, a tall stack of books from which to choose, like bonbons in a box.

     Sooooo… I’d like to offer a little giftie.  I will choose ONE reader at random from everyone who comments on this blog entry before midnight December 26th to win a copy of each of my 2006 releases, Awaiting the Moon and Awaiting the Night. (If you want to comment, but not enter, just say so!)

     Happy Holidays, everyone, and I’m sending out warmest wishes for a safe, prosperous, healthy and happy 2007!

I usually try to post here early in the morning, but I’m running late. 19 people to shop for and I only have one shopping day left. Oops?

But I have good reason. My brother and his family are in town. I haven’t seen them in three years. He’s in the Air Force, stationed on the other side of the country in Las Vegas, and is now heading to a three year station in Italy. 45 minutes from Venice, the lucky dog. Needless to say, my time is being eaten up (deliciously of course) by spending time with my neice and nephew, brother and sister in law. Somewhere in the midst of all this, I still have to hit the grocery store and cook Christmas Eve dinner for 10 as well.

But hey, I’m a writer, and if writer’s are good at anything other than writing, it’s multi-tasking. So in an effort to save myself as much precious time as possible, I’m going to go ahead and wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holiday) and get my butt to the stores.

Blessings to all!

Heather

Inspired by Julia’s awesome post on book trailers, I’m going to ask you all a question that I think most authors would love to know the answer to. What kind of promotional effort works best for you?

1. Widgets - bookmarks/magnets etc.

2. Free copies of an author’s book

3. Reviews 

4. Recommendations from friends

5. Other (?) 

Okay, hands in the air, who’s ready for Christmas?  (Or Hanukkah–which is already underway! or other holidays you practice) Not me, I sadly report.  The small artificial tree I finally gave up and bought a couple years ago is upside down ( not the fashionable  way) –after I dragged it down from the upstairs closet, in the living room floor, but not yet trimmed.  I did venture into the garage and located the Christmas wreath, stuck it on the front door in place of the harvest wreath that had been there since before Halloween and put that back into the garage–total time expended, about twenty seconds–and it took me two weeks to get that done! 

Hopeless.  I knew when I scheduled a deadline in Jan how it would be, but that’s how it works sometimes.  Christmas cards are beyond hope, and I usually twine ivy around the banisters–my favorite–and put other decorations here and there around the house, on the mantel, etc, but that’s out…  I am cooking a turkey on Christmas eve, when the family gathers at my house, and I have precious grandchildren to enjoy, and that, by humbug, will happen. . . as some things do trump even a deadline!

I’ve noticed a new trend when it comes to book promotion. The book trailer. I was a bit skeptical at first, wondering if readers would take the time to watch these teasers, and if they were worth the promotional $’s spent.  One of the first companies to release book trailers was COS Productions http://www.cosproductions.com.  If you get a chance, drop by their site and check out a few of their offerings.  If the price is right, I might just have a trailer made for my upcoming vampire historical.    

So what do you think of book trailers? Do you enjoy watching them? Do you think they’re worth the promotional dollars spent?