Why do I need bucking up?

Two reasons. 1) Because I slipped downstairs and twisted my ankle the other evening, and despite icing it and elevating it yadda yadda, the next morning,I had a weird lump where there shouldn’t be one. Which necessitated a Sunday morning trip to A&E 2) And did I mention it was my wedding anniversary? And I spent the day hobbling round trying not to wince? Major suckfest.

Anyway, it’s amazing how one can set aside the pain of having one’s work stolen by assholes with all the morals of tape-worms, and even ignore the throb of one’s injured ankle when one is negotiating those darned stairs, in the face of a bloody wonderful review.

I don’t know how this one slipped by my Google alerts, but it was the best kind of suprise *VBG* and I’m so thrilled with the review I’m going to feature it for a while, before I post it to the My Books page review section. Hey, every now and then, us poor hardworking authors are allowed to boast a bit, okay? There’s gotta be a few pros to go with all the cons, LOL.

Whipped Cream Erotic Romance Reviews
Rating: 4 cherries
Reviewed by Wisteria

Lycans, and Demons, and Lions… OH MY! Draped in fiction, magic, and intrigue– Let Sleeping Demons Lie is a seductively designed package, just waiting to be ripped apart for your pleasure.

A scheming Demon King has decided to kill the proverbial “two birds with one stone” when he sends his toady demon, Belphagor and a Beguiler, Naamah, into the Lycan world to stop the co-mingling of the two species. Or, so he says. Unbeknownst to Belphegor, he’s being sent on a suicide mission, and Naamah — terrified of were-forms — is cast down, helpless and stripped of her memories and her powers.

This story jumps right in with a devilishly sinful, captivating prologue that will have you saying ‘just one more page’ through the whole story. Admittedly, I intended on only reading the first few pages to get a feel for the book, but found myself moving onto the next chapter and the next, until my son is telling me he is tired and wants to go to bed… and he hasn’t had dinner yet! (eek!)

The Prime of the Lycans, Brennan, is lustfully sinful, with a primal, carnal desire that makes you find ways to relate to him. His sex appeal jumps off the page and makes you want more of his animal instinct and possessive nature. The scenes of lust and love between Brennan and Naamah, his “Kitten”, vary between species – humanoid, felinoid, and lion alike – but it’s always well-written and well-scripted. The enemies in this novel are well-written and take on a whole life of their own. The creepy main she/he Hyena, Cass, jumps off the page and I’m sure I’ll have nightmares of that sinister beast tonight.

The best part about this story is that there IS a story. One laced with equal parts of need, desire, lust, passion and real conflict between the characters. There is an underlying age-old undertone of the characters “wants” versus their “destiny” at play. You want Brennan and “Kitten” to be together, but the obligations and risks are high if both give into their desires. Even though the story is short, it is enjoyable nonetheless, and in this case — size really doesn’t matter. I give this book four cherries and I’d highly recommend it to anyone that loves paranormal romances with some torridly good, beastly interludes mixed in.

Now that’s what I call the cherry on top.

:-)

M

Here it is right from the vampire’s mouth ;-)

“We’re a group of best-selling HarperCollins authors, writing Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance for adults and teens under the Avon, Eos and HarperTeen imprints. Call it what you like, if it’s immortal, lurks in the shadows and there’s fur, fangs, phantoms or faery wings involved, we write it!”

My good friend Tracey o’Hara, author of Night’s Cold Kiss is only one of the amazingly talented authors who will be blogging here.

And yes, there are PRIZES!

So if you’re into things that go bump in the night, what in the hell are you waiting for?

M

Just a brief note to let you know my guest post over at Naughty Author Chicks has now gone live. So if you’d like another chance to win a copy of Let Sleeping Demons Lie, please pop on over and leave me a comment.

Other than that, on Sunday it’s Mother’s Day here in New Zealand.

So if you’re a mom, Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday!

Otherwise, don’t forget to ring your mom and say Happy Mother’s Day!

Cheers,

M

Woke up this morning to find that Let Sleeping Demons Lie is officially on sale — woohoo! (Cue a flurry of website updates, and the addition of a couple of “Buy Now” buttons — so much for a relaxing Sunday morning, LOL.)

Anyhoo, this all coincides very nicely with the chance to post another great review I received — this one from Marissa, at Romancing-The-Book. (You can read what Marissa had to say on the My Books page.)

To celebrate the release of Let Sleeping Demons Lie, I’m doing the guest-blog thing and giving away copies to random commenters…as you do ;-)

So if you’re interested, here’s what’s happening around the blogsphere:

• April 27th 2010, Romance Writers of Australia Blog: A Day in the Writing Life of Maree Anderson
• April 28th, 2010, Erotic Romantic Crush Junkies: Author of the day, Maree Anderson (Note: giveaway runs ’til May 2nd)
• May 4th 2010, Fang-tastic Books: Q&A with Maree Anderson
• May 7th 2010, Naughty Author Chicks: Guest Author Maree Anderson
• May 12th 2010, Fierce Romance: Inspiration: Just another word for a bloody good idea! by Maree Anderson

I’ll update the links as each one goes “live”, so please check back regularly. (Note, these dates will be US time zones.)

Oh, and before I forget, the winner of my website contest to win an ARC of Let Sleeping Demons Lie was: SHARON!

Congratulations, Sharon! I hope you enjoy Brennan and Naamah’s struggle to realize they’re made for each other *VBG*. And a big thank-you to everyone who entered my contest — I really appreciate you all taking the time to visit my website and leave a comment.

That’s all for now.

M

My novella, Kat On A Hot Tin Roof, has been contracted for the Red Sage Secrets (Volume 30) anthology!

I’m soooo freaking over the moon, that I’m barely coherent *VBG*

It’s been a dream of mine to have a novella published in Secrets ever since I started writing for Red Sage. And to be print-published, too? OMG, OMG, SQUEEEEEEE!!!

So I must thank my amazing editor, Judith, for 1) believing in me, 2) encouraging me to “go for it”, 3) fast-tracking the whole process, from submission to revisions to edits, at the speed of light.

And thank-you to Theresa, Red Sage’s Managing Director, too, for reading the first draft of this story and even though it wasn’t quite there, seeing it’s potential for Secrets.

Lastly, DH and my kids, who’ve quietly vacuumed, and cleaned the house, while I raced through revisions and tweaks. You guys are the best!

Muwah!

M

SHARON!

Woohoo! Congratulations, Sharon, I hope you enjoy Brennan and Naamah’s story.

M

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know, I know. I’ve been saying it for a while: I feel like a contest coming on so watch this space.

Well, my only excuse for not getting round to it until now is that I’ve been snowed–with writing stuff, though, so it’s all good.

In the latest news:

• Just received a 5-star TOP PICK! review from Night Owl Reviews for Even Demons Get The Blues — woohoo! Check it out the Reviews section on the My Books page.
• I’ve also sold another book to Red Sage, but we’ve decided that story has the potential to be bigger, so I’m going to be adding to it and making it a novel-length story. More on that later, when I’ve finished the rewrite.
• About five minutes ago, I finished the first draft of another story I’ve been working on. Hoping to polish that up in the next day or two and send it off to see what my editor thinks of it.
• And finally, I’ve just updated my blogsphere schedule for the launch of Let Sleeping Demons Lie on May 1st.

BTW: I’m giving away copies of the book on various sites, so if you’d like a chance to win my new release, then check out the Interviews section of the My Books page.
(Yikes. Better knuckle down next week and draft up those guest blog posts!

And speaking of chances to win, what better place to have the opportunity to win a copy of my new release than right here?

So for your chance to win an electronic copy of Let Sleeping Demons Lie, just leave a comment after this post, and answer this question:

What is the hero’s name in Let Sleeping Demons Lie?

(Here’s a clue: it begins with “B”. And all you need to do is click on this link to the My Books page and check out the blurb.)

Contest runs from now until 30th April 2010.

All correct answers will be in the draw, and I’ll draw one commenter at random.

Good luck!

:-)

M

One more day of school and the kids break up for the end of Term 1, and Easter holidays. So we’re looking forward to indulging in Hot Cross Buns, and for the daughter who can’t abide cooked raisins — strange child; she must take after her father — Choc-Cross Buns on Friday. And then getting into my stash of Easter Eggs on Sunday. Or maybe even Saturday, if we just can’t resist the allure of my not-so-secret chocolate stash another day.

I’ve got a heap of writing to get done over the Easter break, so I’m hoping I don’t succumb to the flu the rest of my family have come down with!

Among other things, I’ve had an offer from Red Sage to publish one of my manuscripts — yeeha! They’re happy to buy it as it stands, which is freaking fantastic! But my wonderful editor is convinced that it’d have even more potential as a longer book. And I gotta admit, I love the characters and the story so much that I’m willing to go for it and add another 8,000 words based on her suggestions. More on that later as I don’t want to jinx it until it’s “real”.

And before I get stuck into those 8,000 new words, I’m racing through what was planned as a full length category novel, but is now being scaled back to a novella. I’m 10,000 words in at the moment — a third of the way through. If it doesn’t work as a shorter book, and isn’t suitable for another opportunity I’m exploring, then I’ll know within the next day or so. And I’ll put it aside until I have time to develop it as orginally intended. Nothing like having options, LOL.

I also have a full manuscript — a 90,000 worder — that’s being looked at right now. It’s a straight fantasy with a rather erotic-sounding premise. Be interesting to see whether it needs to be reworked to better fit the erotic romance genre — and if so, how extensively.

I’m also due to hear back soon from another editor who’s looking at one of my older manuscripts — fingers crossed for some good news on that.

So all of a sudden, I’ve gone from no options, to more options than I could have ever anticipated.

I promise that all will be revealed in time. Or not, if these opportunities don’t pan out. Such is the business of writing.

In the meantime, I’m also gearing up for the launch of LET SLEEPING DEMONS LIE on May 1st.

I’ll be guest-blogging in various places, as well as offering a couple of chances to win an electronic copy of my new release. And as I did with my first novella, I’ll be running a month-long contest here on my website, giving people a chance to win, too.

So for your chance to win, watch this space for details over the next couple of days.

Cheers, and have a very happy Easter break,

M

And I gotta give a huge shout-out to the lovely — and organised! — Calista Fox, who brandished her fluffy whip and got us all together for this event, and the talented Nathalie Gray, who designed the graphic.

So, congratulations to all the winners…. And especially to one particular person who left a comment on my Feb 15th “Find him someone to love!” post :

RACHIE G

Rachie, you’ve won an ARC of my May 1st Red Sage Presents release, LET SLEEPING DEMONS LIE.

Please contact me with your preferred email so I can send you your prize.

M