Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve Sale!

Happy New Year's Eve!

For a limited time only, my 2nd book Destiny United is on sale for $0.99 on Amazon and smashwords.

Spanish alpha vampire Marcelo drags a fragile human to the Underworld as a favor to the queen only to find out the human is far more than an ordinary human. A touching tale of adventure, magic, romance, and steamy sex.

Monday, December 26, 2011

New Surprise Project!

Happy day after Christmas everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

I am soooo excited to announce my next project, different from my Destiny series, but I'm going to make you all wait until after New Year to hear about it.

Don't worry Destiny fans...book 4, Destiny Bewitched, is still on schedule for summer 2012. This is just a filler I've co-authored with a fabulous erotica writer. I think you'll like this project.

So, as I said, get ready for the sexiest, steamiest excerpts after the new year. And I'll announce the title and cover of the new book. And release date, which is soon, soon, soon!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone has a very merry (and sexy) holiday!


Friday, December 16, 2011

Thank you for a Fabulous Release Week!

This week has been the best book release I've ever had. Not only did I have a blast talking with fans, reading reviews, and tweeting my ass off...but Destiny Unchained made Amazon's top 100 seller list for fantasy romance on day 2!!!

It was very exciting and fulfilling. So thank you to everyone who bought my book, Destiny Unchained. It will continue to be on sale for only $0.99 until Christmas.

If you haven't checked out the Indie Book Blowout yet, here's the link. There are tons of fabulous books in all genres, all for 99 cents!

And a special thank you to Laurielu from Bonafide Reflections for hosting my release party! She did a fabulous job and I just love her site!

In the coming weeks, I'll be revealing a new surprise project I'm working for to release Valentine's Day. It's very exciting and you don't want to miss it. So stick around!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Review and Contest - $20 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

Laurielu at Bonafide Reflections has written a wonderful review of Destiny Unchained on her website.

Also, the contest for the $20 Amazon or B&N gift card is closing tomorrow at midnight so put your bid in at that website today!



Thanks for all the support and people buying my book yesterday! Because of you, Destiny Unchained made it to Amazon's top 100 best seller list for fantasy romance. Keep it up cause I'd like to stay on it this time.

Monday, December 12, 2011

RELEASE PARTY!!!!

Happy release day to Destiny Unchained!




So, my friends, my original plan was to have the release party for my 3rd book here on my blog. But because of unforeseen health issues regarding my son, the lovely Laurielu from Bondafide Reflections has offered to host my party instead.


So check out her blog at the link below. Lots of cool stuff going on.

- Today (Monday) guest post by Natalia, plus enter to win a $20 amazon gift card
- Wednesday, her review of Destiny Unchained will be there
- Friday, we'll draw the winner of the gift card

More awesome news...

DESTINY UNCHAINED is in the 12 Days of Christmas Indie Book Collective Sale and from now until Christmas it's only 99 cents!!! 

As is my first book, DESTINY DIVIDED. Both are only $0.99 now until Christmas so it's the perfect time to relax with a fun, easy read right smack in the middle of the holiday rush.


So...spend a few minutes at the awesome and amazing Bonafide Reflections.


Also, the Indie Book Collective 12 Days of Christmas site is the source for books in all genres, just 99 cents through Christmas. Check it out here.

***If you'd like to skip right to the Amazon book page - click on any of the covers on the right hand column.

Monday, December 5, 2011

One Week!

One week until my big release party!

Remember to come by on December 12th - next Monday - for prizes, excerpts, character posts and more!

Until then, here's a special extended excerpt. The first five chapters!

NEW SAMPLE


Note: Destiny Unchained is actually published already, if you'd like to get your copy now. Check out the link for a taste to see if you'd like it. So far the reviews have been awesome! Thanks for everyone who read my ARCs!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Release Date!!!

All right my friends....it's time to announce the release date for Destiny Unchained.


December 12th


That's right. It's coming up quick. And we're having a BIG release party right here on the 12th! Including:

- lots of e-book giveaways (not just my own but other fantastic romance books)

- print book giveaways

- a couple amazon gift cards

- excerpts from the book

- character interviews

....and other cool stuff I haven't figured out yet.

I'm telling you...you'll wanna be here!

Anyway, when it gets closer, tweet my party, facebook it, make me happy :)

And buy my book!!!

12/12/11

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Thank You, Blog Tour de Troops!

Thank you everybody to commented to support the Blog Tour de Troops, which sent hundreds of e-books to troops overseas. The event was a HUGE success! I was so touched by the lovely comments supporting the troops and telling their own personal stories of family in the military. It was such a beautiful gathering of individuals showing love to our friends and family overseas, and those who've fought for our country in the past.

Again, I thank you all for participating!

For more information about the Indie Book Collective (I think they do this event again for Memorial Day), visit their blog here.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Heroes Outside the Storybooks

Thank you for joining me for the Blog Tour de Troops! You should have come here from Ron Vitale's blog. Please follow along to Ali Cross's blog next. Leave a comment and I will email with details to receive a copy of my paranormal romance, Destiny Divided, for free. Don't forget to leave your email address. For each comment, a soldier overseas also gets a free e-book, so comment away!




Welcome to my blog!
I write paranormal romance...
action packed adventure,
magic,
dark humor,
alpha males,
strong women,
and steamy romance!
for more info and samples of my book visit my site:




As fiction writers - especially the romance genre - we see the word hero and automatically think hunky, muscular men who dash around saving women from dragons, loneliness, evil step-mothers, bad boyfriends, and so on. And aren't they a dream to lust after?

As readers we may sigh and fan ourselves (or in my case, hunt down our partners and tackle them onto the bed), when we read the brave and gallant acts our fantasy heroes perform.

But we leave our fantasy crushes for the storybooks and trudge through our lives never giving a second thought to the real heroes among us. The ones who sacrifice the comforts we enjoy every day to protect our country. Heroes that devote themselves to our safety, independence, and freedom. Sometimes it's in grand acts of bravery, but most of the time it's in the mundane things we don't think about. Some have been through hell and back. Some are in hell right now. Others were in a different hell long ago that we'd never understand. Many are lucky enough never to have seen hell. All are important. All have served us in ways we'll never know. We owe each of them our respect and gratitude.

So, thank you, to the veterans and soldiers, the real life heroes.



"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Winston Churchill

Remember to check out Ali Cross, next stop on the tour!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Blog Tour De Troops is Here!

Starting today and running through the weekend, the Indie Book Collective is having a blog tour to support veterans and our troops overseas. Each participating blog will post something in honor of our veterans. And each blog is run by an Indie author and they will be giving away a free copy of their ebook to every commenter. That's right, everyone who leaves a comment. Also, you can enter to win a kindle. And each comment gets a book for one of our troops overseas too. So the more people who comment, the more troops who get a free book.



Check out the website to see who's participating and which days. Then visit and comment galore! My day is Sunday, so if you don't have a copy of my first book, Destiny Divided (or even if you do, come by anyway to support our troops), I will email you that same day the coupon code to get the ebook for free. Good deal, right?

So start things off here - Indie Book Collective Blog Tour de Troops.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Teaser Tuesday


Snippet from Destiny Unchained, to be released in December


The Silver Slayer was just as she’d remembered. Wickedly handsome, well-groomed, and dark. Oh, so, dark and dreamy. He didn’t wear a suit this time though he still managed to look upper class in his black ski jacket and dark wash jeans. Her mind struggled to wrap around the fact that this attractive man had the potential for such evil.

The body of the teenager from the woods flashed in her mind. Not just that girl but countless others. Bodies piled up in her head. Missing children posters. Pain, fear, loss. Anger grew in the pit of her stomach. Her fists clenched and she stalked toward him. It was time to end this.

He nodded his head in greeting. “Huntress.” He stood at ease with his hands clasped behind his back. As if she was no more of a threat than a pesky bug.

“You’re here alone. Are you finally ready to finish this?”

A smile tugged at his lips. “Careful, vampire. Don’t get overconfident. I’m not like the puppy dogs you’ve fought before.”

“No, you’re worse. You’re a coward. A sick, twisted, coward of a puppy dog.”

“And now you insult me?” His smirk was mocking. “Not very smart.”

She snorted. “What are you going to do? Kill me harder?”

He smiled then peered around them. “Where’s your werewolf friend?”

“It’s just you and me.” A throwing knife flew from her boot and landed in her open palm. “Now, stop stalling and fight me, mother fucker.”


Hope you enjoyed!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween Extravaganza!!! Winner Announced



Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I am one of those people that is simultaneously terrified and fascinated with scary things. Anyone ever seen Wrong Turn? I will never set foot in West Virginia because of that movie. But, we have "paranormal activity" in our house (according to the real life Ghostbusters hired by the previous owner) and it doesn't scare me at all. I'm contrary that way.

Anyway, what are your favorite or scariest horror/Halloween movies? I'm interested to know so I can either rent them or steer clear of them.

Below is the story of my worst Halloween ever, for those of you interested in reading it. But if you want to get down to business, the winner of the $25 Amazon gift card is listed at the bottom of this page, with details how to claim your prize.



You know how sometimes the lowest points of our lives become the funniest when you look back on them? Well, last Halloween was one of those times. My son was four and trick-or-treating as one of the transformers.  My daughter was two and dressed like a ballerina. She should have been a ninja. Ever since she’s been able to walk, she’s had this incredible ability to slip away undetected. And she’s a master at hiding too. She’ll find somewhere small and dark, where you think, there’s no way she’ll hide there, it’s too scary. Then she stays silent for…however long it takes to find her. Seriously. This could be up to thirty minutes. It’s creepy.

Anyway, while trick-or-treating, my daughter put her ninja ballerina skills to the test and disappeared. Right in the middle of the biggest, most pimped out Halloween house I’ve ever seen.  Lit up pumpkins lined the walkway. Gravestones dotted along the lawn. Ghosts swayed from the trees (I have not yet verified that those were decorations). Fog machine, creepy soundtrack, the whole shebang. It was like a Halloween party store and an amusement park got together and had a baby on their lawn.

My son had one thing on his mind. Candy. So he went running down the walkway toward the tacky house promising tricks and treats. I could see the owners at the door dressed up like characters from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Now, I’m a regular Frankie fan, but how was I supposed to explain a man in a corset and high heels to a curious four year old? So I ran ahead with my son while my husband was supposed to be watching ninja girl. 

After thanking the Rocky cast for the candy, I turned around to find my daughter missing and my husband studying the mechanical hand popping up from the ground (he’s an engineer, ‘nuff said?).
A search party that could rival the FBI ensued. Ten frantic minutes later, we found a chocolate faced ballerina hanging out with a ghost behind one of the gravestones. Goodbye early bedtime.

Fast forward a couple hours later and ninja baby was asleep in her bed. My son was sitting on our bed watching the Disney Channel with hubby. I was doing some writing at our breakfast bar, not pigging out on the kid’s candy. All of the sudden, some black creature from hell came flying straight at my head. I screamed then ducked under the counter. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a bat. I rolled my eyes at the irony.  A bat loose in the house on Halloween. Can we get anymore cliché? 

Regardless, it still freaked me out. Have you ever studied a bat’s flight patterns? They are completely chaotic and unpredictable. I know they’re blind and use echolocation, yadda, yadda, yadda. But I think this one was drunk too. Anyway, I was so paranoid the thing would get stuck in my hair, I got down on the ground and crawled – army style – across the kitchen floor, screaming, “Bat! Bat!” My husband came running down the stairs, thinking the house was on fire and I locked myself in the playroom.

After a few minutes, I peeked out the door to see him waving the American flag we usually have hanging outside like he’s practicing for Color Guard. He later explained it was the only way to catch the bat without hurting it. A net, somehow, didn’t cross his mind. Whatever. I’ll leave the bat wrangling to him. 

So, hubby yelled that the bat flew upstairs where my son was sitting quietly watching Wizards of Waverly Place. Did he bat an eye (pun intended) that a drunken winged creature was zooming around the room like a helicopter with a broken propeller? Nope. Wizards of Waverly Place is that good.

Hubby followed the bat to our room, flag in tow. The flag soared around the room, mimicking the erratic patterns of bat flight. Decorations flew off shelves. Pictures fell off walls. Finally, the bat got wrapped up in the flag and both went down in a flurry of red, white, and blue.

And to top it all off, ninja baby threw up chocolate chunks in her bed. 

And that was my worst Halloween ever.


AMAZON GIFT CARD WINNER IS.....

Violet

Congrats. Email me at leia@leiashaw.com to claim your prize. If I don't hear from you by Wednesday night I will draw another winner.

Giveaway Closed - Winner Announced

The giveaway is closed. I'll announce the winner tonight at 9pm EST.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Amazon Halloween Giveaway!!!!




On Halloween I'm going to giveaway a $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD for one lucky winner who follows my blog and comments on any post with their favorite Halloween costume. If the follow button doesn't pop up try reloading the page. That usually does it.


I'll go first. When my husband and I were dating we went to a party and I was dressed as a butterfly and he was dressed as a butterfly catcher, complete with giant net.

Now your turn.


Bonus: Halloween hotness

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Worst Halloween Ever

 Worst Halloween Ever!

Come check out my guest post at Good Choice Reading  where I write my worst Halloween story. A missing child, a bat loose in the house, and even an appearance by the cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's funny and I even have a picture of my kids up! Leave a comment and make me happy :)

Scroll through the other posts too cause they have giveaways and author guest posts all week. A fabulous group of gals and a great website!


Monday, October 24, 2011

What is Love?

Got in a discussion recently with someone about love. The person I discussed things with implied that the people in your life shouldn't put up with your "issues" and that there's no such thing as true, unconditional love.

We all have issues, can we agree on that? People are in a constant state of flux. We are a work in progress from the day we're born until the day we die.

But love doesn't expect change. It might strive for it, support it, challenge it, but it doesn't demand it. When you choose to love someone (and I firmly believe love is a choice), you choose to take them as they are with no promises or guarantees of fixing them, healing them, or changing them, in the future.

Love just is.

If you can't let it be, well, that's not unconditional love. And there's no such thing as conditional love.

We all go through periods of doubt, don't we? We wonder if we're good enough. If we're truly loved and understood by those around us. If we're even lovable. If there will come a day when the people we love most will stop putting up with our "issues" or flaws or weaknesses. And what would we do when that time came? Would we be strong enough to handle it or would we curl up and die? It's a frightening thought.

I had one of those moments of doubt recently and asked my husband (who I've known for 10 years), "You know me, right? All of me. You know I have issues?"

He looked at me and said, in his casual, easy-breezy way, "Of course I do. I accommodate them because I love you."

I smiled and all doubt was washed away. Because there is such a thing as true, unconditional love. And I have it.

So...what does love mean to you?

(This is such a hot topic and I have more to say so I'm going to continue it later this week)


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Teaser Tuesday

Since I've been kinda lame, here's another excerpt from Destiny Unchained. This picks up from the previous post for 6 Sentence Sunday so start there if you haven't read it yet. Hope you enjoy it!


His eyes shifted rapidly as he studied her face. Her eyes, her lips, her neck, down to her breasts, back to her eyes again. 

She could have killed him. Probably. Maybe. But she didn’t want to kill him, she wanted to calm him. In an ultimate act of trust, she yielded. Her body sagged underneath him, her pride stinging a bit. And, in the wolf way, she turned her head and bared her throat. Male satisfaction burned in his eyes before he leaned into her neck with his nose and inhaled.

His savage moan tickled her skin. Then his body contorted. It melted on top of hers, fur disappearing, and half its mass. In only seconds, a human took its place. A naked human.

She tried to pull her arms down but he gripped them harder. “Be still, Talia,” he said, his voice husky like gravel. “Don’t move.” His face warmed the crook of her neck. “I could hear your pain from miles away. Do you know what that does to a man?” She couldn’t speak, only lay there under his heaving body. “My Natalia, hurt and afraid.”

She opened her mouth to deny that last part, but he bit her chin.

Lifting his head, he stared down at her. Calmer, more human now, but still on edge. “Don’t argue, Talia, for once. Please. I have to taste you. Do not deny me this.”

It was a command, but his eyes asked for permission. She nodded.


Saturday, October 15, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday

The beast was heavy on top of her, but took care not to crush her. His powerful arms thrust hers over her head, pinning her to the ground. Even with five inch long nails, he was careful not to hurt her. His chest heaved, blood dripped from a bite mark on his neck. With every ragged breath, a snarl escaped his throat and blew the hair from her face. When she struggled, he growled quietly in warning.

Can you guess who the beast is?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Barely Surviving

Sorry I've been MIA. I haven't posted in a whole week.

Hubby is away on business in China :(  Me and the kids have been sick with just about every flu symptom you could have. Of course, this is directly after getting the flu shot.

Writing has been put on hold. Marketing has been put on hold. Basically everything but surviving has taken a back seat for a while.

The kids are still alive so that's a plus. They're well fed and mostly have clean clothes. That's about all I can handle with hubby is away. I don't think I'd survive if I had to be a single parent. I told my husband that I hope he didn't mind but if he died, I'd be on eharmony right away. No, really.

Anyway, trying to pump out book 3 for a December release but I can't say if it will be early December or late. I'd like to do it before the holidays but hubby doesn't get back for another week and I've been in a writing slump anyway. *Sigh*  Anyone wanna finish it for me?

I'll try to blog more often. I'll do 6 Sentence Sunday this week and put up something yummy. I promise.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday


Welcome to this week's Six Sentence Sunday. I have a simple little snippet from Destiny Unchained. Natalia is having doubts about her relationship with werewolf pack alpha, Cristian. Poor Cristian. He gets his heart broken. But don't worry, Natalia gets her shit together and there's a beautiful happily ever after!

Cristian had managed to drag her into Pretty Fluffy La-La Land where everything worked out just because he said so. Well, reality was a cold-hearted bitch. And people who believed in idealistic delusions deserved to be shot for screwing with the rest of the world. Especially Cristian, who made her…feel things she could never act on. He made her believe in things she could never have. She should've killed him a long time ago.

Don't forget to stop by Bitten by Paranormal Romance for Sage's interview and giveaway today.
And don't forget to check out my FREE novella, For the Love of Harmony! Just tweet or facebook my link or sign up for my mailing list and you can read the paranormal romance novella in your browser. Samples of all three of my books are at the end.