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    Guest blog: Edie Ramer on Dogs, Dogs, Gryphons, and Romance …

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    Edie RamerToday, I’m happy to welcome my friend Edie Ramer back to my blog. Edie is the author of Christmas at Angel Lake, Crazy Sexy Love, and many other books. She’s also one of my fellow bloggers over at Magical Musings. Take it away, Edie:

    EDIE RAMER ON DOGS, DOGS, GRYPHONS, AND ROMANCE

    You know how you reread favorite scenes in books? The morning after I read Jennifer’s Midnight Frost, I went back and reread the scene with the baby gryphon. And then I reread the other scene with the gryphons … I won’t say more, in case you haven’t read it yet, but it gave me chills and, at the same time, made me feel happy. I also watch videos of people rescuing animals. Often when I should be writing. (I’m sure it’s research.) And I’ve been known to type with a cat draped over my arm.

    Christmas at Angel LakeSince I work from home, I spend more time with my dog and cat than people. So it’s no wonder I put cats and dogs in my books. In my Rescued Hearts series, the dogs and/or cats are secondary characters, but they’re important secondary characters. Like Jennifer’s gryphons, they matter to the book. In my second Rescued Hearts book, Christmas at Angel Lake, the dog’s storyline wrenches hearts. In Crazy Sexy Love, the third book in the series, a cat has an important role. In both books, the animals add unexpected twists at the end.

    Here’s the short excerpt from first scene in which the cat shows up in Crazy Sexy Love, about one-third into the book:

    Inside a smallish kitchen in downtown Eagleton, a cat lifted her nose.

    Her eyes that had gone dull sparkled. Her fur fluffed out.

    The humans who housed her and fed her, day after day, pet food as dry and spare as their hearts, were away from home, leaving her alone once again with just a bowl of stale water.

    Everything as usual since she’d been in this place, and she’d been in this place too long. The humans were gone most of the day and parts of the night. They fed her once a day and gave her water. When they were home, they ignored her.

    She wasn’t important to them.

    She didn’t matter.

    Even though she was young, barely two years in human time, she felt old in spirit. Weighed down.

    There had been a mistake. She knew it. She should be someplace else.

    But today, something was different. She smelled it in the air.

    She couldn’t say what was different; all she knew was that a change was coming. Lives would turn upside down. Including hers.

    Crazy Sexy LoveI’m giving away 25 cents from every book sold to the Washington County Humane Society in Wisconsin. My next book will have two Cavalier King Charles spaniels in it, and I’m already having fun writing their scenes.

    What book with an animal in it did you enjoy?

    WHERE TO GET THE BOOKS

    Christmas at Angel Lake is available at the following sites: Amazon / iTunes / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords

    Crazy Sexy Love is available at the following sites: Amazon / iTunes / Barnes & Noble / Google Play / Kobo / Smashwords

    MORE ABOUT EDIE

    Edie’s funnier on the page than in real life. A multiple-award-winning writer, she lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her husband, dog, and one important cat. She’s happy to be able to do what she loves nearly every day, and she’s grateful to all her readers.

    You can find out more about Edie at her website, Facebook, or Twitter.

    GIVEAWAY TIME

    Thanks for being here, Edie! In honor of her guest blog, Edie is giving away an e-copy (Kindle or epub) of either Christmas at Angel Lake or Crazy Sexy Love — winner’s choice. This giveaway is open internationally. To enter, use the form below.

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

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    Elemental Assassin #12 title announced …

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    Today, I am pleased to share the title for Elemental Assassin #12.

    And the title is … Black Widow.

    Woot! I think it fits in well with the other spider-themed titles in the series. This is a title that my editor, my agent, and I have considered for some of the other books in the series, so it was just a matter of time until we finally used it. How could I write about an assassin codenamed the Spider and not use this title at some point? LOL.

    And just because I know somebody will comment on it, this book does not feature Scarlett Johansson or her superhero alter-ego.

    Spoiler warning: And here is the back cover copy for Black Widow. Please note that this does contain some spoilers, so if you absolutely do not want to be spoiled, you may want to skip reading the next few paragraphs.

    There’s nothing worse than a cruel, cunning enemy with time to kill—and my murder to plan.

    With wicked Fire elemental Mab Monroe long gone, you’d think I could finally catch a break. But someone’s always trying to take me down, either as Gin Blanco or my assassin alter-ago. Now along comes the Spider’s new arch-nemesis, the mysteriously named M. M. Monroe, who is gleefully working overtime to trap me in a sticky web of deceit.

    The thing is, I’m not the only target. I can see through the tangled threads enough to know that every bit of bad luck my friends have been having lately is no accident—and that each unfortunate “coincidence” is just one more arrow drawing ever closer to hitting the real bulls-eye. Though new to Ashland, this M. M. Monroe is no stranger to irony, trying to get me, an assassin, framed for murder. Yet, as my enemy’s master plan is slowly revealed, I have a sinking feeling that it will take more than my powerful Ice and Stone magic to stop my whole life from going up in flames.

    As of right now, Black Widow is scheduled to be published in December 2014, so that would mean that the actual release date would be Nov. 25. I’ll let everyone know when the book is up for pre-order. And of course, I’ll be sharing the cover art soon.

    Cheers!