Hey Guys!!!! We have a few things going on with today's stop. First off this is the first stop of the tour!!! YEY!!!! (Super excited just in case you were wondering.) We have an awesome interview from the wonderful Lila Shaw (also my first interview with an author). Information about the book as well as where you can make sure to get your copy and an excerpt, which is awesome. There is also some more information about Lila herself and where you can stalk her. The rest of the tour schedule and my review. So get comfy and let's get to know Lila a little better...
Interview:
Meagan - How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
Lila - I put huge heaps of me and my own life experiences into my writing, my succubus stories excepted (though my husband might beg to differ. LOL) My very first book was about a CPA. I hadn't read any books about CPA heroines solving crimes and thought that might make for a fun story. Thankfully, I made the heroine kind of funny and gave her a really lovely romance because the CPA parts of the book were snooze-fests for some readers. Lessons learned. No more CPA business talk. On the other hand, most of my heroines tend to be on the droll side like my first heroine, making odd observations, rants and raves from time to time. That's kind of how I am too.
Meagan - Do you ever ask your husband for advice and/or input for a particular scene?
Lila - My husband, aka the Silverback, is a great source of inspiration. We like to take long walks on weekends with our dog, always stopping for a short rest break to get a latte at the Starbucks along the way. While we walk and drink our coffees, I often pitch him my story ideas. He's usually good for some awesome suggestions. He's also very funny and can make some outrageous quips, stuff that I've been known to borrow. Shhh...don't tell him or he'll want co-authorial credit for my stories.
Meagan - Don't worry you're secret is safe with me ;) Do you have a particular writing routine once you start a book?
Lila - No routine. Every book progresses somewhat differently. I usually write one for NaNo, though for a couple of them I hit the fifty thousand word mark before finishing the story. The finishing part, i.e. the last twenty thousand words, took about six months for my last completed novel. For my YA book that I'm currently shopping under a different pen name, I used Write or Die a lot and cranked out the first draft fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I'm a pantser, which means I write a lot more than ends up in the final story. I write in layers and do a lot of patching up and spackling later. I aspire to be a plotter one day because I crave efficiency. I've not succeeded so far. Plotting has yielded pretty uninspired and dull stories. When pantsing, however, I'm often amazed with the stuff I come up with--while driving, in the shower, waiting for a movie to start--stuff that wouldn't have come to me when plotting.
Meagan - That sounds like it could be a lot of fun and quite interesting at times. lol So what comes first for you? The story? Characters? Or setting?
Lila - Characters then story is the order my emphasis usually ends up taking. That said, I start with a vague story idea first, then grow the characters who then take over and guide the rest. Setting is not that big of a deal to me, to be honest. I write what I need to support the story but not become a focal point of the story. I also don't like to do a lot of research so my settings often involve places I already know.
Eppp....how awesome are those answers!!!! I wanted to give a HUGE THANKS to Lila for the amazing interview and so excited to be starting her tour for her new book Wild West Succubus.
Meagan - That sounds like it could be a lot of fun and quite interesting at times. lol So what comes first for you? The story? Characters? Or setting?
Lila - Characters then story is the order my emphasis usually ends up taking. That said, I start with a vague story idea first, then grow the characters who then take over and guide the rest. Setting is not that big of a deal to me, to be honest. I write what I need to support the story but not become a focal point of the story. I also don't like to do a lot of research so my settings often involve places I already know.
Meagan - What’s in your TBR pill?
Lila - A more apt question is probably what's NOT in my TBR Pile. Mine is huge! I have several vices contributing to it: Dear Author and Goodreads are the primary corrupters. If I like a review, I'll buy the book. One-Click at Amazon should be stricken from my computer. RWA freebees are fun and pretty to collect, but toting them home was no fun. That said, I have made myself a plan to try to read as many of those paper and hardback books as possible if only to clear off some bookshelf and nightstand space. We'll talk about my Kindle on another day as that is the final frontier.
Meagan - haha that's awesome to find others out there with the same type of addiction....makes me feel a little better about mine. If you weren't a writer, what other path might you have followed?
Lila - Before I started writing, I was a fitness buff. I worked out six days a week for at least an hour, sometimes and hour and a half. I even got my certification to teach Turbo Jam (kickboxing). While I couldn't claim any particular athletic gifts or talents (I can't throw a ball for the life of me), I could hold my own swimming and doing dance choreography. So, I might have become a Jazzercise or kickboxing instructor, possibly a personal trainer. Alas, now that I write all the time, fitness has become more of chore than a joy, so I better be successful as a writer because getting back in shape at my age and with my current pitiful muscle tone wouldn't be pretty.
Meagan - I'm sure you're not going to have much trouble in being a successful author because you're books are amazing!!! So I have to ask, what are your feelings toward Zombies?
Lila - Leave me and mine alone and I'll do the same for you. So much as lick your lips in my direction and I'll be breaking out the shotgun. Actually, zombies scare the crap out of me, especially the fast and semi-intelligent ones like in I Am Legend. **shudder**
Meagan - I can definitely relate to that. Do you have a favorite superhero/heroine?
Lila - Honestly, they all wear such ridiculous costumes and are major attention whores--I'm not much of a fan of any in particular. If I had to pick, however, I'd choose The Anonymous Philanthropist, so named by me because you'd only see his good deeds and never the man himself and therefore never, ever his garish costume.
Meagan - Do you have any encouraging words for aspiring writers?
Lila - Nothing too unique other than never give up! I can't tell you how many times I've been rejected, felt like a poser, bemoaned sales that weren't what I'd hoped, felt dejected by a lackluster review, suffered jealousy pangs over another author's success and wondered if I was delusional for ever thinking I could write. Invariably after a day, or a week or a month, my opinion would do a 180. Now, it's done so many 180's I sometimes feel like I'm making donuts and going nowhere, but invariably the scenery changes and I realize I have indeed made some progress.
Eppp....how awesome are those answers!!!! I wanted to give a HUGE THANKS to Lila for the amazing interview and so excited to be starting her tour for her new book Wild West Succubus.
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Blurb:
A woman damned…
Priscilla Goodnight, a widow in the harsh Kansas frontier, has a cattle ranch to run. She can’t afford to reveal any cracks in her tough exterior or indulge in sexual liaisons with her ranch hands. But a hungry succubus can only exercise so much self-restraint, making discretion, disguise and memory-wiping her top managerial skills.
The mysterious stranger who knows her darkest secret…
Priscilla doesn't remember hiring the man with the wily smile and the flannel voice. At all. Men as physically appealing as Hugo Desmond rarely escape her bed, let alone her memory. And how is he able to move so fast, yet nobody notices but her?
Is she his target, his mission or his bait?
Hugo is a gargoyle—a specially-trained executioner—sent to purge the west of evil. With succubi falling squarely in demon territory, Priscilla has every reason to fear him … yet she can't stay away. Hugo says he needs her help and wants to save her soul. But is redemption possible for a woman as wicked as Priscilla, or will love thaw her heart just enough for Hugo to crush it?
Excerpt:
A few of the men are laughing and eating breakfast, but as soon as I walk in, they grow silent … mostly.
“Morning, Miss Priscilla. Did you sleep well?” Fred asks, his last words ending with a snicker.
Most of the other men snicker too, all but Hugo, that is. He probably doesn’t know the rest well enough to be privy to their secrets.
Jesse slaps Gray on the back and Gray grins. Speaking through a mouth full of half-chewed biscuits, Gray says, “I slept like a titty baby myself.”
The others snort back their laughter. Hugo’s forehead furrows as he glances around the table.
I sigh. I don’t know why I expected better from Gray. But little boys must be taught their lessons, and the first one is don’t fuck with a succubus who holds your soul in hock.
After giving each man a smile in turn, I close my eyes and yank on Gray’s tether. He keels over and falls face first into the puddle of gravy on his plate.
“What the … Gray?” Jesse lifts Gray’s face from the plate and shoves him back against his chair, wide-eyed but unseeing. Mr. Yao’s savory sauce drips in long slimy strings from Gray’s nose. “Gray?” Jesse slaps Gray on the face a few times.
Gray isn’t home anymore. I slurp the last bits of his soul’s life-force in and breathe deeply as it spreads throughout every inch of my body. I am energized, immortal, powerful, and pissed off.
Hugo skewers me with his gaze, cold and hard. “Are you sure you want to do that? May raise more questions than it solves.”
What the hell is he talking about? Fuck him! Fuck all of them!
One by one, starting with Jesse, I lock gazes with each man around the table. As I ransack their recent memories, their expressions transform from mirth to horror to incoherent. The two newer hands I’ve never had to mind-wipe before—Winston and Jasper—fall asleep. The older hands will slowly regain their wits with what have been called devilishly hideous headaches. If any of them think they can take to their beds sick today, they’re dead wrong.
Hugo watches the entire proceedings, and when I get to him, my last target, he presses his lips into a thin line and resists my trespass into his mind. Those glacial blue eyes of his frost over and then seal shut, expelling me and slamming the door in my face.
How the hell is he able to do that?
With a snap of Hugo’s fingers, all motion, except his and mine, ceases. The clock stops ticking. A napkin casually tossed hovers an inch above the table’s surface. Mouths are frozen mid-word. Arms float rigidly in the air, and eyes stare blankly.
“Think, Pris,” Hugo repeats. His jaw is rigid, and his hands are curled into fists.
I stop trying to force my way inside Hugo’s mind. “Wh-what’s going on?” I wave a hand in front of Fred’s face, nearly threatening to put his eye out, but he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even blink. I shove my chair away from the table and jump to my feet. “What kind of sorcery is this?”
Hugo slowly raises his eyes to mine. In measured words he says, “Give Gray back his soul.”
“I need it.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “You don’t.”
“He deserved what he got!”
“No. He didn’t. All you needed to do was mind-wipe him, just like the others. Sucking him dry is excessive. You don’t have to go that far. Besides that, we’re kinda short-handed. Do you really want to fall behind this time of year? Think about how hard it will be to find a replacement.”
The horror of this man’s cognizance of what I am grips me. “Who are you? What are you?” I take a few steps back, wondering if I should flee.
He lifts his eyes to mine. “I’m someone you should be very afraid of.”
“Afraid? Of you?” I throw my head back and laugh dramatically, just like those ladies on the stage. “Oh, little big man. I’m not afraid of any man.” But I am afraid of this one.Where to Buy:
About the Author:
Lila Shaw is the pen name for a wee hours author of erotica and erotic romance. She adores writing about strong-willed women and the clever, charming (and well-endowed) men who love them. She believes if you can’t occasionally laugh at human foibles, and especially the physical aspects of love, you’re taking life far too seriously … unless the condom breaks, then you have every right to fret. Lila lives in the Portland, OR area with her family. Where to Stalk Lila:
Tour Stops:
9/9: Inside the World of Books
9/10: Bootheel Cotton Patch
9/11: Lusty Penguin Reviews
9/12: Rose & Beps Blog
Literal Hotties
9/13: Must Read Faster
9/14: Romance with Flavor
9/16: Indie Authors
9/18: Erzabet's Enchantments
9/20: Harlie's Books
9/10: Bootheel Cotton Patch
9/11: Lusty Penguin Reviews
9/12: Rose & Beps Blog
Literal Hotties
9/13: Must Read Faster
9/14: Romance with Flavor
9/16: Indie Authors
9/18: Erzabet's Enchantments
9/20: Harlie's Books
Okay so when I started this book, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I did a little research on Lila to get a feel for her type of writing to "prepare" me for what I might discover in this book. To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I absolutely fell in love with this book. So I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I hate, hate reading the blurbs before I read the arcs that I'm given. I feel that sometimes it will shape my mind before I've even gotten into the story and then I'll hate the book, because I didn't like the little blurb they gave me. But, I do have a guilty pleasure that I sometimes partake in. Sometimes I skip to the very last page; be it a whole page, half a page, or a 2 sentence page and I'll read the lines. Most of the time none of them make sense because I don't know anything about the book. But sometimes the other thing I do instead of reading the last page is to get an idea of how many pages there are and prepare myself for how much detail the book is going to have. When I saw that this book only had 57 pages (on my nook) I was a little shocked and then I wasn't sure what to expect from this story. Let me tell you....I have never had an author put so much detail and information and storyline and characters into such a small amount of pages and completely and utterly leave me satisfied. Lila is amazing and making sure the reader isn't left with tons of questions, but given a complete storyline with kick ass leading women and super sexy men and steamy hawt sex scenes.
So now onto the actual story. Our leading lady in this book is Priscilla Goodnight and she runs a cattle ranch. She has several men as ranch hands, but never par-takes in any type of "behind closed doors" with any of them men. EVER. Now in town is a whole other story. So Priscilla is a widow and a very strong woman that you can't help but like and fall in love with from the beginning. She describes herself, "I don't always mind doling out etiquette lessons and have earned my reputation as a female not afraid to stand up to men twice my five feet six, one hundred and thirty pound size." However, Priscilla has a secret.....she's a succubus.
So when the itch comes along she goes into town and sometimes calls herself Sally and has steamy hawt nights with men, erases their memory and does something interesting with their soul that isn't very common among succubus'. So things get interesting on the ranch because there is a new hand to help out, one that Priscilla does not remember hiring. Mr. Hugo Desmond comes into the picture and has that look and feel to him that there is more than meets the eye. Not only does the reader get this impression, but Priscilla gets it too.
One morning at breakfast after some interesting chatter comes up about one of the ranch hands, Gray, Priscilla kinds of loses herself for a moment and Hugo calls her on it. Not only that he calls her Pris and says and suggests things to her that are wayyy out of the normal. Almost like he knows exactly what she is and it doesn't scare him in the least. Which would raise the question....what is Hugo Desmond?
Hugo eventually let's Priscilla in on his secrets; that he is a gargoyle trained specially to purge evil. The book takes an interesting turn of events. We are also introduced to more paranormal creatures (which I love to learn about). Hugo has the rules/lessons that he teaches to Priscilla and at the end we are left wondering if there is going to be a final test and if so what will it be? Will Hugo be able to save Priscilla? Or will he kill her because of what she is? We also learn about some amazing history of demons and succubus'. Where they come from, how they turn and all that fun stuff. I actually learned a few things I didn't know and it only added to the magical world that Lila created. It is during this history lesson that we learn how Priscilla became a succubus, because she was
originally mortal. It is through this time that Hugo and Priscilla's"relationship" gets interesting. There is a lot of built up tension among other things where these two are concerned.
Overall, this was a great amazing read. It had everything that I could ask for in a book. Love, mystery, action, awesome background stories and history, steamy scenes, great characters and plot twists that keep the reader guessing and on their toes until the very end. This book does not disappoint at all. So excited that I got to read this and partake in this tour because I've become a huge fan of Lila's and can't wait to read more of her works.
Make sure to get your copy and leave comments with your thoughts. And again I wanted to give a HUGE thank you to Lila for stopping by and sharing some awesome answers in her interview. And make sure to check out the other stops on the tour.
Incinerate
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