RITA ® Award-Winning Author of Fantasy Romance
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I’m participating in a fun giveaway for the month of March! The grand prize is a $100 gift card, which – hey – who can’t spend that??
For my part, I’m giving away this very cool Phantom of the Opera charm bracelet.
To win, just post something excited about MASTER OF THE OPERA on some form of social media and comment back here to let know what you did. Every entry in my contest – or the other 19 authors – counts as an entry in the grand prize!
Winners will be announced April 1 – no foolin’!
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Release Day for the Next Episode!
In the fourth fiery installment of Jeffe Kennedy’s scintilliating Master of the Opera, a woman surrenders-body and soul-to the one man who is everything she desires, everything she craves, and, possibly, everything she fears…
Reeling from the discovery of a dead body in the Sante Fe Opera House, intern Christy Davis is forced to reassess the strange, erotically-charged relationship she’s forged with the mysterious masked man who lives in the labrynths below. Could her masterful lover be capable of murder, and worse? Perhaps it was the thrill of danger that drew Christy to him in the first place-like a moth to the flame-instead of a more conventional romance with the opera house’s handsome benefactor, Roman. For the sake of her sanity, she must at least give Roman a chance. But for the love of her master, she must give in to every wild fantasy, every wicked game, and every whim he commands…
Is Christy prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice? To surrender her heart, her soul, her everything? First she must acknowlege the truth: a woman in love can serve only one master…
and here’s a fun review: (entirety here)
Worldbuilding: I’m thrilled out of my mind about this installment in the serial, but even more so about the next one. As you might have seen from my Genre OCD-ness, in this one we get to see a glimpse of a fantasy world that I CANNOT wait to explore! Aside that, the brilliance of the Santa Fe setting with the Opera in particular still made my heart throb.
Characters: I will admit I found Christy somewhat less likable than in previous parts of the story, but to her credit this is the make or break point (I think) in her and the Master’s chemistry. It makes sense that she’d be confused, hesitant, indecisive – her behavior makes sense to me in the circumstances. Then again, she did end up doing what I wanted her to 
So all is good. I loved Hally, I always love it each time she shows up because she has this cool, spiritual vibe while being wicked fun at the same time – love the combination.
Characters I’ve previously found annoying got even more so now, and can I just say I hope they get a rash in parts they can’t scratch? 
If you’ve been reading this serial, you know for sure who it is I’m talking about *coughRomancough*.
Plot: Aside the growing mystery vine, a fantasy tangent made a teasing entrance and I’m dying to follow all these leads to the end of the story.
Writing: Awesome third person narrative, Christy’s POV. The more the Master shows and his world, the more I fall in love with Jeffe Kennedy’s atmosphere-building and relationship-building.
Curb Appeal: Great cover, hooking blurb, instant buy author name = epic win.
All in all, I felt this was a great addition to the serial and that it ended with a huge teaser (for me), making me want to REALLY want to read the next one like right now. But then again I feel that way after reading anything by Jeffe Kennedy, so no surprise there.
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This week a group of us writer-types from SFWA (Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America) are staging a sale of sf/fantasy books. We’ll be nattering about this and cross-posting all over the Internet. This is an opportunity to pick up some good reading material at great prices.
The promotion lasts through Friday, February 21, and the following authors are participating:
Amanda C. Davis with new takes on classic fairy tales in Wolves and Witches for $2.99, and also her fantasy novelette The Lair of the the Twelve Princesses for 99 cents.
M.C.A. Hogarth with her aliens-only epic fantasy The Worth of a Shell at $2.99.
Cat Rambo with her brilliant collections Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Midnight at $2.99 and Near + Far, also at $2.99.
Don Sakers’ tale of futuristic psi and intrigue, The Eighth Succession at $2.99.
And I’ll be offering my erotic romantic fantasy novella Petals and Thorns at 99 cents, plus you can still get a free sample of the first episode of my serial novel Master of the Opera: Passionate Overture.
Lots of fun new books to check out – I sure plan to!
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Act 3 of Master of the Opera, Phantom Serenade, is out today! Wheee!
And remember, hie yourself to your fave etailer and download Act 1: Passionate Overture for FREE!
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Lots of exciting news to share today! First of all, Act 1 of Master of the Opera, Passionate Overture, is FREE everywhere!
Here’s a few links to download that puppy:
ARe
Blio
Books on Board
Google Play
Kobo
Nook
Amazon
Also, Act 3: Phantom Serenade is releasing on Thursday, February 6. You can read an excerpt here at the Contemporary Romance Cafe!
Finally, Act V: A Haunting Duet, is available for review on Net Galley!! As always, if you have trouble getting approved, tag me somewhere and let me know. I have a WIDGET (one widget to rule them all!) that you can use.
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I’m guesting over at the Share My Destiny blog, sharing some reader and reviewer feedback on the first two acts of my serial novel, Master of the Opera – and mulling if anticipation makes it all better or just more annoying?
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Available as a free read!
Looks like you can download Act 1 of Master of the Opera: Passionate Overture for free from eKensington! Can’t beat free!
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Today is release day for the second episode of my serial novel, Master of the Opera, Act 2: Ghost Aria! You can read more over at Paranormal Romantics today, along with an excerpt!
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Yesterday I received my page proofs for The Mark of the Tala. Aren’t they pretty?
I’m tremendous
ly blessed that the production editor at my publisher has turned out to be a major fan of the story and she went to lengths to make the book beautiful. She wanted special fonts, black-feather icons in the line breaks and special swirlies under the chapter numbers. (I would have looked up the term for that, but that’s the exact word she used in her email to me, so…)
Don’t they look great??
And yeah, you get tiny little teasers along with those. I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not.
LOL.
(On Twitter there’s a newish meme to apologize for stuff like this and add the #notsorry hashtag to the end. Adds the perfect bit of smirk to every tease.)
The other terrific thing about her liking this book and this series is that she’s a serious fantasy geek, the kind that rereads Lord of the Rings every year, so I love, love, love that this book is speaking to someone like that. 
I also have cover flats that I’ll take to Adventures in Fiction next month. And soon there will be ARCs! It’s all very exciting.
Finally, the second installment of Master of the Opera, Act 2: Ghost Aria releases this Thursday! This release-every-two-weeks thing makes me feel a bit breathless. Especially while receiving page proofs on Mark and finishing drafting Emerald, the new full-length novel, which will be renamed.
One day I’ll write interesting blog posts again!
(Presuming they were EVER interesting. *snort*)
//I was planning to put up this clever, witty post on the Nine Circles of Social Media Hell, but it’s Friday and…
Okay, I’m not feeling ambitious.
Plus, I know I’m not as chatty on here as I used to be. So, I thought maybe I’d catch you all up on some news and so forth.
First of all, for all of you reviewer people bitching about mentioning the cliffhanger at the end of Act 3 of Master of the Opera, Phantom Serenade? Act 4, Dark Interlude is now up on Net Galley! Go ye forth and request a copy. Or, if you have trouble, I have a handy-dandy widget I can give you (and for the previous acts, if you need them). Just ping me and let me know!
Act 1 of Master, Passionate Overture, released on January 2, for all us non-reviewer chickens. Act 2, Ghost Aria, comes out next week already on January 16! I’ll be in West Virginia that day to conduct a seminar for the day job, so I’m being Zen about this release. Besides, six release days spaced out every two weeks begins to feel like a little MUCH, you know?
Anyone around the Charleston, WV area who wants to meet up? Also, I’ll be in San Diego the weekend of January 30 – February 2. Finally, I’ll be in Dallas for the Adventures in Fiction Signing and Masquerade Ball February 14-16. Should be big fun!
Other than that, I’m nearly done drafting the new erotic novel that will come out in July. I’ve been calling it “Emerald,” as the next in the Facets of Passion series, but we’re going to give it a new title and put it in a whole new series, along with the next two books. I think you all will like them. They’ll be at least twice as long as the Facets books, with a lot more meat.
You all have a great weekend!