Blue Moon Deleted Scene

For anyone who takes notice of my FB page, you might remember I mentioned about sharing some deleted scenes from Blue Moon.

Well, I decided to listen and let you have them. I’m giving you one (which is actually two).

Before I do, let me reassure you that you don’t have worry. These aren’t scenes that would show a different outcome to that which you’ve read in the published version of the book. They are simply scenes that are now hinted at having happened because we removed them to move the story along faster (for good reason–heh).

Oh, and sorry to any hopefuls, but these aren’t ‘intimate’ scenes.

p.s. these have not been professionally edited.

Okay, here goes. Remember near the beginning when Jem and Sean manage to wangle a day to themselves? Well, those scenes were originally shown … and here they are:

~~~~~

TOY STORE SCENE

‘Big’ didn’t even begin to describe the store; gigantic would have been far more fitting. In my younger years, kids were lucky if they had one of those pathetic electronic ping-pongy-tennis games for the TV. The toy store had so many consoles, it made my head hurt.

Sean unfolded his arms from around me and picked up a board game. “We should get this for us.”

“Why?” I smiled. “You hate sitting still.”

“It’s supposed to be freezing soon. It’ll be something to do indoors.”

“Baby, I can think of way more fun things to do than a board game.”

He laughed, repositioning himself at my back. “I’ll bet you can.”

Sean’s six foot three height allowed his chin to rest atop my five-seven frame. With his arms folded around my chest, his breaths warming my neck, his body heat sifting through my clothing, we hobbled our way through the mass of toys.

“What does Ben like?” asked Sean.

I shrugged. “I know he liked sports—I’ve played with them in the garden.”

“It’s too cold for outdoors. We’ll find the boys’ toys.”

As soon as we rounded the corner to the boys aisle, Sean’s arms released me. I peered at him over my shoulder, smothered a laugh at the shine in his eyes as he picked up one box, and then another. He went the whole length of the shelves, studied the action figures, the miniaturised racing tracks and scale-sized cars to accompany them, the train sets, too.

“Look at this.”

When he stuck a pointed hat on his head and waved a wand about, my laugh snorted out.

He put it back, picked up a remote control fire engine, played about with that. I watched him move from the fire engine to a trunk-sized box of bricks. “These are cool.” He stuck a few together, waved them at me. “It’s enough to make you want kids yourself, isn’t it?”

I stared at him. Had he intended it to sound as it did? He spotted my expression, put the bricks back with a frown, and disappeared round the corner.

I turned to scour the figures. Gaze falling on an unusual set, I picked them up for a closer look, hummed and harred over which to get. At Sean’s chuckle I looked back to see him whizzing back round the corner on a skateboard. He almost knocked me over with his outstretched arms, as he brought his newfound wheels to a halt.

“You’ll get us kicked out,” I said with a giggle.

“I’ve got to get one of these. Dad bought me one when I was about ten, but it was rubbish compared the ones they’ve got in here.”

“Get it then.” I smiled. “I found these for Ben. Poppy will laugh her socks off when she sees them.”

He stepped from the skateboard, took the box from me. His gaze went from the one in his hand, to the others on the shelf, before he burst out laughing. I’d found a range of werewolf action figures.

He grabbed some more. “Perfect.”

BISTRO SCENE

The bistro Sean chose for lunch held few patrons. Cosy summed up the dimmed lighting, the dark-wood panelled walls, the yellowed black and white framed photographs that adorned the generous lounge. The offered seats in an enclosed corner of the room added a romantic element to it all.

“You want some wine, Jem?”

“Just juice.” Skimming over the menu, I lowered my voice. “I don’t want to fall asleep before the hunt.”

He smiled before turning as the waitress sidled up with pad and pen in hand. Sean ordered an orange juice and lemonade, a rare sirloin. The woman wrote it all down and looked to me.

“Salmon. But can I get it with potatoes and stuff, instead of salad, please?”

She smiled. “Certainly.”

“Potatoes and stuff?” Sean chuckled when we were alone.

“Well, she seems to know what stuff is.”

His long legs stretched out beneath the table, wrapped around mine. “It’s been good, getting out for a bit.” We didn’t get anywhere near enough time to ourselves. “We should do it more often, now Dad isn’t panicking so much over backup for the two of us.”

I smiled. “Yeah, we should.”

I never complained about Nathan’s concerns about me going out alone—or Sean’s. They weren’t unfounded. Sean and I never questioned Nathan’s worries over the two of us being out together either. As the first female werewolf, bitten by Sean two centuries before, bound to be reunited by a spell my mother placed on us at the time, I—we—tended to be well known, thanks to werewolf history. If another pack saw us, figured out who we were, past experience told us their curiosity alone could bring trouble—though, I didn’t quite understand their fascination with me. Thankfully, since eliminating the pack who hoped to keep me for themselves back in August, we hadn’t come into contact with any other outside wolves.

We remained quiet for a while. Constant conversation had never been a requirement for our relationship. The waitress didn’t even speak when she brought our drinks—probably thought we were making gooey eyes at each other … which, I guessed, we were. At the arrival of our food, we broke focus only long enough to be polite before our eyes reconnected.

We watched each other a lot. I liked to watch him eat. The pronouncement of tendons in his arms with each stab of the fork, every slice of the knife. The way he studied each individual item on his plate as though what he ate next was the most important decision in the world. The satisfaction on his face as the flavours pleasured him. I imagined he got the same enjoyment from watching me, because he always did it, too.

I smiled. “Want some of my stuff?”

He reached over, speared a chunk of broccoli with his fork. It disappeared into his mouth before he attacked his chips. After ramming in enough to render him incapable of speech, he stabbed some more, stretched over to feed them to me.

He finished first, as always, smearing the last of his chips in his bloodied meat juices. As he chewed the last mouthful, he settled onto his elbows. A smile played on his lips, his eyebrow twitched. “Rabbit or badger, tonight, Jem?”

I lowered my gaze as my body gave a small shudder of excitement at the thought. “Fox.”

“You have to wait for them to begin breeding again.”

Considering my alternatives, I returned to studying him. “What would you recommend?”

“Depends how hungry you are.”

“It has nothing to do with hunger.” I shrugged. “If you like rabbit, you simply eat more.”

His smile widened. “Badger, then.”

“Why?”

“Their meat is richer. Rabbit is sweeter.”

“How can meat be sweet?”

He shrugged then smiled when I offered him my last potato.

~~~~~

Th-th-that’s all, folks!

(to clarify, Ben is Poppy’s son)

See you Friday for the first Caged #FreeviewFriday

And the winner of the custom-made Holloway Pack goodies is …

Congratulations, Caroline!

Massive thanks to everyone else who entered.

Please check back in the future for more giveaways.

Happy Book Birthday #BlueMoon & #Giveaway #HollowayPack

Today is launch day!

Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaa!

I’m so freakin’ frackin’ excited. It seems like I’ve waited FOREVER for the second Holloway Pack novel to release. And finally, it has!

Yep, Blue Moon is NOW AVAILABLE! You guys can grab it in both ebook and print.

Here are some links:

Amazon UK | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

You can also add it to your Goodreads by clicking HERE!

Book Birthday Day also means that the Blue Moon Blog Tour has officially kicked in!

You can see the full schedule HERE! where there will be plenty of chances to win Blue Moon, amongst other goodies. For your first chance at an e-copy of Blue Moon, be sure to visit Ambur’s Blog, where the tour is kicking off with a giveaway.

Aaaaaaaand because I’m so excited about this, I’ve decided to do a giveaway of my own for some of my most prized Holloway Pack possessions.

Let’s take a look at the prizes.

Yep, ONE lucky winner will receive this special Holloway Pack prize, consisting of the following items:

1 Sean bracelet

1 Ethan bracelet

1 Josh bracelet

1 Holloway Pack bookmark

All of these items have been custom made to order by the awesome BelleBooks Charms over on FB. Emma’s great to work with. You should go check out her stuff: Facebook | Etsy.

To enter to win these gorgeous bracelets (that I will likely cry over when I have to post them out), you need to complete the Rafflecopter form on the Giveaways Page of my website.

Here are the rules & regs.

The giveaway will run for the entire month of December alongside the Blog Tour and end at midnight December 31st 2012.

Once the winner has been chosen, informed, and their mailing address obtained, prizes will be sent out. Please note: the winner will need to allow up to FOUR WEEKS for delivery due to the after Christmas screwy postal service.

Prizes are as shown and not transferable.

With that out of the way … off you go … and Good Luck!

Five copies of Blue Moon ARC’s up for grabs over at J. Taylor Publishing’s Blog!

Hi, all.

I told myself I would blog this week. Mostly because I’m full of a craptapular viral infection the Mini-Me kindly shared with me. And also because the Mini-Me is home with laryngitis and conjunctivitis dragging her viral infection to a whole other level (’cause at least my laryngitis hasn’t stolen my voice). However, there is an awesome giveaway happening over at my publisher’s blog right now, running until November 16th, where they’re giving away FIVE ARC’s of Blue Moon in exchange for reviews–and I figured it’d be pretty lax of me not to share. So, if you fancy your chances, or have been waiting for the next installment to find out what next is in store for Sean & Jem, now’s your chance to grab it ahead of the crowd.

Just follow the link: http://www.jtaylorpublishing.com/blog/?p=1124

And Good Luck!

#FreeviewFriday #BlueMoon!

Welcome to the this week’s #FreeviewFriday, where we’re back with another snip from Blue Moon. After showing a hint of upcoming conflict last time, I thought I’d use this week to show a glimpse at life with the Holloway’s for Jem. Hope you enjoy:

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

Dressed in a green sweater and jeans, my blonde hair still wet against my shoulder blades, I jogged into the kitchen as Sean lowered a plate holding four slices of toast and two poached eggs onto the table.
He inclined his head. “Sit.”
I sent him a smile on the way to my usual spot, parked my rear in the oak-carved chair.
Ethan smirked from the opposite seat, humour lending a shine to dark eyes that matched Sean’s. “Good evening.”
I picked up my fork. “You’re getting funnier, Ethan. You’ve been practicing again, haven’t you?”

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

Ethan–always finding himself amusing, bless.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks snippet. See you next time for another round of FVF and peek at what’s in store for Cole and Benjamin.

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FreeviewFriday. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.

The Trick to Reasonably Priced Bookmarks in the UK

To be honest, I hummed and harred over writing this post. But …

1)      I’m asked a LOT where I’ve got my printed goods from whenever I post pics of them. And …

2)      I’m often slightly peeved at the cost of professionally made bookmarks for us folk in the UK in comparison to the States.

In fact, I’m pretty certain my US buddies can get a couple hundred bookmarks for as little as $40-ish. When I hunted for printing companies over here that made bookmarks to order, the prices I was finding were in the region of £120 upwards (and those were the cheapest O_O).

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Yeah, not impressed with that.

The worst of it was, one of the best places to order them from in the US seemed to be Vistaprint.

Now, anyone who takes any notice of what I say will know I’m a huge championer of Vistaprint.

But they do have a downside.

The UK site for the company doesn’t offer bookmarks as one of their products.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Yeah, my mood crashed and burned over that one, let me tell you.

So after having major sulkfests over this for days … weeks … possibly months … I spotted a blog post (on Red Room) that detailed ‘how to get quality promotional bookmarks for just under a penny …’, which included Vistaprint as part of the plan.

So I was all ears.

I followed their instructions. Gave it a go.

And voila! I ended up with my first set of bookmarks I’d ordered myself.

So how much did they cost me?

Well, the first lot I ordered only ended up costing me an approximate £4.50-ish, due to the fee for uploading an image and the cost of shipping—because I followed the advice and waited for a ‘freebie’ offer to come through. That was for 200.

I’ve since then ordered more. Though I did pay the full whack of £17.99 (plus postage) for the second batch—but decided I couldn’t even scoff at that price.

And I’ve been more than happy with the received product both times. Sure, they’re a little smaller than, and the card used isn’t quite as thick as, my original Darkness & Light bookmarks my publisher sent over from America, but they are still more than worth the money I paid.

So, in case you fancy ordering some of your own, here’s the LINK again to the blog post explaining how.

And if I—a complete techno-moron—could figure out how to use the Vistaprint site, anyone can. Plus, to help you along, I’ve even posted pics (below) of my bookmarks all set up (as finished product) and ready for printing from my Vistaprint portfolio so you have a second image to go by*.

Front /\ & back \/

Just remember: Butt each image up to the outside cut-off line, and you pretty much can’t go wrong.

Then when they arrive, chop ‘em up.

I’ve been lucky enough to have access to a guillotine, but I imagine a craft knife and straight edge could work just as well.

So there you have it. My trick to affordable bookmarks (totally taken from someone else’s idea).

Live and learn, people. I hope this helps.

*Please note: if you are published via traditional methods, check in with them before using your coverart for promotional products. Who knows? If they’re as awesomesauce as J.Taylor, they may even provide the ready-made images you need for you.

Win an E-ARC of #BlueMoon & an Awesome #BlueMoon Banner! #HollowayPack

Wahoo!

I love when the time comes around to do an ARC giveaway. Sure, ARC’s of my books all get sent out to reviewers, and sure, that means I get to see what folk think prior to release day, which is pure awesomesauce.

BUT … when I get to do one of these events? I get to giveaway to one of my readers. And that just about makes my day.

So, who’s ready to get their hands on an early copy of Blue Moon?

Coolio.

But that’s not aaaaaaaallllll.

I also have ONE Blue Moon Banner to giveaway alongside it. Wanna know what one looks like? See below (and ignore the remotes holding it in place):

This banner IS as cool as it looks. It’s also way more durable and will keep longer than a poster due to its vinyl material. And I’m ready to give it up to one of my awesome readers. I’ll even sign it for you if you wish.

So … win the ARC, win the banner!

There are a few ways to enter. All of them are listed on the RAFFLECOPTER FORM HERE!

Annnnnnnnd, if you just happen to be a newsletter subscriber? Then go check your inbox. Because you should have received a message this morning, with a supasekrit code, for MEGA BONUS ENTRIES not available to anyone else.

Soooooooo, off you go. In case you missed it, you can enter HERE!

Contest closes midnight October 22nd.

Good luck!

#FreeviewFriday #BlueMoon!

Welcome to the this week’s #FreeviewFriday, where we’re back with another snip from Blue Moon. Continuing on from Poppy’s cajoling over the male pack members and their ‘needs’, here is your peek; hope you enjoy:

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

I couldn’t tell her that, as a rule, the pack didn’t date humans because past experience showed them the consequences could be catastrophic—not for themselves but for the humans. “I’ve never thought about it.” I hadn’t needed to.
“Oh, come on. Men have needs. Sooner or later, those men of yours will want to get those needs fulfilled.”
She probably thought the conversation helped.
She couldn’t have been more mistaken.
My eyes had been opened to the possibility that I may not always be the sole female to interact with the pack.
I welcomed the idea about as much as a bout of diarrhoea.

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

Uh-oh.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks snippet. See you next time for another round of FVF and peek at what’s in store for Cole and Benjamin.

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FreeviewFriday. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.

So, who wants one of my lovely new Darkness & Light bookmarks, then?

Yep, I went and ordered some awesome new bookmarks, as suggested by Mr B, and they arrived last week, all shiny and new and oh, so perdy. Wanna see? Lookie down.

Of course, this means I can’t wait to share them and get them into eager beaver hands.

The best way to do that is with a giveaway–and seeing as October has turned into one big Giveaway Fest on my blog, I figured now is as good a time as any.

I also figured I might as well use the giveaway to my advantage.

Yes, yes, I know I usually only ask you to comment for something like this. But this time, I’m asking for a tiny bit more. Because to enter, I want you to Tweet.

As for the what …. simply choose one of my Holloway Pack titles to tweet about. It can either be your favourite tale in a shout out. Or maybe there’s one you’ve been waiting to read, or are dying to get your hands on–just shout about it. Or the fact that Fated Encounter always has been and still is a free read ….

You get the picture.

To make it easier, I’ve even posted links to my books pages on Goodreads for you to include:

Instinct: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12238374-instinct

Eternal: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13353935-eternal

Darkness & Light: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10835992-darkness-light

Fated Encounter: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12327186-fated-encounter

Into the Unknown: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12064793-into-the-unknown

Blue Moon: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13454731-blue-moon

Resonance: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15761332-resonance

Caged: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13627361-caged

ANNNNNND your Tweet MUST include the hashtag: #HollowayPack If it doesn’t include this hashtag, there’s a chance I won’t spot/find it. And so long as the hashtag is in your tweet, you won’t all need to @ me to grab my attention.

See? That’s not so difficult, right?

Okay, then, to clarify, I will be giving away THREE signed bookmarks. I’ll also be throwing in a signed Blue Moon bookmark, as well a signed Instinct and signed Eternal postcard to each winner. AND one lucky winner (that would be whoever random.org picks first) will also receive a Holloway Pack pen.

The contest will remain open until the end of the week (midnight of Sunday October 14th), and the draw will take place next week. Winner will be contacted via Twitter initially so you’ll need to look out for a tweet from me. And, in case you’re wondering, yes, you can tweet more than once (you can do so as many times as you like), and yes, each tweet will be counted as a separate entry.

Good luck! And thanks in advance to anyone who plays along.

#FreeviewFriday #BlueMoon!

Welcome to the this week’s #FreeviewFriday. As promised, I’m back with another snip from Blue Moon. This next scene I’ll share comes in closely after the excerpt I shared a fortnight ago. Hope you enjoy:

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

“You really don’t like the idea of other females invading your territory, do you, Jem?” Poppy asked over the hum of the Porsche from her cocooned position in the passenger seat.
I shrugged.
“I know you have a strong bond with Josh, so I understand you feeling pushed but, but . . . it’s not only him, is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s just . . .” I paused to consider. “None of them have shown an interest in women.”
“Just because they haven’t advertised their attraction doesn’t mean the feelings aren’t there, sweetie.”

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

I imagine Poppy is most probably right.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks snippet. See you next time for another round of FVF and peek at what’s in store for Cole and Benjamin.

As I have said before, any and all are welcome to join me in this weekly shenanigan. HOWEVER, if you do so, I URGE you to keep the shared snippets short and sweet. Mine will be a maximum of TEN (10) sentences. To help identification of these posts, I shall be hashtagging them (for Twitter purposes) as #FreeviewFriday. Feel free to knick said hashtag for your own Freeview Friday posts.