Thursday, December 18, 2014

Interview: No Angel by Pippa Jay

UFI welcomes Pippa Jay. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview? 

My nickname as a teen was Dormouse for my habit of curling up in a nest of blankets when sleeping.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

I love to watch and read scifi, do some sewing (mostly cosplay outfits), draw a bit, make graphics and mock up covers for my books, sing, do freestyle street dance for fitness, spend time with my family, and I have a pet leopard gecko and five bantam chickens to look after.

What is your favorite part of writing? 

Creating new worlds. Honestly, who wouldn’t enjoy that?!

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write? 

Not really. I’m a pantser, and my writing method is chaotic and non-linear, so it’s a case of take my new shiny idea and get stuck in.

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres? 

I just read Scorched by Erica Hayes (Superhero/UF), which I really enjoyed. Also loved the Embers series by Lauri Owen, and the Hunted series by Elle Hill.

How would you pitch No Angel to someone who has not heard of it before? 

Think Bladerunner but with angels and demons instead of replicants.

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that No Angel is set in? 

It’s about a hundred years in the future, and humanity is able to travel the stars. Mortal kind aren’t aware angels and demons are still around, but they are and have embraced technology along with humans, although perhaps a little slower. This story is set in City Above, while my main character Lucien is a denizen of City Below, perhaps better known as Hell. The setting is somewhat gloomy, with bits of future technology popping up throughout.

Do you have a favorite scene in No Angel

Several, but the one that tickles me the most is when Lucien is face to face with His Infernal Highness, being given orders to hunt an angel. I had this weird idea of who I wanted to play Satan, so I had fun writing it and seeing some of the responses from my beta readers.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about? 

I loved writing Lucien, the main character. I’d never really written a character who not only embraced his sexuality but reveled in it. The hardest was Miranda, because she’d been quite a shadowy figure in my mind, and I didn’t want her coming across as too cold and remote just because she’s an angel.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you? 

I have a YA dystopian romance releasing in April 2015, plus the re-release of my debut scifi romance novel and its sequel.
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After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.

Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2nd place).

Find Pippa and her books
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No Angel
Buy Link
 How far would you fall for love? 

Centuries ago, guardian angel Lucien committed a terrible sin. He gave in to his own desires and revealed himself to the mortal woman he'd been charged to protect. By kissing her, he condemned himself. Torn of his wings and his angelic powers, thrown down into the City Below, Lucien now serves Satan as an incubus who claims souls for his master from the City Above, and who feeds on the energy stolen from his mortal lovers. Dark, sexy, and charming, he's been top of his league for decades uncounted. 

Until His Infernal Highness decides to send Lucien looking for a lost angel. Lucien has no idea what he did to deserve such a punishment, since the touch of an angel could destroy him. Yet the challenge and the potential kudos of seducing one of his former heavenly kin leads him on. 

But when he finds the angel, he learns he still has more to lose than his already forsaken soul.
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Excerpt:

A couple of centuries ago, Lucien mused, he would've been forced to use the treacherous spiraling staircase that led down to Hell. Stone stairs that were covered in slime, cracked and shifting underfoot, with no handrail for safety, and no chance to withdraw. No light other than the lurid red glow from beneath. For those poor mortals travelling that way, the redness would have increased in step with the temperature as they descended, to the point where both would become unbearable, leaving them desperate to retreat. But then most would tumble headlong down the stairs long before being able to turn back, to lie broken and bleeding at the bottom. That would merely be the first taste of all the torments to come.

Instead, Lucien rode in the luxury of an elevator into the bowels of Hades, Hell, Purgatory—whatever mortals chose to name it. As one of its denizens, he had little to fear from such a trip Down Below. At least, normally he wouldn't. Tonight was different. He'd been summoned.

Lucien hunched deeper into his leather jacket, hands thrust into his pockets and the collar turned up around his neck, though not from cold. In all his years as an incubus, the big boss had never asked to see him before. He couldn't think of anything he'd done lately to warrant such attention. Or anything he hadn't done. There were plenty of lewd and despicable acts he'd committed. Things even the darkest of human minds couldn't possibly conceive, and several times over. That was his job after all. What else did anyone expect of a demon, for Hell's sake?
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Review: Christmas with a Bite by Patricia A. Wolf

Christmas with a Bite
Release Date: December 15, 2014
Publisher: Entangled: Covet
ISBN:  1633751589
ISBN13: 9781633751583
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Publisher
Sometimes the holidays totally bite...

This Christmas, Mara Livingston is determined to start over. But as she's driving to her "new" home, a freak winter storm forces her off the road. Now she's stranded in the middle of nowhere. Then he shows up. And there's something strangely familiar about him...

Connor Reece never expected to see Mara again. Nor is he prepared for the onslaught of emotions―including an unimaginable rush of desire―she stirs within him. Now he has a chance to claim the woman he's always wanted. Except, there are a couple of small details that Mara doesn't know. The first is that Connor is a vampire. And the second is that if his family finds out about Mara, she will most certainly be killed...

Mara is ready for a new start after she finalizes her divorce from her cheating husband. She becomes stranded during a snow storm and finds her way to a remote cabin. The man that lies there looks familiar, but she can't place him and she is thankful for his help. Connor is hiding away after the suicide death of his girlfriend. Mara, the woman he hasn't forgotten from one dance at his best friends brothers wedding many years ago, is the very last person he expects to show up on his doorstep. He still wants her, but has no choice but to keep her at arms length. That plan doesn't work as well as he wants it to.

The whole story is about how Mara and Connor are fated to be together. They went their separate ways, but found there way back to each other anyways. I enjoyed all the characters in this book. When it first started I thought it might be only Mara and Connor stuck in a cabin, falling in love and I am glad to say it was so much more than that. We get to meet friends and family and they are all involved in the overall storyline.  Mara has a really hard time trusting men after her ex husband and Connor has a secret he can't share with her, so its obvious that there was going to be a problem at some point. I really enjoyed how Mara found out about Connor being a vampire. For one, it wasn't expected and two, I think she handled it how I would have handled it if I was in her position. The romance and relationship developed nicely and it was easy to become invested in it's outcome.

I don't see anything that suggests CHRISTMAS WITH A BITE will be part of a series and that is totally OK because I was happy at the end and don't really have a huge pull to read more about Mara and Connor. Their story ended well and I am fine with it being kept that way. This was a nice fast paced, easy romance for those looking for one.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.