Hello Friends! Today I'm featuring Nancy Straight author of Blood Debt. She's hanging out with us and talking about picking the perfect cover for her books, which I think is awesome! I've always wondered how that works, what and who is involved in that process and what not. Besides, have you seen the cover of Blood Debt?? It's gorgeous!
Blood Debt by Nancy Straight
Publisher: CreateSpace (7.15.12)
Her whole life, it had just been the two of them. Before her mother’s last breath, she gave Camille the information she had craved her entire life: the identity of her father. Daring to contact him, Camille was welcomed by an entire family she never knew existed. But nothing comes without a price, as she discovers when her family claims a legendary heritage tracing back to a centaur touched by Zeus.
As she learns the secrets of her Centaur bloodline, she is drawn into a forbidden love with Drake. Her life may be the blood debt required to pay for her mother’s transgressions. The same person who once held her mother captive, and forced her into decades of hiding, now controls Camille. Her only chance is to seek a piece of her mother’s past that will win her freedom and the life she desperately wants.
Buy the book:
Excerpt from Blood Debt, by Nancy Straight (Touched Series, Book 1)
She
looked a little frustrated with herself, and I breathed a sigh of
relief. Camille confessed, “Huh, nothing. Let me try this.” She swung
her legs over the side of the deck chair so we were seated facing each
other. Camille put her hands on either side of my temples; our lips
were mere inches apart. I heard the splashing of the waves, a seagull
echoing a warning overhead, and breeze whipping the flag at the ship’s
stern. I continued blocking my thoughts, refusing to let my wall
crumble.
Camille repositioned her hands from my temples, sliding them down, cradling my face in her palms. Her gentle touch threw me off guard. In that moment I didn’t care if she read every thought in my head. My mind’s wall disintegrated in front of both of us. Her eyes widened when she saw a glimpse of my desire for her.
I knew I could control my impulses no matter how strong they were to take her in my arms and hold her body to mine. I had just filled her mind with images of the two of us, where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing with her: walking in a tall meadow, the sun bearing down; on a snowcapped mountain, the only heat from our intertwined bodies; swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean near a deserted alcove. I savored each of these fantasies and shamelessly shared them with her, each more erotic than the previous.
What I wasn’t expecting was her reaction to what was going through my mind. I expected her to slap me, to leap away and scream, to call me hundreds of names that I deserved – I never expected that her mouth would close the gap with mine in an instant.
Her eyes closed, and I felt her soft lips press hard on to mine. My arms did the unthinkable and pulled her seated body off her deck chair and fully onto me. My veins, that last night felt like ice was coursing through them when I saw her, now had molten lava pumping through my body, and I had no recourse but to melt into her. Nothing else in the world mattered beyond the feel of her skin against me, the heat that generated between us, and her mouth on mine. We sat wrapped in each other for a short time before we both came to our senses and released.
Camille repositioned her hands from my temples, sliding them down, cradling my face in her palms. Her gentle touch threw me off guard. In that moment I didn’t care if she read every thought in my head. My mind’s wall disintegrated in front of both of us. Her eyes widened when she saw a glimpse of my desire for her.
I knew I could control my impulses no matter how strong they were to take her in my arms and hold her body to mine. I had just filled her mind with images of the two of us, where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing with her: walking in a tall meadow, the sun bearing down; on a snowcapped mountain, the only heat from our intertwined bodies; swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean near a deserted alcove. I savored each of these fantasies and shamelessly shared them with her, each more erotic than the previous.
What I wasn’t expecting was her reaction to what was going through my mind. I expected her to slap me, to leap away and scream, to call me hundreds of names that I deserved – I never expected that her mouth would close the gap with mine in an instant.
Her eyes closed, and I felt her soft lips press hard on to mine. My arms did the unthinkable and pulled her seated body off her deck chair and fully onto me. My veins, that last night felt like ice was coursing through them when I saw her, now had molten lava pumping through my body, and I had no recourse but to melt into her. Nothing else in the world mattered beyond the feel of her skin against me, the heat that generated between us, and her mouth on mine. We sat wrapped in each other for a short time before we both came to our senses and released.
Guest Post: How to pick the perfect cover for your book
Nette,
let me start by saying a BIG FAT thank you for hosting a stop on the
Blood Debt Tour!! I’m one of your more recent stalkers and am thrilled
to be here today!!
I
hate to admit it, but your followers are going to know I’m a
knucklehead after this post. Would you believe I am the WORST cover
critic, ever? It’s true! I fit into the tenth of a percent of the
population who pays no attention at all to a book’s cover.
Every
book I’ve read in the last two years has either: (1) Been recommended
to me by a Goodreads friend, (2) Was written by an author I’ve gotten to
know via social media or (3) Has been raved about on a blog that I
stalk.
In
fact, until a year ago, I thought everyone was just like me and I had
no idea covers were so important. One of my friends, Kris Kindel, wrote
me a note about this time last year telling me she had just read
Meeting Destiny. She said all kinds of wonderful things about the story
then said, “But your cover sucks.” Can you say, “eye opening
experience.”
I
took her advice and commissioned a cover designer and holy moly – what a
difference! My sales tripled within a day of uploading the new covers.
So, now that I know how important covers are, these are a few of the
things I look for when picking the perfect cover.
All
of my covers are centrally focused on the theme of the book. I
purposely write very strong female heroines so each of my covers’ focus
is the main character. 
The
colors and font should be appealing based on the Genre. Because my
novels all have a strong romance element, the font helps paint this
picture for the reader before they ever view the synopsis. By far my
most important advice to authors with the daunting task of picking a
cover: they should be just as attractive when they are the size of a
quarter as they are when they are full sized because the bulk of the
people looking for a book will see it when it’s the size of a quarter.
Nette, thanks so much for helping me spread the word about Blood Debt and for letting me chat about covers today!!
She's a DOLL isn't she?! I love when I gain new stalkers...makes me feel loved!
Thank YOU Nancy for taking the time to hang with us today and I especially LOVE the cover of Blood Debt =)
About the author:
Nancy
was born in Sioux City Iowa, left the cold of the Midwest in 1991 and
only returns to see family in the summer time. She spent ten years
traveling the world as a US Marine and settled in rural SC. She has two
fantastic son, three rotten dogs and an amazing husband. When not
writing she enjoys RVing with her family, swimming and reading all types
of romance genres. Her favorite is paranormal romance.
Nancy
was born in Sioux City Iowa, left the cold of the Midwest in 1991 and
only returns to see family in the summer time. She spent ten years
traveling the world as a US Marine and settled in rural SC. She has two
fantastic son, three rotten dogs and an amazing husband. When not
writing she enjoys RVing with her family, swimming and reading all types
of romance genres. Her favorite is paranormal romance.
Find Nancy Here:
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Fantastiс site. Α lot of helpful informаtіon hегe.
ReplyDeleteI'm sending it to a few buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks for your effort!
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