Works In Progress: Dawn Brown's Blog » life

New Reviews For Blood and Bone

Dawn Brown — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:22:08 +0000

It’s Groundhog Day! Though, this winter has felt more like spring so far, anyway. To celebrate, I thought I’d share some fantastic reviews for Blood and Bone. Also, I’ve been interviewed over at Fallen Angels Reviews. Check it out when you have a second.

In a genre saturated with amped-up covert or rogue heroes, it is refreshing to see Brown return to the very roots of romantic suspense. Her plotting is of the highest caliber — making for a terrorizing, fervent illustration of depravity with an impressive cast of characters and a ferocious pace that doesn’t waver even for a second. 4.5 Stars from RT Book Reviews

I honestly could not put Blood and Bone down until I finished it. It is definitely a chilling romantic suspense with just enough emotional ups & downs, sex, humor and twists and turns to keep the reader totally enthralled. 5 Stars from Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

Blood and Bone is a spine chilling romantic suspense. There are many twists and turns throughout this plot, so it leaves the reader guessing until the very end…Ms. Brown does an amazing job with this story, keeping me interested right from the start, and held my attention until the very climatic ending that I never saw coming. Readers, if you enjoy a romantic suspense that won’t let you down, then don’t wait! Get a copy of Blood and Bone today. 4 Stars Long and Short Reviews.

Dawn Brown spins a chilling tale of murder and the extremes people will go to keep their secrets… Just when the reader thinks he/she knows who the murderer really is, Ms. Brown offers another plot twist that changes everything. 4.5 Stars Sensual Reads

Blood and Bone starts out with a chilling meeting between a crime writer and convicted murder setting readers on the edge of their seat from the first eerie meeting to the last page…This book is a thrilling adventure to unravel the mystery of who committed the murders twenty-five years ago… 4 Stars from Night Owl Romance

Enjoy the rest of your week!

The Reveiws are In

Dawn Brown — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:22:21 +0000

So far I’ve received two reviews for Blood and Bone. The first from Book Pimps Reviews where they gave Blood and Bone 5 stars. “There wasn’t one moment where I was bored with this book, I honestly could not put Blood and Bone down until I finished it. It is definitely a chilling romantic suspense with just enough emotional ups & downs, sex, humor and twists and turns to keep the reader totally enthralled.” They said a lot of other nice things and you can read the entire review here.

The second is 4 stars from Night Owl Romance. “Blood and Bone starts out with a chilling meeting between a crime writer and convicted murder setting readers on the edge of their seat from the first eerie meeting to the last page…This book is a thrilling adventure to unravel the mystery of who committed the murders twenty-five years ago…” You can read the entire review here.

I’m so pleased with the feedback so far. Anyway, that’s it until Wednesday.

And the winner is…

Dawn Brown — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:24:38 +0000

Marika!!! Congratulations, Marika. Send me an email at dawn@dawnbrown.org letting me know which format you prefer and I will send your book to you.

Thanks to everyone for playing. But I’m not quite done yet. Anyone who leaves a comment on today’s blog will get a chance to win their choice of books from my back list.

The Seven Day Count Down

Dawn Brown — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:38:48 +0000

That’s right, one more week until Blood and Bone hits the virtual book shelves. I can hardly believe it. Where did September go? For those of you who want to get ahead of the game, and save a few bucks too, Blood and Bone is available for pre order.

I also received a glowing five-star review from Book Pimps’ Reviews. “There wasn’t one moment where I was bored with this book, I honestly could not put Blood and Bone down until I finished it. It is definitely a chilling romantic suspense with just enough emotional ups & downs, sex, humor and twists and turns to keep the reader totally enthralled.” WooHoo! You can read the entire review here.

I need to start getting ready for work, but in the meantime here’s an excerpt from Blood and Bone.

“Are you married?” The man sitting across the booth fixed his silvery eyes on Shayne’s bare ring finger.

“No.” She followed his gaze. Even after a year, she could still see a faint imprint in her flesh. Or maybe she simply imagined she could. After all, how many times had her thumb reached to fiddle with the smooth band only to find skin instead? “Not anymore.”

“Divorced?” He grabbed his beer off the table and tilted the bottle to his lips.

Careful. Don’t let him draw you in. You know better. “Mr. Anderson, we’re not talking about me.”

He chuckled low in his throat. “No, I guess we’re not.”

Shayne forced a smile and met the man’s gaze. Even after twenty-five years, Robert Anderson looked remarkably similar to the pictures from his police file. He’d been thirty-two when he’d gone to prison, making him nearly sixty now. His black, springy hair showed a considerable amount of gray, and deep lines grooved his face around the eyes and mouth. His shoulders remained broad and what she could see of his build was trim. Dressed in a faded pair of jeans and olive-green shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, he looked like any other man.

Nothing about him gave away he’d once served time for murdering his wife and ten-year-old stepson.

“I must admit,” Shayne said, struggling to keep her voice light, “I was surprised when you asked to meet.” Especially, after his last voice mail, telling her rather forcefully he had no intention of participating in her book and not to call him again. “Thank you for agreeing to speak with me.”

A smirk twisted his mouth, lifting one corner. “Don’t thank me yet.”

The knots in her belly tightened. Shayne glanced around the dimly lit bar. A pub at dinner hour had seemed an ideal place to meet. Unfortunately, the crowd she’d envisioned at the Salty Dog actually consisted of three half-conscious barflies, a bartender who had yet to break eye contact with the television set, and a middle-aged waitress yakking on a pay phone near the door.

She shouldn’t have let a two-time murderer choose the locale for their interview, but desperate times…

“Can I ask you something?” Anderson’s unnerving stare locked on her face.

Shayne fought the urge to shift back and put more space between them. “Of course.”

“Why now?” He leaned forward. “Why write this story now?”

“I may not.” No reason for him to know how important his story was to her book. “I’m considering at this stage.”

Anderson rolled his eyes. “What made you consider this story now?”

Let’s see, after the money I’ve spent on lawyers’ fees fighting my self-centered prick of an ex for my half of the life we built—not that there’s much left after the infertility treatments—I find myself low on funds. And because you’ve already been tried and convicted, I can write this book in about half the time it would normally take me.

“Your recent release from prison caught my interest,” she replied instead.

“You and everybody else,” he muttered, before taking a deep swig from his beer.

“Excuse me?”

“Who do you plan on talking to?”

“I’ve spoken to the investigating officers, your lawyer, the prosecutor. Now I’m arranging interviews with friends and family. Do you mind if I record our conversation?” She pulled her notepad and audio recorder from her purse.

Anderson shrugged, his expression inscrutable.

“Thank you.” She set the recorder on the table between them, flipped to a blank page in her notebook and waited for Anderson to speak. When he didn’t, she asked, “What happened the night of May 10, 1984?”

“You have a copy of my confession, right? Use it.”

“I’d like to hear the story in your words.”

He sighed. “Gwen was unhappy with me and wanted to leave. I came home from work early and found her in the process of doing just that. We fought. I shot her.” His voice was bland, flat, as if he recited from a script.

“Why did you shoot your stepson, Christian?”

Anderson shifted in his seat and glanced toward the bar. “He got in the way.”

“Your stepdaughter was found at the side of the road, carrying your son and running away from the house. Had you planned to kill Julia and Desmond too?”

He flinched. “No.”

God, how terrifying that night must have been for two small children. What kind of person could kill a child? Kill his own child? Shayne looked at Anderson seated opposite her—so ordinary, even attractive. She tried to envision him hunting down his children in the woods and couldn’t quite manage it. “Did you go after Julia? Try to stop her?”

“No.”

He was lying. She’d read his confession. “How did Christian get in the way? According to the crime scene, you shot your wife at the front door. Your stepson was shot in the chest at the opposite end of the hallway. The story you’re telling now is quite different from what you claimed in your confession.”

Anderson snorted. “It’s been a long time. I don’t remember exactly what I said.”

Anger sparked inside her, a flickering flame. Christian’s image from the crime-scene photographs popped into her head. His lifeless form crumpled on the floor, a dark hole the size of her fist in his chest. “I’m not interested in what you said. I want to know what you remember.”

He glared at her for a long moment. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

A chill blew through her, snuffing out the anger. Still, she ignored her pounding heart, kept her back straight and her voice strong. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’ve opened one hell of a can of worms, prying into things that are none of your business.”

She’d made a mistake. The man clearly had no intention of answering her questions. Maybe he’d planned to intimidate her into giving up the book. Good luck. She’d dealt with far more menacing men than Robert Anderson. Granted, most of them were safely locked behind bars.

“Obviously, Mr. Anderson, you are not interested in participating in this book.”

She dropped her notepad into her purse and stood. As she reached for the tape recorder, Anderson’s arm snaked out. His fingers closed around her wrist. “You can’t leave yet. Not until I give you what you came for.”

“Let go of me.” Blood pounded in Shayne’s ears in time with her thundering heart. She tried to yank free, but Anderson’s grip tightened just shy of painful.

“Relax,” he said, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Let. Go.” She hauled back her free arm, ready to blacken his eye.

The bartender glanced away from the television and the barfly nearest them roused long enough to frown in their direction, but neither of them made a move to help her.

“Fine.” He released her arm and she stumbled back a step. Her heart thudded against her ribs and the muscles in her legs turned soft. Without looking away from him, she rubbed the tender flesh on her wrist.

“Sit down,” he told her. “I’m about to give you exactly what you want.”

She remained standing. “Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“An exclusive.” From the bench beside him, he lifted a legal-sized envelope, the brown paper badly creased from extensive use, the material inside at least three inches thick. He dropped the package on the table between them with a thump.

“What’s in the envelope?” she asked.

“Proof I didn’t kill Gwen or Chris.”

Like Sands Through the Hourglass

Dawn Brown — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:45:42 +0000

Today is moving at record speeds. I can’t believe it’s already past noon and I’m just sitting down at my desk now. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the week.

So I spent most of the weekend doing laundry–as predicted–and reorganizing the kid’s room. The latter was one of those projects that I almost wished I hadn’t started. Let’s just say it got worse before it got better. But on the upside, it’s done and his room is the picture of organization. Which pleases me if not him.

I did manage to get some writing done. I’m to 19k on the WIP, admittedly some I pilfered from a story I started a few years back but it never really went anywhere. This week I’ll keep with working on that and get started on marketing for Blood and Bone. There are only 64 more days until October 11th, after all. Which leads me to my next point. Starting tomorrow, I’m giving away stuff every Tuesday. You know the drill by now. Leave a comment and I’ll draw a name.

Tomorrow’s prize is a Curse of Culcraig ebook. I announce the winner Friday. So check back tomorrow!

Mood: Good

Music: I Gave You All, Mumford and Sons (This is my absolute favorite CD right now. Every song is awesome.)

Friday Five – March Break Realizaions

Dawn Brown — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:52:43 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! Today is a very busy Friday for me–actually, the whole week has been nuts, but I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I’m being featured over at Leanne Dyck’s blog for All Things Romantic Suspense. Also, I have yet to announce the winner for last week’s giveaway at Sara Balances’s blog. So the winner is…Melissa! Email me at dawn@dawnbrown.org and I’ll send The Curse of Culcraig out to you. And now for today’s Friday Five.

As I mentioned, it’s March Break this week and with the kid home, I’ve come to a few realizations.

1. When the kid is home all day and hubby is on nights, it is virtually impossible to keep the house clean for any longer than fifteen minutes. My bathroom is frightening. And why, oh why, is unloading the dishwasher so a complicated task that only I can do it?

2. It really doesn’t take much to blow my writing routine out of the water. Apparently just a time change and a week of playing board games every afternoon is all it takes.

3. The Game of Life is impossible to win unless you’re the doctor or the lawyer.

4. No matter how times I watch the movie Clue–three times so far this week, and usually while playing the board game–it’s still funny. Scarlet: “Why is the car stopped?” Plum: “Because it’s frightened.”

5. There is only 104 days left until summer vacation. Yikes!

Remember to check out the other Friday Fivers, Gina Ardito, Debora Dennis, Harper Bennett, Moira Keith, Bethanne Strasser and Silke Juppenlatz. Have a good weekend!

Friday Five and a Chance to Win The Curse of Culcraig

Dawn Brown — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:56:14 +0000

Before we get started on today’s Friday Five, I want to let you all know that I’ve been interviewed over at Sarah Ballance’s blog for All Things Romantic Suspense. I’m also giving away a copy of The Curse of Culcraig so go over there right now and leave a comment. I’ll wait…

…Back? Okay, let’s get started. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m looking out at falling snow even though we are quickly headed to the middle of March, but I can’t help but think of all the places I’ve always wanted to travel to. So here they are in particular order.

Greece. Ever since I saw the movie Shirley Valentine when I was seventeen, I have always wanted to go to Greece and sit by the sea with a glass of wine and watch the sunset.

Hawaii. This one is really appealing right now.

The Galapagos Islands. I’ve had friends go there and their pictures are amazing.

Italy. Again my desire to go there has been heavily influenced by movies I’ve seen.

Wales. Having set a book there. I’d love to actaully visit.

Well, that’s for today. Remember to check out the other Friday Fivers: Gina Ardito, Debora Dennis, Harper Bennett, Moira Keith, Bethanne Strasser and Silke Juppenlatz.

2011 Resolutions and Other Fun Stuff

Dawn Brown — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:28:41 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again. The new year is spread before me like a blanket of fresh fallen snow. Anything is possible. So with that in mind, it’s time to make my new year’s goals and resolutions.

I don’t tend to share my goals publicly. Mostly because the specific ones–say, like landing an agent…which I did do last year. Yay, me!–tend to alter throughout course of the year. As some goals are achieved, others need to be adjusted or dropped completely.

But this year, I really only have three major resolutions where my writing is concerned. (Yes, I have some specific goals, but I already told you I’m not posting them here )

The first is write more. Every day. Rain or shine. Personal catastrophe or none. I will not leave my desk until I have hit my word count for the day. I used to be much better about this, not letting anyone else encroach on my writing time, but I’ve fallen out of practice over the past year. This year I’m getting back into it. I will not be interrupted unless there is blood or fire.

The second is read more. I can’t believe I’ve actually had to make this a resolution, but I’d say over the last four months, I’ve been reading less and less. So I’m determined to make time for a good book.

The third is blog more. Yeah, I know, you’ve heard it before. But this time I have a plan. Every Wednesday, I’ll be featuring an interview with a different romantic suspense writer–until June, anyway. This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn about some great books and writers. I too will be featured on other blogs starting tomorrow, but I’ll give you all the details then.

So that’s about it for me. What resolutions did you make this year?

Mood: Up

Music: Play That Funky Music, Wild Cherry

Happy New Year!!

Dawn Brown — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:38:54 +0000

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!

Sorry for disappearing there. I had computer problems and a brutal cold between Christmas and New Year. The former has been fixed as part of my Christmas gift from DH, and the latter is almost gone. Actually, I’m surprised how long this cold is lingering. I’m going into week three and, while I’m much better, it’s still there. But enough about me.

I promised contests before Christmas, and I’m making good on it now. Please, please check back tomorrow, I’ll be giving away an e-copy of The Curse of Culcraig.

In the meantime, what my New Years Eve says about me. What does your New Years Eve say about you?

You Appreciate Diversity

You are cosmopolitan, but you don’t make a show if it. You are proud of your taste, but you keep that pride to yourself.You are indulgent and optimistic. You feel like you and your friends deserve the best.

Right now, you value love most in your life. Romance is what’s important to you.

You are compassionate and sensitive. It’s likely that you are too hard on yourself at times.

What Does Your New Year’s Eve Say About You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Funeral for a Friend

Dawn Brown — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:06:17 +0000

Yesterday, I attended my first hamster funeral. The kid’s hamster died on Saturday night…or some time on Saturday. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, the kid woke up with a sore tummy. (He’d been at a pizza party earlier, so this bellyache was not entirely unexpected.) While I was comforting the kid, I happened to glance over the hamster cage and thought. ‘Molly, why is your leg sticking up like that?’ Once, I got the kid safely from the room, I returned to the cage and prodded poor Molly with a pencil. Yup, she was gone.

Later, when my son woke up, I broke the news. Needless to say, the kid was devastated. DH found a little box and made a little grave marker, and we buried her in our backyard.

So rest in peace, Molly. Oh…and welcome Hank.