Tag: #WolvesGambit

My Most Favorite Cover #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

July 17, 2923

Post your favorite cover from your books and explain why it’s your favorite.

One? Just one? I’d offer you my entire gallery of book covers because I’m in love with my cover artist’s work. (Shout out to you, K.M. Guth.) Can I pick one and a backup?

I’ve learned a lot watching her do her magic. Not enough to duplicate her results, but at least I understand what she is doing and why. I can even offer intelligent suggestions! She may shoot them down, but rarely, I come up with something worthwhile.

Back to struggling to pick my favorite. Here it is.

 

 

I love the ferocity in the model’s eyes. She looks like she could tear you apart with just a glance. It fits my main character’s personality completely. What really amazes me is that at least three different pictures have been combined to create this image.

And I’m no artist, but I love how the background colors draw attention, and how those colors are reflected throughout the cover. To my eyes, the cover is a work of art.

I will confess that Lori, the main character of Wolves’ Gambit, is also one of my favorites, and that may have influenced my choice of cover.

Here’s the blurb.

Wolf-shifter Lori Grenville was rescued from near-slavery and a brutal pack leader by the Free Wolves. To pay back the favor, she’s dedicated her life to helping others in the same situation, leading shifters to safety and a new start, risking her life in the process. She’s faced down alphas and has no qualms in undermining pack structure.

Now she’s challenged with the task of restoring an alpha to his rightful place. If she gets it right, she can stop a war from ripping apart two packs and spreading across an entire state. If she fails, she’ll be among the first to die.

There’s still the option of walking away and letting the Jaeger and Destin packs destroy each other. That means she’ll fail in her original mission of rescuing the daughter of the Jaeger alpha before the girl is forced into marriage for political gain.

Lori hasn’t failed in a mission yet. This one may be the exception.

Because I can, I’m going to reveal my runner-up cover. It’s a totally different style. Which makes sense, because the story is nothing like Wolves’ Gambit.

 

I am going to include a gallery of covers below. While I love all the covers in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, seeing them together heightens the impact.

What are the favorite covers of other authors on this hop? Find out by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

 

July 17, 2923

Post your favorite cover from your books and explain why it’s your favorite.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

A Favorite Piece of Literature #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book
 
August 9, 2021
Do you have a favorite piece of literature? What is it and why is it your favorite??
 
This will be a quick one, because I am on the road and writing from yet another hotel room.
 
I’m guessing that I can’t claim one of my own books. It would be hard to pick only one of them, anyway. Oh, you want to know?
 
I’d choose Wolves’ Gambit. It’s probably the book that has sold the least, but I think the plot and characterization is among the best of what I’ve written. (Although The Ranger’s Dog Tags comes in a close second.) I really like Tasha, my main character, but I have a fondness for the underdog. Which she is. I’ve considered writing another story featuring her, but it hasn’t happened – yet.
 
Now, on to my real answer.
 
Anne McCaffery remains one of my favorites, specifically the Harper Hall trilogy of the Dragonriders of Pern series. Yes, my favorites don’t include a dragonrider as the main character! I told you I have a thing for the underdog. By the time McCaffrey wrote this stories, she’d established her world and was able to concentrate on the plot more than the environment around them. Frankly, if you look back to her dragonriders as a whole, you can see how rough her first few books were, and how much smoother her later stories flowed. (I won’t include the books written by her son in the analysis – they don’t live up to her standards, in my opinion. Even including the non-dragonrider books McCaffrey wrote, The Harper Hall books remain my favorite. 
 
I’ll be dropping in on our other authors as time permits, but I hope you’ll go visit them, too. All you need to do is follow the links below.
 
That’s it for this week! As always, until next time, please stay safe.
 
 
 
August 9, 2021
Do you have a favorite piece of literature? What is it and why is it your favorite??
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
 
 
 

And The Second Runner Up Is #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Feb 15, 2021

Did you ever get picked last in gym or some other class? Have you used that in your writing?

I was never one of the popular girls in school. Too introverted, too nerdy, too weird, I guess. I had my nose in a book most of the time.

But I had the advantage of being from a large family with older brothers. Along with the neighborhood boys who were the same age as them, I joined in playing backyard sports with them. Baseball, touch football, basketball, or whatever else was the flavor of the day. So, I wasn’t afraid to be aggressive when we played sports in gym class. Even if I didn’t have finesse, I wasn’t scared to get in the way of opposing players, and that earned me a defensive spot on a team every time. Still, I wasn’t the top choice either, leaving me with a sense of insecurity until my name was called. (Why were the popular girls always chosen to be the team leaders by the teachers?)

Have I used this in my writing? Not directly, but the experience may have flavored the backgrounds of a few of my characters. Take Tasha from Wolves’ Knight, for example. She’s always trying to prove herself and drive herself to become better. No one asks her do it, it stems from an internal need.

Her lungs screamed from the lack of oxygen, her eyes burned from the sweat streaming into them, and she could no longer feel her legs. She was past pain and moving from sheer force of will. But she wanted to go farther. Her goal was the meeting of the southern and western borders. And past that if she could hold on that long. From Wolves’ Knight

Was Tasha chosen last in gym class? I doubt it. But the strong males of the pack would have been chosen first, if they were in coed classes. And Tasha wasn’t the type to have been one of the popular kids. She was too serious for that to happen.

Lori from Wolves’ Gambit had it worse. She was the runt of the litter, and was left out of everything.  As a result, she operates with a chip on her shoulder, but has learned to use her small size as a tool, rather than it being a disadvantage. 

“So, what kind of shifter are you?” Turtle asked.

“Wolf.”

“No, really.”

“Wolf.” Lori shrugged. “Even in wolf form, I’m small, but that’s the way it is.”

“Then why can’t we smell or hear you?’

She moved away the mental blocks that kept her secure. “Try now.” From Wolves’ Gambit

I’ve always had a thing for the underdog, having been one, and that’s reflected in my stories. How about the other authors on this hop? We can find out by following the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe.

Feb 15, 2021

Did you ever get picked last in gym or some other class? Have you used that in your writing?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter