A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware (Terra's Review)

"Do not start unless you want to be up all night!...Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, you'll believe in the ability of love to transcend time and place and the wonder of Ciji Ware's writing. Superb!"
--Romantic Times (Gold Medal review)

One woman, one man, one shared fate...

A remote cottage on the wild coast of Cornwall sounded to Blythe Barton Stowe like the perfect escape from the pain and humiliation of recent events in her Hollywood life. But soon she seems to be reliving a centuries-old tragedy, and the handsome owner of the shabby manor house on the hill appears vitally entwined in her destiny. As they unearth one shocking family secret after another, Blythe is forced to conclude that her intriguing neighbor is more than just an impecunious British gentleman bent on saving his ancestral home. And the impeccably honorable Lucas Teague begins to see Blythe as a lifeline in an otherwise bleak existence.

But is the unbridled attraction they're experiencing a dangerous distraction, or could it be strong enough to transcend the insurmountable complexities of time and place...?

(Terra's Thoughts)

A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware is what I consider a true romance novel with a smattering of suspense. The storyline is as solid as a brick wall and captures you from the beginning and keeps you ensnared in it's net of interest right up till the very last words. A book by all accounts that could be a classic in years to come takes you on an emotional journey that will have you wondering if you are not playing the heroine in this vivid sensory tale.

Blythe Barton Stowe needs to escape from the hellish reality that her husband and sister have plunged her into. As soon as the divorce is final she jumps a plane and heads to the lush fields and cliffs of Cornwall England. Her grandmother always claimed they were decendants of the Cornish Bartons and Blythe decides that this might be just the bit of medicine she needs to recover from a broken heart. Little does she know that she will indeed find more than she could have every hoped or bargined for.

The scenery is nothing short of spectular for her medicinal retreat. A cottage on the cliff with the sea crashing below, no telephones, computers, cell reception and people make this a true delight. A nearby castle is owner to this cottage and is her nearest neighbor unless you want to consider all the sheep in the pastures bleeting their musical language that only they can understand. Sounds like heaven to me that's for sure.

This is a story for those that like something more than a fast piece of fluff. There's not a lot of sex in this tale but tons of romance that will have you longing for the times when men were real gentlemen. The author has given us a delightful sampling of what she is truly capable of and I can't wait to get my greedy little hands on another of her offerings.

Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (June 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140222270X
ISBN-13: 978-1402222702

Congrat's To This Week's Winners

*Kristen - Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell

*Elsi - Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell

Please send your snail mail info to terraontop57 at yahoo dot com. Congrats to our winners and I hope you enjoy your prize!

Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell

Hi, and many thanks for inviting me to blog about the characters in my books. And thank you so much, Terra, for enjoying Rumor Has It and giving it such a fab review!

I’ve written twenty one novels now, and each one has had a fairly large cast of characters. I’ve never done a sequel either. I must be mad...

But we can’t help what works for us, can we? All writers have their own methods. Obviously a continuing saga where we revisit the same characters over a period of books would be a lot easier than starting from scratch each time. For me, though, it’s like a snake shedding its skin. The moment I finish writing one book, I leave the characters behind and walk away from them. I want NEW characters for the next book, NEW situations, a lovely new setting and interesting new jobs all round. Rather like a year without shopping and having to wear the same old clothes for the last twelve months, the prospect of shiny newness is irresistible. The old book was fine, I liked the people in it and I’ll always remember them with fondness, but it’s now time to meet the next lot. With a bit of luck, they’ll turn out to be even more entertaining than their predecessors!

The one thing I never ever do, and the one thing everyone always thinks I do, is base my characters on people I know in real life. It would actually feel really weird and peculiar, and it would mean I wasn’t in control of the characters because I’d always have to be thinking, ‘OK, this character is based on my friend Tom, so what would Tom do in a situation like this?’ That would be strange indeed, but it doesn’t stop people coming up to me and saying with a nudge and a wink, “That handsome one, you based him on me, didn’t you? I know you did, because he has dark hair and grey eyes, so it’s obviously me.”

So I always make my characters up, although I will very occasionally take inspiration from personalities on TV, so long as I’ve never met them in real life.

As to the funny happenings in my books, the reverse applies. I have no scruples then and steal them from everyone I can! The internet is great for this as well – type ‘embarrassing situations’ into Google and you’ll have enough stories for a thousand novels. But I’ll use silly things that have happened to me or my friends too. And everyone loves it when I do. So if you’re reading this and you have a great story that would make my readers laugh, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

Thanks so much for reading this, and I do hope you’ll give Rumor Has It a try.

Love
Jill x

RUMOR HAS IT by JILL MANSELL—IN STORES MAY 2010

Would you be tempted?

Newly single, Tilly Cole impulsively accepts a job offer in a small town as a “Girl Friday.” Fun job, country house, fresh start, why not? But soon she finds herself in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue, and rampant rivalry for the town’s most desirable bachelor—Jack Lucas.

Rumors of Jack’s “love ’em and leave ’em” escapes abound, and Tilly decides to do the mature, sensible thing... avoid Jack at all cost. But the more time Tilly spends with Jack, the more the rumors just don’t make sense. Tilly doesn’t know what to believe... and Jack’s not telling.

About the Author

UK bestselling author Jill Mansell has written nearly twenty romances and women’s fiction novels, and sold over 4 million books. A master of romantic comedy, her smart, sassy style has an irresistible appeal for women of all ages. A full--time writer, Ms. Mansell worked for many years the Burden Neurological Hospital, Bristol. She lives with her partner and their children in Bristol, England. For more information, please visit http://www.jillmansell.co.uk/ or follow Jill on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JillMansell.

Contest Time: Sourcebooks is graciously giving away 2 copies of Rumor Has It: 2 winners will be chosen, US and Canada only. You must leave a question for Jill along with your email addy to be entered. Winners will be chosen on Wednesday May 12th.

Happy Mother's Day!

Congrat's To Last Week's Winners

*Clarissa Southwick - Tall, Dark and Wolfish by Lydia Dare

*Carrie at In the Hammock Blog - Tall, Dark and Wolfish by Lydia Dare

Please send your snail mail info to terraontop57 at yahoo dot com. Congrats to our winners and I hope you enjoy your prize!

Tall, Dark and Wolfish by Lydia Dare - An Interview

About the Author

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.



Thanks so much Lydia for Guest Blogging with us today and I must say that Tall, Dark and Wolfish was such a delightful hoot. So far I think this is my favorite of the three but that may change once I read Will’s story.

Terra: In book one you have Simon as the Duke and very rigid and proper. Book two has Ben who is more prone to have trouble come up and bite him in the rear as he’s more the wild child. How hard was it for you to go to two end of the spectrum extremes and give them the type of personality that I can actually envision on some men from this time period?

Lydia/Jodie: I think a lot of their differences can be traced back to their birth order. I’m the oldest of four and always had the responsibilities, etc (more like Simon) but I can see how my younger siblings see life and I tried to use that when writing from Ben’s point of view.

Lydia/Tammy: In my mind, Ben was the youngest son, which comes with little responsibility. It also comes with a ton of teasing from two older brothers. I’m the baby of my family so I know the youngest is often the most laid back. And that’s how I always saw Ben. Simon was born to be a duke. Ben was born to be a third son. There’s a big difference in required personality traits there.

Terra: I love the way you took the story in Tall, Dark and Wolfish from London to the streets of Edinburgh Scotland. How much research did you do to find the perfect cottage setting and keep the city itself more on the smaller side to be more personable?

Lydia/Jodie: Well, we needed a city that would be large enough to have societal hierarchy to it for various reasons and Edinburgh seemed the most logical place. At the same time parts of it seem so rural. Arthur’s Seat for example. I read somewhere about some various artifacts that were found in one of the caves in Arthur’s Seat that the locals had attributed to witchcraft. That solidified Edinburgh for us.

Lydia/Tammy: Jodie gets all the kudos for setting the scene in this book. I wouldn’t know Edinburgh from the back of a cereal box. (You know those maps that are on the back of the cereal boxes? Never mind…)

Terra: Your witches are different ages and each with different abilities, which one thing would you say unites them together so tightly outside of the fact of having magical abilities? Do you have a favorite witch and a least favorite one?

Lydia/Jodie: I think what most ties them together is the centuries of witches before them. They all share the same history and that’s important. As for a favorite witch – Tammy and I probably differ on this. It’s hard not to think your favorite witch is the one whose story you’re currently writing. With that said, I do have a soft spot for Sorcha. She reminds me of my own sister. Not that my sister is a witch, mind you.

Lydia/Tammy: My sister would never forgive me if I compared her to a witch so, unlike Jodie, none of the witches remind me of mine. (I do still want a gift at Christmas, Ang…) The witches, in my mind, are such a strong unit because their mothers were, and their mothers before them. They are sisters in their own right.

Terra: Your sense of humor in this book is such a hoot that it actually surprised me after having Simon’s book be so prim and proper. Can you give us a tiny hint of what we might find in Will’s story in book three?

Lydia/Jodie: Well, between us – Prisca’s brothers play an important part in book three. They also offer us a bit of comic relief. There’s a little more danger in the upcoming book in the form of a feral wolf who sets his eyes on Prisca.

Lydia/Tammy: Will’s quite a character. In book three, we get to see him put through his own paces a bit, when the dashing Dashiel Thorpe, a wild Lycan in gentlemen’s clothing, sets his eyes on Prisca. He can’t sweep her off her feet. She’s much too strong and much too angry at him for that. So, he has some work ahead of him that make for a lot of fun.

Terra: How do you feel now having this delightful trilogy finally published? Do you get nervous when release day comes for each book and what do you do to pass the time to keep you from crawling up the walls from excitement?

Lydia/Jodie: I do get nervous. Is that silly? But we have plenty to keep us to keep us busy. Speaking for myself – I have a full time job, I’m a single mother, I’ve been working on edits for book four and writing book 6.

Lydia/Tammy: I’m not terribly nervous about the releases. The reviews, on the other hand, do tie me in knots at times. However, even those are subjective, so I just keep writing and hoping people like this series. There’s a lot of fun in those pages. And I hope it brings the same to other people.

Terra: Is there any possibility of you doing a set of books on each of the witches or are they just going to fade into the finishing of Tall, Dark and Wolfish?

Lydia/Jodie: I think as soon as we created the witches, we knew we were going to have to write about them. They’re so much fun! We have a book coming out in November which bridges the Westfield brother series with a vampyre series for next Spring. So there are four books to go and… four witches to go. Hmmm.

Lydia/Tammy: The witches had to have their own stories. It was a given. You can’t have that much personality, that much power and that much humor at your fingertips and not use it.

Terra: What are your plans now for the future and your writing?

Lydia/Jodie: I hope I never have to stop writing in this genre. It is so much fun. At some point I’m sure I’ll return to Regency Historicals, but I want this to play out first.

Lydia/Tammy: I love world building and am not certain I would be happy writing anything that’s not fantastical. So, I can definitely see more paranormal in my future.

Terra: I love Elspeth’s father to bits as he has such personality, was there anyone in particular you modeled him after or was he a completely made up character?

Lydia/Jodie: I think I’ll let Tammy answer that. She created his character.

Lydia/Tammy: I don’t think he was really patterned after anyone I know, since he was a military man and had a traveling background. But I’m sure there are aspects of my own dad in his character. He’s the kind of man whose dedication to family is never-ending. He’s protective of those he loves and he’s also someone people like to sit down with and say “what should I do” because you’ll always get an honest answer. So, while he was 100% made up, I think it’s easy to put characteristics of people you love and admire in characters you love and admire. I love creating parental figures, probably because mine are so great. I think I wrote Alice (Simon, Will, and Ben’s mom) into the story, too. My mom’s a “never ask a man to move a piece of furniture when you can do it yourself” type of person. I think my appreciation of both my parents comes through in the writing.

Terra: Of all the characters in the trilogy, who would you say most resembles you and your personality?

Lydia/Jodie: For me – I’m probably most like Lily Rutledge (only much shorter). I’ve always been very maternal. Most people find Lily to be sweet, but don’t cross her. She’s probably the most like me. (I’d love to say Prisca or Caitrin because no one ever messes with them, but I’m not that brave.)

Lydia/Tammy: Oh, gosh. That’s hard. I don’t think I’m like any of them. If I HAD to pick one of the ladies, I’d probably pick Prisca. She’s kind of a “mumble under your breath just because you know it’ll annoy him” kind of person. I just asked my husband to help me with this one and he said “you’re complicated… layered… annoying.” Since we both said annoying, I’ll go with Prisca. If you guys knew more about the witches, I’d say I’m most like a different one. But you don’t know her well yet, so I won’t spoil it for you.

Terra: How long did it take you to write the trilogy with so many different personalities and traits to keep straight? You did a remarkable job with Simon, Will and Ben considering they are just so different but yet so alike.

Lydia/Jodie: Thanks! It only took us two months for each book. *sigh* I miss those days. It seems like it’s taking us a while longer anymore. I think since there are two of us – it’s easier to keep personalities and traits straight. If one of us goes off script, the other one pulls us back.

Lydia/Tammy: When they’re in separate books, it’s fairly easy to separate them. They’re all very different. But, I will tell you a funny story. Jodie and I cast our characters since we both need a clear idea of what they look like. I picked photos of three guys and sent them over to Jodie. She replied and told me all three of them were the same man in different poses. Thank goodness she noticed.

Terra: Oh yes, I must ask, which wolf would you go running after under the light of the full moon?

Lydia/Jodie: As I’m recently divorced from an alpha personality, it wouldn’t be Simon (though I do love Simon). For me it would probably be Will, though Ben would be a better choice.

Lydia/Tammy: I can’t see myself chasing any man into the woods on a dark night. (I’m afraid of the dark. Huge character flaw, I know…) But, if not for that, it would totally be Simon. Love him.



TALL, DARK AND WOLFISH by LYDIA DARE—IN STORES MAY 2010
In Lydia Dare’s debut trilogy, Regency England has gone to the wolves!

He’s lost the most important part of himself…

Lord Benjamin Westfield is a powerful werewolf—until one full moon when he doesn’t change. His life now shattered, he rushes off to Scotland in search of the healer who can restore his inner beast, only to find she’s not at all what he expected…

She would make him whole, if she could…

Young, beautiful witch Elspeth Campbell will do anything to help anyone who calls upon her healing arts. Then Lord Benjamin shows up, and she suddenly discovers she may need him even more than he needs her…



Contest Time: Sourcebooks is graciously giving away 2 copies of Tall Dark and Wolfish: 2 winners will be chosen, US and Canada only. You must leave a question for Tammy and a question for Jodie along with your email addy to be entered. Winners will be chosen this weekend.