Interview & Giveaway with Jennifer Ashley

Hello Book Monsters and Literal Addicts! 

Book Monster Reviews and LITERAL ADDICTION 

are very pleased to welcome Jennifer Ashley 

back to our sites today.

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Jennifer Ashley currently lives in the Southwest, but has lived and traveled all over the world.  She writes historical, paranormal, and contemporary romance as Jennifer Ashley; mysteries as Ashley Gardner; and paranormal romance and urban fantasy as Allyson James.

Jennifer/Ashley/Allyson’s novels have won RWA's RITA award, the Golden Quill, RT Reviewer's Choice awards, and the Prism award -- among others. Jennifer's novels have also been translated into nearly a dozen European and Asian languages.

Jennifer enjoys writing and reading above all else, but her hobbies include cooking, hiking, playing flute and guitar, painting, and building miniature rooms and dollhouses.

As Allyson James, she currently has four series out; The MORTAL, DRAGON STORMWALKER and the TALES OF THE SHAREEM.

As Ashley Gardner she writes the CAPTAIN LACEY REGENCY MYSTERIES.

As Jennifer Ashley, she currently has five series out; THE IMMORTALS, The PIRATES, NVENGARIA, HIGHLAND PLEASURES and the SHIFTERS UNBOUND series.

Today we will be helping Jennifer promote her SHIFTERS UNBOUND series to help her celebrate the release of the "Mate Claimed", the fourth book in the series which was just released on October 2.

Let's take a look at all the books in this incredible series….

SHIFTERS UNBOUND series:

Shifter Made

 
A Prequel Novella of the Shifters Unbound Series 

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Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / All Romance eBooks

The Story of the Sword of the Guardian. Fae Alanna is sent on a mission to force Shifter sword maker Niall O'Connell to make a sword to defeat all Shifters. But Alanna has other ideas. 

Pride Mates 

Shifters Unbound, Book 1

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Amazon / Barnes & Noble / 

Twenty years ago, shape shifters of all kinds banded together and announced themselves to the world, only to be shunted to areas no human wanted ("Shiftertowns"). They are forced to wear Collars that control their hunting and fighting instincts (referred to by Shifters as "Taking the Collar"). 

Liam Morrissey is currently liaison between the Shifters of Austin, TX, and the humans of the city. Kim Fraser, attorney, finds herself in the unique position of having to defend a Shifter on a murder charge. 

She ventures to Shiftertown to seek out Liam's help, and there stumbles across too many secrets the Shifters want kept secret. The un-mated Liam is forced to protect Kim against the wrath of his clan leader and his own father, and to his surprise he discovers a powerful attraction to the sassy, sexy lady.

  Read an Excerpt 

Primal Bonds 
Shifters Unbound Book 2 
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Amazon / Barnes & Noble  

When half-Fae, half-Shifter Andrea Gray flees an abusive would-be mate, the only way she is allowed to relocate to the Austin Shiftertown is if a Shifter there claims her as mate. 

Sean Morrissey, the Guardian of his clan and all of Shiftertown, is mateless, lonely, and has a tough job--to send the souls of deceased Shifters into the afterworld. He volunteers to claim her, sight unseen, but doesn't realize that one look at the gray-eyed, dark-haired Andrea will stir the mating frenzy in him. Even though the mate-claim isn't finalized, official, or yet blessed, Sean will do anything to get Andrea into his life and keep her there, forever.

 Read an Excerpt

Bodyguard 
Shifters Unbound, Book 2.5 
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Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Smashwords / 

All Romance eBooks / In Print from Amazon 

Elizabeth Chapman is robbed at gunpoint in her store late one night, and fears she'll die. But that's before a giant bear knocks the intruder across the room and opens a new chapter of Elizabeth's life. Ronan, a Bear Shifter of the Austin Shiftertown, knows he needs to protect Elizabeth from retaliation from the robber's dangerous family. Ronan has a "family" of his own--orphaned cubs and clanless Bears that all seemed to find themselves under Ronan's care. He needs to protect the fiery Elizabeth and keep his family safe, but he finds his mate hunger for Elizabeth growing. How to mate claim her, a human, and a not very tall one at that, and protect her, but show her how gentle 

a bear can be? 

 Read an Excerpt

Wild Cat 
Shifters Unbound, Book 3 

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Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-a-Million
 

When Feline Shifter Cassidy Warden saves detective Diego Escobar from plunging to his death, the naked Shifter woman takes his breath away. But she'd been breaking all kinds of human laws, and Diego, to save her from termination, has to promise his department he'll watch over her. 

Diego finds the task harder than he thinks--Cassidy is trying to find out what kind of mysterious hunter killed her mate two years ago, a hunter that could bring danger to all Shifters. Plus Cassidy has scent-marked Diego--essentially telling all other Shifter females, "Hands off." 

Diego risks his personal and professional life getting involved with Cassidy, but he realizes he'll do anything, even confront the deadliest of assassins and his own inner demons, to keep her safe. 

 Read an Excerpt

Hard Mated 
Shifters Unbound, Book 3.5 

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Amazon Kindle / Barnes & Noble Nook / Smashwords / Kobo

A short novel of the Shifters Unbound series. Spike, a wildcat Shifter and the champion fighter of Shiftertown, is stunned when Myka, the best friend of a dying human woman, announces that Spike has fathered a cub. What's more, the mother is giving the boy to Spike to protect and raise. 

Myka, who'd been raised by an abusive stepfather, is not sure that a wild fighter named Spike is the best man to bring up the cute little jaguar cub. She goes to Shiftertown to check out Spike, and finds that the man behind the name is a lonely Shifter who's lost most of his family and is a fierce caretaker to those he has left. 

Spike is torn between the cub and his duties as tracker to the Shiftertown leader, and begs Myka, the only person who understands, to help him. He starts to like the sassy Myka, a horse trainer who's not afraid of working with animals, even if they're wildcats who turn into humans. 

When Spike's job puts his cub and Myka in danger, Spike is forced to choose between those to whom he's pledged his loyalty and his need to protect the woman and cub he's come to love. 

Mate Claimed 
Shifters Unbound, Book 4 
Just Released October 2, 2012 

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Amazon / Barnes & Noble 

Eric Warden knows that half-Shifter wildcat Iona is passing for human, living without a Collar in the human world. He also knows that if she does not acknowledge her Shifter nature and her mating hunger, it could kill her. Iona finds the mysterious and dangerous Eric, a wildcat and leader of his Shiftertown, haunting her dreams, but she vows never to "come out" and take the Collar, fearing backlash against her mother and sister for hiding the fact that she's Shifter. But Eric is a compelling Shifter male, and Iona's hunger calls to him.

Amazing right?! They totally are, and we recommend that you check them out ASAP!  Now that you know more about the SHIFTERS UNBOUND series, let's see what new info we can find out about this incredible and talented author…

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION:  Hi Jennifer!  We’re very excited to have you back with us today!  Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come back and hang out with us again!

Jennifer:  Thank you! It’s great to be here again. I hope everyone is enjoying whatever they’re reading.

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION:  We like to start out getting to know our guest authors a little bit better?

Q1):   Last time you were here we asked you to name 3 things that never fail to make you smile.  This time we'd like to know 3 things that never fail to piss you off? J

Jennifer:

1. Businesses that rip off their customers and don’t care.

2. People who are mean to other people and think it makes them look witty and clever. (Let’s just say people who are cruel to other people at all.)

3. Animals killed in “amusing” ways on TV shows or movies.

2)  If you were told that the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do with your remaining 24 hours?

Jennifer:  Eat anything I wanted and spend the time in bed with my husband. :-) Petting the cats in between.

3)  When is the last time you went out to the movies and what movie did you see?

Jennifer:  I so rarely go out to the movies anymore—I think it’s been years, so I don’t remember what I saw. I don’t have the patience to spend 4-5 hours in a movie theatre. I’d rather be reading or writing books.

However I do rent and stream movies, and the last one I watched, a week or so ago, was Little Miss Sunshine. Loved it! I seem to enjoy dysfunctional families. :-)

4)  If you could spend the day with anyone – alive, dead, fictional, etc – who would you want it to be and what would you want to do?

Jennifer:  OK if it’s one of my own characters? In that case Captain Lacey from my Regency mysteries. I’d love to follow him for a day and meet all his friends. Or I’d like to spend a day with the Mackenzie family, all of them. I’m sure it would be entertaining.

A real person I’d love to have met is Jane Austen. From her books and any letters of hers I’ve read, she must have been interesting to talk to.

5)  Who are some of your favorite musical artists?

Jennifer:  I love music! I’m a wannabe musician. I play a couple instruments, unfortunately not as well as I’d like. :-) I enjoy listening to guitarists who can really play, like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Jeff Golub, Peter White, Mark Antoine, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Santana, Slash, and the like. I also adore the fiddle-rock of Ashley MacIsaac (I often write scenes in the Mackenzie series to his music).  I’m starting to enjoy the newer country music as well. My tastes are a little eclectic, but I like filling my life will all kinds of music. I like classical too, and classical musicians. I can listen to Itzhak Perlman for hours. I live near the new Musical Instrument Museum, which has music going on in it all the time. It’s my new happy place.

6)  What are your favorite types of scenes to write (dialogue, action, love, etc) and why?

Jennifer:  Dialogue is by far my favorite. When heroes and heroines get to bantering, I just listen and write it down. Dialogue and humor seem to be the easiest thing for me to write. When writing is easy, it’s a beautiful thing.

Action (battle scenes, fight scenes) are enjoyable too. The Stormwalker series and the Shifter series give me plenty of opportunity to have my good guys and bad guys rip into each other.

The hardest to write? Love scenes! This is why it takes me so long to write an erotic romance. Love scenes are a difficult balance—either it works and it’s hot, sexy, and sensual; or it’s boring and banal. Once you cross the line into dull or stupid, you’ve lost your readers, possibly for the whole book or series. I go over love scenes and sensual scenes many times. I know authors who write them easily, and I envy them!

7)  Was there any specific inspiration behind the creation of the SHIFTERS UNBOUND series?

Jennifer:  I laugh whenever I think about the inspiration for the series. I saw a group of construction workers on the side of the road. As I drove by, I thought “What if they were all shapeshifters?” Then “What if they were shapeshifters related to each other—father, two sons (brothers), and a nephew of a deceased brother? All bachelors, all living in the same house?” And the Morrissey family and the Shifter series was born.

From there, the stories took shape in my head, going, going, going until I ended up with what you see, and more to come.

8)  How many more books do you have planned for the series and what book is coming up next after "Mate Claimed"?

Jennifer:  The series is open-ended thus far, but there will be at least three more full-length books (Tiger Magic in June plus two more), and shorter books similar to Bodyguard and Hard Mated—at least three more of those. Writing the shorter books between lets me put out more stories faster and lets me write about more Shifters. I’ll have stories for Ellison, Jace, Shane, Brody, Nell, Connor, and others.

9) What are some other projects that you're working on that you can share with us?

Jennifer:  What aren’t I working on? LOL I’m continuing the Stormwalker series that I write as Allyson James on my own—Nightwalker, Book 4, just came out. I’ll be continuing the Shareem (erotic romance by Allyson James) a few more volumes as well.

As Ashley Gardner, I’ll be continuing the Capt Lacey Regency Mysteries I write as Ashley Gardner as soon as I can.

As Jennifer Ashley, I’ll be doing more in the Mackenzie series. This coming New Year’s Eve, the spinoff book, The Seduction of Elliot McBride, will be out, and Daniel’s story will follow in 2013. I’ll also be starting to do shorter novels in that series in between—in late Nov or early December, I plan to release a Mackenzie family Christmas short novel, based around Ian and Beth, but the whole family will be there.

10)  Do you have anything you'd like to share with us or say to the readers out there while we have you here today? 

Jennifer:  Thank you for enjoying the books! I appreciate all the email I get about the series, and I thank you for your fantastic support.

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION:  Thank you so much for coming back to hang with us!  We would love to have you back on BMR/LA again in 2013 for you next releases if you're interested. J

Jennifer:  I’d be thrilled to come back and talk all about the Mackenzies and more Shifters!

Jennifer is giving away a signed copy of anything book from her SHIFTERS UNBOUND backlist to one winner at Book Monster and another winner over at LITERAL ADDICTION.

Want a 2nd chance to win??  Don't forget to drop by the LITERAL ADDICTION website (http://www.literaladdiction.com/) read their rules for entry and enter to win their contest too!!!

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