Blog Chain - Favorite Reads

Blog Chain time! This round I got to choose the topic and I want to know:

As a reader and/or a writer what are some of your favorite fiction tropes? Are you sucker for secretly in love with best friend type stories, stories set in mysterious boarding school stories, stories that contain time travel, or something else entirely? As a writer how do you try to give the tropes you tackle in your own books a fresh?

I'm one of those people who will read just about anything. As long as it's well written and keeps me hooked, I can get into just about any genre. Except horror. I can do smallish doses of horror within another genre but I am way too big of a chicken with way too big of an overactive imagination that likes to torture me to read anything too scary and/or horrifying. Other than that though, I'm pretty open.

I do really enjoy romances (of course), mysteries, and paranormals. My favorite books tend to include a good mixture of all three with a nice side of humor :) The Sookie Stackhouse books for instance. There is also some mystery and/or danger, plenty of romance, tons of vampires/shifters/witches/etc running around and a healthy dose of comic relief. Definitely my cup of tea.

I'm also huge on historicals, fiction and non-fiction. And again, if those historicals contain elements of romance, mystery, danger, or humor, I'm sold.

As a writer, it's probably no surprise that I like to write what I read. Historical romances and contemporary romances with a paranormal twist. I try to give them a twist I either haven't seen before or haven't seen much of. Easier said than done most times :) but I often find that it comes down to character. The situation those  characters are in might not be new, but if you can create a really engaging character who hopefully reacts to those situations in new and expected ways, you might have a winner :)

How about you? What are your favorite types of stories?

Be sure to stop by Demetria's blog to find out what she likes and head to Alyson's tomorrow!

Bridget Zinn's POISON

This beautiful lady succumbed to cancer before she could see her dream realized - her book POISON released yesterday. Since she isn't able to share her novel, let's spread the word for her :) For more info on Bridget Zinn and her book, you can visit her website. 

About the book:

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon    Barnes & Noble

Blog Chain - Loving Tropes

Miracles happen! I'm actually posting on my right day lol Our current topic was chosen by the lovely Kate who wants to know:

As a reader and/or a writer what are some of your favorite fiction tropes? Are you sucker for secretly in love with best friend type stories, stories set in mysterious boarding school stories, stories that contain time travel, or something else entirely? As a writer how do you try to give the tropes you tackle in your own books a fresh spin?

Ohhh this one is actually hard for me to answer because I sort of love them all lol But I'm definitely a sucker for the bad boy, star-crossed lovers, romance FOR SURE, mysterious castles, a good dose of danger. I love a kick-ass heroine who can still get rescued by her big strong hero every now and then :)

As an author who writes for a romance publisher, tropes play a huge part in my books. I'm required to have them in my stories. So I both go for my favorites and for those that I haven't done before (but enjoy reading). But I definitely try to put something a little different in there.

When you are dealing with tropes, they can get a bit predictable, so I try sometimes to focus on adding in little details that help set the story apart from others with the same tropes. The main backbone of the trope will be the same (governess falls in love with man of the house, bad boy with heart of gold falls for innocent girl, etc), but all the little ways you can spin and tweak that trope are what make them so fun to write, and read :)

How about you? What are your favorite tropes?

Be sure to drop by Demitria's blog and Alyson's blog to get their takes on the subject! :)

TRR 2nd Anniversary!

March 1st was the kick off of the massive The Romance Reviews 2nd anniversary extravaganza!! You would not believe all the amazing stuff they've got going on. More than 400 authors are participating with games and giveaways. Every day there will be a game and questions based on the participating authors books (with hints found on their websites). My question will be popping up at the end of the month, but there are TONS of festivities in the meantime :) You do need to register (it's free!) and be logged in to participate, so hurry on over!! You don't want to miss out on any of the fun :)