Aiden's Angels: March 2014

Thursday 20 March 2014

Teaser #5

Yesterday Cyndi posted this teaser on her FB page. Enjoy!
A swift ride through the countryside is what I need, I thought.
Frustration sprang up like a geyser in my chest as the buckle on ...the saddle resisted my manipulations. A vicious Gaelic curse shot from my lips, and though I knew no one was around to hear, and even if they had been, no one in our group understood the language. My language, my native tongue. The thought made me pause, breathing hard, my hand coming to rest on the underbelly of the horse.

Three hundred years. So much had changed from those days on the misty moor of the loch surrounding Eilean Donan Castle. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply and let myself pretend I was back in the stables at home, that the sharp tang of the horseflesh in front of me belonged to Eachann, the brown stallion I’d grown up with. He’d been a spitfire and no doubt. I’d loved him fiercely from the time I was no taller than his breast, barely more than a bairn myself. The summer before Da fell ill, he’d placed me atop the stallion.

"Steady, lad," he’d said firmly as I’d wiggled into place. With one hand on my knee to keep me still and another wound loosely in the reins, he’d made clicking sounds to the horse, who began a slow walk out toward the road. The warm summer breeze seemed fresher atop the great beast and I sucked in great lungfuls of it, pride at my new station streaming within me like a sunbeam through the forest.

"Can we go faster, Da?" I’d pleaded, ready to push the boundaries and feel the earth pass swiftly beneath me. My father had taken me on rides before, tucked up tight against the wall of his chest, but this was the first time I’d been atop Eachann myself.

To my disappointment, my father chuckled. "Nae, Aiden. Not today."

"But—" I started to protest, but he cut me a sharp glance that stilled my tongue.

"Nae," he said again, with a decisive shake of his head. "I’ve answered ye and should box your ears for asking again, but I won’t this time. Still, ye need to learn that nae means nae, and good reason for it, too."

"Sorry, Da," I said, dropping my eyes to the soft brown fur underneath my hands.

"There is a time and place for everything, my son. Someday, ye’ll be a grown man and riding Eachann will be tame compared to the other delights—and challenges—that lie before you. But there’s plenty of time for that, so take this day for what it is, and enjoy what the good Lord’s given ye, aye?" His smile shone through a thick, red beard, causing my heart to leap in my chest.

"Aye, Da," I’d replied, my cheeks stretched to their limits from the sheer joy of being with him.

Longing for what I’d lost surged within me—my father and his larger-than-life persona, my mother and her tender touch, my brother Duncan whose fists were always at the ready, and wee Willie who worried over his elder brothers’ brawling. Thinking of my family back then brought to mind the family I had now.

Saturday 15 March 2014

Angels Feature: Catherine Peace

Meet Catherine Peace

Name - Catherine Peace

Location - Harlan, KY (Go Justified....)

Age - 27

Occupation/Grade - Assistant Pharmacy Tech.

Favourite genre - Science fiction/fantasy/paranormal

Favourite author - Oh this is unfair :P I have several. Patrick Rothfuss, Tiffany Reisz, Anne Rice, HG Wells

Favourite book - ....Again....several. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, The Angel by Tiffany Reisz, The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells

First book you ever remember reading (for leisure) - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. It sticks out because it's the first book I ever read cover to cover in one sitting, and I thought that was awesome.

Are you a “casual” reader or an “avid” reader? What makes you so? - Avid. Definitely. Books are my life. Besides writing them, I also co-founded an indie review blog with my friend Landra, and we added a third reviewer at the beginning of the year. Indie Books R Us actually reviewed Cyndi's first book, Between, which is how I learned about Aidan in the first place. And I try to review as much as I can on my personal blog.

Most recent read - For pleasure? The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz. OMG SO GOOD. Currently I'm reading The Path of the Fallen by Dan O'Brien for the Indies blog

Next read - Cameron's Law for the Welcome to Adelheid blog hop.

Favourite place to read - Anywhere I can

Dream vacation - I'd love to go backpacking through Europe. It's been a dream. Also, I need to go to Australia to visit a good friend. Drop bears be darned!

Favourite drink while reading - A nice cool glass of white wine

If you could think of the most ideal, fantasy, crazy perfect situation for reading a book, what would it be? - Listening to Alan Rickman, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hiddleston take turns reading my favorite book while getting a massage from Jared Padalecki. I mean, what?

How do you choose your books? - We have a submission process for Indies. For pleasure, I go a lot on recommendations, and I'm highly supportive of my author friends.

How is your bookshelf organized? (Alphabetically by title, author, by colour, random) - It goes alphabetically by Author, starting with the ones I'm friends with. Then It starts with those I don't in alphabetical order. So m ytop shelf runs from Leah Clifford to Tiffany Reisz, and then starts the A's again with people I don't know lol

When was the last time you went to a bookstore? - About a month ago. I tried to by all the things in Half Price Books.

What drew you to Between/Aiden? - Between is a fantastic story about life after death and how you can find love and acceptance in any situation. With Aiden, I just loved how kind and patient he is with Lindsey, how he endeavors to make her dreams and wishes reality in order to help her cope with her new afterlife. He's sweet, he's tender, and he loves her so freaking much. It's really a beautiful story, and he's the icing on the cake. Plus, he's Scottish. Who doesn't love that?

One cool fact about you? - I'm also a published author (recently). My short story "Lured" was accepted for the Crimson Melodies' Nocturnal Embers anthology and my paranormal erotic romance This Time Next Year was published by Decadent Publishing as part of their 1Night Stand line. I'm also currently working (well, reworking) a science fiction horror novel.

How can Angels connect with you? - I am EVERYWHERE. Sort of. Mostly I live on Facebook (I have an author page too!) and Twitter. I also contribute to the Pen Punks blog, and of course I'm still reviewing with Indie Books R Us.

Saturday 8 March 2014

Updates

Oh my Angels, it has been too long since we've last spoken. So much has happened that I'm so excited to share with you.

First and foremost: THANK YOU to everyone who donated and spread the word about the VTtoRT campaign. It worked! You guys helped raise enough money to pay for my registration into the RT Booklovers Convention and in May, Cyndi and I are going down there to meet in person. I'm trying to convince her to vlog while we're down there so if that's something you want to see us do, tweet her to let her know.

I am so excited to be able to go, I can't thank you all enough.

Secondly, I've started updating the site again. If you look at the tab bar, you'll notice I've (finally) added the teasers for Book 4, and added a tab for all of your fabulous Interviews and Reviews. Also, if you look under the "Follow Cyndi" tab you'll find more of her writing from her Goodreads account.

I'm getting around to adding more of the fan art and that you guys have been sending in over the last few months. Art like this:

Pau Castillo

If any of you review any of the books or create fan art or write fan fiction I encourage you to email me or tweet me with the link so we can share it with everyone.

As I said back in December, we're trying to come up with a "shipper" name for Aiden and Lindsey so please tweet your ideas to Cyndi (@cynditefft) and myself (@vatrask)

Thursday 6 March 2014

Guest Posts and Interviews

These are just some of the places you can find Cyndi on other blogs through guest posts and interviews. Please keep sending me links as you find them. Either tweet me (@vatrask) or email me (vicki.trask@gmail.com)

Writer of Wrongs #1 (Interview)
Pinky Pollock (Interview)
Just a Booklover (Interview)
Writer of Wrongs #2 (Interview)
The Reading Fish (Interview)

Carrie Secor (Guest Post)
Linda Rae Blair (Guest Post)
Confessions of a Book Addict (Guest Post)

Reviews

These are the reviews that have accumulated on the Aiden's Angels site in the last few years. If you'd like to add your name to the list tweet me (@vatrask) or email me (vicki.trask@gmail.com) with the link.

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