Friday, February 18, 2011

Today's Sponsor: DEVIL MOON by Dana Taylor


Book Blurb:
Maddie Harris left Boston in humiliation.  She hopes the job as assistant principal in a small Arkansas town will keep her too busy to notice the hole where her heart used to be.

Phil Wilcox, divorced former NFL star, returns to his hometown as the new football coach.  He hopes to repair the tattered relationship with his eleven-year-old daughter, despite his thorny ex-wife.

Neither is seeking romance, but a mischievous moon and a friendly spirit have other ideas.



Buy Links:

Author Links:
Twitter Name: @SupernalDana


Reviewer Comments:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read! January 18, 2011
I really enjoyed the book. Great main characters that were a lot of fun to follow. If you want a fun read, this book is perfect. There were several places where I nearly dropped my Kindle from laughing so hard. Can't wait to read more books from Ms Taylor!

5.0 out of 5 stars
Magical and wonderful! February 1, 2011
Devil Moon is Southern women's fiction with a mystical element, along the lines of Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. It has everything I love in a book. Great characters, great writing, and a great heart. It's witty, poignant, and fast-paced. Though it's not an erotic book, Taylor's writing is sensuous. It's a book I'll be reading again, just because I enjoyed it so much.



Round Table Review—Reviewer:  Beverly Forehand
Maddie Harris has her life completely in order.  She's a successful assistant principal with her own home.  She has loyal friends and a loving family.  She's perfectly happy with her life.  So what if people think she's a bit prim and that her routine borders on anal-retentiveness?  Maddie has everything she ever wanted--so why is it she needs to keep telling herself that?  Why is it that too much wine, a few chocolate bars, and a case of the blues finds her strolling on a moonlit lakeside looking for trouble?  Surely, it’s just a case of monthly madness--she couldn't be looking for anything more--her life is perfectly fine the way it is.  She likes stability and comfort.  Excitement, whirlwind romance, and midnight romps are something confined to paperback romances and youthful indiscretions, right? 

Phil Wilcox had it all--wealth, fame, and a family.  He was a football star that married the Homecoming Queen and had a beautiful baby girl.  How is it, then, he wonders, that he ended up the coach of a small town high school football team teaching history on the side?  He hardly sees his daughter or his ex-wife and his relationship could best be described as frosty.  All he wants now is to clean up his act and gain his eleven-year-old daughter's confidence.  Romance is something he doesn't want or need.  Women only bring complications, and love, well, that's nothing that he can even hope for after all the screw-ups in his life.  But, when a late night fishing trip throws him into the arms of a mysterious beauty, he finds himself wondering if he was wrong about what he wanted and needed in life. 

DEVIL MOON: A MYSTIC ROMANCE is a lovely romance full of whimsy, comedy, and bittersweet twists.  The characters are real and compelling, filled with the little foibles that drive us all and make them automatically identifiable.  Maddie and Phil are driven by their own delusions of themselves, by their personal fears and misapprehensions as to what life is really about, what they can hope for, and what they need.  These characters have settled--they believe that there are no happily ever afters, when they are suddenly confronted with a story-book romance.  The surprises and sweetness found in DEVIL MOON are as charming as any Cinderella tale.  So what if Prince Charming wears sweats and drives a pick-up, or Snow White is a bit anal and wears power-suits?  Isn't it possible to have it all?  Isn't it possible to find what you've looking for without even knowing you were looking? 
I loved this book.  It made me laugh and cry.  People who love romances from Jan Karon to Jane Austen will instantly find this book irresistible.  The characters are wonderful, the writing is compelling and witty, the plot-twists are unexpected, and the love story is both steamy and sweet.  Don't miss a chance to curl up with DEVIL MOON this winter.  This book and a cup of cocoa are just the ticket for the winter blues! 



 Author Bio:

Dana Taylor has had articles published in the Ladies Home Journal and various Christian magazines, hosted her Internet radio show, Definitely Dana! at HealthyLife.net and won several awards in the Romance Writers of America, including Best First Book from the Desert Quill Awards. Her published works include Ain’t Love Grand?, Shiny Green Shoes and Princess Robin.



Devil Moon: A Mystic Romance: Excerpt
The set up: Devil Moon: A Mystic Romance is a comedy set in the Ozarks. Maddie is the uptight high school assistant principal.  Phil is the new high school football coach. This scene is toward the end of the book. Maddie has been warned off Phil by his ex-wife who has threatened to take Phil’s daughter out of his life unless Maddie gives him up. (Maddie occasionally gets advice from her dead Grandmother.)
Setting:  Maddie’s kitchen
Maddie sat up straight. She'd been wishing the interminable breakfast would simply end. And now he appeared on the verge of proposing marriage.
She put a hand on his arm. "Don't say it, Phil."
"Now you don't even know what I'm going to say. See, we're good for each other." He covered her hand and looked at her with the innocence of a puppy. "I love you. I've known it for a good little while. You make me happy and I think we'd make a great team. We need each other. We're right together. Oh, hell, Maddie, either shoot me and put me out of my misery or marry me." He released a deep breath. "There, I said it. I think we should get married. What do you say?"
He looked so happy, she wanted to throw up. Her voice came out hoarse. "I can't marry you, Phil. It just wouldn't work."
An expression of shocked pain flashed across his face before it quickly changed to anger. "Oh, I get it. It's one thing to have a roll in the sheets with the football jock, but you wouldn't want to marry him."
"No, no, it's not like that."
"Then what is it? Explain it to me."
Oh God, she wasn't ready for this. She hadn't rehearsed a speech. She crossed her legs and tried to assume an elegant air. "Well, you're from one world and I'm from another and I don't think we're compatible. You're much too messy. I wouldn't want to be picking up your socks and picking out your clothes." Oh yes she would, she really would.
Phil stood up. "Okay, sweetheart, you're too good for me. I get it. An alcoholic, has-been football player isn't your idea of husband material. Well, let me tell you something, babe. You're passing up a good deal."
She knew that. She knew he was the best thing that had ever come along in her whole life. "It wouldn't be a suitable match, that's all. I think you have many fine qualities, but you're just not my type. I hope we can be friends, for the baby's sake."
He grabbed her chin and forced her to look in his face. "This is so much bullshit. You came onto me the other night like it was for keeps. You didn't say it, but I could feel it in your body, see it on your face. You love me, goddamn it! You look me straight in the eye and deny it. Say it. Say 'Phil, I don't love you.' I don't think you can."
Maddie swallowed and dug deep down to a well of strength she didn't know she possessed. She had to make the lie seem true. In a calm and measured voice she said, "Phil…I…don't… love you."
He released her as if he'd been burned, turned on his heel and rushed for the door. She flinched at the slam and closed her eyes. Taking a breath, she opened them again and surveyed the incredible mess he'd made making one small meal.
Standing before the sink was the see-through figure of Grammy Harris. "Pitiful, simply pitiful. You've set the Harris womenfolk back 'bout a hundred years."
    

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