Louisa Kelley : I’m very happy to be here and thank you so much for hosting me today!
Niina : Let’s get started! Can you tell my readers here 4 fun unknown facts about you so we can break the ice?
Louisa : I’m a vegetarian for one thing, pretty much my entire adult life. I was born in the year of the Dragon, which is my best excuse for my obsession with dragons! I also like to express myself with a lot of exclamation points, a fatal weakness that makes my editors nuts. However, blogging is a bit more forgiving ( grin ). I live in Portland Oregon, where the most popular bumper sticker is “Keep Portland Weird.” I’m doing my best to live up to that sentiment.
Niina : Tell us a little about your newest novel Cara and the Draca , what’s it about?
Louisa : This is book two in my Daughters of Draca series. Like the first book, our heroine lives in Portland. The story is another ( easily stand-alone ) hot and spicy tale of the dragon shape-shifters called the Draca. These sexy Draca are scheming once again to increase their numbers with a powerful spell cast upon the citizens of Portland in the form of magical tattoos. Our shifter hero, Aedhan, is sent to Portland on a mission as the tattoo master of the mysteriously hidden tattoo shop. He wants to redeem his reputation as a bad boy; a Draca of who rarely follows the rules or cares about his own responsibility to the clan. Running the spell and minding the strict rules of behavior are all he’s supposed to be doing.
Then he meets Cara, who is magically drawn to the shop. And that’s when he finds out she may be another precious ‘human daughter of Draca.’ Daughter of Draca indicates a human woman who carries some DNA from an ancient Draca bloodline. This bloodline has the potential to reinvigorate the Dracan species, which at the onset of the first book, had actually been on the verge of extinction. Once Aedhan figures out he’s found another one—in Portland of course!-- things get exponentially complicated, out of control and pretty damn sizzling after that.
Niina : What chapter did you most enjoyed writing and why?
Louisa : I loved writing the big bridge scene. Portland has many old, picturesque bridges that cross the Willamette River. As soon as I moved to Portland and saw those bridges, I started envisioning dragons roaring from the top of one. In a climactic scene, I’ve got Aedhan in his dragon form breathing fire and roaring and creating total chaos in metro Portland. Since it is forbidden for the Draca to show their real selves to humans, this is a very big deal. A complete blast to write!
Niina : How did you find your cover and if you didn't take part in the search, what is your opinion of it?
Louisa : I adore my covers. Both book covers were done by the amazing artist Christine Griffin, who works for my publisher, Loose Id. I expressly requested her to do the second cover because I love the first one so much and she did a fabulous job.
Niina : What are you working on right now? Can you give us a sneak peak?
Louisa : I’m working on the third and final story in my Draca trilogy. This story will focus on Nareen, who is the de facto Queen of the Draca. She’s a major secondary character in both books, and the instigator of the powerful spells that fuel much of the action. She’s been clamoring to go on her own emotional journey and I am happy to oblige. I’d love to give you a sneak peak but I fear it’s not quite ready for prime time viewing!
Niina : What do you think makes a story sexy?
Louisa : I think it’s all about characterization and erotic tension. I have to like the characters for one thing, and be invested in their feelings and the story line. The sex needs to make sense, and fulfill an emotional arc in the story. I’ve read sex scenes that go on for pages that leave me cold, and others that are only very short but light my hair on fire. I think writing good sex is a difficult task and challenges me the most when spinning my own erotic tales…My personal preference is that it takes a while to get to the sex. I like the tension to build, until you can hardly wait another minute for the kiss or the love making to happen. However, that’s not always what my publisher wants, so there’s compromise in order for me to meet the demands of the genre and the publisher.
Niina : What’s the best compliment you’ve received on your writing? And who complimented you?
Louisa : I had a great review from The Romance Studio for ‘Lydia and the Draca’. The reviewer said things like: “spicy and fast moving” and the characters were “well written and the story flows well.” She said, “there was instant chemistry between Lydia and Eremon that could almost be felt.” She also said I “penned the sex scenes with detail and believability.” She ended with stating that it was a great short story and she wanted to read more about the Draca. These statements make it all worthwhile to me. I love to know that readers enjoyed the book- and for such gratifying reasons!
Niina : Now to more personal questions! Your Top 3 dangerous fictional bad boys, and why them?
Louisa : Any of the bad boys in J.R. Ward’s The Black Dagger Brotherhood- they really set the standard for the ultimate bad boys. Brilliant characterization by the author. I’m also partial to Clay, the love interest of Elena Michaels in Kelley Armstrong’s the Otherworld series. He’s hot and bad but has a soft heart for love, my favorite combination. I also adore the hero Lachlain MacRieve, in Kresley Cole’s “A Hunger Like No Other”- Again, skillful and compelling characterization by the author.
Niina : Oh, Lachlain is so good! What is your signature dish?
Louisa : Probably vegetarian pot pie. I make one big pie, stuffed with yummy vegetables and tasty sauce. Delicious!
Niina : I'm a vegetarian myself so props for that! What does it take to write a really hot love scene?
Louisa : I play soft, sort of new-agey music when I am working on a story. If I’m uninspired at first to write the sex scene, I try to channel memories of making love and focus on specific actions that turned me on and then bring all my senses into the description. I will admit that there were times I got so turned on writing the scene, I had to take a break and go for a walk! Or, um, something else ( grin ).
Niina : Now, before we finish, here are some Quick Fire Questions:
Night or day? Day
Pick-up or Mini-van? Pick-up
Beer or Wine? Beer
Boots or Heels? Boots
M&Ms: With or Without Peanuts? With
Treats: Sweet or Salty? Sweet
Pizza or Burger? Pizza
Date: Going to Park or Going to Movies? Movies
Friends or Will & Grace? Friends
Drama or Comedy? Both!
Winter or Summer? Summer
Jewels or Chocolates? Chocolates
Men: Alpha-male or submissive? Alpha. And Beta. There are the in betweens you know!
Men: Clean Shaven or Stubble? Clean Shaven
Tattoos or Piercings on a guy? Tattoos
Bad boys or good guys? Both! Depends!
Brunettes or Blonds? Brunettes
Vampires or werewolves? Werewolves
Cops or Cowboys? Cops
Time-Travel or Sci-fi? Isn’t Time-Travel by its very definition Sci-Fi? So, both please!
Romance or Erotica/Erotic Romance? Erotic Romance
Male POV or Female POV (Point Of View)? Both. I like it when it’s mixed up
Times New Roman or Courier? Times New Roman
Pens or pencils? Pens
Niina : Thanks for visiting the For The Love of Reading, Louisa! Any news would you like to share with your readers, or websites they can check out?
Louisa : This has been fun Niina. Thanks again! I’m on a blog tour so please stop by and say hello. One randomly commenter during the tour will win a $25 Amazon gift certificate.
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/01/virtual-book-tour-daughters-of-draca.html
For more information on my books ( including significant excerpts and purchase links ) visit my website www.louisakelley.com You can also find me on Amazon and most of the major romance e-sellers.
Published: Loose Id Publishing on January 2012
Pages: 125 Pages
Form: E-book (from a tour for an honest review)
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance (18+ Only)
Series: Daughters of Draca #2
Amazon: Buy / $9.19 (Kindle) ( EU price, click to see US price )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $4.97 (Nook)
All Romance Ebooks: Buy / $5.99 (Ebook)
Excerpt: Chapter 1
"Cara is haunted by recent memories of a warehouse explosion that took the life of her best friend and caught her in the blast. Desperate for a way to cover the burns scars on her shoulder, Cara heads for the mysterious tattoo shop in Portland everyone is talking about.
Aedhan, the gorgeous tattoo master, leaves her senses reeling and her knees weak. Just the touch of his talented hands brings welcome relief and a sense of release from her emotional pain. His charming, eccentric ways combined with his tangerine hair and odd accent create an intoxicating mix. To her delight, the incredible tattoo he expertly lays over her scar hides everything-- and makes her long for more of his healing touch.
Soon Cara is pulled into an erotic journey of unimagined delight, terror and transformation. Dragons? In Portland? Magical and sexy beyond belief? Yet, something isn’t quite adding up. Is Aedhan really telling her the truth about what he’s doing in that shop? But she's so crazy in lust and wonder, it's hard to care.
Dragon shape-shifter Aedhan fully intends to follow the rules of his secret mission, number one being no sex with the human women in Portland. Then Cara shows up at his shop and her sweetness and delightful freckles almost stops his heart. When he perceives the sorrow in her life, he is consumed with the need to know more. Who has hurt her? After he gets a taste of her blood on his tattoo needles and discovers the extra special something in her fluids, he decides he must see Cara again, even if it means breaking the rules. And that's when things start to go terribly wrong...or perfectly right." ~The Blurb
Cara and The Draca is the second book in the series. I felt it wasn’t complitely a stand alone story, as I was not familiar with the story before I had no idea what the Draca were and anything about their history and culture and where they came from. Which is why the story didn’t sink in fully for me. The cover is gorgeous and very well portraits the hot erotic romance story!
The plot was very interesting though, can’t get too into it so I won’t reveal too much but the Draca are experiment with humans through Aedhan’s tattoo shop and Cara getting a tattoo to cover a scar from a explosion brings her out a Daughter of Draca, a woman who has Draca DNA to Aedhan’s attention and attraction flames up immediately. As interesting as the plot is, there was very little built on it, I would have liked to have seen more.This story was much more about the erotic romance, even though the plot was really interesting.
Cara and Aedhan were both interesting as characters though I felt that wasn’t explored fully. Reading this story I felt it had tons of potential but didn’t quite tap into it. Cara and Aedhan both were shying away from getting together, but eventually gave in anyway. The explanation for most things was magic, it felt bit too loose, I wanted details of a spell or effect or how it caused it instead of just saying it was a spell or magic.
I think my main issue was that this could have been great, and I wanted just a little bit more most the time – but even that said it was still a good book, and a quick read!
You’ll like this book if you like your erotic romance with a touch of fantasy, dragons and mystical pull getting two lovers together no matter what.
Rating :
