The Dark Proposal – 50% Off on Smashwords!

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Click here to purchase on Smashwords

I’m a little late in Smashwords’ summer promotion sales, but hey, better late than never!

My book, “The Dark Proposal” is 50% off the eBook site. This promotional sale will run until July 31st, before it goes back to its original price of $2.99.

If you’d like to purchase it on Smashwords, here is the promo code: SSW50

As you may know, “The Dark Proposal” is about a college graduate who thought she met perfect boyfriend, until he reveals to be a malicious vampire with a sinister proposal.

The book begins at the end of the summer, so this may be good timing!

Happy reading!

Character Interview: Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez

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book characters, fictional characters, interviews, New adult books, paranormal books, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampires

When my book was released in September, I went on a blog tour via Dark Mind Blog Tours (now Dark World Books) One of the stops I went on, KY Bunnies, requested that I do a character interview. At first I wasn’t sure how to do it because of the dark overtones in my book. But then I decided to interview two secondary characters – Claire McCormick’s roommates and close friends, Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez. Good choice because it avoided to potential gloominess if I had interviewed another character.

I ended up having a lot of fun with this interview, especially since those two have distinct personalities that are fun to watch/read.

So, without further ado, here is that interview:

Q: Great to meet you Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez! Okay, tell us about yourselves, and how you became friends with Claire McCormick?

Samantha: Claire, Monica and I met during our first year at Richmond College, which is on Staten Island in New York City. The three of us hit it off right away, though I’m not so sure how.

Monica: (slight giggle) I think it’s because our personalities simply clicked. Even though we’re different in a lot of ways, we also benefit and learn from each other.

Samantha: Yeah, Monica is the quiet one, Claire is in-between, and some people say I can be loud. Anyway, we became friends in college and right before we graduated, we three realized we didn’t want to go back living with our parents and regress into children. We wanted to be adults so we got ourselves an apartment not far from the college and moved in together.  It was really awesome that our landlords took us in because we were college graduates without full time jobs, but I guess they needed whatever help they could get to pay their mortgage.

Q: Signs of the times, I suppose?

Samantha: You’re not kidding. Neither one of us could get a full time job after we graduated. Monica substituted a lot, but she was going for her master’s in education at Richmond. But Claire and I could not get real jobs for the life of us. I studied finance, but I got stuck bartending four days a week. Claire majored in English Writing, but kept working part-time in the English department that had lousy pay.

Monica: She also did some freelancing, but it wasn’t easy for her.

Samantha: We argued so many times. There was so much stress going on.

Q: When the fall semester began, Claire met Daniel Bertrand, who was an adjunct professor at Richmond. It began with him helping her getting more freelance work but then it turned into something more.

Samantha: Yeah, we thought it would be cool for her to go out with him. He was hot looking, rich and successful. Why not?

Monica: He was a really cool guy when they first dated. He was friendly and a real gentleman. He also made her smile a lot back then.

Samantha: (rolls eyes) Back then.

Q: When did you notice something was wrong with their relationship?

Monica: Thanksgiving Day. Claire was all dazed and withdrawn. She said she got into a nasty fight with Daniel the night before. She also even asked me a weird question about vampires.

Samantha: It was all downhill from there. First they broke up, and then she accused Daniel of assaulting her before their break-up. He didn’t seem to be the type who would hurt someone, but you never know.

Monica: Then she got back with him which didn’t make any sense to us.

Samantha: We tried to talk sense into her, but she wouldn’t hear it. She even said she made up the part about Daniel hitting her, which was bizarre.

Q: It wasn’t long after Claire got back with Daniel that she moved in with him.

Samantha: Boy, did that come without warning! I mean, we knew they were talking about moving in together before they broke up. But after they got back together, almost right away did she begin packing up! I got the impression Daniel made a “my way or no way” type of deal, and for some reason, Claire went along.

Q: Was this normal of her?

Samantha & Monica: No!

Monica: She actually was never that strong. She was never a doormat, but she did have weaknesses that she needed to work on. I also think there was something about Daniel that we couldn’t put our finger on.

Samantha: Well, we kind of did. The night he came to get Claire’s things was like seeing the real Daniel, or part of it. He came across as cold and calculating, nothing like the nice guy we knew before. He and I almost got into an argument, but I outsmarted him.

Monica: I was really worried about her when she left that night. It was like she was afraid to say no to Daniel, and was heading for something we couldn’t get her out of.

Q: Have you spoken to her since?

Samantha: We’ve spoken once or twice on the phone. She sent us a few emails, sent us photos of her in Paris, where Daniel took her for some romantic vacation. But we have yet to meet up.

Monica: It’s really sad that our friendship came to a sudden end like that.

Samantha: Sad? I’m pissed. But I don’t know what to do. It’s Claire’s life, her decision. We told her we would be there for her. I hope she never forgets that.

Q: Thank you ladies for giving this interview.  I hope everything works out for Claire.

Samantha: Don’t worry. I don’t think this is the end of everything for her. Really, I just don’t.

What’s In A Name? Tidbits on “The Dark Proposal”

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book characters, eBooks, Kindle, name meanings, names, novels, paranormal, tidbits, urban fantasy, vampires

I’ve always wanted to do a post about the tidbits and little things about my  book, “The Dark Proposal”. It’s just an opportunity to share with others with what went into creating this story and its characters.

I was reading an article on the Huffington Post about some old fashioned names making a comeback, and that made me want to talk about how I came up with the names of my characters. Names are fun to discuss for some people, so here we go:

Claire McCormick: main character
Meaning:  “Bright”
Reason Behind Name: When I picked the name for my main character, I wanted it to be related to vampirism and her journey through the vampire world. Since Claire is related to the word, “clarity”, there is a sense that the main character will not be a dimwit during “The Dark Proposal”, nor the two follow-ups I am working on now. Also, Claire means “bright” which brings up thoughts of light, and vampires are rarely out in the sunlight, so there’s the vampire connection. Furthermore, her Irish last name, McCormick, means “son of Cormac” an Irish name that means “raven”. Ravens have dark connotations, perfect for this urban fantasy book. Also, McCormick has the family motto, “without fear”, which also works in this tale.

Trivia bit: Claire’s original last name was not McCormick but Maguire, which means “white” – hence vampirism! I had to change the surname when I discovered there is a Claire Maguire in Great Britain who is a rising indie singer. Not wanting anything to go wrong, I changed the last name.

Daniel Bertrand, neè Poncher: second main character, Claire’s boyfriend turned vampire-tormentor
Meaning: God is my judge
Reason Behind Name: I wanted to make sure I was choosing a name that only reflected the character, but also was common even back in medieval France where Daniel originates. I did a little research and found that Daniel was a regular name among French men in the 1300s. That was perfect because I also didn’t want to have an entirely different name for this character when his true nature was revealed. A different last name was fine, but not a first name as well. By the way, Bertrand is a very common French surname, while Poncher was the surname of a Parisian bishop in the Middle Ages. I wanted a name from that era, and Poncher seemed to work.

Samantha DiCarlo: One of Claire’s two roommates
Reason Behind Name: Samantha is a vivacious person, and I think when we hear this name, we think of someone who is full of life and doesn’t mince words. Claire’s roommate/best friend doesn’t. For her last name, I gave Samantha a simple one, DiCarlo, so no one unfamiliar with the pronunciation of certain Italian names, would not be confused.

Monica Alejandrez: Claire’s other roommate
Reason Behind Name: I didn’t want a name too popular among Hispanics, like Sofia or Isabella, or too stereotypical, like Maria. I saw Monica was common among this group, so that was a good choice. For her last name, however, I was insistent on not giving her a too common Hispanic surname, such as Diaz, Hernandez or Rodriguez. To give her one of those names would take away her individuality and kind of allow her to be stereotyped as just another Latina. When I came across the surname Alejandrez among the list of Mexican Olympians during the 2008 Beijing Games, I knew it was perfect. Monica became her own person that way.

Ava McCormick: Claire’s infant niece and goddaughter
Reason Behind Name: Besides Ava being a popular name in the United States these days, it also means “life”. I think that is perfect given the circumstances the baby’s Aunt Claire faces in “The Dark Proposal” and will face in the two follow-ups. There is a sense of irony to have someone with the name meaning “life” in a book about vampires, but it will work out in the end.

As for the other characters, there wasn’t much thought given to their names. The two vampires who created Daniel – Hilde and Michel – were created on a whim, though I wanted the female to be German because I felt there were too many French overtones in this book (I am a bit of a Francophile, that’s why). As for the names of the other vampires, Antonius, Carys and Yvette, also on a whim.

When it came to Claire’s family, I wanted names that reflected the times they were born in. Her parents, Frank and Judith, are in their mid-fifties, so those names were common in their day. Claire’s older brother, Zachary, has name popular with boys born in the late 1980s. Same with Kristina, Claire’s sister-in-law, though I wanted to put a twist to it and use “K” instead of “Ch”.

Oh, if you are wondering about where on earth I got the names of the Five Brothers, the original vampires, well sometimes a little creativity can come in handy! 🙂

So, that is a behind-the-scenes look at my novel, and a chance for me to talk about names because I am so fascinated with name meanings and how they relate to the people who have them. I may do this again with all my future books! 🙂