Hooked On Romance

I'm lucky enough to call Candace "Candy" Havens a friend. I'm luckier still to be celebrating with her her latest release Dragons Prefer Blondes. If you've read Candace, you know that she writes wicked smart and kick-ass heroines that keep you entertained and flipping the pages. If you haven't read her, well she has this great new book out so you can remedy that.

Order it now! These books make great gifts.
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Here's a teaser video that I made for Candace for the series. Her stories make it way easy to make fun videos.



~ Jake is absolutely fantastic! I loved him in The Demon King and I, but I LOVED him in Dragons Prefer Blondes. Can you tell us a secret about him that no one else knows?

I took it out of the first draft, but Jake loves to play XBox 360. He's absolutely obsessed with the Madden and Tiger Woods games. I swear, if I get to do more of these books I'm going to write a scene with Jake and Bailey Caruthers, the younger brother of my Guardian Keys, playing some kind of video game on the big screen.

LOL, I would love to see a scene like that. I can imagine how into the games they would get.


~ I know that you’ve celebrated many “wins” since your writing career took off, and you give a lot back to other writers. What has been one of the biggest rewards, personal or professional, that you’ve experienced in your writing career?

Honestly, for me, when people like you succeed, those are some of my greatest moment. The talent is all yours, but I like to think that maybe I gave you a 'little' push in the right direction. I set up the Write_Workshop to help other writers, because I had such wonderful mentors. Seeing you guys published is beyond cool for me.

Aww. And you didn't give me a 'little' push in the right direction. You gave me a huge one. Every time I thought about stopping or giving up, your voice was in my head encouraging me.


~ You've branched out and written a Blaze that’s coming out in February. I'm sure it's changed since I read your first draft (that I loved), but can you tell us a little bit about that?

It's called "Take Me If You Dare." It's a about a female detective who happens to run into a burned CIA agent in Bangkok. He helps her solve her case, and then escapes with her to beach resort. There's intrigue, lots of hot, sexy romance and some pretty funny characters.


~ What else do you have in the works? Please tell me there are more Caruthers Sisters books in the works?
I have proposals in for the next two Caruthers sisters books, and a couple in for some more Bronwyn/Kira books. Right now I'm working on the next Blaze, and a YA. The two books couldn't be more different, but then I like that.
WooHoo!


~ Will you please pretty please with chocolate coating on top share an excerpt from Dragons Prefer Blondes with us?

Prologue

Guardians protect Earth from other worlds. We are the first line of defense against those who want to harm humanity.

Add in the fact that we put our lives on the line every day and that the rest of the universe really doesn’t care for humans, and you have to figure only a crazy person would be a Guardian.

That’s definitely true. But I get to face down dragons, so it’s not all bad. These aren’t the dragons of myths and legends. The Ahi, which is their scientific name, come in all shapes and sizes. They are intelligent beings for the most part, but they have a warrior attitude that makes them hardheaded beasts.

It’s my job to make certain they behave—and take them out if they won’t. I’m not alone. My sisters are also Guardians who protect the rest of the world from creatures that would scare the pee right out of you.

We’re a tight-knit group, which comes in handy, since we’re in the middle of a big battle with evil trying to take over the universe. I’m talking darkness like we’ve never seen before. It hides in the most innocuous places and strikes at will. Scary stuff.

Don’t worry. We Caruthers sisters have a plan. Extinguish the evil and put its sad, sorry ass in a sling. Trust me, we can do this. Anyone who can run in four-inch Prada heels and kill a dragon can certainly save the world from the big bad.

Chapter One

“Alex, I’m getting married.” Aspen Randall screeched in my ear, her voice so high I could barely understand her. It didn’t help that I was holding the cell between my shoulder and ear as I pulled a dragon carcass out of the snow and into an industrial-strength trash bag. I was in front of a beautiful cathedral in Montreal, and thankfully, the streets were empty.

When Aspen called I thought it was one of my sisters, so I’d picked it up without looking. I mean who the hell calls in the wee hours of the morning if they aren’t family?

It dawned on me that I hadn’t responded to her comment. “What a happy surprise. Who’s the lucky guy?” I pretended to be excited. Aspen went through men as fast as she changed shoes, so I couldn’t be sure who had been either brave or stupid enough to chance going down that path with the woman.

“Silly girl, Lord Huffington, of course. That means a big ole royal wedding for me.” She squealed again, and I wondered if I might need a hearing aid after this conversation. “We’ve been dating for three months, and we just can’t wait to get married.”

I sighed—on the inside. From what I knew about him, Huff was a stuck-up aristocrat who probably wanted to marry Aspen for her money. Everyone knew that his family had been struggling for years. His father’s investments were rot, and Huff had seemed more intent on living the playboy life than saving his family fortune.

Then again, Aspen probably knew all that. She just wanted to be called Lady Huffington. I’d met her ten years ago at a birthday party for my sister, Gillian, and Aspen declared us instant pals. My mother insisted I be nice, so I went along with the charade, which turned out to be a huge mistake.

Aspen was as shallow as they came, but she was one of those poor little rich girls. At the ripe old age of fourteen, I’d figured out pretty quickly that her parents had given her everything except love. I felt sorry for her, so when she wanted to hang out, I always tried to be there for her. “Wow. That’s—wow. I don’t know what to say.”

“I know, right? Beyond cool. Daddy says we can have a wedding in the States and at the castle in England. I can have the fairy tale twice.”

Oh, my God. My heart went out to her wedding planner. “Well, that is wild.” I slid the dragon, which was still warm to the touch, into the garbage bag. Thankfully, he’d been in human form, except for the talons, or he wouldn’t have fit. I had caught him inside the cathedral stealing a gold cross from the altar.

Dragons, demons, fairies, and a variety of other creatures had been giving my sisters and me hell the last few months. They were after treasures on Earth, and it was a constant battle to keep them from stealing. None of us knew exactly why these creatures wanted the valuables, but we felt certain it had something to do with the darkness trying to take over the universe. We are all Guardian Keys, and while it’s our job to protect Earth from these jerks, lately it had turned into a full-time occupation.

I had the element of surprise on my side and was able to sneak up on him while he was busy stealing, but he went scaly fast. He managed a couple of good strikes against me before he died. With dragons it was almost always a fight to death. They never backed down.

The snow swirled around me, wet and cold. The damn dragon was slippery and almost too big for the bag. I had to shove it down with my boot.

“Soooo,” Aspen trilled. “Since you are the premiere party planner and one of my dearest friends, I want you to do it all. Everything down to the last detail.” She squealed again, and I dropped the phone into the bag with the dead dragon.

No, no, no. The last thing I needed right now was to plan a wedding for a woman who had to have at least six choices of outfits for each day. She had two full-time stylists who could barely keep up with her. Planning Aspen’s wedding—I’d rather fight a cadre of dragons with my bare hands.

I fished out the phone and wiped off the dragon goo. Pushing the speaker function so I didn’t have to hold it close to my face, I prepared to put her off. “Oh, Aspen, hon, really I’d love too, but—”

“I knew you would.” She cut me off. “Oh, the jet’s here. I have to run. I’ll e-mail you with the dates. Did I mention we want to do it before the end of the month? And my color choices. I’m in a strawberry mood right now, so think luscious red with lots of white, and maybe some pink. Oh, I don’t know, maybe more of a sapphire since it’ll be a winter wedding. I’ll think about it on my way to London to see the castle. Ta! Oh, listen to me, I sound like English royalty already.”

The line went dead.

I snorted. Aspen was in for a rude awakening when she saw that castle. The last time I’d been there was four years ago for a charity event. I’d stayed in the dusty, drafty hunk of stone for one night and swore never to do it again.

The Contest: You didn't think I would forget to have a contest did you? Here's how it will work. Chat it up with Candace. Chat, chat, chat. Should you feel the desire to Twitter about this book/blog/video, come here and let us know that you did. Post a link to it on facebook, MySpace, your own blog, all those good things. Come here and tell us where you put it. Every place you post a link gets you entered into the drawing. (Candace even has a great round of contests on her site including a message for you to send out to your friends. Check it out here.

The winner will receive a signed copy of both of Candace's Guardian Key books.


Ready, set, CHAT!!