Yes!  We got a puppy, Jake, a long-coated German shepherd puppy, 8 1/2 weeks, suffering from big puppy syndrome – the poor guy is so big for his age that people expect more of him than he’s capable of delivering!  But he’s sweet, smart and gorgeous!  Of course my cats won’t come near him.  They’re like…Crap!  Not another dog!  We thought we had the house and yard all to ourselves!

Daughters of Persephone is now available for Kindle and over at All Romance Ebooks.  I’m happy.

Stephanie at Fangs Wands and Fairy Dust has a feature on Daughters of Persephone today (Thursday) – I’m the guest blogger.  She’s running a contest – you can win an e-copy of Daughters or one of two hard copies of Captured.  Yum!

http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/

That’s all for today – I have  a big puppy sitting on my lap!

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But that’s beside the point.  I went from my father’s house where I shared a room with my sister to college where I shared rooms with dorm mates to my first husband’s house to my father’s house where I shared a room with my infant son to my second husband’s house which we filled with kids and their friends.  Although my husband has an office of sorts, my office had been the kitchen table or the dining room table or the back of the couch or a chair.

After packing up my daughter’s room and injuring my back schlepping boxes and boxes and more boxes, today hubby and I put together my desk and matching desk chair, a totally cool leather armchair with matching ottoman, and a mega-amazing daybed/sofa.  OMG!  We sat up there, each sipping a Kir Royale – yay Mia – enjoying the fruits of our labors!  I have my own room with a glorious view of our backyard and its huge redwood trees and gigantic maple.  Sigh!  I’m an adult at last!  (Not really.)

Now I can slip away to my writer’s retreat and write like a real writer.  You think?

This week – still the major re-write.  Anny Cook will be guest blogging here and I think I’ve been assigned a blog meme. Gotta check it out!

Oh yeah…email me at Julia@JuliaRachelBarrett.net if you want a signed hard copy of Captured.  Just checking to see if you’re paying attention.  No really, a signed copy.  love, julia

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Captured

Julia Rachel Barrett
Fantasy erotic romance
Available from Siren Publishing
ISBN: 1-60601-722-5
January 2010

Captured and caged in a cargo hold on a spaceship, Mari accidentally awakens to learn she and a few hundred other Earth females are headed to an extraterrestrial meat market to be sold as cattle. When her captors try to return her to stasis, she strongly resists. The male in charge, Ekkatt, begrudgingly allows her to remain awake even though she injured several of his men when she was first caught. Despite her understandable anger, Mari quickly realizes her survival depends upon connecting with Ekkatt. She must make him see her as a sentient being or she will end up dinner.

Ekkatt has never spoken to a human before. For him, all humans are beasts. They are valued for one thing only, the money they bring at auction. The Attun are vegetarians, but other species prize human flesh and Ekkatt makes good money trapping for them. Then the female with red hair awakens, speaks to him and forces him to admit she has a name. Ekkatt’s discovery of Mari’s sentience throws his entire life and its purpose into question. How can he participate in the sale of thinking, intelligent beings for food?

Julia Rachel Barrett has written an engaging novella in which she fully develops a world similar to, yet quite different from our own. Though the Attun appear technically advanced, their lives are reminiscent of Colonial life on Earth. The book also poses several interesting questions about colonizing different species together and allows its readers to reach their own conclusions.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mari and Ekkatt’s journey, and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys “other world” stories filled with three-dimensional characters living and working in a world that has a long, uneasy history with Earth. We weren’t the first intelligent beings to be created in this universe, and we probably aren’t last; the question is can we learn to live and play well with others?

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Very sensual

Reviewer: Kathryn
July 21, 2010

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Mia and I spent three hours on Rodeo Beach, picking through tiny pebbles, searching for semi-precious stones.  We found, among other things, jade, carnelian, shark teeth, polished beach glass…I don’t know the identity of most of the stones.  Some are quartz.  She took a bag home with her as souvenirs.

Rodeo Beach is my favorite beach in the area, not because it’s all warm and sunny and you can swim.  This is not Los Angeles.  The water is icy, the waves rough, the currents, rip tides and undertow make swimming or surfing dangerous at best.  Besides, the waters off Rodeo Beach are part of the Great White Triangle.  Scary!

Nah, we just had fun, sifting through mounds of pebbles, waiting for that one bright and shining little tiny translucent treasure to pop up out of the blue.

So…why do I enjoy reading Mia’s m/m romances?  The reading experience is a little like finding that one round rose-red carnelian.  Her stories give me the same little jolt of excitement

I’m not an m/m of reader, yet the men in Mia’s romances appeal to me.  They tug at my heart in the same way Ennis Del Mar did in Brokeback Mountain.  I want them for myself.

Mia’s men are not the only treasure.  Mia, herself, is precious.  She’s a joy to be with – read her books!  In fact, read more books in general.  Books are good for you!

News:  Over the next week, I’ll be slaving over edits – because you all want books three and four of Daughters of Persephone to be released on September 8 and believe me, so do I!  I’ll post as often as I can.

I’m still over at Book Lovers Inc. – head on over!  You can win a copy of Daughters of Persephone!

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I have emergency edits and cover requests to finish so that Daughters of Persephone – all volumes – can get released on time – and the great, wonderful, marvelous, hilarious, fun-loving, compassionate, understanding, all round good sport, author Mia Watts has been hanging with me and my honey.

I will post as soon as I have a free moment!

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Interaction!  Book bloggers like to…well…let me qualify that…many book bloggers like to interact with authors.  They are happy to read and review our books, and feature interviews, guest blogs and givaways.  They make me feel welcome!  It’s a quid pro quo kind of thing – very participatory and I love that!  Susi over at Book Lovers Inc. gave my coming sci fi book, Daughters of Persephone, a plug in her new releases post – I believe she plans to post her interview with me today or tomorrow as the book comes out tomorrow…fingers crossed!  http://book-lovers-inc.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-releases-week-of-july-12-18-2010.html

Hilarity!  Jessica over at Read React Review and her ROTFLMAO review, or rather, nuview, of Passion, by Lisa Valdez.  I just about peed my pants reading her post!  http://www.readreactreview.com/2010/07/06/review-passion-by-lisa-valdez/#comments

Education!  Rebecca, at Dirty Sexy Books, Jessica at Read React Review, Chris at Stumbling Over Chaos, Kelly at Five Agents and a Funeral, and everybody at Dear Author – are all really smart as opposed to snark.  They manage to enlighten without insulting. I’m likely to come away from one of their posts with a new perspective on an author or a genre or the publishing industry in general.  Thanks, ladies!

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She has been wonderful the past couple weeks as I’ve struggled with the pain of losing my best friend.  She went through the same thing a few months ago.  I sent her Captured because there are cats in it.  Here’s here review:

Genre & Keywords:
SciFi Romance, violence, kidnapping of humans, survival

Why I read it:
The author sent me the book as a present to cheer me up

Storyline:
A woman bonds with one of her male kidnappers who’s from another planet and never knew much about her race before. Mari shows Ekkatt that humans are sentient beings like him. She surprises him in more than one way and she on the other hand learns to see his softer, kind side. Together they run from the authorities of Ekkatt’s planet while they fall softly for each other.

My opinion in short:
I’ve hardly read any SciFi romances, but the ones I read I liked. Captured included. Mari’s and Ekkatt’s story drew me in like a moth to a candle. I was eager to learn more about this other world and Ekkatt’s and Mari’s romance was very addictive. I enjoyed switching from her to his perspective and thoughts from time to time so I could equally sympathize with both protags. All in all, Captured was a surprisingly believable, sweet love story that I adored. When all SciFi romances are written as well and convincingly as Julia Barrett’s Captured, I might have discovered a new love.

~~~~~
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3 flames
~~~~~

What’s more to know about this book:
• Characters
Mari is a feisty, smart and witty woman. I like how her survival mode kicks in and brings out her good qualities. She seems delicate and breakable to Ekkatt but she is very strong in fact. On top of that she has a good sense of humor and never complains. No wonder Ekkatt is at first intrigued and later totally smitten with her. She’s almost too perfect, but I loved her. Ekkatt is something else, he’s not human, does look a bit cat-like with his yellow eyes, and is huge. At first he doesn’t seem to be nice at all, but from the moment he risks his own life to save Mari he stole my heart. He’s a fun character because he doesn’t react as expected in a lot of situations and in the conversations with Mari. They make a sweet love couple that I would love to read more about.
I think Ms. Barrett is working on a sequel, but that’ll tell Ekkatt’s brother’s story. I’m hoping we’ll get a glimpse of Mari and Ekkatt as well.
• POV
The story is told in third person, alternated from Mari’s and Ekkatt’s point of view. This suits this story well. It makes both characters three dimensional and easy to empathize with, which is not unimportant when you’re dealing with an alien.
• Plot
The plot is well developed and takes us from a dangerous situation, via some suspenseful moments to a happy ending, in the right pace. There are no annoying time gaps or huge jumps and all is told in chronological order. The world building is done gradually, nothing too overwhelming, but very convincing. And although a few questions remain unanswered, everything is totally credible, within the frame of the story. New developments and little twists and turns keep you reading until you’ve finished the book. The ending was maybe a bit abrupt, but that probably has more to do with the fact that I didn’t want to say goodbye to this couple yet.
• Smexing
M/F. Human female and alien male, with a different but comparable anatomy. I was curious as hell how that would work out. But I had to wait, their attraction wasn’t rushed and anticipation was built. Eventually they had really steamy sex and although Ekkatt turned out to be huge in every department, it did fit! Thank heavens that this difference in anatomy didn’t become cheap or putrid at all, because it easily could have. The smexy scenes were hot as well as tender and showed the H/h growing love.
• Writing style
It’s vivid and a nice variation of descriptions, thoughts and dialogues. It shows a good sense of humor and renders the characters feelings in all depth. Ms. Barrett’s writing kept me cleverly invested in her hero and heroine and produced an enjoyable suspense which kept me reading and reading. Her dialogues are witty and made me laugh out loud more than once.

Favorite scene/quote:
I enjoyed Ekkatt’s process of realizing that the leaders of his planet are not necessarily to be trusted. Their laws mean nothing to him anymore when he discovers they are based on false assumptions of the human kind. The next quote says it all:

“He’d come to enjoy the sensation of her beneath his fingers. He’d found pleasure in the silk of her hair, and he’d taken comfort in the smoothness of her skin. Ekkatt knew his own religious leaders would call such feelings a sin against nature. Their opinion on the subject had come to matter nothing to him. The little human, on the other hand, had come to matter a great deal.”

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Here’s a preview of a very naked man!

No, really, there is a naked man, excuse me…there are naked men, in my science fiction romance series, Daughters of Persephone, and they are delicious!

You all know the myth of Persephone, right?  The daughter of Demeter (Goddess of the Earth) and Zeus…kidnapped by Hades, the God of the Underworld…forced to stay in the underworld six months of the year because she ate six pomegranate seeds.  You see, the rule was, if you ate anything in the Underworld, you had to stay there.  Thus we have the death of the seasons and winter, when Persephone resides below, and the rebirth of the seasons and summer when Persephone rejoins the land of the living.

So in Daughters of Persephone, I’ve created a race of kick-ass genetically enhanced women who were originally bred to save the human race from itself.  At a certain point in the breeding program, the women developed the capacity to make their own genetic adaptations and mutations within a single generation, including the ability to find their way through time.  It is their duty to lead the human race out of the darkness and into the light.

The first release contains books one and two, Exile and Return.  The second release contains two more stories, Reborn and The Red Demon.

Excerpt, Book One, Exile:

Captain Aram scooted to the edge of his bed to eat the meal Aja had left for him. He was feeling much more like himself, wondering if he dared a shower. He didn’t want to use the sonic shower as that would leave a power signature, but the ship was built to hold backup water tanks. The thought of water pouring over his body was inviting, even if the water was the same temperature as the outside air.

Suddenly ravenous, the man tore the cover off the bowl and found a stew of meat and reconstituted freeze-dried root vegetables. He reached for the hunk of dryebread she’d left and hurriedly crumbled it into the bowl. He used a spoon to shovel the lukewarm mess into his mouth. It tasted heavenly. She’d prepared the stew with some herbs he’d never eaten before and he wondered briefly where she’d found them, but he quickly forgot, feeling his strength return rapidly with each spoonful. She’d left him two jugs of water and he downed both. Finally, he reached for a cup of snowberries she’d set on his table and he practically poured them into his mouth, appreciating their sweet tang as never before. He knew he hadn’t brought any aboard so she must have found some in the canyon. Had she said they’d landed in a canyon? She’d said ravine. No matter. Finally, the captain lay back, very satisfied. But he stunk like a man who’d been sick and he needed to scrub the stink off.

He climbed out of bed, surprised at the steadiness of his legs. Just yesterday, he’d felt like death warmed over. Had that been yesterday? His first stop was the head, where he found himself almost giddy to be able to piss without any help. He used the toothpowder and tooth brush to clean his teeth. The taste of a clean mouth was delightful. He retrieved fresh clothing from a set of drawers built into the wall of his cabin, dropped the items on his bunk, and strode through the door, a cloth wrapped around his waist, a cake of soap in his hand, and he headed for the decontamination unit outside the ship. He could shower there.

Kyr found Davi Fedd and Chief Wyer busy with repairs. He stopped to assess the damage. Both men looked down at him, surprised to see him up and about.

“Could have been worse,” said the captain. “I heard that you had a nasty bit of flying, Mr. Fedd.”

“Yeah, tore some skin off, but we got her down in one piece. You look a new man.”

“Seems like I’ll live,” grinned the captain. “Right now I need to wash the stink of that sickness off me. I’ll be under the shower in the decontamination unit. Wyer, how long do you speculate before we can leave this rock?”

“Another day or two, Captain. This is a makeshift job. We’ll have to get her reskinned once we reach home.”

“Will she make it that far?”

“Should hold up, barring another encounter with the military.”

“Mr. Fedd, any sign that they’ve sent scouting parties down to search for wreckage?”

“Not so far, but I’m being careful about scans. Don’t want to set off any alarms. I’m hoping they think we fried and there’s no wreckage to find.”

“They may be waiting for us when we pull out. We’ll have to open the channels to listen in before we leave. I want to make sure there’s not an entire fleet just outside the atmosphere. Where’d you find the gravity skin?”

Davi and Wyer glanced at each other. “Borrowed some from a transport last night. Didn’t want to take a chance that someone in the settlement might call the authorities about two strangers looking to buy parts,” said Wyer.

The captain nodded his agreement. The crew of the transport would assume some settlers had helped themselves. A common occurrence on these distant outposts.

“Where’s Aja?”

“Off on one of her damn hikes,” said Wyer scornfully. “Let’s hope the stupid ishat knows enough to keep her head down. I don’t like a woman on a ship, Captain. You know that. Bad luck.”

Kyr saw Davi shoot him a quick glance. The captain knew Davi had caught the flash of anger on his face, but Wyer hadn’t bothered to turn around.

“Superstitious nonsense, Chief. We’ve ferried women before.”

“Whores and healers. This one makes me nervous. I’d just as soon off-load her here. Especially if there might be a battleship waiting for us.”

Kyr frowned, but he kept his voice light. “And lose the coin? Your case of nerves will vanish when you’re paid.”

“When’s that?” the man asked. “I thought I’d have half the coin by now.”

“You want it, come to my cabin later. You’ll get it,” Captain Aram replied brusquely. He strode off wondering why the man was so touchy.

Wyer had been with him two years. He’d picked him up from a trading vessel after his own engineer had been killed during a raid by interstellar pirates. As the ancient saying went, the man could spin gold from straw, but still, Wyer’s loyalty would always be to the coin he received, not to his captain and not to the crew. Knowing that, Kyr had always paid the man promptly. It hadn’t seemed like a big issue before, but then, this mission wasn’t one of their usual smuggling operations. The outcome of this mission had consequences for the entire galaxy. Wyer didn’t realize their cargo was more precious than any amount of coin and Kyr suddenly knew with crystal clarity that the man had better not find out. Maybe he should have left Wyer behind on Kesa with the rest of the crew, but if he had, then they could be stranded here for weeks. He and Davi could make the repairs themselves, but not with the same speed and skill. Wyer’s repair would hold until they could get home.

Kyr ducked beneath the ship and kept his head down until he reached the decontamination unit. He could stand upright there. They’d built it big enough for two large men. Two shower heads. In Kyr’s view chemical decontaminates were a waste of money. His crew made do with recycled water. He tossed the cloth onto a rock so it would stay dry, loosened the knot he assumed Aja had put in his waist-length braids to keep them from tangling, and he pulled the switch. The captain leaned back and closed his eyes as tepid water poured over his body. He scrubbed vigorously with the cake of soap he’d brought, washing every body part twice, including his hair. Gods in heaven, that felt good. Finally, feeling as if he’d cleansed every pore of viral stink, Kyr stepped out from beneath the hull, dripping, carrying the cloth in his wet hand. He shook his long hair, spraying everything nearby with water. As he began to dry off, his skin prickled and he felt eyes on him. He quickly lifted his head. Aja knelt on a flat, rocky outcropping, twenty feet away, watching him with undisguised interest.

Kyr hadn’t felt any embarrassment the entire time he was ill and she’d had to help him with everything. She’d seen every damn naked inch of him. Now he blushed. He felt like his entire body was turning red and he quickly covered himself with the cloth, although there was no way a drying cloth could disguise his sudden erection. Fuck.

“If I had known you had a decontamination unit, I would have showered,” called Aja, pretending she hadn’t seen what she’d just obviously seen, politely ignoring the evident bulge beneath the cloth. “I didn’t mean to surprise you. I just returned and I… I’m… forgive me,” he noticed her pink cheeks. “I couldn’t resist.”

Kyr tried to stop his mind from going where it was going. A Princess of the Blood was supposed to remain pure until her marriage. At least that’s what he’d been told. He had no business thinking those thoughts of Aja.

“I’ll go now,” she said, her voice soft.. She picked up a bag and slung it over her shoulder. Still barefoot, she jumped off the ledge with ease. The captain watched her disappear around the side of the ship, hips swaying beneath the loose trousers. He needed to find her some shoes before she cut her feet, he thought, wondering how long it would take his erection to go away and if he should make it go away with his fist. As sick as he’d been, he was a bit surprised that he’d gotten so hard so fast.

Kyr picked up the cake of soap and followed her. She’d gone around the ship opposite the side Davi and Wyer were repairing. Kyr passed her in the galley as he returned to his quarters to dress. She kept her back to him while he did his best to ignore her. He entered his cabin and locked the door behind him. Yes, he decided, as he realized the hard on wasn’t going to go away on its own, his fist would be necessary.

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Maybe an oyster shooter sounds gross to you, I mean, two months ago I wouldn’t have considered trying one.  Last December, I nearly choked to death on my very first giant raw oyster – but that was precisely because it was a giant raw oyster that still had sand and shell particles clinging to it. Blech.

On my birthday in April, I gave raw oysters a second chance, with Mignonette sauce.  OMG.  OMFG.  I discovered I love them.  These were really good – small, delicate freshy-fresh-fresh oysters and they made me feel so happy!  Last month, my husband, daughter and I went out for oysters and just this past weekend, my eyes all swollen and nasty from crying, I tossed back spicy oyster shooters like they were no big thing.  I can’t say they were the best, but they were alcoholic and the ponzu sauce was tasty.  Hey,you gotta do what you gotta do.

I let my mom and dad take care of me for a couple days.  They came to my book signing to hear me speak about death and dying and to listen to my reading.  Ironic, eh?  I read the funny chapter.

Coming this week:  Stacey Espino and her new book, Saving Grace.

A preview of my four-part science fiction series, Daughters of Persephone.

Katalina Leon may be here too, if we can make the arrangements – to talk about her newest release, Owned By Rome.

Anybody watch True Blood tonight?  The season premier!  I was not in the mood but I’ll watch it On Demand.  I hope this season is as good as it promises!

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Here’s an update on our boy.  He’s improved slightly with massive doses of steroids.  We don’t know if this will get him over the hump so he can fight what appears to be more of a viral infection or if the slight improvement is just the steroids talking.  Hubby was man enough to stay up all night with Louie.  I hit the wall yesterday evening and when he got home from work, I was huddled in a corner sobbing and incoherent.  I wish I could be stronger, I mean for Christ’s sake, I’m a hospice nurse, I work with dying people, and I’m really really good at what I do.  You’d think I’d be able to handle this situation.  I suck.  I just suck.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll have better news.  Much love, Julia

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