Julia Barrett's World

Beauty and the Feast is hot on Fictionwise and All Romance Ebooks.  That scares me.  Yeah, I guess I’ve paid my dues in a sense, but the way we see things in my family, any success whatsoever attracts the evil eye.   Wooooooooo.  It’s like when my husband says – Gee, my car is running great! – and I slap my hand over his mouth and knock on wood – I remind him that speaking of good things is a surefire way to guarantee an immediate blown head gasket!

To make a long story short…thank you for buying my books and please keep buying them.  Maybe one of these days I’ll be PAN Eligible.  I don’t want to talk dollars and cents so if you are wondering what that is, feel free to look it up.

I think my newsletter will be out today or tomorrow – for those of you who don’t receive the newsletter, I have a new contract with Siren for my very first menage – All Four One.  This is a futuristic work of science fiction – the story takes place maybe 150 years from now in the Pacific Northwest.  I do love sci fi.  My husband says that erotic sci fi is a bit of a contradiction in terms but I find it heavenly to write.

Many thanks to Chris from Stumbling Over Chaos for her sci fi recommendation, Babel-17, by Samuel R. Delany, an unknown-to-me author and work published back in 1966.  I told her the story is like a cross between Ringworld, Albert Einstein and The Left Hand of Darkness.  The premise of the book is that language influences thought and perceived reality – not the meaning, but the words themselves.  Deep stuff!  http://www.stumblingoverchaos.com/

Many thanks to Susi over at The Geeky Bookworm who asked me to guest post this past week.  If you want to win one of my books, leave a comment – she’s extended her contest for a couple days due to her school schedule.  http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/

Today is Memorial Day – my dad and all my uncles served in various branches of the Armed Forces so thank you, men and women, who put your lives on the line for us everyday!  You are never forgotten.

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I wrote this sweet full-length romance suspense several years ago and it kicked around a bit.  The story revolves about a frightened runaway and the young man who saves her life.  Siren picked up the story and it will be released, after a re-write, in August.  I love the book because it’s the first romance I wrote.  I mention a real life location in the story – The Sawtooths in Idaho.

The Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho, may be one of my very favorite places on this planet.  At one point in my life, I spent a solid two months backpacking throughout the range.  I descended into the tiny town of Stanley exactly twice, both times to do three things: take a hot shower, wash some clothes and pick up supplies.  In the two months I spent in that wilderness, aside from my traveling companion, I encountered a total of three people, the ranger we checked in with from time to time, and two riders heading up into the mountains on horseback.  Otherwise it was just the animals and us.  After a while, I never wanted to come out.  But then the snows arrived early and our cached supplies dwindled and we moved on to the the High Uintas in Utah for another month before settling into jobs in Ogden.

I’m remembering the Sawtooths, not just because of Anytime Darlin’, but because the June issue of Sunset Magazine has a feature on The Hidden Rockies, the Idaho Sawtooths.

http://www.sunset.com/travel/rockies/things-to-do-sawtooth-mountains-00418000067836/

Enjoy the article and if you ever get the opportunity, make a visit.  The Sawtooths are way prettier and much more rugged than they appear in the magazine photos.

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What’s up with my books?

Captured has come out in print on Amazon!  Yay!  This makes me really, really happy.  I can’t wait to get my own copy.  There’s something about seeing a book, holding a book, smelling a book, opening a book that just feels good!

http://www.amazon.com/Captured-Publishing-Classic-Rachel-Barrett/dp/1606018582/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275021374&sr=8-2

The book can also be purchased for your Kindle, if you’ve got one!  http://www.amazon.com/Captured-Siren-Publishing-Classic-ebook/dp/B00371V7WO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Beauty and the Feast is a bestseller on Fictionwise and all it’s outlets.  This so takes me by surprise!  I’m in good company – Tessie Bradford and Desiree Holt – author friends – are there with me.  http://www.fictionwise.com/topstories.htm

It’s also available for Kindle.  http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-and-the-Feast-ebook/dp/B003NX70QS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1275021641&sr=8-2

SusiSunshine over at the Geeky Bookworm invited me to post for her anniversary week – you can win an e-copy of Beauty and the Feast or Captured or My Everything.  http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/2010/05/guestpost-by-julia-rachel-barrett.html Susi will be announcing the winners on Sunday so you have plenty of time to leave a comment!

So…coming soon with Resplendence Publishing:  Daughters of Persephone, Book One Exile and Book Two Return.

Coming with Siren:  Anytime Darlin’ – my favorite romance-suspense.

Ya’ll have an excellent weekend!

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Prescript:  Captured is out in print on Amazon!  OMG!  http://www.amazon.com/Captured-Publishing-Classic-Rachel-Barrett/dp/1606018582/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274500727&sr=8-2

My baby girl is flying home tonight.

You know how it is.  I love my kids so!  They are my greatest achievement.  I always knew I wanted kids, the husband was optional.  Got a good one despite myself.

Anyway, she’s coming home after having two flights canceled out from under her and since she’s flying from the East Coast, she won’t have eaten for hours -  maybe a pack or two of peanuts.  So…

I put together a cheese plate with Petite Basque, Gorgonzola Dolce, and Brillat Savarin, sliced melon and muscat grapes.  I quick cooked some asparagus, roasted a couple gigantic purple artichokes – still trying to decide if I want to stuff them with crab.

I’ve got fresh bread and I’m baking our favorite chocolate sheet cake – my great gramma’s recipe.  Oh yummo!

I think I’ll chill a bottle of Prosecco.

You all have a wonderful weekend!

Oops!  Here’s the recipe:

Melt two sticks of butter with one cup of water and 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.

Mix together 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Set aside.

Beat two eggs, mix with 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour melted chocolate mixture into dry mixture.  Stir in liquid mixture.

Spray a rectangular cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 350′.  Pour in batter.  Bake 35 minutes.  Remove.  Let sit ten minutes and frost.

Frosting:

Mix together 1 stick butter, 6 tablespoons buttermilk, 3 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 box powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Enjoy!

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I have a choice…I can write about some sad stuff or I can focus on the happy stuff, like sports and books!

As those of you who know me know, I’m not a guy, but I have the biggest man-crush ever on Andres Torres of the San Francisco Giants.  I saw him first…I swear it!  The very first time I watched him in the outfield last year I turned to my hubby and said, “That man’s a player, baby.”  In my opinion, there is nothing sexier than great defense.  Watching Andres Torres play is like watching poetry dressed up in a baseball uniform.  Omar Vizquel was the same kind of pure player.  My two other current faves are Matt Downs and Eli Whiteside.  Yeah, there are flashier players, but those three, Torres, Downs and Whiteside, are bread and butter and they slide under the radar.

All of which reminds me of T.Z., my high school boyfriend and our football team’s tight end.  Dang, he looked good running toward the goal line.  I swear, he had the greatest butt of any guy in my high school.  I’d always mess up my pom pom routine because I was busy watching his butt.

My TBR pile is growing…groan…

Here’s the list:

The Blue Zones:  Lessons for Living Longer from People Who’ve Lived the Longest, by Dan Buettner.

Herland and Selected Stories, by Charlotte Gilman.

The King of Elfland’s Daughter, By Lord Dunsany.

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese.

Fallen from Grace, by Laura Leone.

So Much for That, by Lionel Shriver.

I have amazing news - totally unexpected!  My publisher emailed me to tell me that Captured will be released in paperback within the next month.  Yay!  I really did not anticipate this at all.  It will be available on Amazon shortly.  I cannot wait to hold that book in my hot little hands!  In the meantime…leave me a comment telling me what’s in your TBR pile, and I’ll mail you my extra copy of Sharon Kay Penman’s Here Be Dragons.  Ms. Penman is one of my favorite authors.  Here’s the blurb from the back cover:

Thirteenth century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England’s ruthless, power-hungry King John.  Then Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce with England by marrying the English king’s beloved, illegitimate daughter, Joanna.  Reluctant to wed her father’s bitter enemy, Joanna slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband who dreams of uniting Wales.  But as John’s attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales – and Llewelyn – Joanna must decide to which of these powerful men she owes her loyalty and love.

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This is an excellent question!

34% of her respondents claimed they do indeed skim or skip sex scenes.  If you extrapolate the percentage to the general romance reading public, this is a significant number of readers.  You can check out the post for yourself:

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/

Reasons given were:  too gross, too long, too boring, too acrobatic, too gratuitous, too unbelievable.

I have to admit I’m occasionally guilty of skimming or skipping.  I recently purchased several books – print books via Amazon – written by some of my go-to authors and I skipped the sex scenes.  Why?  Well, as I commented on Jane’s post, if I’m skimming or skipping the sex scenes, chances are I’m skimming or skipping most of the book, primarily out of boredom.  There is nothing more disappointing – reading-wise – than anticipating a new story or a new take on an old story, but instead discovering the same old same old has simply been repackaged, and that includes the same formulaic sex scenes.

Writing a sex scene is hard work.  Writing a good sex scene is even more hard work.  It’s a complex process and the way I see it, you have to be very involved in what you’re writing because context is everything.  There must be a realistic reason for the characters to do what they do, behave as they do.  And I believe that once the character commits to a man or a woman, the author must commit as well.  My goal is to write a scene or scenes that do justice to my characters and will involve, enthrall, and entertain my readers.  I think if an author just tosses in a gratuitous sex scene because they feel it’s required of them, the reader will recognize it and probably start to skip and skim.  I’m a fan of fade-to-black or behind closed door sex scenes if an author isn’t comfortable doing the down and dirty.  Really…it’s okay, just give me a good story.

So check out Jane’s post and leave me your comments.  I would love to hear your answers – do you skim?  If so, I really want to know why.

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From Talia Ricci at Joyfully Reviewed – This is the second book of mine they’ve reviewed, which is totally cool!  I’m reprinting it in total, even the criticism…ah well…nothing’s perfect!  I like the teenage sister I created, but c’est la vie.  Thanks, Talia!  By the way, the male cover model for My Everything, Jimmy Thomas, contacted me before he headed to RT.  He seems to be a very interesting guy and he puts out some major hot covers!

Years ago, Grace Adams and Ben McCall were in love.  Circumstances changed and they ended up not being together.  Now Grace is a widow and she loved her husband, very much, but has always felt that he deserved more than she gave him – after all Ben controlled her heart, even when married to someone else.  Now, however, Ben is back in Grace’s life and while he says they can’t have forever, Grace refuses to give up hope.

Ben McCall went undercover and into seclusion with the death of his wife and unborn child.  His type of profession is just that dangerous.  When he is called back to the States in order to help a friend in danger, Ben and his friend realize something – Ben is the one in danger.  Now he doesn’t know who to trust and when Grace Adams, the woman he has never forgotten, comes back into his life, Ben knows that he must keep her safe at all costs.

I adore reading about former lovers finding each other again.  Ben and Grace were special. Grace was strong, stubborn (almost too much) and beautiful.  She kept in touch with Ben’s family even when he left her without an explanation.  Ben, for all of his secrets, desired the warmth and companionship of a wife, one to come home to and that scared him especially when his first wife was killed.  The fact that a madman is trying to get to Grace makes Ben bonkers and I didn’t even suspect the identity of the bad guy until the very end.

I had only one problem with My Everything and that was Ben’s sister at the very end.  Too stupid to live comes to mind – especially with her inability to listen to reason, curtail her stubbornness or even do what she was supposed to do.  The end result of her actions almost ruined the entire book for me.

With a intriguing and highly suspenseful storyline and erotic love scenes that sizzle, My Everything is a good read – just ignore Ben’s sister and all will be well!

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My dear friend, author Sandra Cox, over at http://downtownya.blogspot.com/ ,the very first person to befriend me when I signed my very first contract, has called me out!  She awarded me this Creative Writer Award.

I’ll quote her:  “The award comes with strings…I have to nominate seven other creative bloggers and list either six outrageous lies about myself and one truth….or vicey versey.”

If you can tell me which statement is a lie, I will put your name in a drawing for…a copy of Captured, a copy of Beauty and the Feast, or a copy of My Everything.  Three books, three winners!  Your odds are excellent!  Just pick out the one lie.

1.  I minored in Religious Studies.

2.  I had a brief affair with a famous African author.

3.  I keep Kosher.

4.  My husband and I discovered we are distant cousins.

5.  Among other jobs, I worked as a nude model to pay my way through college.

6.  I hitched a ride with a man who turned out to be a Mafia boss.  He took a turn too fast on a steep road and the car rolled over the side, coming to rest upright and undamaged on the switchback beneath.  We kept driving.

7.  My uncle, a well-known journalist, interviewed both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on their first North American tours.

Got it?  Let’s see who can ferret out the untruth!

I’m going to choose these great authors to continue the tradition.

1.  Fran Lee:  http://fran-lee-romance.angelfire.com/index.html

2.  Mia Watts:  http://www.miawatts.com/Mia_Watts_The_Art_of_Seduction_is_Watts_Beneath_the_Covers.html

3.  Penny Watson:  http://www.pennywatsonbooks.com/index.html

4.  Stacey Espino:  http://staceyespino.blogspot.com/

5.  Amber Skyze:  http://amberskyze.blogspot.com/

6.  Sandy Sullivan:  http://www.romancestorytime.com/

7.  Beth Carter:  http://www.bethdcarter.com/

Good luck!

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Review:
“I read this book a while back in my exams period and I just discovered that I totally forgot to review it in all the stress. And it totally deserves a review. I got this book from Julia and I’m so thankful she send it to me. It really made my day better and let me forget all the stress of the exams for a few hours.

What makes this book so special? I loved that the characters felt this huge attraction to each other even before they met. I think we all know that situation when you hear the voice of someone and start thinking about what he or she will look like. Or perhaps that is just me because of my job at the directory assistance.

Eva is a wonderful character. She works for a catering firm and is a really independent woman. She seems perfect and prim as in how can she be that perfect but after a bit of time we discover what makes her a real human. She has a seriously dirty mouth from time to time and I had to laugh so often just cuz of the stuff  that came out of her mouth. She loves to cook and it mostly felt like foreplay what she does with the food. I really liked her from the start.

When Gabe hears Eva’s voice for the first time he is smitten and it gets even worse when he tastes her food for the first time. I really thought that food couldn’t be such a turn on but Gabe showed me that I was wrong. He really “likes” her food and OMG how I wished I were the cook. He is one hot man and I completely understand what Eva finds so interesting and sexy about him. He has a way to talk and gesture that just makes you crave him. He’s a millionaire but is still such a nice guy.

Together these two are one nice pair. They are made for each other. They have these easy conversations and funny banters but they know how to turn up the heat, too. I’m always totally blown away how Julia creates this matching couples. I love how her couples are together and how they seem to be so real.”

Thanks, Susi!  You can read the entire review here:  http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-beauty-and-feast-by-julia-rachel.html

on my review page.

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I find myself on a cattle ranch in the Crazies in Montana.

It’s early May.  I’m snug in the guest bedroom this night while a blizzard rages outside.  We headed out earlier to check on the cows.  They’re dropping their calves.  When we rode out, it was windy and spitting rain.  By the time we returned to the ranch house, it had begun to snow and within fifteen minutes, the snow became a howling blizzard.  Now the rancher I’m staying with has to go out again.  Two more calves were born this evening and he’ll probably have to bring them in, along with any other calf he finds that has been born in the past couple hours.  This country is rugged, harsh, beautiful.  Here, life is pared down to two simple facts, life and death.  I saw the death pile earlier – the cows who died giving birth, the smallest calf of a set of triplets that died before the rancher could get to it.  Their dark carcasses are piled in a small ravine.  Scavengers will take care of them eventually.

It’s serendiptous that Siren recently contracted for Anytime Darlin’, a romance-suspense involving a cattle rancher up here in the Crazies.  One of the pivotal scenes is set here during calving season – in a late spring blizzard.

I know the Crazies because we’ve been coming here for five years to spend time on a neighboring  cattle ranch.  I’m not the best at driving cattle.  I merely do what I’m told and stay out of the way of the people who know what they’re doing.  Last year I was surprised when the owner, who happens to be a woman, told me to round up the stragglers and get them beyond the last fence, all by myself.  I was even more surprised that I managed it without incident.

Tomorrow, we’ll be up at 6 a.m.  Weather permitting, I’ll borrow a horse and we’ll ride out to cut some heifers and a couple dozen steers that have been sold.  We have to bring them down out of the foothills to the pens near the hay barn.  It will just be four of us.  This oughta be interesting…

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A Delicious Review from Penelope at Penny Romance

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Or do you like both?

I have a four-book futuristic series coming out this summer – in July and August – Daughters of Persephone.  Books one and two will be released together and then books three and four.  I have to admit, the series nearly wrote itself – it was so fun to write these stories involving one specific line of genetically enhanced women.  The results sort of blew me away, as did the cover.  This is my first series and I did leave room for a couple other books.  I have several more sci fi series planned – so many plans, so few hours in the day!

As a reader, on the other hand, I hesitate to involve myself in a series because I’m afraid of being disappointed.  Sometimes I think a series goes on too long – past the point of exhaustion.  It can be a bit of a crap shoot.

There are a few series that I’ve enjoyed.  Even if I haven’t liked every single book, I’ve stuck by the author because I like the characters and hate to leave them behind.  Because of Sookie and Eric and Pam and Bill, as long as Ms. Harris writes ‘em, I’ll read ‘em.  Her books are always entertaining.

George R.R. Martin – A Song of Fire and Ice – oh baby – gimme my next 5000 page installment!

Tad Williams – The Dragonbone Chair series.  Yummy fantasy.

The Chronicles of the Warlands, Warprize, Warsworn and Warlord, by Elizabeth Vaughan – listed as paranormal romance but much more fantasy.  Great stuff!

Kilgannon and it’s sequel, The Wild Rose of Kilgannon, by Kathleen Givens is a good historical romance with a strong heroine, my favorite kind!

Linda Howard’s MacKenzies – not perfect, but I love the family so their stories are in my permanent collection.  Of course, if you read Kill and Tell, you can go on to read All the Queen’s Men and follow John Medina, one of the secondary characters in Kill and Tell.

I enjoyed Angela Knight’s Jane’s Warlord, Warrior and Guardian, all interrelated.

I stuck with J.R. Ward through Lover Revealed.  She lost me after that, just like KMM lost me with her Darkfever series and I did try to like it, I swear I did.  I tried my best.

While I slogged through every subsequent book written by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander is the only book I loved.  Nonetheless, I have to admit that Jamie Fraser was, is, and always will be my ideal romance hero.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Beauty and the Feast, by Julia Rachel Barrett

Genre(s): Contemporary, Romance

Eva is a caterer and Napa Valley chef, as well as the only daughter in a family of five children. One evening Eva is hired by Gabriel Abbot to cook dinner for himself and his gal. This dinner sets off a chain of events that leads to Eva cooking more dinners for him and a big attraction between them. When Eva gets in a motorcycle wreck Gabriel is there for her.Beauty and the Feast was a fun read with a wonderful plot. The romance was sizzling and the food descriptions tantalizing. I enjoyed the progression of Gabriel and Eva’s relationship. The characters were a bit original, yet also very relatable. This is a feel good story that will leave you warm and comfy.

Thanks!

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Hubby is sick of hearing about it, but as I explained to him, choreography is critical!  To quote the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz…These things must be done delicately…Every body part must be in the right place at the right time and it must belong to the right person.  I have to admit, living in so many heads at once has been a fascinating experience!  Anyway – sent it off to my publisher last night – fingers crossed!  We shall see!  To celebrate, I’m getting waxed and a facial.  Nazi esthetician will beat the crap out of me but it will hurt sooooo good!

For a hilarious read, head over to Katiebabs at Babbling About Books – all about the Black Dagger Brotherhood – animation at it’s finest!!!  http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/ She had me spitting out my coffee this morning!

Happy Earth Day for all us hippies, old and young!  I’m heading out for a hike and I swear to pick up any trash I encounter – always do anyway!

The young entrepeneurs over at Project Bacon put up a sweet tribute to mom for Mother’s Day:  http://projectbacon.wordpress.com/ Plus the muffins look yummy with or without the bacon.

So, I’m taking a break from writing for a few days to get my Review page up and I’m going to post a linkity-link to my new nonfiction book which releases TODAY!!!  Then it’s on to futuristic sci fi and the sequel to Captured.

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I’m featured over at Larissa’s place this morning:  http://www.larissaslife.com/

Stop by!  You can win a book!  love, julia

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