Julia Barrett's World

http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/?zx=94c63e54148e7932

Janna, at Erotic Romance Reader featured a clip yesterday from Daughters of Persephone, Book One Exile.  Yikes!  I wrote that, eh?  Cool!

Here’s her main link in case you can’t get in the back door – http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/

All next week while Janna’s on vacation, you can read guest posts and win books – I’m giving away a copy of Daughters, Mia Watts and Bronwyn Green are also providing prizes.  Make sure to stop by Janna’s place for some goodies!

Wiping the sweat from my brow!  Whew!  Sixteen hours straight of revising Anytime Darlin’ - my cowboy rancher/farm girl romance with Siren.  I had to get it done…we may be getting a new puppy tomorrow.  This was a major re-write and it took me days as this honey-bunny is a full-length romance/suspense.

I just this minute got a review for my very popular romance/suspense, My Everything, from Happily Ever After Reviews:  http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-my-everything-by-julia-barrett.html Ben and Grace seem to be characters readers love.  They are lovers reunited after ten long, heart breaking years apart.  Five Tea Cups!

Drop by tomorrow as author, Anny Cook, gives us her take on fantasy.  She writes very hot, very fantastic books – we’re talking major world-building!

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Ack!  I had a fun, smutty, Scottish-related post planned for today but instead, not…just news.

1.  My Everything, my romance-suspense with Cobblestone, got a five-star review from The Romance Studio:  http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/myeverythingbarrett.htm

2.  Beauty and the Feast, my contemporary with Resplendence, received a five-teacup review from Happily Ever After:  http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-beauty-and-feast-by-julia.html

3.  The release of Daughters of Persephone will probably be delayed…ACK!  DOUBLE ACK!!!  I’ll be working on it all day today…@#$%^&*+=!

4.  Author Mia Watts, my not-so-secret online lover, arrives tomorrow!  Yay!  Pant…pant…pant.

5.  I tried a piece of bacon in Montana.  I liked it.  My daughter told me I can no longer officially call myself a vegetarian.  I’m a lapsed vegetarian.

6.  Siren sent me congrats yesterday on becoming a PAN-Eligible author, thanks to sales from Captured.  I’m in the news over there and if I had time, I’d do a happy dance!   http://www.sirenbookstrand.com/pan/

7.  We get to look at the puppies early next week!!!  The breeder says there may be three long-coated babies, which we want, and one is a really big male.  Give me those really big males any day!  I do love boys and I miss mine!

8.  After reading Read React Review‘s take on Passion, by Lisa Valdez, my husband wants to know – here’s the question of the day – and if you can answer, you might just receive a copy of one of my books…How does one measure a penis?  From root to tip?  Where do you start your measurement?  LOL!  Only hubby-mine could come up with a question like that!

love, a stressed-out julia

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According to the Urban Dictionary, the meaning of the above phrase is:  A person or group treated without the favor of birthright.  Sometimes, as my middle child, My Everything feels that way.  Ben and Grace told me themselves.  They made a very good point about getting the short end of the promo stick.  So here goes – Ben McCall and Grace Rafael, it’s your turn!

Security consultant Ben McCall is alone. His wife and unborn child are dead, victims of an assassination attempt meant for someone else. Grieving, he disappears. When his best friend is in danger Ben resurfaces, only to find his friend isn’t the target of a murderer, he is.

Grace Adams is one of the walking wounded. Her husband died two years ago. One night she is incapacitated. A man comes to her aid. He’s the man she fell in love with years before, Ben McCall. As the passion between them reignites, Grace too becomes a target of the madman who stalks Ben.

Yes, this is a romance/suspense, but it’s also a sweet story.  I fell so in love with Ben and Grace and had such compassion for their struggles that I did something I will probably never do again, I wrote them an epilogue – I wanted everything to come out right in the end.  Like Job, who got back what he’d lost, I wanted to give my characters back everything they’d lost in their lives.

Thanks to Cris Griffin, cover artist extraordinaire over at Cobblestone Press and Jimmy Thomas, a major hot cover model, I got the above gorgeous cover.  The book is available at Cobblestone and it’s just been listed on Fictionwise.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/myeverything.htm

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b110090/My-Everything/Julia-Barrett/?

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I feel like I’m living in a clown car!  How on earth did we cram so many books into so few rooms?!?

When we moved here, we had three kids, a dog, two smuggled pet mice (Chocolate was one of them, along with his wife, Skunky), a beat up old couch, my grandmother’s dining room table, bookcases of all shapes, sizes and colors, and books.

Over the years, we’ve accumulated more…books!  Along with the usual assorted kid games, sports gear, clothing, uniforms, cleats, National Geographic Magazines…you shoulda seen me lying on my stomach using a fishing net to haul all the soccer gear and elementary school year books out from under my daughter’s bed.  I don’t even want to mention what else I found.

So, what science needs to figure out is, just like that old Monsanto ride at Disneyland, how did all this stuff shrink to fit in my kids’ rooms?  Because when I pack it up all neat and tidy in brand new packing boxes, the stuff from the smallest room alone covers nearly every square inch of my garage.  Most of the boxes contain books and magazines.

Lest you think we live in a house filled to the rafters with garbage, nope, not the case.  I’m not a pack rat and I recycle.  That’s why I don’t get it.  Where did all this stuff come from?  Who squeezed it in here when I wasn’t looking?

I’m dividing books into categories:  Forever keepers.  For now keepers.  Each kid keepers.  Those that someone will ooh and aah over several generations from now keepers.  Donations – OMG – I’ve already made six trips to the library and I have to return again tomorrow morning – I foresee many more trips in my future, believe me.

So that’s what I’ve been doing – reorganizing one room after another.  Four more rooms to go.  The end game?  A place to call my own.  Yes…fist pump!

Okay so, other news.  Just finished reading So Much for That, by Lionel Shriver.  The last two chapters were beautiful, the rest of the book not so much.  Not a keeper.  I’m starting Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese.  I hear the book is magnificent, but Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay, is a very tough act to follow.

I’m super excited about my new contract for the menage, All Four One – that means I’ll have three books out this summer and possibly another by fall.  In the meantime, when I’m not packing boxes and cleaning rooms, I can focus on my three longer WIPs.  I noticed that My Everything has just gone up on Fictionwise.  Fingers crossed!  Night all!

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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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Inquiring Minds Want to Know…

SmokinghotBooks has a hilarious, laugh out loud, post on waxing – reading it actually brought tears to my eyes – tears of amusement and memories of a shared painful experience.  You can read it for yourself!  http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/

Do your heroines wax?  I have to say I avoid the subject altogether in my books.  I guess I let the reader be the judge.  I assume Mari in Captured does not as she’s trapped on an alien world.  I’m betting Eva does – as part of her makeover for a night out with Gabe – in Beauty and the Feast.  Grace in My Everything?  Probably not as she’s a pretty pragmatic woman and she’s still in mourning but…you never know!  Devlin Barre in Anytime Darlin’?  No friggin’ way – she’s a farm girl, but I know for sure she shaves her pits and her legs!

The heroines of Daughters of Persephone?  Seven hells no!  They have other things on their minds, you know, little, insignificant things like saving the human race!  Lira in my WIP?  Oh yeah, she’s a princess, the heir to the throne of Zhinshu.  Of course she waxes!

Waxing involves a willingness to submit yourself to torture.  No kidding.  All in the name of femalescaping, as opposed to manscaping which I am opposed to unless the man has hair sprouting from every single follicle on his entire body.  As I commented on the above post – my esthetician does torture me, but she does it in a good way.  I tell myself to think of the results…think of the results…think of the results.

Somebody who shall remain nameless, reports that waxing exposes certain soft and appealing curves in places on a woman’s body that normally lack for male attention.  I kind of enjoy that gently descriptive opinion on the issue. 

What’s your take?

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I’m throwing my hat in the ring and trying my hand at menage.  My philosophy is this – there can be no slut factor and no positions that necessitate unrealistic contortions.  There will be a reason for one woman and her three men…a damn good one.  This is so scary and I wouldn’t do it if I hadn’t A.  dreamed a menage and B.  hubby hadn’t given me an out of this world idea for a second book – m/f/m.  Is that how you describe it?  I actually don’t know the difference between m/m/f and m/f/m.  Anybody?

Oh yeah – I’m off to work today, but Susi over at The Geeky Bookworm is hosting me today – guest blog – how Barry White influenced my romance-suspense, My Everything!

http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

I’m the guest blogger over at Book Lovers, INC.

The topic?   PASSION!

Head over and leave a comment and you could win a copy of My Everything.  *See their review below…

http://book-lovers-inc.blogspot.com/

Molly Daniels posted an interview with me today over at her blog.  I had so much fun with her questions and I didn’t even know she planned to put it up today!  Thanks, Molly!

http://mjdaniels.blogspot.com/

Hi-ho, hi-ho…it’s off to work I go…

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Susi is enthusiastic!

She really enjoyed My Everything.  Her review is so winning – and you know I appreciate her energy.  She’s posted it on two sites:

http://thegeekybookworm.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-my-everything-by-julia-rachel.html

and here:  http://book-lovers-inc.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-my-everything-by-julia-rachel.html

I’m having site trouble, i.e., the link upload so I’ll reprint her review here:

“I received this book as a review copy from the author and after reading the blurb I was like “Okay we will see.”. And I have to say this blurb doesn’t do the book any justice.

The book is fast paced and written in such a lovely way, I just couldn’t put it down. We switch from different POVs through the whole story but it made the story more 3 dimensional and not at all confusing. I loved how Ms. Barrett chose an unique voice for each of her characters. It made them so much more real in my eyes.

Our heroine Grace had a few grave moments in her life. She lost her husband to leukemia after only 2 years of marriage and she suffers from really hard migraine attacks from time to time.But she doesn’t give up and tries to handle this all on her own. She is a specialist for pain management and it would look really unprofessional to have problems on exactly the same topic. While she has one of her attacks she meets Ben, her big teenage crush. He helps her and is more understanding and helpful than many other people in her life.

Ben is broken inside. He lost his wife and his unborn child in a terror assasination he should have prevented. He works in the security sector and it was his purpose and task to prevent things like that but he failed and got punished for his mistake. Or that is what he thinks. We all know that there are certain things in life we just can’t stop from happening. We shouldn’t stop trying to but sometimes it’s just the way it is. And especially in this situation it’s not at all his fault. As you can see I really felt for him. Poor man. He’s a strongly caring person and although he vanished from the surface of his normal life for a year to hide and work through his grief, he still cares for his family and friends. When he hears that his best friend is in grave danger he doesn’t hestitate and immediately starts his journey home. The moment he meets Grace again after ten years his first thought is that she is a distraction. But why? He quickly finds out how unlogical this assumption is and discovers his own attraction and perhaps a bit more for her. Surely he feels guilty for that and even more he knows that this is possibly the worst moment ever to get close and personal to someone he really cares about.

The situation gets even more dramatic when Ben finds out that not only his bestfriend is in danger but his sister got kidnapped to draw him out of hiding. The plot is really suspenseful and I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. The story is a great mix of relationship building and actual story plot. It always gave me what I wanted and it was a real satisfying read for such a short novel.

One thing at the end was a bit “Yeah, sure!” and I don’t mean the supernatural aspect. I won’t tell you more because that would be one gigantic spoiler but if I can forgive something like that other readers probably can,too.

All in all this book was a great read with scorching hot, emotional intense and thrilling action in a perfect mix. I can recommend this book to all the lovers of a nice steamy romance with the right amount of suspense!”

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While I’m working my little heart out on the day job, Tina’s hosting me today, so head on over and leave a comment – maybe it’ll ping you back a copy of My Everything!

http://www.tinadonahue.com/blog/

Ya’ll be good while I’m gone – and Dana, if you’re reading, hope you enjoy your book!  love, julia

P.S.  Got a sweet review of Captured from Roni over at:  http://romancebookscene.blogspot.com/2010/02/romance-book-review-captured.html

Author Cindy Spencer Pape gave me a nice mention so right back at her:  http://cindyspencerpape.blogspot.com/

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Yup, it’s that time again.

Release Day from Cobblestone Press.

My Everything is a sweet, spicy, exciting romance/suspense.

Blurb:

Security consultant Ben McCall is alone.  His wife and unborn child are dead, victims of an assassination attempt meant for someone else.  Grieving, he disappears.  When his best friend is in danger, Ben resurfaces only to find his friend isn’t the target of a murderer, he is along with his sister Angel.  On the night of his return, Ben unexpectedly comes face to face with a woman from his past.  She needs his help.  He learns that he needs hers even more.

Grace Adams is one of the walking wounded.  Her husband died two years ago.  One night she is incapacitated.  A man comes to her aid.  He’s the man she fell in love with years before, Ben McCall.  As the passion between them reignites, Grace too becomes a target of the madman who stalks Ben.  She, Angel and Ben must use their wits to stay alive as they fight a man desperate for revenge.

Check it out:  http://www.cobblestone-press.com/index.htm

In other news…Romance Junkies is running a fun Valentine’s contest.  Here’s the link to my contribution:

http://www.romancejunkies.com/rjvalentinescontest/JuliaRachelBarrett.html

Here’s the main page for the contest:

http://www.romancejunkies.com/contests.html

Enjoy!  Hint…breathes fire…

**Dana is the winner of My Everything from Stumbling Over Chaos!

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I’d rather be in Paris

or working on my current and/or next project (cuz it’s gonna be fuckin’ great)…but…

I’m one of the lucky ones on my block who has a job, so by God, I’m there.

At least my kitty is home and on the mend and my dog and I got out for a hike early this morning on muddy trails loaded with deer tracks.  Big deer, little deer, medium deer.  Yesterday I watched the mating ritual of two gorgeous, huge red-tailed hawks.

The female, at least I assume it was the female, landed on one of the highest branches of a tall, bare oak tree.  The male followed with a low, raspy cry.  As I watched, he handed her something that got her all excited.  She kept bobbing her head and adjusting it in her claws, poking at it, plucking at it, while he stood on a branch facing her looking like he was all that.  Since my dog and I were the only other large creatures around, I stood and watched for about twenty minutes without interruption.  The female would spread her wings and flutter them gently, bob her head up and down.  She repeatedly touched the male with her wing tips.  It was so dang sweet.  Now that’s love.  Hope they build a nice big nest and raise a couple of beautiful chicks.

So…working the next four days.  My Everything comes out tomorrow – hope I have time to celebrate, but I doubt it…maybe Monday.  See ya!  Julia

***New link for the contest at Stumbling Over Chaos – to win a copy of My Everything!

http://www.stumblingoverchaos.com/archives/5864

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My Everything

release date:  2/12/10

Cobblestone Press

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/

Contest – win a copy at Stumbling Over Chaos

http://www.stumblingoverchaos.com/?p=5864http://

The contest runs through February 11th.

Mia Watt’s F.U. is up on that site also.

Otherwise, I am too pooped to pop!  I think my kitty may be able to come home today or tomorrow but now the other two are acting a bit sick.  Keeping my fingers crossed that they are tougher than Rico and can hang on without any near death experiences.  With love, Julia

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Siren-Bookstrand authors are running an amazing week-long Valentine’s contest.  You can win ebooks and Strandbucks to buy books from Siren.  Sign into the Siren Reader’s Group for links to the blogs and contest give-aways.  My day is tomorrow, so check back here and find out how to win a copy of my science fiction romance, Captured.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SirenBookstrand/

You can find my interview over at the Logical Lust blog.  Leave me a comment and on Valentine’s Day, I’ll draw a name for a signed hard copy of The Cougar Book.  Link:  http://bit.ly/ZWnZq

Stumbling Over Chaos is running a contest for a copy of My Everything – my suspense romance coming out with Cobblestone Press on February 12th.  The contest runs through the 11th.  http://www.stumblingoverchaos.com/?p=5864http:// Head over and leave a comment.  The book makes for a fun, sexy afternoon read.

There’s a contest running over at Romance Junkies too!  I just don’t know exactly where it is – but I think there are lots and lots of freebies over there!

In other news, my kitty will recover from his life-threatening illness – it was touch and go all weekend and he finally turned the corner.  The vet called to give me the good news.

The winner of Mia Watt’s F.U.?  Linda!  Here ya go!  Mia will contact you.  Congratulations!

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It never rains but it pours!

Let me try to pull my thoughts together:

The contest for F.U., by Mia Watts, is still alive!!!  Write the words – Enter me!  Enter me now! – and you’ll be entered in the contest for a free copy of F.U.  I’ll draw the winner at random on Monday and announce right here.

My own contest, hosted by Stumbling Over Chaos, runs through February 11th.  Stop by the site and leave a comment and you could win a copy of my Romance/Suspense, My Everything, from Cobblestone Press.  Damn, that cover is hot!  The book comes out February 12.  The link:  http://www.stumblingoverchaos.com/?p=5864http://

You can find My Everything over at Cobblestone:  http://www.cobblestone-press.com/

Other news – The Cougar Book, with Logical Lust comes out on Valentine’s Day.  My short story, You Might Just Get It, is one of twenty-three fun, sexy, hot reads.  The book is available for pre-order in both ebook and print and I think if you order early, you can get a copy of Swing!, another sizzling anthology.  Here’s the link:  http://www.logical-lust.com/cougar.html

Every day in February, a contributing author from The Cougar Book is being interviewed on the Logical Lust blog.  My day is Sunday, February 7th.  Please drop by and leave a comment.  If you do, you’ll be eligible to win a copy of any book from my backlist, including Captured, my new sci fi with Siren.  Link:  http://bit.ly/ZWnZq

Katie Couric is officially a Cougar – dating a man 17 years her junior.  Go Katie!

Last but not least, the authors over at Siren-Bookstrand are running a seven-day event, beginning tomorrow.  You can win Strandbucks by visiting blogs all week.  There will be lots of contests.  Head over to Siren-Bookstrand and join the Siren Readers Group.  It’s a great opportunity to get to know some fabulous authors in all genres and pick up some Strandbucks to buy a few books!  http://www.sirenbookstrand.com/

Paranormal and Sci Fi Day is Tuesday, so stay tuned for my blog and my contest!  You can win a copy of Captured!

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