Julia Barrett's World

Katiebabs over at Babbling About Books gave me a nice review for Captured. Thanks, Katiebabs! Here’s a partial quote:

Julia Rachel Barrett really takes some chances with Captured, her science fiction romance. Mainly, because Mari is thought of as food. Her eventual love interest, Ekkatt even thinks of her like that at first, as well as the belief she’s a mindless animal. This is a major hurdle, but because Mari is a strong, smart and quick thinking, she’s able to save her life and change Ekkatt’s opinion, who comes to many new conclusions because of the way Mari is able to stand up for herself.

It took me a while for Ekkatt to grow on me because he is the type who goes along with the status quo. As soon as Mari gets under his skin, that’s when he really makes an impression. He is a bit innocent in his thinking as he tries to understand Mari. He has always assumed things were one way. It takes the redheaded Mari to open his eyes. Ekkatt then must grapple with breaking the rules he lives by, as well as his growing feelings for a creature that goes against everything he’s been taught. Once he’s willing to embrace these feelings, his love for Mari is wonderful. Mari introduces him to new ways of loving such as mouth kissing and using her mouth to pleasure other body parts Ekkatt was never aware of before. These scenes smolder in their intensity.

Ekkatt and Mari’s quest for a Utopian society becomes a very important part of Captured and one that you hope they both find before a certain enemy comes upon them and destroys their new found happiness.

Captured has an almost erotic feel to it, and Ekkatt and Mari’s love for one another is very believable and emotional. Julia has written a nice sold romance.

Check it out for yourself - she also gives a nice review to Stephanie Julian and Kiss of Midnight.

http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-reviews-kiss-of-moonlight-and.html

I’m also interviewed today over at Love, Romances and More:

http://loveromancesandmore.blogspot.com/2010/01/welcome-to-julia-rachel-barretts-guest.html

Check it out - I love your comments!

Announcement: Just received a call that Captured is a finalist in the Gotcha ! Contest. Wow. Check it out!

http://www.svrwa.com/gotcha

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A Guest Blog

http://www.loveromancepassion.com/

Come check my final stop on my virtual tour! You can win a copy of my romance/suspense - full length - Cara!

In other news, we have horizontal rain, wind, darkness…waiting for hail and locusts, possibly rivers running red with blood - and I had to walk my dog because he refuses to set foot in the backyard. Despite my layers, I was soaked to the skin within fifty yards. Oh well…fresh air.

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Definitely saving the world

one book at a time!

I got a sweet review from Teagan over at Bookwenches. She gave me 4.5 stars. I’ll quote part of the review:

Captured is such a pleasant surprise, that I find myself rethinking my previous feelings about romantic science fiction. I love science fiction, and I love romance but have never sought out the two together due to previous reading in this category that did nothing for me. Ms. Barrett has completely changed my mind. Captured is well-written, well thought out, and will have the reader in its grip throughout. When I started the book, it was a bit alarming since the writing pulled me in and made me think how I would feel if I was in Mari’s place. Her terror came across the pages but her level-headed thinking quickly made her survival instincts kick in. I love a strong female character.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone that is looking for an entertaining and heartfelt romantic science fiction. I am already a fan of Ms. Barrett, and she has just solidified that. I look forward to reading more of her work.

http://www.bookwenches.com/

I had this really bad dream that a reviewer put Captured on her do-not-buy list because she said my heroine, Mari, was TSTL. I woke up this morning and I couldn’t remember if I’d actually read that or if I dreamed it and it’s bugged me all day long. I am not especially fond of heroines who are TSTL and to my knowledge I’ve never written one. Of course, I also dreamed my husband said he wanted a separation for God only knows what reason, so I took off my wedding ring and threw it at him and I would have punched him in the side of his head, but the phone rang in real life…so I didn’t. Lucky him.

Watched Inglorious Bastards tonight - violent, irreverent, classic Quentin Tarantino. A for acting, B- for plot.

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With Romance Junkies!

http://www.romancejunkies.com/rjblog

A guest blog, a contest, and a promo for Captured!

Drop by and check it out. I love reading your comments.

On the heavier side, just finished watching Gran Torino, with Clint Eastwood. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. One daughter didn’t like it. She claimed the acting was amateurish. The other daughter thought the movie was okay.

Baby girls, it was way more than okay. The acting wasn’t amateurish, it was real. Once again, just as occurred when I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, my eyes were riveted on the screen. Clint Eastwood, is, of course, riveting all by himself, but the Hmong actors were outstanding as well, the story heartrending. For me, the themes were personal. I work in neighborhoods like this. I have patients who are the spitting image of Walt Kowalski and I love them, while I have other patients who are part of a community just like the Hmong community of Thao Vang Lor. And I have to watch out for the gang bangers when I make my home visits.

Gran Torino, five stars out of five. Thanks, Mr. Eastwood.

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Susie, over at her site, The Geeky Bookworm,

which is a great name for a site, by the way, posted the cutest review of Captured. Maybe she was disappointed in the ending, but I did leave the door open for a sequel…

Check out her site on my sidebar.

Her site really is worth bookmarking - she’s got an awful lot of fun stuff going on.

Here’s a little of what she says:

The book starts a bit alarmingly. We wake up together with Mari in a room full of naked woman in cages, not only human ones but many different species, and two hunky men watching over them. First thing I thought was: OMG not the Stockholm syndrome again! But after that I thought: isn’t it greedy to have a whole ship of sex-slaves? But as it shows it’s not the way my dirty mind pictured it. The women aren’t kidnapped to being raped, their even worse future is being sold on the meat market. Yep, you read that right! There are species enjoying nothing more than a human steak. So ick!!!! But okay, we need a bad party in this book. Even worse for me was the attitude of the “smugglers”(who are vegetarians by the way- love that part). They think humans are nothing more than animals without any feelings and higher cognitive functions. You feel charmed already?

The Geeky Bookworm is a charming site! Thanks, Susie.

And many thanks to Erotic Romantic Crush Junkies for hosting my guest blog and contest yesterday. It’s not too late to leave a comment!

Announcements: Go check out my friend, Tina. http://www.tinadonahue.com/blog/

Read all about her new book, Deep, Dark and Delicious! Yum!

*A word about Haiti - relief supplies are arriving. The problem, as always in poor nations, is distribution. Don’t be fooled by fake charities asking for donations. Give to a well-established charity like the Red Cross that knows how to reach the people who need help. Thanks. Julia

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My virtual tour continues at Erotic Crush Junkies - January 15th.

http://erjunkiesreviews.blogspot.com

Leave a comment and have a chance to win a book. I’d love to hear from you!

New Release!!!

My friend, Tina, has a new release. Enjoy!

Buy Link:

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-8080-deep-dark-delicious.aspx

A wickedly sensual feast… Eden DeCarlo may have narrowly lost Miami’s best chef competition and the prize money she desperately needs, but she has caught the eye of dangerously virile Rafael Zayas, one of the judges and a wealthy restaurateur. Despite her vow not to let any man derail her life, Eden’s captivated by Rafe’s imposing masculinity, then challenged by the business deal he offers. He’ll invest in her new venture if, for one month, she can satisfy his culinary expectations and the sexual attraction they both feel.

Dominant and unashamed, Rafe knows what he wants when it comes to carnal pleasure and will spare no seduction to have Eden in all the ways he demands—naked, wanting, submissive.

Within thirty days, he will teach her the delights of yielding to passion, relinquishing all control to him and fulfilling her deepest, darkest and most delicious desires.

Sounds yummy! Head over to the site to read an amazing, generous excerpt! Good luck, Tina!

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Hubby read my new book

and he said something very interesting about Captured. He came to bed and woke me up…and ya’ll know what we do when he wakes me up…anywho - he told me that reading Captured was a weird experience because the heroine is me.

He said, “You know, there are pieces of you in every one of your heroines and I’m accustomed to that, but Mari is you. She’s just plain you. And it’s really weird to read about you having a relationship with this guy from another planet. It makes me feel real weird.”

I asked if he felt like I was cheating on him and he shook his head, no. He said it just felt weird, and then we went on to hm-hm.

The next day, I re-read the book and I realized he’s right. Mari is me. She’s just plain old me, potty mouth and all. Wow. I had no idea. Wonder what Freud would have to say about this?

If you want a picture of an author, I guess, read Captured.

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and I’ll quote it in its entirety

from Fran Lee over at her romance blog: http://franleesbookreviews.blogspot.com/

The premise of this hot and sexy sci-fi romance at first leaves the reader with a dry throat and a palpitating heart…how would you feel if you realized that you had been “harvested” as part of an alien search for table delicacies? That you were not even considered to be a thinking, higher creation, but rather a food source or an animal fit only for mindless work? I shared Mari’s fear and shock, and her horror and indignation.

Ms. Barrett’s style carries the reader through a hard-hitting, witty, and wisecracking story at top speed, and this reader, in particular, couldn’t put the book aside long enough to even go get a snack. I read the entire 148 pages in four hours. I think that was a record, even for me. I was spellbound and laughing or tense and angry every moment of the read, and when I was finished, I wondered where the missing four hours had gone.

Ms. Barrett’s well defined and thoroughly engaging characters and her sense of timing were impeccably intertwined to keep me virtually enthralled through the entire book…no lags, no drags, and no yawning here! Her ability to mesh past horrors most of us “earthers” recall from history, and an entirely new world gave me a flashback or two as she led me into a world that is so beautifully drawn that it feels like home.

A romance grown from the ashes of misunderstandings, guilt, and pain. A healthy does of wise cracking humor and a few belly laughs. And the sex…OMG! Hot and wonderful and totally enthralling!

Julia Rachel Barrett is an author I hope to see a lot more of…and she is definitely on my auto-buy list.

I love the four missing hours comment! Thanks Ms. Lee!

In the meantime, a wonderful friend has a release coming out -

Laid Bare, by Cerise Deland

Isn’t the cover yummy???

Blurb:

Tate Ryder had spent his life savoring many women in his bed at once before luscious Anna Stevens came along and didn’t seem to know he was alive. He cursed his lot until one night Anna was attacked outside his condo. Frantic, he whisks her away on his yacht. He vows to keep her in his arms and enchant her sleek body with hot pleasures she’s only imagined.

She answers his intimate kisses with scorching caresses—and wild revelations. She’s been on the run from thugs for years. She’s not who she claims. But one thing is true—she craves Tate now deep inside her body, the way he’s always been deep inside her heart.

Enthralled, Tate lays bare her naked body the way he’s determined to lay bare her nameless enemy—and persuade her to stay with him and the erotic delights that bind them forever.

Buy link: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8088-50-laid-bare.aspx

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From a fellow author -

It means a great deal when a peer says they love your book. Stacy Espino, an author of Paranormal Romance, says over at her site: http://staceyespino.blogspot.com/

*One of the best books I’ve read in awhile! I lost sleep. Read it in under 24 hours. Enough said.
This was a unique, beautiful sci-fi romance. Great character development. Loved Mari and ‘loved’ Ekkatt (if you know what I mean). Suspence, humor, romance, hot action and interesting new world.
Highly recommend my friends to read this newly released e-book. Can’t wait to buy it on paperback for my collection of keepers! 5 out of 5 stars.*

Thanks, Stacey! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into your Immortal Love series, coming soon with Siren-Bookstrand!

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Come visit

over at Alternative Read: http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/ *If this link isn’t working, check my sidebar for Alternative Read and you can get directly to the post!

I’ll post a list of sites I’ll be visiting over the next couple of weeks later today. In the meantime, stop by and give me a holler!

I’ll try not to cause a time paradox…

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I don’t care that everyone is staring,

because I received my first ever fan letter. A reader thought enough of Captured to send me a letter and tell me how much she liked it. She even asked if I might write a sequel. If I do write a sequel, I will dedicate it to her. It means so much to me to learn that after all my hard work and the pieces of my heart that I put into that book, somebody cares!

On to business…my virtual book tour begins tomorrow, Monday, January 11th. Alternative Read is hosting my guest blog - feel free to drop by, read, comment, have a chance to win a copy of one of my other books: http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you there! Julia

BTW - got my new internet provider! Thank you, Comcast!

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Server issues - what a pain in the arse!

I have barely had internet service since Tuesday night - yeah, the night right before my new release from Siren, Captured, my first release of 2010 - after a year of unpleasant issues related to writing and publishing stuff. Internet glitches were the last thing I expected!

It was kind of like someone stuck a pin in a voodoo doll or sneaked a demon into the system!

*Note to self, title next book, Demon in the System…

Many thanks to the two Erics, both techs who helped me cope and to my web designer, Tracy of Bootstrap Marketing, who listened to my bitching - believe me - I can make a shitload of noise when I need to. It’s either that or tear my hair out.

It is with humble gratitude I thank all you readers who headed over to Siren and picked up a copy of Captured - you pushed me up to number nine on the bestselling list! Give yourselves a big hug from me!

Until tomorrow, if you need me, I’ll be at Starbucks, using their wifi. Tomorrow I get a new server. Come back and see me then because I’ll post my virtual tour schedule for the next two weeks and you can learn what kind of a geek I truly am. With love, julia

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Might break out the Talisker tonight!

If you head over to Siren-Bookstrand, you can buy yourself a copy of my oh-so-sexy sci fi tale, Captured. Ah, the link: http://www.sirenbookstrand.com/

First of all, you gotta admit Jinger Heaston made me a great cover - she really captured the spirit of the book and she got the dragon tattoo exactly right!

This is my first work of science fiction…and I am a science fiction freak! A total BSG/Firefly/Star Trek/The Big Bang Theory geek! Guess I’ve been saving up all that good stuff!

Captured is based upon a true story and what might be a true story. You see…it’s like this…Once upon a time, I lost an hour of my life. Lost it. Vanished. No memory whatsoever of one entire hour. And I knew when I lost it that I’d lost it. Somehow, during that lost hour, I managed to collect the eggs from twelve chicken coops - an impossible feat, I kid you not. My act came to be known on the chicken farm as the Miracle of the Eggs. If you want to hear more, head over to Seven Sexy Scribes and read the interview I gave Katalina Leon. http://sevensexyscribes.blogspot.com/

Mari’s story in Captured is, perhaps, what happened during that lost hour. You know you want to find out!

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First the bad - there’s a sick stray/feral cat in my backyard and animal control was unable to catch it. It went after my huge dog and my two kittens. Now I have to try and trap it or shoot it and I’m not into shooting animals - but it appears to be suffering so I’ll do the best I can, besides, I don’t want my own animals injured. God, this makes me feel awful!

The good - Captured, my first erotic work of science fiction, starring a redhead, will be released by Siren this Wednesday. Yay!

http://www.sirenbookstrand.com/ Look for my name and you’ll find my book!

Katalina Leon will be featuring Captured and an interview with me over at the Seven Sexy Scribes site on Wednesday - please drop by and check out the inspiration for this totally fun, sexy work!

http://sevensexyscribes.blogspot.com/

I’ll be chatting, along with Siren author Karenna Colcroft, on January 7th, with Beth Wylde. You can join the fun and win a book if you sign up - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bethwylde/

Please come and share this exciting day with me. Oh…and I’ll be giving you a taste with an adult excerpt on Seven Sexy Scribes on January 8th. Don’t miss it! http://sevensexyscribes.blogspot.com/

Okay, ya’ll, wishing you good things in this new year. Julia

*Postscript: Still feeling sick over the cat which seems to be fixin’ to die in my backyard. Trying to keep my own black cats indoors and my dog from going after this poor sick thing - animal control can’t get under the deck to get it.

Steve Haber has written an amazing article about the future of the publishing industry in the Huffington Post. You really should check this out - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-haber/the-death-of-print-doesnt_b_394476.html

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if I could travel back in time

to the Court of Henry the VIII, I think I ‘d take one item…actually, one related cluster of items - my LCD TV and surround sound system and parts one, two and three of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.

I’d play the movie for the King’s Court and I bet they’d just love it. Of course my husband says I could play them Gilligan’s Island and they’d love it…but no, it would have to be The Lord of the Rings because they’d understand it. Even if some of the words were foreign, the symbolism and the action would make sense and I know Good King Harry would cry. I just know it. Men were much more sentimental back then.

Of course I’d go back to the Court of the young King Henry, the golden boy of Christendom, to the time when he felt chivalrous and knightly and still possessed a sense of humor, before he became old and irascible and autocratic.

Ah well, French champagne and baked cheese and The Lord of the Rings on New Years Eve.

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