25
| Jul 2011 |
The winner of Confessions of an Improper Bride by Jennifer Haymore is Tia (le********@ya***.com). As my newsletter subscriber, she had two automatic entries to the giveaway.
Congratulations, Tia! Please check your email for information on how to claim your prize. :)
19
| Jul 2011 |
I've been somewhat quiet on my blog, etc. for a while. I'm still alive, just busy with the Boy and edits on The Last Slayer. Since the birth of the Boy, there have been two reviews, one of Carnal Secrets and the other of A Happily Ever After of Her Own.
The Lovely Bettie Sharpe gave Carnal Secrets five stars:
I've never been too enthusiastic about categories or contemps, but I am a Nadia Lee fan, and didn't want to pass up one of her books just because it wasn't quite my thing. So I read [Carnal Secrets]. It pulled me in, made me care, and made me cry. Which just goes to show that no matter your expectations or sub-genre preferences, the right writer can make all the difference. A good story is a good story; Carnal Secrets is a good story.
I was flattered to read her review as I consider Bettie to be one of the most talented writers out there. Her work is amazing, and I highly recommend all her books. :)
Stella from Ex Libris, one of the sweetest reviewers and book bloggers I know, gave five stars to A Happily Ever After of Her Own:
…a delightful and entertaining, original and laugh out loud funny, modern fairy tale retelling… A definite keeper…
Thank you so much, Bettie and Stella! :)
18
| Jul 2011 |
The Boy cannot be bargained with. He cannot be reasoned with. And he absolutely will not stop crying, ever, until his mommy holds him and comforts him to his full satisfaction.
(Thankfully he doesn't cry all the time. And there's a special place in hell for the jerks who shot off fireworks outside at four o'clock in the afternoon!)
11
| Jul 2011 |
I was going to announce the details on July 8th, but it just wasn't meant to be. Sorry about that.
So here are the rules and information:
Why read Confessions of an Improper Bride?
Because Jennifer Haymore is an awesome writer. And don't the blurb and excerpt intrigue you?
Jonathan Dane, Earl of Stratford, has become an incorrigible rake, drinking, gambling-and trying to forget Serena Donovan. Yet the moment he's introduced to the prim and proper “Meg”, he recognizes the sensual young woman who captured his heart. Haunted by his past mistakes, he refuses to lose Serena again. But convincing her to trust him is no easy task. Claiming his lost love means exposing the truth and destroying the life Serena has sacrificed everything to rebuild. With the future of all the Donovans at stake, and their undying passion capable of triggering yet another scandal, how much will Jonathan and Serena risk for a chance at true love?
Excerpt (from Jennifer Haymore's website)
“There you are, Miss Donovan.”
It was Langley's voice. With a sigh, Serena dropped her hand and turned. There he was, standing not an arm's length away, with Jonathan Dane at his side.
Jonathan's wide, sensuous mouth hadn't changed in shape, but its turn seemed more cynical, more inclined to smirk rather than display the genuine, joyful smiles she remembered. His lips were parted, and she could see the hint of teeth behind them.
She remembered those lips. How often she'd kissed them, had run her tongue over those teeth.
“Good evening.” Serena's voice emerged smooth and deep and contained no tremor. It reminded her of her voice when she was with Jonathan before, when she was aroused and could only think she wanted more, she wanted him to take her to the pinnacle.
He had taken her to those heights, not only physically, but emotionally as well, and she had counted on it never to end. But then it had ended with an abruptness that had shattered her.
He gazed at her as if startled, a slight frown forming between his brows. “Serena?”
The cheerful roar of the ballroom faded to nothing behind the din of her shock. She glanced at Langley to see him blanch. Everyone standing nearby had turned to gape at them.
She stared up at Jonathan, unable to speak, to breathe.
He stared back at her, his eyes dilated in the shadows until they looked black. She remembered them, though. They were midnight blue, like the deepest ocean on a sunny day. They always appeared quite dark whenever there wasn't enough light to illuminate their true color. In broad daylight, his eyes were exotic, their dark cobalt sparks contrasting with the gold streaks in his hair and the broad slashes of his eyebrows. Such a handsome man.
Langley gave an awkward laugh and clapped Jonathan on the shoulder. “No, this is Meg, man. Meg Donovan, my betrothed.”
Jonathan shook his head, as if flinging away a fog that had descended over him. He blinked hard, and seeming to come to his senses, he bowed. “Of course,” he murmured. “Of course. Forgive me. Miss Donovan, it is a pleasure to see you again.”
The low timbre of his voice made something within Serena clench. She remembered that voice, had dreamed about it more times than she could count. That voice had whispered in her ear, caressed the most private parts of her body, told her wicked things she was certain she'd never hear again. The words he had uttered to her had made her first fall madly in love and later tremble in ecstasy.
It had nearly killed her when she learned all those words had been lies.
Was he still a liar?
Such characteristics were usually ingrained in a person by the time he reached adulthood. If a man was a liar at twenty-two, he probably was at twenty-eight as well.
Serena couldn't answer him. She simply stared. Langley gave her an apologetic look, as if asking for forgiveness that he hadn't warned her about the arrival of the man who had defiled her sister. Serena sucked in a steadying breath. Suddenly, she felt perilously close to bursting into tears.
Langley came to her rescue. “Were you going to take some air?”
She nodded dumbly.
He gave her a gentle smile. “May I accompany you?”
His kind words made her find her voice, and she waved her hand. “No, no, please. It looked like you two were headed toward the punch bowl.” She gave them a game smile. “I certainly wouldn't want to deprive two gentlemen of their punch.”
Langley returned her smile and inclined his head. “But I won't have you outside alone.” He clasped Jonathan's shoulder. “If you'll excuse—”
Just then, an arm slipped through hers. Lady Montgomery squeezed her wrist. “Oh, do come onto the terrace with me, Miss Donovan. I was just thinking about taking some air myself.”
Serena swallowed hard, then smiled at her savior. “Thank you. I'd love to join you outside.”
She gave a faltering, watery smile to Langley, silently thanking him for his thoughtfulness. The two men bowed, Langley looking understanding and Jonathan looking as bewildered as if he'd just been awakened from a year-long sleep. They turned toward the punch bowl, Langley holding on to Jonathan's shoulder, guiding him away and across the room.
Keeping her arm tightly entwined about Serena's, Lady Montgomery flung open the door and led her toward freedom and the outside.
Why are you giving away a copy?
Because I think more people should read Jennifer's awesome historical romance novels. Also Jennifer is one of the sweetest people I know, and she was instrumental in helping me publish Carnal Secrets. Without her, the story would still be languishing on my hard drive.
Note: I'm not getting paid to do this or receiving any other form of compensation. I just like Jennifer. :)
So how do I earn entries?
Super easy.
The giveaway ends on July 24th (midnight, US Eastern Time). The winner will be announced on my blog on July 25th and will be contacted via Twitter (for Twitter entries) or email (for newsletter subscriber entries). The winner has until midnight US Eastern Time July 31 to contact me with a mailing address.
The book will be shipped by BookDepository regardless of your location. (Just to be clear, you're getting an unautographed final book, not an ARC or early copy.) If I can, I'll gift an e-copy if you prefer an ebook and have a US Kindle account.
Good luck!
5
| Jul 2011 |
I can't believe it's already July. It feels like January was just a day or two ago.
The first half of 2011 was pretty busy but productive. In January, I walked away from an offer on Carnal Secrets. I gave away Destiny Entwined to my newsletter subscribers on Valentine's Day and published it the same day to anybody who wants to read it but aren't subscribed to my newsletter. Then I self-published Carnal Secrets later in February.
In March, I received an offer from Carina for The Last Slayer. This time, I didn't walk. :)
In case you missed it, the Boy was born on June 18. You can read more about it and see his pictures here.
So what are my plans for the month?
I'm hoping that with some discipline and pre-planning, I can accomplish them all. :)
26
| Jun 2011 |
I've been away for about five days, plus a couple more to recuperate and to get used to having a new baby in the house. Many thanks to everyone who's asked about my situation on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Here's the story:
On Friday, June 17, I had a regularly scheduled doctor's appointment. (This doctor will be referred to as Dr. H, for high-risk pregnancy.) He asked me about my condition, did the internal exam, etc. I told him I'd been having trouble sleeping and eating for several days. My midwife said she was concerned about the swelling in my legs and feet, as well as my weight gain (13 kg or so; about 28 lbs total since Wk 1). Japanese medical professionals prefer that expectant mothers not gain more than 10 kg (22 lbs)…of course, Japanese women are generally pretty small. (My best friend here, a woman with two kids, weighs literally less than 100lbs.)
We made an appointment to induce on Monday at 1:30 p.m. because Dr. M (ultrasound specialist) estimated the Boy's weight to be around 3.6 kg (7.9 lbs), and Dr. H didn't want to wait beyond Week 41.
So I came home and told Hero Material. We packed the additional stuff we thought we might need.
A little after 7:30 p.m. I started to bleed and get contractions, but they weren't too severe. I finished a load of laundry. Around 2:00 a.m. contractions started to get worse, but I decided to try to get some sleep. At around 5:00 a.m. I woke Hero Material up and said, “Call the hospital.”
The hospital told us to come ASAP. So we took a cab and arrived at the ER entrance 10 minutes later. (After-hours admissions are done through the ER.)
A midwife came out and took us to the maternity floor. She weighed me, checked for dilation and said I was halfway there. So we were told to wait in a small private room.
After about two hours, things got pretty bad because my back pain became excruciating. I have a herniated disk, and basically what my therapist told me came true: every time I had a contraction, the back muscles would spasm and pinch the nerve, sending an absolutely stunning pain all the way from midback to the tip of my toes. Multiple nurses and midwives came by, and they thought I was “just” feeling severe uterus contractions. *sigh* I was missing Dr. H at this point because he knew all about my disk hernia, etc. but he wasn't on call that day.
I asked for an epidural six times or so, but was denied because for some weird reason, Japanese medical people think that toughing it out is the best. Also they think that an epidural can make the newborn sluggish, and they hate that because they want to see a “genki” (healthy and energetic) baby and run a bunch of tests to rule out any problems.
By the time they moved me to the delivery room, I was feeling faint from pain and exhaustion. Weirdly enough, I delivered the placenta first, though I had no idea it wasn't the baby when I was pushing. Imagine my disappointment. My water still hadn't broken, and several more medical people came in. (Later Hero Material told me three doctors plus five nurses were in the room.) I don't even remember what happened after I delivered the placenta because I kept fading in and out. The only consistent thing I can recall is that I was holding onto Hero Material's hand the entire time. [By “holding on”, Nadia really means “crushing to a fine, exquisitely agonizing paste of bone shards and muscle pulp.” — HM]
When the delivery doctor (Dr. D) realized that I wasn't pushing very well anymore, and the baby was becoming distressed, he decided to perform an episiotomy and help push the baby out. Once the incision was made, the baby came out pretty fast. I saw a midwife catch him, then kinda faded out some because of the pain and exhaustion. (Hero Material tells me I bled massively afterward.)
A nurse undid my gown and bra and placed the Boy in my arms to establish skin-to-skin contact. He looked so squished, but he wasn't crying anymore. The nurse said he weighed 3.9 kg (8.6 lbs).
I wanted to stay with the Boy, but I couldn't, not on the first day, because I was too out of it. I fainted again on our way to my room, and later I learned that Hero Material caught me and carried me to the hospital bed. I told Hero Material to go home and get some rest (he had to work early the next morning) and call / email our family and a handful of close friends and business contacts, etc.
Afterward, nurses and midwives came by every three hours to check up on me and take my temperature, blood pressure, etc. They also made sure I was taking all my meds on time and made a note of how much I was eating. (BTW — this medicine and eating monitoring continued until I was discharged.)
The second day was better, although I still couldn't stand or walk around without feeling dizzy. A couple of friends came by, and I was allowed to keep the Boy in the room.
This is the Boy looking at Hero Material. The Boy is remarkably like his father — long limbs, narrow feet, long fingers and the forehead wrinkles he makes when he's thinking about something. Of course, you can see that the Asian influence is really strong, too.
And the Boy sleeping.
On the second day, nurses and midwives still came by every 3 hours, and they taught me and Hero Material how to change diapers. A midwife gave me a notebook and showed me how to keep track of the Boy's soiled diapers and feeding times for each day. At around midnight, I became too exhausted, and the night shift nurse fed the Boy and changed his diapers for me. Ah, I love nurses!
I felt remarkably better on the third day. A nurse showed us how to bathe the Boy. We just watched the first time, and she said we could try it the next day. Every time they bathe a baby, the hospital staff records the latest weight. Per her chart, the Boy's been gaining like 100-120 g per day (3.5-4.2 oz).
Afterward, we ate a nice celebratory lunch provided by the hospital.
Everything was most excellently yum. Not that the regular food was bad (it was surprisingly good), but it was nice to eat something a little fancy with Hero Material. I felt quite cheery afterwards.
A pediatrician came by to tell me the Boy needed some kind of light therapy because there was something wrong with his skin pigmentation. The Boy was looking a bit too yellow, actually, and the doctor thought something ought to be done about it before we were sent home. So I said, “Sure, go ahead.” (I wasn't going to argue with a doctor, esp. over something he said was necessary and that even Hero Material and I had noticed on our own.)
So this is the Boy in the light therapy chamber. Doesn't he look like he's ready for Venice beach?
On the fourth day, Dr. D paged me to the examination room. He said everything looked good, and I was ready to go home the next day. I was super-relieved.
Later, Hero Material bathed the Boy while the nurse and I watched. The Boy looked so happy. :)
On the fifth day, the Boy was ready to come home! Look at his cute onesie!
And here he's Mommy's New Man! :D
P.S. Despite my midwife's concern over my weight gain, I lost most of it during labor. I'm now within 10 lbs (less than 5 kg) of my pre-pregnancy weight. Heh.
