"Tempted by a Warrior" Blog Tour featuring Author Spotlight with Amanda Scott, Review and Giveaway!!!

I'm very pleased to be able to participate in today's tour. We are hosting Amanda Scott and her new book "Tempted by a Warrior". There's a wonderful surprise in store for you today. Amanda has been kind enough to write a guest post and Hachette books has offered a copy of Amanda's book to 5 lucky readers of this blog!! (details below)

Romance Conferences

By Amanda Scott

I think conferences are very helpful, especially for unpublished writers who want to meet editors and agents and learn as much as they can about the business. They are also helpful to published writers in many ways, not least of which is the chance to become better known in the writing community by participating in panels or speaking. Professional writers’ conferences are also helpful for networking, keeping up with the ever-changing world of publishing, and just making friends with other published writers (which gives one a chance to let off steam and to get and share excellent advice). All that said, conferences are also incredibly noisy, frenetic, and fast-paced. Most writers prefer peace and quiet and less stressful surroundings, but many do thrive on the energy and just have a ball. I fall somewhere in the middle but, in all honesty, closer to those who prefer peace. I used to attend at least two a year. Now I tend to prefer other means of communication, but I do still attend them occasionally to talk with my editors and with other writers. I heartily recommend them to anyone trying to break into publishing, though. When I started, I didn’t even know that conferences existed. By the time I learned about Romance Writers of America (RWA), I had already published four books. My editor told me about the conference. I went and got to sit next to Janet Dailey at the book signing. Heady stuff. I also met a woman there from my home town, who was also a published writer, and she told me that we actually had a branch at home. The real kicker was that she lived right around the corner from me! Since then, I have met untold numbers of romance writers and writers of other genres, as well. It’s a wonderful community and well worth joining.

My latest book, TEMPTED BY A WARRIOR will be published on July 1.  You can learn more about me and my other books at AmandaScottAuthor.com. Thank you for having me on your site! 

Tempted by a Warrior
Author: Amanda Scott
Publisher: Forever - Hachette Book Groups
ISBN: 9780446561327
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Historical Romance

About the Book (from publisher):

"Lady Fiona, wed in haste, has never known marital peace. When last she'd seen her cruel husband Will, he'd struck her - and she has no memory of what she did next - only that she woke later alone in her bedchamber. Will has gone missing, and Fiona fears that in her rage and terror she might somehow have killed him. When her husband's cousin Sir Richard comes to search for Will, Fiona is touched by his warm nature. A knight and warrior, Richard is drawn to Fiona's brave manner, quickly seeing in her an equal measure of inner courage. Confessing that she fears having killed Will, Fiona accepts Richard's offer to help her. Pursuing together the mystery of Will's disappearance, they fall in love. Meanwhile the English are reinforcing their garrison in the Scottish Borderlands, putting Fiona, Richard, and Scotland in peril...."

Five Fun Facts

1. The title Tempted by a Warrior, as with that of its predecessor, Seduced by a Rogue, can be read two ways, because the warrior can be either the lady Fiona or the hero, Sir Richard Seyton, Baron Kirkhill. The reader can decide which one it is.

2. I wrote most of this book last summer and fall while sitting on the porch of a rustic lakeside cabin in the High Sierras (meaning no internet, no road, no phone or electricity, but loads of peace and relative quiet), aided by nosy (and noisy) Stellar jays, assorted chipmunks and squirrels, and the odd glass of wine offered by childhood friends and neighbors who thought I ought to relax and enjoy real life more.

3. My hard drive crashed while I was at the lake, and my tech-brilliant nephew, whose cabin is across the lake, suggested putting my laptop in the freezer for a few hours and then trying to access the hard drive to save the book (and other sundry files) onto a flash drive that he would provide. See wine reference in #2 above. Fortunately, freezing the computer worked and a nearby (relatively) computer fixit place froze it again and managed thereby to clone my entire hard drive onto a much larger replacement hard drive. Amazing!

4. The information for the head injuries in this book comes from both research and personal experience.

5. Willie Magee, the uh…assistant who has insisted on helping me write for the past year, instead of climbing up my leg to get to the keyboard as he did when he was small, now leaps from the floor to my shoulder, drapes himself over said shoulder, and purrs loudly while watching my every keystroke. If I stop typing, he promptly reaches out a paw to the keyboard, clearly offering to continue in my stead. He also likes to play with the keyboard whenever I take a break, which has resulted in some interesting narrative, to say the least.

My Thoughts:

"Tempted by a Warrior" is book three of the "Dunwythie Trilogy", but no need to worry. This book works wonderfully as a stand-alone. I didn't read the first two books, and had no problems with feeling like I really missed out on things. Amanda did a wonderful job rounding out her characters and gave enough to the reader so that by the end of the book I was charmed by all.

The book is set in Scotland in 1377 and I was easily transported back to that time. The language took a bit of getting used to, as it had the Scottish "accent" and I could really "hear" it in my head.

This book is full of action, mystery, intrigue, deception, discretion, and romance. It was a fun read, and Amanda is a master at weaving her tale!! I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

For those that love historical romances, make sure to pick this one up. I'm putting the first two books, "Tamed by a Laird" and "Seduced by a Rogue" on my to-read list. I want to read the whole trilogy now!!

Parental note: Book contains descriptive sexual content.

Author Bio

Amanda Scott, best-selling author and winner of the Romance Writers of America's RITA/Golden Medallion and The Romantic Times' awards for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency, began writing on a dare from her husband. She has sold every manuscript she has written. More than twenty-five of her books are set in the English Regency period (1810-1820), others are set in fifteenth-century England and sixteenth-and eighteenth-century Scotland. Three are contemporary romances. Amanda lives with her husband and son in northern California.

If you'd like to learn more about Amanda or her books, please visit her website at: AmandaScottAuthor.com

Book was supplied by Hachette Book Group for me to honestly review.

GIVEAWAY!!!

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group, five lucky readers of this blog will have a chance to win a copy of "Tempted by a Warrior"!!!

To enter:

1. You must be a follower of this blog.
2. You must leave a comment WITH your email address.
3. US and Canada only - no PO boxes.

BONUS Entries !! For extra entries (you must leave links for each):

* Follow me on Twitter - see sidebar for link
* Tweet about this contest (once per day)
* Follow me on Facebook - see sidebar for link


Contest ends July 25, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond. If no response, another winner will be drawn. Book will be shipped directly from the publisher.