Please welcome Mandy Harbin
First, I want to thank Laurie
for letting me invade her blog today. She was the first blogger who contacted
me and said she just had to interview me after reading the first book in my
Woods Family Series, SURROUNDED BY WOODS. So ending my tour on the last book in the series
at her site is bittersweet, but totally fitting.
It’s been almost two years
since the first book was released, which is really hard for me to believe. It
was the first book I’d ever published, and I’ve learned a lot since then. I’ve
also accomplished so much during the past two years as well. I just signed a
contract on the 14th book that I’ll be publishing and have achieved
PAN status with the Romance Writers Association. I’m not making Maya Banks’
kind of money, but I’m at a place in my life where writing isn’t just a hobby
any more. And I love that!
I often get asked why I write
paranormal romance, and the answer is simple. Because it’s awesome! There’s
nothing like reading a book and not knowing just what the hero can do, or the
heroine… hell, even the villain for that matter. When reading contemporary
romances, the characters have limitations imposed on them, so that element of
surprise is missing. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading all kinds of romance,
but there’s just something about paranormal romance that satisfies everything
this reader needs in a well-crafted story.
Unfortunately, some people in
the romance industry might disagree with me on that. I went to a conference a
few weeks ago and couple of the editors there—from major romance
publishers—said they’d felt paranormal was on its way out and contemporary was
the hot new thing. *sigh* Just because women snatched up copies of the Fifty
Shades of Grey trilogy in record numbers doesn’t mean that that’s all we want
to read (BTW, I haven’t read that trilogy… I might be the only women left who
hasn’t). The way I see it, fads come and go. Sure, contemporary might be hot
right now, but that doesn’t mean we need to neglect our shape-shifting,
vampire, angel, witch, and demon characters we love, too. My iPad can store a
bunch of books and doesn’t care which genre they’re in.
So let’s keep our love for
the paranormal genre alive. When Fifty Shades fades into the darkness, they’ll
be a hot demon lover lurking to take its place.
In the meantime, if you
haven’t tried my paranormal series, you can get book one, SURROUNDED BY WOODS,
for free right now on Amazon and B&N! If you have any doubt about
downloading it, just go read Laurie’s review on it. ;-)
You can also enter to win a
$100 gift card to Amazon or B&N by entering here:
Thanks again for letting me ramble
on today. Oh, and just because SURROUNDED BY SECRETS is the last Woods Family
book, doesn’t mean it’ll be last you hear from this world. *wink, wink*
I love PNR, the vampires, werewolves and demons are always a nice thing to read.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite would be a vampire...any of them, as long as they are the good guy. :)
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