October's Paranormal romance characterfest with Regan Hastings

Welcome to Characterfest

Characterfest is a month long event where you’ll find a different character interviews written by the author each day. Each interview has a giveaway(s) make sure the giveaway is open to you and if so add a comment or question along with your email. I will close all giveaways at the end of the week and add the winners to the winners post on that Tuesday. Odds are if you won you’ll be hearing from me.

One thing I will ask is if you could please twitter or hit the facebook likes button on the post so that others can see the interview. I want to get these authors out to as much as I can and you’re my go between in this event.

I hope you enjoy each interview and please try to make it here each day to find out whom or what’s next. If this goes as planned I will be hosting this next year. 

List of attending authors here 

Interview with Teresa Santiago- Witch

Teresa Santiago is the witch heroine of VISIONS OF SKYFIRE, the second book in The Awakening, a series of dark paranormal romances from author Regan Hastings, the alter ego of USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen Child. This interview takes place one week before Teresa’s powers Awaken and VISIONS OF SKYFIRE begins…

REPORTER: Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. Not many women are brave enough these days to admit that they’re witches.

TERESA: You’re not recording this, are you? I was told there would be no recording devices.

REPORTER: No, I assure you, there are no hidden cameras, no microphones. Just me and old-fashioned paper and pencil. I will protect your anonymity. In the article, you will be referred to only as The Witch.

TERESA: Sorry, I have to insist that you open your jacket. (She checks the reporter for recording devices, finds none.) Can’t be too careful. The Bureau of Witchcraft has operatives everywhere, not to mention the most powerful weapons the world has ever known. Some of the stories coming out of the witches’ internment camps are horrific. The lucky witches are the ones who are killed outright. The ones who have to suffer through the experiments… (Teresa shudders.) And it all stems from ignorance.

REPORTER: That’s why we’re here today, to help our readers understand that not all witches are evil. When did you discover that you’re a witch?

TERESA: I come from a long line of witches. Ever since I was a little girl, my abuela has been preparing me for the day my powers would Awaken.

REPORTER: And have they? Awakened?

TERESA: Not yet, but my time is coming. I can feel it. Weird things have started to happen around me. Light bulbs explode when I walk through a room. TVs turn on, computers crash. I think my powers will have something to do with electricity. If you had brought recording devices, they probably wouldn’t work, anyway.

REPORTER: That sounds dangerous, but you say people shouldn’t fear you. Why?

TERESA: Because I don’t want to hurt anyone. In fact, Abuela says that I’m going to save humanity. Well, me and the other witches whose powers are Awakening. Humanity can’t stop the evil that’s coming. You need the witches you’re trying to kill.

REPORTER: (Silent as she absorbs that, then she pastes a cheery smile on her pale face.) So… what’s dating like for a witch?

TERESA: (Laughs.) I’m not looking for a relationship. Just getting over a bad break-up. Anyway, once my powers Awaken, my Eternal will show himself, and that’ll be that.

REPORTER: Your Eternal?

TERESA: Sorry, my mate. Another destiny thing, according to Abuela. He’s my guardian, my protector, and he’s going to help me save the world.

REPORTER: That’s so romantic!

TERESA: Like I said, I’m not looking for romance… but I’ve got nothing against hooking up! From what I hear, the Eternals are wickedly good looking, with the bodies like a god.

REPORTER: Nothing wrong with that!

TERESA: Not a thing… as long as he doesn’t expect me to fall in love.

Click here to read Chapter 1 of VISIONS OF SKYFIRE, in stores now: http://www.reganhastings.com/excerpt_skyfire.html. Then answer a simple question about the excerpt for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Regan is giving away a copy of  Visions of Magic which is the first book in this series. So please leave a comment or question along with an email to enter. This is international 

ARC review Visions of Skyfire by Regan Hastings

Title: Visions of Skyfire (The Awakening #2)
Title:Regan Hastings
Source: Author request
Genre: Dark Paranormal romance- Witch
Format: Mass paperback
Release Date: October 4, 2011

Teresa Santiago has awakened her abilities to summon lightning but is unable to control her power-or her attraction to Rune, her Eternal protector and destined partner. Now, Teresa and Rune must locate a missing artifact of unimaginable power before it unleashes the forces of darkness on the world. But with enemies both mortal and magical on their trail, Teresa and Rune discover that only through sacrifice will love conquer all...

Regan Hastings didn’t miss a beat in the sequel of her The Awaking series. I couldn’t get enough of Teresa, Rune or the awesome storyline. As in the first book you get a sizzling action pack romance story. This book goes deeper into the story on how these witches came into their current predicament. I really enjoyed the surprises that came about during the adventure Rune and Teresa had in getting to Teresa’s Artifact piece. That also reminds me I loved the addition on the mystery, darkness and magic around each witch’s Artifact and I can’t wait to see what Reagan will add in the next book.

Teresa is one tuff and powerful witch. I loved her power and how she took to her Eternal Rune. Rune is also very powerful with his magic. When these two get together nothing will stop them. Rune and Teresa romance start out with a bang and they sizzle the pages all the way to the finish.

I simply loved this book. I haven’t had too many books this year that gave me that WOW! Affect, but this one gave me just that. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves some sizzling magic.

I am give this one the scorcher award also because of the connection and the heat between the couple. I love it when it feels more real. 

Guest paranormal romance author Regan Hastings: January 18th

Everyone please welcome Guest Author Regan Hastings! 




Regan Hastings, Author of Visions of Magic

Regan Hastings is the dark alter ego of a USA TODAY bestselling author. She intends to maintain her disguise until the highly anticipated release of VISIONS OF MAGIC on February 1. Regan has been nominated for multiple RITA Awards from the Romance Writers of America. Visit www.reganhastings.com to read a free excerpt of VISIONS OF MAGIC and to enter the Who Is Regan Hastings? contest for a chance to win a Federal Bureau of Witchcraft fleece jacket.

The Painful Distinction between a Person and “People”

In the first book of my Awakening series, VISIONS OF MAGIC, Shea Jameson is on the run for her life. She lives in a modern-day world that burns witches at a steel stake on a gas-powered grid. Her aunt was the first to die, but there have been many more in the ten years since. Shea has just learned in the most horrific way possible that she is a witch. Like it or not, her powers are awakening.


But where can you run when Society is your enemy?




Writing VISIONS OF MAGIC gave me a chance to explore one of the dark truths of human nature: Individually, we can be generous and forgiving, understanding and kind. Collectively, we can be monstrous.

All too often, fear rules us. We accept innuendo as fact without bothering to investigate for ourselves.

What would you do if your best friend was accused of witchcraft, in a world where witches are put to death? Would you risk your own life to protect her? Would you risk your family’s lives? What if the accused wasn’t a friend, but the mother of an innocent child who turns to you for help? What would you do then? Shea faces that problem in VISIONS OF MAGIC. Helping the child will bring unwanted attention to Shea, but turning her back on the girl goes against everything Shea believes in.

I understand the fear that drives human behavior. We want to protect our loved ones, and we live in terror that there are some things beyond our control.

In VISIONS OF MAGIC, witches are real, and people are inundated on the 24-hour news stations with tales of their evil acts and near constant warnings about the latest threats. In this excerpt from Chapter 1 of VISIONS OF MAGIC, you’ll witness for yourself the terrifying awakening of Shea’s powers:

[The junkie] pulled a knife as if he sensed she was hesitating. “Give me the money now.”


Shea shook her head and when he reached for her again, she instinctively lifted both hands as if to push him off and away. But she never made contact with him. She didn’t need to. A surge of energy suddenly pulsed through her and shot from


her fingertips. As a whoosh of sound erupted, the man in front of her erupted into flames.


Shea stared up at him, horrified by what was happening. By what she’d done. His screams tore through the air as he tried to run from the fire. But it only fed the flames consuming him and as his shrieks rose higher and higher, Shea staggered to her feet, glanced down at her hands and shuddered.


That’s when she heard it.


The chanting.


Over the sounds of the dying man’s cries, voices roared together, getting louder and louder as she was surrounded. One word thundered out around her, hammering at her mind and soul, reducing her to a terror she hadn’t known in ten years.


She looked up into the faces of her students’ parents as they circled her. People she knew. People she liked. Now though, she hardly recognized them. Their features were twisted into masks of hatred and panic and their voices joined together to shout their accusation.


“Witch! Witch! Witch!”

Think about that. This crowd of ordinary citizens has watched their children’s teacher set fire to a human being. They’ve watched the man scream and writhe in agony. They’ve smelled his burning flesh, they’ve felt the heat from the flames … and they’re afraid they’re next. Or worse yet, their children.

They don’t understand that despite what happened, Shea is a good person. She didn’t intend to set the man on fire. He attacked, and her body reacted instinctively in self-defense.

In Shea’s world, intent doesn’t matter. The Magic Police and the Federal Bureau of Witchcraft don’t believe there is any such thing as a “good witch.” When witchcraft is suspected, the woman is imprisoned, and untold innocents have been caught up in Society’s fervor.

Shea has a secret weapon in her corner – her sexy Eternal, a warrior who has protected her through many lifetimes so that he can claim her as his mate when her powers awaken. Shea doesn’t want to be a witch, she doesn’t want to have an immortal mate. She just wants to be a normal woman and to live her life without fear.

Even witches don’t always get what they want.

Have you ever found yourself spreading rumors that you later discovered were false? Forwarded emails? Can you think of an example where Society behaved badly because of fear? Was that fear motivated by reality or innuendo? What are some other books in which Society was the antagonist?

ARC Review Visions of Magic by Regan Hastings

Title: Visions of Magic
Author: Regan Hastings
Source: Requested review
Format: Mass paperback
Genre: Paranormal romance- witch
Author website 

In the ten years since magic has reemerged in the world, witches have become feared and hunted. For weeks Shea Jameson has been haunted by visions of fire. When she unintentionally performs a spell in public, she becomes one of the hunted. Her only hope is Torin, a dangerously sensual man who claims to be her eternal mate.

My Review:
Rating-

Sexual-

Cover: I LOVE IT!! 


Put this book on your top most wanted to be read list for 2011!! Visions of Magic is a dark paranormal romance, that’s wickedly sexy and filled with magic, it made for a phenomenal read. It’s the first book to an Awakening witch series. I found the Witch and Eternal storyline fastening, and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see what was going to happen next. There is a lot to take in, but the author explains everything along the way and made it easy to understand.

Come and read about a witch named Shea. Her aunt was burned at the stake and now she is on the run in fear that she will be next. You see this world is different from ours, there are witches and witch hunters and they don’t care if your a witch or not, they will take any woman that they think to be a witch. Oh yea, the Salem witch trials are back with a twist. Shea has something going for her. It’s her Eternal soul mate Torin. He watches over her each century for her to come into her Awakening, so he can claim her as his mate and help her fulfill her destiny. But for Shea to get to her destiny she enters a world of danger, magic and spells. Will history repeat itself or can Shea change it? You’ll have to read and find out.

The sex its very hot. There is one shower scene that was very different and very sexy. As you see on the cover Shea has a tattoo, just wait until you read how she gets this on her body.

I loved all the characters even the villain they all seem to fit into place.
I recommend this to any paranormal or erotic romance reader that loves witches. Now, I just hope I can hold out for the next book…. UGH!.

Here is a teaser for you.
You‘re a witch. I‘m your Eternal. It‘s as it has been between us since the beginning.
She breathed deep, drawing in the fading scent of the ocean as they raced in the opposite
direction, headed God knew where. It was too much. All of it. Her Eternal. Centuries. Magic.
How was she supposed to make sense of this? How was she supposed to know what to do? If her memories were true, then she had made the wrong call before. What was to prevent her from doing it again? 


This book was so good it receives the Top Bite award!