Guest Blogger--Nicole from HowlingGoodBooks.com

Well, hello again all! Sara has welcomed me back! W00t! So I thought I would turn her graciousness on everyone! Welcome to Sara’s Blog! And my return to answer any questions you may have! Ask away and I will answer! Whatever the question! Whether about this post, my site- HowlingGoodBooks.com, or being a reviewer!

And Happy October! What a wonderful month! A month when we get to dress up as anything that our imaginations can dream up and not be looked at funny! And since it is dress up as wacky as you can dream of month I thought we could discuss our favorite creatures that go bump in the night and how we came to read paranormal or Science Fiction!

My mom started me out! I will be honest, my mom much preferred for me to read than watch TV! “Books,” she said,” will make the imagination soar. Anything is possible in them!” When I was in middle school I came across her Greek mythology college text book and begged to read it. She allowed me to, knowing that I had exhausted all the books in my school’s library. I ate it up! After that I soared through Stephen King’s novels, skulked through Dean Kootnz’s books, and “learned” how to make magical mistakes with Piers Anthony.

As I grew into adulthood my fascination with the strange and unusual grew with me. I kept finding new authors to help me with my….. er, book addiction, lol. Or would that be helped my addiction continue? But whichever way you put it, my love of books, and reading, grew exponentially. I found new authors by the quotes they left on the authors’ books that I read already. And as my addiction became out of control so did my stash of books, much to my husband’s dismay! ;)

So what is my favorite paranormal creature? Magician? Vampire? Were animal? Alien? Well, it is not a space creature. Although they are intriguing, I love Earth! Magician? While I love magic and all the possibilities it opens up, that is not my fave! Blood sucking vamp? Nope! I would end up being the anal retentive, blood-o-phobe! Imagine a vamp having to be fed through an IV! I would be the shame of every vampire alive…. Er,dead… er undead lol. I would end up being staked by my maker! If you said Were you were right! I have always had a soft spot for animals, wolves in particular- and it simply carried over!

A Witch’s life may be glamorous with all the magic at one’s fingertips, but the responsibility! And all the things you give up to be a vampire! Sunrises, sunsets, chocolate! (Although I love how Michele Bardsley fixes that one!) But as a Were! High metabolism! So you can eat whatever you want! Great hair! And with that (at least) once a month change you don’t have to worry about if you get a bad haircut! You can go out ANYTIME! With no daylight restriction! What could be better? Hmmm, maybe a succubus? Having men panting after you! Being the being all men desire… But I would hate to leave a string of corpses behind! Nope! Weres it is! But don’t ask me to pick just one Were! I would love to be a true shape shifter, to be whatever I choose. That way if I am feeling catty I could grow claws and hiss! Or …. A bit of the canine female, well you get the picture!

But what about you? How did you come to love the paranormal? What brought you over to our “dark side” so to speak? What are YOUR favorite paranormal beings? And why? Share with us! We would love to hear what YOU like!

Guest Blog -- Nicole from"Howling Good Books" Review Site

Hi Sara! Thanks for having me! Wow what an honor!....And now for the awkward silence… J Just Kidding, as if I could ever run out of things to say about books or my review site! Ok so start from the beginning I suppose. Well, about me… Hmm.

Once upon a time there was a woman named Nicole, and she had a dream of one day making it big! She published poetry, and had a collection of books so big she had to buy an extra house just to have a place to put them all! When one day the beauteous ladies husband said to her- “You have enough books to start your own bookstore!” an even better idea struck! Why sell all of her books? Why get rid of all her dear friends that helped her deal with the real world by escaping it? Why not SHARE her obsession? Help the world be a better place but introducing people to her love of other worlds and living vicariously through others? And at the same time share all the worldly wisdom she has gained through her many travels in those hollowed pages? Why not start……. A REVIEW SITE!

Nah, that isn’t how it happened, but it sounded good huh? Lol, What really happened was I was trolling the Internet while chatting with a friend when I came across a review site. It intrigued me. Who would have thunk it? I always wondered how those witty quotes ended up on book covers! How could I get my words on those beautiful glossy covers? How could I get my name out there? So I emailed the site, ok I used the “Contact Us” page, but hey it counts! I asked them how I could become one of their reviewers ( see me begging and pleading on my knees in cyberspace). So for a few years I reviewed. I read my little heart out, and my eyes blind, but OH JOY the free books! And then I started seeing MY name out there! My name and witty bantering were on the covers of books! And I had another thought! Why not start MY OWN review site?!?!? Thus the idea to birth HowlingGoodBooks.com!

I got together with my husband and best friend Joann(and Co-Author) and discussed the possibility of such a thing; aka if we had the gumption to pull it off. My husband bought the domain for Mother’s Day- “So you can’t back out”, and Joann and I came up with the name. Then months of hard work ensued. We planned, mapped out how we wanted the site to run, found a wonderful artist for our logo, I worked on getting publishers, and anytime I got worried, down, or started second guessing myself I turned to my family, old friends, and the new friends that I had made. If it weren’t for my slave laboring husband (just ask him, he’ll tell you what a slave driver I am! ;) ), Joann, Kayla Weeks, Jen Allen and all my author friends who suffered with me- Leonard D. Hilley II, Celis T. Rono, Mima, or Christine and Ethan Rose; HowlingGoodBooks.com would have not have been given birth! So thanks guys for all of the support and belief that you have given to me and HGB! And to all the friends that I have made since; Mina Carter, Sara( but of course), Lex Valentine, Melinda Barron, and Dakota Cassidy just to name a few! You guys have helped keep it, and me, going!

But it is a FAR cry from over! In fact we have just begun! We are covering all genres, and currently have over 10 publishers working with us, as well as authors themselves sending us work! We are always on the lookout for new reviewers, especially as we are always looking for new publishers! We are taking applications for reviewers! If you are interested the link is here: http://howlinggoodbooks.com/index.php?id=43 . And if the directions aren’t clear enough here is a review I did myself for you to go by: http://howlinggoodbooks.com/index.php?id=114 . (Wink) Did I mention that is the review for Sara’s first book in the Amoveo series, The Amoveo Legacy? Not only is Sara gracious enough to have me here, but she is talented as well! Well, I guess that is all, for now! I must get going! But I will stop in and see if there are any questions out there! I hope you all have a blessed day! Thanks again Sara! And Hurry up on An Amoveo Heart!