The HEA Cafe

It’s hard to believe that it’s already February, and that KISS OF FIRE, the first book in my new Dragonfire series, will be on sale next Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that it’s already time for Quinn to head out into the world. The cover for KISS OF FIRE is so fabulous - I’ve had a postcard of it on my bulletin board since July and it’s staying there!

Looks like I’m not the only one who is crazy for Quinn - here are a couple of early reviews:

Five Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies!
“From beginning to end KISS OF FIRE held me enchanted. Over the course of an entire day all I could do was sit and read. Quinn Tyrrell was not a typical hero for me. He was solitary. He wasn’t that thrilled with being a dragon. He basically wanted to be left alone to live his life alone. His destiny came in the form of a tiny human named Sara who rocked his entire world off its foundation. While Sara and Quinn were destined mates, it took more than a few mere words to make Sara a believer. I have to say though, she bucked up under pressure and became the Seer she was meant to be. The fact that she and Quinn fell in love? Icing on a very powerful and fire breathing cake.

Deborah Cooke has definitely made me a fan. I am now lying in wait for the second book in this new and extremely exciting series called KISS OF FURY whose hero, Donovan, is introduced in KISS OF FIRE. August really needs to hurry!”

Read the whole Junkies review here.

Four and a half stars from Romantic Times!
“Deborah Cooke, aka bestseller Claire Delacroix, dips into the paranormal realm with her sizzling new Dragonfire series. With a self-described loner as a hero, this heroine has to adjust to her new role in the supernatural and establish bonds of trust. Efficient plotting moves the story at a brisk pace and paves the way for more
exciting battles to come.”

Woo HOOO! Read the cover copy on my site and click through to an excerpt here.

If you’re curious about book #2, KISS OF FURY, the excerpt and cover are up for that, too.

And now, I have to get back to writing KISS OF FATE, book number three.

Deborah
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Alive & Knitting Blog

I’m posting as my new alter-ego today. I’m Claire Delacroix and also write as Claire Cross, but I have a new series launching in 2008 under the name Deborah Cooke. (And yes, this means that I answer to pretty much anything!)

Why another name? Because this new series is something completely different from my previous work. As Claire Delacroix, I’ve written historical romances, often with fantasy elements. As Claire Cross, I initially wrote some time travels, but then focussed on contemporary romances.

KISS OF FIRE is the first book in the new Dragonfire trilogy, which features heroes who are dragon shape shifters. These are contemporary fantasy romances with a bit of a dark twist. Click HERE for the back cover copy and all that good stuff.

Now, I have written shape shifter heroes before. I wrote two medieval romances for Harlequin featuring shape shifter heroes: in THE MAGICIAN’S QUEST, the hero became a panther; in ENCHANTED, the hero was cursed to become a wolf each day and return to being a man each night. The panther book was darker in tone, while the wolf book had more of a fairy tale sensibility. (These books were published in 1995 and 1997 respectively and are both out of print - you can see their covers in The Library at Château Delacroix.)

It’s the dragons that are new, and the contemporary setting. The Dragonfire trilogy is a bit darker than my previous contemporaries - my editor thought it merited a new name, so that readers didn’t come to it with any preconceptions.

Except the ones that the cover created:

What’s not to love about that?

What’s not to love about winning a free copy and getting to read it early?

NAL has prepared Advance Reading Copies of KISS OF FIRE and I have them in my hot little hands right now.

KISS OF FIRE will available for sale on February 5, 2008, but you can win an ARC right now. All you have to do is comment on this post and tell me why you should win. Make sure you type your email addy correctly! (Of course, Kiss of Fire is also already available for pre-order from Amazon.com.)

I’ll pick a winner at midnight tonight. Good luck!