I've been doing some soul searching lately. I do this from time to time, just sort of take a moment to step back and look at my life and my writing to see if things are going the way I feel they should be. Well, this time it was mostly related to my writing and I've come to a few conclusions. First off being that my books DO NOT fit comfortably into the paranormal romance genre. If anything, they are more romantic horror. Which brings me to my next thought, what exactly is romantic horror?

When I was reading through some reviews of my Spiritus Series, I realized the over and over, readers were saying that it was more horror than romance. Okay, I can live with that, but it is still a romance so now what? Well that brings me to my new self imposed classification: Romantic Horror. It isn't exactly a new idea, Bram Stoker built Dracula around that very idea and Anne Rice has been paving the way for years, but what makes it different than paranormal romance?

Well, for starters, it's more about the horror and less about the "Oh go on and kiss me before I go mad" sort of mentality. With paranormal romance, there is the expectation of a happy ending, but with romantic horror, a happy ending isn't guaranteed. The two are so similar, but also exact opposites. In paranormal romance, the romance is the driving force of the story and the paranormal elements are sort of a backdrop. In romantic horror, the horror elements take center stage and the romance is almost an afterthought.

I guess this all goes back to the idea that I'm tired of pretending that I'm not dark and creepy. Yes, I love a good fairy tale, but only because I love to cheer for the villain. Yes, I love Dracula and Phantom of the Opera. So there I am....Romantic horror...The best of two dark worlds.

As many of you know, Ever After (Gypsy Fairy Tale Book Three) comes out next week. If you have followed the story, it's no big secret that there is a wedding in this third and final book. That brings me to the question: What do you think about Gypsy weddings? Are they beautiful or over the top?

Of course, the biggest (no pun intended) part of any wedding is the dress and for a Gypsy wedding the dress is everything!

Gypsy wedding dresses are huge, massive, affairs that weigh the bride down. They are covered in rhinestones and jewels. On top of it all is a glittering tiara.

For the wedding in Ever After, I had to make sure that the dress not only fit in with this tradition, but that it also fit it with the story itself. To have some little detail that made it seem real.

So tell me, Gypsy weddings...Are they beautiful or just over the top?

It's almost time! The last book in my Gypsy Fairy Tale Series, Ever After, releases on the 25th and I'm getting so excited. I can't wait any longer so here's a sneak peek!

I shook my head as the memory of my dream came back to me. The rain outside on the melting snow cast a grey light over the inside of the feed store, making it too easy to get lost in my own dangerous thoughts.

I brushed my hands over my face and rubbed my eyes, so dry from the hot air of the furnace. All around me the musty, earthy smell of wood and grain tried to lull me back into dozing. I loved that smell, the scent of my childhood and oddly comforting.

Glancing down at my watch, I saw it was near eight in the morning. I’d been sitting for an hour, lost in my morbid thoughts.

What was I doing? Kieran was fine. His family was fine. Alec and I reached them in time and warned them of the impending attack by the Mileans. Everything was fine.

I shivered as a brief vision of Kieran nearly beheaded flashed behind my eyes. I didn’t want to think about that. He survived, healed by one of the oldest Tuatha De Danann members in existence, that was all that mattered. He survived and he was coming back to America as soon as possible and then we would begin our life together.

I forced myself up from the stool and counter, pushing my reluctant body into motion, I went over to the door and flipping the sign to OPEN. I forced myself to move again to switch on the lights, making the store burst into a bright, artificial light, somehow even colder than the gloomy grey of the day outside. I mechanically made the coffee, watching it brew and pouring myself a cup as soon as it was finished.

Taking my cup of coffee back to the counter, I opened the register and began counting out the money for the deposit. I heard the door to the back storeroom open and close with a bang as Alec arrived. I felt myself blush as I remembered his kiss on our plane ride home. Why did I let him do that?

I looked down, pretending to focus on the money I had in my hand, as he stepped up beside me. I kept looking down, thumbing the bills even though I kept losing count. He said nothing. He just stood there looking down at me until he finally stepped away and began sweeping the floor.

Every time he got near me as he moved across the room, I turned slightly away, looking at the money, the register, anything to keep from having to look at him. I was humiliated that I let him kiss me and wished I could somehow just take it back or erase it from both of our memories.

Why did I have to let things go and get so awkward? Everything was fine before that kiss and now it was just...weird.
Suddenly, Alec was standing directly in front of me, casting a shadow over me. Still, I didn’t look up. I kept looking down even though I could feel his eyes boring down on the top of my head.

“Are we going to talk about this?” he asked in that same voice I had heard most of my life growing up together, but it sounded so different now.

“Talk about what?”

“About us.”

I couldn’t help it, I looked up. There he was, Alec, my best friend, asking me questions I didn’t want to answer.
“There is no us,” I said. “There is you and there is me, but there is no us.”

Alec winced before he had the chance to catch himself and then stood a little straighter, “Then what about that kiss?”
“Can’t we just forget about that?” I sighed, feeling sick.

“No,” Alec said quickly, leaning down so that I was forced to look him in the eye. “Can you forget about it? Can you really say that there is nothing there?”

I couldn’t stand the pleading look I saw on his face. I looked down at my hands twisting in my lap.

“There is nothing there,” I said softly.

“You’re a liar.”

“Even if it is a lie,” I said, risking a glance up at him. “Do you think that I could just stop loving Kieran? Do you think that I could just shut it off or something?”

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I'm all about dark and creepy things, but I have to admit that the idea of haunted dolls is a little terrifying even for me.Haunted dolls may seem like a thing of nightmares, but in reality, there are several dolls in museums and private collections that are rumored to be haunted or possessed.

One such doll is Annabelle. In 1970, this Raggedy Ann doll was given to a little girl named Donna for her birthday. Donna was a nursing student at the time and sharing an apartment with another nursing student named Angie. 

Neither gave the doll much thought until it started moving from where they had left it. Donna and Angie would come home and find the doll in an entirely different room from where she had been.

Suddenly notes began to appear, written on parchment paper, reading "Help us". Neither Donna nor Angie kept parchment paper in the house.

Things only became stranger when the doll began to "bleed". It was then the Donna and Angie sought help from a medium to find out exactly what was going on. The medium came in and stated that the doll was possessed by Annabelle, a little girl that was found dead in the field where the apartment now stood. The medium said that Annabelle only wanted comfort from them.Feeling sorry for Annabelle, the girls said that Annabelle could stay in their home and inhabit the doll.

Annabelle, though, was not was she claimed to be. Suddenly, the doll was actually attacking their friend Lou. Lou awoke to find the doll strangling him and one time he felt someone behind him, turned, no one was there but he felt a burning pain across his chest. There were seven distinct claw marks on his skin.

The girls realized they needed help and called in a priest. He, in turn, called Ed and Lorraine Warren. The couple immediately contacted the girls about the doll. 

After hearing what they girls had to say, the Warrens believed that a spirit was haunting the doll and looking for a human to possess. The priest performed an exorcism and the Warrens took the doll with them when they left.

Fearing the spirit, they traveled back roads in stead of the interstate. A wise decision since they were plagued by car trouble such as a stalling engine that made it impossible to steer the car or brake.

Annabelle was taken to their home, but after levitating a few times and then the mysterious death of a priest that challenged her, she was placed in a glass case on display in the occult museum. Her reign of terror though was far from over. One visitor, a young man, dared Annabelle to scratch him.

He and his girlfriend were asked to leave. They drove off on the young man's motorcycle. Along the way, he lost control and crashed into a tree. His girlfriend survived, but he was not so lucky. Annabelle had claimed another victim.

Annabelle is now on display at the Warrens Occult Museum. Her glass case clearly states "Warning: Positively Do Not Open".