So with the long weekend coming, you just know I'll end up declaring a movie night at some point. Well, I'm going to share my shameful secret. I love random movies that no one else have ever hear of.

Actually, I'm sort of in the mood for the Robert Englund version of The Phantom of the Opera.

Amazon Description:
In this house of music, evil strikes the final chord! Horror legend
  Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) assumes the classic role of  the Phantom in this shocking, nerve-jangling retelling of Gaston  LerouxÂ's timeless  tale of music, madness and murder!  An aspiring opera singer finds herself  transported back to Victorian-era London – and  into the arms of a reclusive,  disfigured maestro determined to make her a star. The silver-throated Christine  (Jill Schoelen) enjoys success  through the arrangements of her new lover  (Englund)Â...until she  realizes that he has been committing unspeakably grisly  murders in her  honor and wonÂ't stop until heÂ's completed his  masterpieceÂ...in blood!            

Today is the big day!  It's release day for the second book in my Gypsy Fairy Tale series of novellas!  Far Away is now available at all major e-book outlets and the paperback edition is coming soon!

Far Away (Gypsy Fairy Tale Book Two)

Are you ready for the fairy tale to continue?

I heard the sliding action of the gun as he chambered a round. The rest of the group raised their weapons and took aim.

 I closed my eyes. I knew there was no magic to save me this time. This was it. This was the end. It was all for nothing...It didn’t matter how hard I tried...It didn’t matter...It was over...

 I held my breath and just waited to die.

 Harmony Jacobson’s life changed forever when the Irish Travellers and Kieran came to Corydon Indiana. Now that they are gone, she tries to rebuild her life, but the ancient war between the Tuatha De Danann and the Mileans pulls her right back into Kieran’s magical world. 
 
Can she get to Kieran in time? Has she put her trust in the wrong person yet again?

Excerpt:
The light of the campfire pushed at the cold, wet,  darkness. Still, I shivered inside my damp clothes.

 Alec threw another branch on the fire and then sat down next to me. He rubbed his hands over my arms and shoulders, trying his best to warm me.

“Stretch your feet out towards the fire,” he suggested as he took my hands in his and exhaled his hot breath over
them.

“I had no idea it would be this cold,” I stuttered as my teeth clicked together.

He turned and crawled into the open tent, pulling out one of the thick down sleeping bags. He unzipped it and wrapped it around my shoulders.

“See if this helps,” he said.

“Thank you,” I mumbled and moved closer to the fire. I could already feel the smoky warmth spreading over
me.

Alec stared into the fire, poking at it now and then with a long stick.

 “I know the cold sucks,” he said. “But hopefully it’s so cold whoever owns this property won’t come out and run us
off.”

“Do you think they would really do that?”


“How do I know?” He said with a shrug, “We’re about a mile from the Hill of Tara; it was too dark when we stopped to really see anything. For all I know, we could be camping in someone’s back yard.”

 I looked out into the darkness, straining to see anything. “We’re only a mile away?”

 “According to the GPS on my phone we are.”

 “Shouldn’t we be able to see or hear something of we’re that close?”

 Alec poked at the fire and frowned, “Maybe your gypsy friends are just lying low.”

 “It seems strange to think that Kieran could just be a mile away.”

 Alec tossed his stick into the fire, sending orange sparks up into the air.

 “Look,” he huffed and glared into the flames. “I’m trying real hard to do the right thing here. I’ve betrayed my family and my heritage for you, so can you try not to rub my face in it?”

 I shrank away from him, embarrassed and ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “It’s just—“

 “I don’t want you to explain anything,” he snapped. “I just want to ask you one question.”

 My stomach fluttered and my throat grew tight, not sure I even wanted to know his question.

 “What is it?” I forced myself to ask.

 Alec turned the full force of his gaze on me, his eyes glittering in the light of the fire.

 “Why not me?” He asked.

 “What?”

 “You heard me,” he said. “Why not me?”

 I looked away, thankful that the shadows would hide my expression.

 “I don’t understand,” I lied.

 Alec turned back to the fire, “I just want to know, why him? Why not me?”

 “Alec, I—“

 “I was there,” he interrupted. “Day after day, I kept thinking you’d look at me, that you’d really look at me, but you never did.”

 “Alec...”

 “Just be honest,” he said. “Why not me?”

 How could I explain it to him? How could I describe that overpowering wave that was falling in love to someone that hadn’t experienced it?

 One look at him though and I knew...Alec had experienced that feeling.

 “Alec,” I began, too ashamed to meet his eyes. “What do you want me to say? For whatever reason, it was Kieran and I can’t change that.”

 He flinched as if I had slapped him and glared into the fire.

 “I know,” he said with a bitter smile. “I guess I just had to hear it for myself.”

 I hated myself for hurting him, “If you want to leave, I’ll understand. You’ve already done so much to help
me.”

 “And what am I going to do?” He snapped, “Walk all the way back to Dublin in the dark?”

 “I didn’t mean—“

 “I promised to get you to Tara safely and that’s what I’m going to do.”

 I looked down at my hands, knowing that I didn’t deserve his friendship or his company. It would serve me right if her would leave me here and catch the first flight back to America.

 “Why are you still willing to help me?” I asked.

 Alec tossed another branch onto the fire, “Because that is what you do when you love someone. You do things that make them happy, even if it breaks your heart.”

 “Alec...”

 “That’s something that your gypsy needs to learn,” he said.

 Before I had the change to say anything else, he turned and crawled into the tent.

Have you ever noticed that there are certain patterns that people follow when selectiong books? Is it possible that this reflects something about how our brains work? If nothing else, does it reflect our reading personality?

I was going to set this up as a quiz on my Facebook Page, but I couldn't get any of the quiz apps to cooperate, so I decided to turn it into a blog post instead.


1.  What's on your bookshelves/ereader?
a) Whatever books were on sale at the time
b) A mix of your favorite genres
c) Mostly one genre or one author
d) One or two favorite books

2.  What do you think when you pass a bookstore?
a) I could always use more books
b) I wonder if there are any new books out I might like
c) I wonder what new books have come out in my genre/or by my favorite author
d) I wish I could remember the title of that book they mentioned on television last night

3.  Where do you normally read?
a) Anywhere and everywhere
b) Any quiet place
c) My favorite chair or in bed
d) I don't remember the last time I read

4.  What makes a great book?
a) There are no bad books
b) A great story with strong characters
c) A story that follows the rules of the genre
d) Others recomendations
 
5.  When you buy a book, your purchase is based on what?
a) I give just about any book a chance.
b) If the description catches my eye, regardless of genre, I buy it.
c) If the description is interesting and it's in my favorite genre or by my favorite author, I buy it.
d) How much people are talking about it.

Again, I know this is short, but it is just for fun. So, tally your answers and see how you did!

Mostly A's:  Story Hoarder
You purchase any and all books. You love to escape into a story and do so as often as possible.

Mostly B's:  Eclectic Reader
You have varying, but predictable tastes. You love to read and it shows.

Mostly C's:  Genre/Author Collector
You love one genre or one author. While you're still an avid reader, you tend to play it safe and stick to your tried and true category or author.

Mostly D's: Reluctant Reader
You only read a book or two a year. Your choices are usually whatever is hot at that moment, be it Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, or the latest celebrity biography.  (Just a hint, you're really missing out)

I've been feeling very nostalgic toward my tortured ghost, Alastor.  So, while I'm looking back over some of my favorite scenes, I thought today was a perfect chance to do a Spiritus Series Flashback.

On this date in 1863, Becca wrote to the then living Alastor as he fought in the Union army during the Civil War.  It heartbreaking to think of how these two characters went from newlyweds seperated by war, to a dark romance of love and revenge seperated by life, death, and a century between them.

August 15, 1863

Dear Alastor,

I write again, not knowing if any of my letters are reaching you.  I beg of you to write to me and inform me if you are dead or alive.  Please Alastor, be alive, I can’t bear the thought of you cold and dead in the ground.

 There are so many things I should write about what it’s like here in Corydon, but all I can think of is that I want you to be alive; I need you to be alive. What else but that can I write over and over?

 I hate this war and everything it represents! I want to come and find you and go away to some far off place where there is no war.
          
I saw your name on the wounded lists from Gettysburg, but do not know how true that information was.  It didn’t list your injury or how serious it was.  My love, are you still alive?
          
I need you home with me Alastor.  I need to feel safe again.  I need to feel whole again.  I am begging you to write to me and let me know of your fate.

 Your Wife,

 Becca

As many of you know, I finished my edits and rewrites on Far Away (Gypsy Fairy Tale Book Two) last week.  Yesterday I was cleaning up the living room and came across a stack of chapters marked with edits, glancing over them i had to ask myself what the hell was I thinking?

I read over the first drafts of these chapters and WOW!  I'm convinced my brain must have short circuited or something.  I had people just sitting down during a major action point!  Yep, we're tired of standing now, we're going to just sit down and you try not to kill us too bad.  In what parallel universe did that seem like a good idea???

Maybe that's why I hate editing.  It makes me look at all the bonehead stuff I write the first time around.  It never fails, each chapter holds at least one head to desk moment.  Sad, isn't it?

Anyway, my editing job is done and now it's off to the beta readers.  It's a great feeling and almost completely makes up for

I'm so excited about my upcoming release of Far Away (Gypsy Fairy Tale Book Two)!  I finished the blurb for it this past weekend.  What do you think?

Far Away (Gypsy Fairy Tale Book Two)

I heard the sliding action of the gun as he chambered a round. The rest of the group raised their weapons and took aim.

I closed my eyes. I knew there was no magic to save me this time. This was it. This was the end. It was all for nothing...It didn’t matter how hard I tried...It didn’t matter...It was over...

I held my breath and just waited to die.

 Harmony Jacobson’s life changed forever when the Irish Travellers and Kieran came to Corydon Indiana. Now that they are gone, she tries to rebuild her life, but the ancient war between the Tuatha De Danann and the Mileans pulls her right back into Kieran’s magical world.

Can she get to Kieran in time? Has she put her trust in the wrong person yet again?