This time I had to track Della down to ask her some more of your questions. I found her hiding out in the new Shadow Falls library, added since they are now a real school.  I think she thought it would be the last place I would look for her, but she forgets how well I know her.

CC: Catching up on your reading?  Or are you hiding from me?

Della: She looks up from the book on the table before her. I may have had a few things I wanted to check out.

CC: I see the book is on vampire diseases. I know what’s happening in Reborn right now, I know what she’s trying to figure out.  It breaks my heart.  But it’s not time for her to know the truth yet.  That will happen toward the end of Reborn.

Della: And…  She snorts. I wasn’t hiding? I heard you when you entered the building. If I really didn’t want to be found, you wouldn’t be talking to me now.

CC: Good point. I smile and sit down across from her.

Della: You’ve got more questions, don’t you? She frowns. Can’t they just wait for Reborn? She slams the book shut.

CC: Not everything about you will be in your books.  Besides the fans just want to know more.

Della: She seems to consider this a moment. Why me?  Kylie’s the kind one. Miranda, too.  Why do they care about me, I’m just …?

CC: A really cool, kick-ass vampire?

Della: Is that how they see me?

CC: A lot of them do, yes.  Though, I think a few might think you’re a smart a$$.

Della: She tries to hide a smile. What are the questions?

CC: Jaia wanted to know if you are mad at Kylie for giving Steve advice about you.

Della: She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back in the chair. Well, DUH! When I first found out Kylie had talked to Steve about me I was really pissed. Who wouldn’t be? I mean, she went behind my back and told Steve some private stuff about me. I don’t like anyone knowing anything about me unless I choose to tell them. Her eyes briefly flash red. She takes a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. But once I had time to think about it, I know she was just trying to help. That’s Kylie, isn’t it? It’s what she does. And, yeah, maybe it did help a little. But next time, she needs to let me handle it. I’ll tell Steve what I want him to know, and I told Kylie that, too.

CC: That’s kind of funny.  I mean, in the scene I just wrote, Steve was upset because you didn’t tell him something. 

Della: I’m dealing with that.

CC: Moving on…Sandra wants to know what you thought about Steve having to rescue you.

Della: What? She stands up, tipping the chair over behind her. First of all, Steve did NOT have to rescue me. I had it under control. I could have gotten that knife away from the were.  But Steve just jumped in before I had time.

CC: He was worried about you.

Della: Yeah, I know that. I think we’ve established that he’s a sweet guy.  And I was hurt, so I wasn’t fighting at hundred percent. She places both her hands on the table and looks me straight in the eye. But make sure you tell your readers Steve didn’t HAVE to rescue me. It was more like I let him.

CC: I think you just told them for me.

Della: Good.  She nods and starts walking away, then stops but doesn’t turn around. And for the record, I could have taken on the weres in the ally, too. Then she is gone. Della has left the building!

CC:  I look down at the book and I sigh.  Della has some tough times ahead.  Thank goodness she is a kick-a$$ vampire.

 Winner!!

The winner of the Shadow Falls t-shirt from last week is Katie Bloom. Congratulations, Katie! Please send your mailing address and t-shirt size to cc@cchunterbooks.com.

 Meet Me in Wisconsin!

I’ll be at Barbara Vey’s Reader Appreciation luncheon in Wisconsin April 26, 2014, and am I ever excited! The luncheon will be filled with fun, gift bags and door prizes. There will also be a raffle of many baskets filled with books and other items. There will be 40+ authors attending (of which I’ll be one!), and NYT Best-selling author Debbie Macomber will be the key note speaker. Now my luncheon table is sold out, but there are still spots available at some of the other tables. So you’ll still be able to meet me.

If you arrive Friday, you’ll be able to attend a Q & A session with a chance to ask authors questions. Afterward, there will be a Harlequin sponsored meet and greet with the authors.

Hurry, there’s only enough room for 500, and it’s filling up fast! You can find all the details at Barbara Vey’s Reader Appreciation Luncheon.

Are you looking forward to the release of Reborn, Della’s first book in her series? Well, get ready because it comes out on April 15, 2014, and that will be here before you know it.  I can’t believe all the Christmas stuff already in the stores! It’s not even Thanksgiving, yet. Not to mention Halloween! Let’s take one holiday at a time, pleeezzee!

But that’s not what I wanted to tell you about today. I wanted to talk about Saved at Sunrise, that’s the novella about Della and Steve’s FRU mission and what happens between them. Not to mention Della’s encounter with her ex, Lee, the guy that broke her heart. Have you read it? You probably want to before you read Reborn. It gives you a little more insight into Della and her world. You can find it at Barnes & Noble, iBooks and Amazon.  It is available only as an ebook, but if you don’t have an ereader, you can read it on your computer. Just download it to your laptop or PC and read it there. And in case you missed the video for Saved at Sunrise, here it is again.

I’m giving away another Shadow Falls t-shirt this week, so be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win. Good luck! (Sorry, but I have to limit this giveaway to US residents only. And as usual, if you are reading this on Goodreads, you have to leave your comment on my website blog page.)

Della pops her head through the doorway of my study and glances around. She frowns at the mess.

Della: You wanted to see me?

I swivel my desk chair in her direction.

CC: I do. Have a seat. I motion toward the little love seat by my desk occupied by my dog, Lady. Della gives me a “what now look” as she wedges herself in next to Lady.  I smile to put her at ease. Della crosses her arms over her chest. Okay, if that’s how she wants it.

CC:  It’s no big deal. I just promised my readers you’d answer a few more of their questions.

Della: She snorts. You sure have some nosey readers. Why are you letting them poke around in my business anyway?  Then she absently starts petting lady.   And Lady likes her, too.  Lady only likes good people.

CC: Now don’t be like that. They only want to know more about you because they like you.

Della: Then make them like me less. She gives me a wide, phony grin.

CC: I’m afraid it’s too late for that, so let’s just get to it. I’ll start with an easy one. Julia wants to know what type of blood is your favorite.

Della: She looks relieved. Okay, I guess I can answer that one. I would have to say O neg. There’s something about the aroma that makes my mouth water. Steve even made the effort to get me O neg on our FRU mission when I needed blood to heal. I didn’t even think he knew my favorite blood type.  So, that was kinda sweet of him. She clears her throat and looks towards the door like she’s afraid someone might over hear.

CC: Now see, that wasn’t so hard was it? Della starts to get up. Hold on, I said questions—plural. So, the next question comes from Brittany, Deena and Ashley. They all wanted to know if you could see yourself continuing to work for the FRU. And Ashley wanted to know if you thought working with the FRU would make your relationships better with people.

Della: She rolls her eyes. First of all, why what do I care about relating better to people. I have friends, and they like me for who I am. I’m not going to change myself to be more acceptable, or to make more friends. You like me or you don’t, and I don’t give a monkey butt one way or the other.

CC: Fine. And the rest of the question?  Do you see yourself continuing to work for the FRU?

Della: Why do you ask me questions you already know the answer to?

CC:  I roll my eyes at her.  I didn’t ask it, your fans did.

Della: Do you think they really like me?

CC:  Of course they do.

Della:  She lets out a big frustrated huff.  It’s the one thing I want. I’d always sort of thought about going into law enforcement, CIA or FBI, before I was turned.   How many jobs are there where you can get paid to kick butt? It was kinda fun being on a mission, except for the getting stabbed. She absentmindedly rubs the spot where she was stabbed, then shakes it off. At least I feel like I accomplished something, and I really thought I’d earned respect from Burnett.  But now he’s acting like he’s not sure I got what it takes.  She turns and stares me right in the eye.  You can change his mind. You can make him see that I’m just as good as Derek and Lucas.  Besides, I want to catch the creep who killed that couple. I saw them.  I saw what he did to them.  I need to get them justice.  Sometimes it’s all I can think about.

CC:  I think it’s you that needs to change his mind.

Della:  Bullcrappy!  She storms out.

CC: Wait, I wanted…

Before I can finish, she’s out the door, the papers of my desk fluttering to the floor in her wake. I didn’t point out how that last statement totally contradicts her previous one about not caring what anyone thinks or about just wanting to be in FRU to kick butt.  Sometimes I think the problem with Della isn’t that she doesn’t care, but that she cares too much.  But then Della’s a complicated young woman. Maybe that’s why you like her so much.

 Winners!

The winners of Shadow Falls t-shirts I gave away last week are Vanessa Schmidgall from Germany and Brittany Green from the USA. Email your addresses and t-shirt sizes to me at cc@cchunterbooks.com. Congratulations!

Okay, in my last blog I asked you guys to leave questions for Della. And the most asked was whether Della would give Steve a chance.  I can tell you right now, this question is gonna tick Della off.  Let me channel up Della and see what she says.  But just let me warn you guys, get ready for some attitude.

C.C.:  Della, my readers have posted some questions and I told them you would answer a few.  So the first question is about why you’re afraid to give Steve a chance and what’s the probability of you maybe changing your mind?  Or kissing him again?  They just want to know what’s going to happen with you and the hot shape-shifter you say has a cute backside.

Della: Who asked me this?

C.C.:  Well, actually a lot of readers asked this one.  So could you please at least attempt to answer?

Della:  Fine, but just because they are readers doesn’t mean they can poke around—

C.C.:  Stop right there.  You are a fictional character and you need to behave like one.

Della: Fine.  Do they want the truth?

C.C.:  I’m sure they want the truth.

Della:  Then the truth is I don’t have a clue if I’ll end up with Steve.  Do I like Steve?  Duh!  Do bears poop in the woods?  Seriously, if I didn’t like him, I wouldn’t be in the position that I’m in now.  Well, that and if he wasn’t such a good kisser.  And if he didn’t make me laugh.   Just to make your readers happy I’ll admit that yes, I’ve sampled a few more of his kisses.   He’s so irresistible.  But will I agree to sign on the dotted line that I’m his girlfriend?  No. And here’s where the truth comes out.  I have no idea how things are going to end up.

Right now I’m dealing with so much in Reborn.  I know you don’t want me to give anything away, but can I just tell your readers that there’s a heck of a lot of crap going down?   It’s raining crap.  And Steve is there, trying to help me, but in a way, he’s also part of the problem.  If I let myself care about him too much, what’s going to happen later?   What if he decides he wants someone nicer, someone warmer, or someone with bigger boobs, or someone who looks more Asian.  Yeah, that’s what happened with Lee.  And losing him was so darn hard.  I know I’ve heard that old adage, “It’s better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all.”  Right now, I can’t say I agree with that.

C.C.:  Yeah, but sometimes when it’s raining crap, you learn a lot of lessons.  I haven’t finished your series, so I can’t say for sure if your path is going to lead you to Steve, but I’m thinking it’s going to lead you to a better place.  Life is about changes and those changes and the lessons we learn guide us to the right path.

Now, let’s move to question #2 that was asked by Alana: If you were never turned into a vampire, what do you think your life would be like, you would never go to Shadow Falls, would you and Lee be together, what would happen?

Della:  This almost feels like a trick question.  Part of me wants to say if I’d never been turned, I’d be so much happier.  I’d still be the apple of my daddy’s eye. I’d be on the honor roll at school.  Who knows, I might have given into what my parents wanted and decided to go to school to be a doctor.  And yes, I’d probably still be with Lee.  Then again, maybe he would have tossed me aside anyway.  I’m beginning to wonder if he was just a mistake.  And I hate thinking that because it means I gave so much of myself to someone who I shouldn’t have.  Anyway, about me being happier if I hadn’t been turned.  You see, I’ve stopped to think about what I have in my life now.  If I hadn’t been turned I wouldn’t know Kylie and Miranda, Holiday and Burnett.   Even Steve.  I wouldn’t give these people up.  In a way, I think C.C.’s right.  Don’t tell her I said this, she already thinks she knows everything.  But I think when we face challenges, we grow and what would have been right for us at one point in our lives, may not be right for us later.  What would have made the old Della happy, probably wouldn’t make the new Della happy.   So I don’t know if I can regret being turned into a vampire.  I really like my life, especially being able to kick butt like I can, but I just wish I could still have parts of my old one.  Like my family and my daddy’s love.  I miss that.

C.C.: Hmm, Della, my heart hurts for you. On another thought, do you not know I’m gonna read this?  And I really don’t think I know everything.  I sometimes think you guys, my fictional characters, actually teach me a thing or two.  Anyway, thank you, Della, for the answers, I know how hard that was for you.

And now I’m going to give away another T-shirt.  Actually, I’m going to give away two. One to an international reader and one to someone in the US.  So make sure all of you leave a comment, and if you are NOT in the US, make sure you tell me what country you are from. (As always, if you are reading this on Goodreads, you have to leave our comment on my blog at http://cchunterbooks.com/blog/ for a chance to win.)

Winner!

Last week’s winner of a Shadow Falls t-shirt is Lori Meyer. Please email your mailing address and t-shirt size to cc@cchunterbooks.com.

BookRave

Did you know one of the biggest book signing events is going to happen in Houston, Texas? That’s right, it’s the Houston BookRave and it is coming up fast! I’m looking forward to being there. Mark your calendars!! This event will be held Saturday, November 2, 2013 and will offer a unique experience where readers from everywhere can meet with their favorite authors in person. There will also be entertainment, exclusive giveaways, exclusive early book releases and delicious food.

Part of the proceeds will benefit GPISD’s Education Foundation which provides students and teachers with grants. So, it helps a good cause. Anyone in the Houston area should come out, meet me and many other authors, and have a great time. Don’t miss out!