Giveaway & Interview with Award-winning Romance Author Monica Burns.

Series: Book 2 in The Order of the Sicari series

Publisher: Berkley Sensation

Genre: Romantic Paranormal Suspense

Format: Mass-Market Paperbacks

Pre-Order Now!

Coming September 2010

Critical Acclaim for Assassin’s Honor
“...fast paced, deliciously sexy and highly unique -- another winner [for Burns] and most definitely a must read.”
— Two Lips Reviews

“Sizzling talent Burns kicks off the Order of the Sicari series…A great start in a very promising series!”
—RT BOOKreviews


“...sizzling hot... ”


— Sabrina Jeffries, New York Times Bestselling author

Book Description:

The truth of the soul.

Lysander Condellarie never understood why he had telepathic and telekinetic powers until the night his Praetorian father tortured him and left him for dead. Now, the half-angelic, half-demonic face he sees in the mirror is a reminder of the monster he must keep hidden or face expulsion from the order of assassins know as the Sicari. But his dreams of Ancient Rome hint at a destiny he finds hard to accept, especially when it involves the woman he loves, but can never have.

The consequences of desire.

A gifted healer in the Order, Phaedra DeLuca witnessed her mother’s murder when she was just a little girl. The haunting memory makes her loathe everything Praetorian. When she travels to Rome in search of an ancient artifact, she must work alongside a man who once cruelly rejected her love and healing touch. But her dreams of Ancient Rome tell of an irreversible and possibly dangerous future. For the distant past and present are about to collide--with the one man she is destined to love.

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Over the Edge Book Reviews

Questions with

Award-Winning

Author

Monica Burns

What is the best part of being a writer? What is the worst?

The best part is that I get to escape from all the bills, frustrations of a day job and get to travel to places I can’t afford to go to, enjoy imagining myself wearing a beautiful gown, kicking a villain in the teeth and in general, just getting to relax and enjoy another world.
The worst part is facing a deadline and knowing that I might not make it, and if I do, the book might actually suffer because I’m rushing things. Publishing is a fast-paced business anymore, and if you work a day job, it can make for a high pressure writing environment

Name one eye-opening thing you learned from your book research.

One eye-opening research tidbit was from the research I did for my Sicari series. I knew how Roman law, engineering and other infrastructure things have played such a strong role in the development of society since. While I knew of the Colosseum’s human carnage, it never really sank in how truly barbaric the Roman culture was until I did my research. Their view of life was so different from ours. It truly surprised me that a civilization so advanced for its time had such a duality in terms of it’s barbarism.

Do you have a favorite motto?

Dream it, believe it, achieve it

Do you have a favorite fictional hero? Favorite fictional heroine?

My all-time favorite fictional hero has to be Sir Percy Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel. He put his life on the line, loved deeply, was honorable, wore fascinating disguises, was smart, all of which I find incredibly sexy.

I have a much harder time thinking of a favorite fictional heroine, but Loretta Chase’s book Your Scandalous Ways stars Francesca Bonnard, who’s got chutzpah in spades, and I loved her.

Which fictional character would you hang out with?

My fav fictional hero, Sir Percy. I love being around smart people, especially men, and adventure is fun too. Sir Percy was known for his sharp wit, so being around a man who can make me laugh is a pleasure.

What is one of your favorite book covers, your own or someone else’s?

Hands down it’s Pleasure Me. I’ve only had one other cover that I’ve been so in love with (Obsession), but Pleasure Me so captures the essence of the story, and I sigh with pleasure every time I look at it. The only thing missing is a blindfold, and I won’t say on which one! LOL

What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

That I believe in past lives and that I’ve had past life regression done. Based on the regression, I’ve lived three lives. Once as a man, a knight with property who was murdered by a woman, possibly his wife. I also lived another life in the middle ages where I was a healer of sorts, like a mid-wife. I was accused of witchcraft then the scariest life was when I was a servant for an aristocratic family who I wouldn’t betray and I went to the guillotine because of my loyalty. To this day I can’t wear anything around my neck at all without clawing at my throat.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever learned by Googling your name?

The strangest thing is that I don’t Google my name. My husband likes to do it from time to time, but I’m too busy. I suppose one of the interesting things he found was a print copy of my book Obsession going for an outrageous price on eBay. Anyone paying more than $20 for that book should wait a couple of years until I can revise it and put it out on Amazon.

If you could go backward or forward in time which would you chose? Why?

I’d definitely go backward.in time to the late 1800s. It was an exciting, rather romantic time of enormous change. Since I believe in past lives, I’m convinced I lived in this time period and that I was incredibly happy then. I’ve no idea what I did or who I was, I just know I was happy.

Monica, please tell us more about your recent release, “Assassin’s Honor” and “Assassin’s Heart”, which is your second installment in the Assassin’s series coming this September 2010 by Berkley Sensations.

Assassin’s Honor is a treasure hunt type of book with a sexy romance between the main characters involved in the hunt. It’s got the DaVinci Code factor, the National Treasure factor, a bit of Klingon warrior factor, lots of Ancient Roman type sword action. It’s what I call adventure romance. I love Ares as he tries to do the honorable thing, but finds it difficult to do where Emma is concerned. Emma’s stubborn and hard-headed in spite of her many faults because she’s spunky. She adjusts a lot better to the Sicari culture than most of us would.

Assassin’s Heart has similar factors, but it has a dual story line for the main characters, plus a smaller plot line for a secondary character that readers first meet in Assassin’s Honor. Assassin’s Heart has the treasure hunt, but readers see more about the Praetorians, and there’s this wonderful past life story line that I had such wonderful time writing. And I adore Lysander. He’s a tortured half-breed that believes he’s not worthy of the woman he loves, and Phaedra isn’t about to let him get away with ignoring her. They’re a great match IMHO.

Which do you find is most important to you as a writer, voice or story? Why?

As a writer, I think it’s the story. My voice is what it is. It’s my personality. It’s how I write, and readers will either like my voice and want to buy me again, or my voice won’t be a good match with some readers and they won’t buy again. I certainly understand this. It’s a matter of preference. As a reader myself, I don’t always get the popularity of some books or authors. Since I can’t change my voice, I have to focus on the story and making it the best I possibly can for those who do like my voice and want to read my books.

 Monica, please tell us where we can find you out in cyber world. For desperate readers like me, we just have to know…:)

I’m all over the place, website, blog, Facebook and Twitter. I focus most of my time on Facebook as it’s a great interaction spot for me and my readers. I have small conversations there everday on my fan page.
Connect:
Website - http://www.monicaburns.com/index.htm
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMonicaBurns
Twitter - http://twitter.com/MonicaBurns
Blog - http://monicaburns.blogspot.com/
Newsletter/Info Group: http://groups.google.com/group/monica-burns-announcements


I know this is a difficult question with there being so many amazing authors out there to choose from but who are some of the GOT-TO-HAVE authors in your TBR pile?

I auto-buy Dan Brown, Loretta Chase, and Christine Feehan. I love these authors, and their works. I don’t get a chance to read much anymore because of my writing schedule, but I always have one of their books on hand to power through when I need a break from my writing or have a break in between books.

 What’s next in the works for you? When can readers expect to see it out on shelves in their local bookstores?

Currently, I’m working on Book 3 of the Order of the Sicari series. It’s Cleo’s and Dante’s story. Dante is the Sicari Lord who is being trained to become the reigning Sicari Lord. The character has taken a vow of celibacy because of his training, so Cleo is determined to seduce him. This book is supposed to come out next spring.

Pleasure Me is my next book, and it’s a virgin male, older woman story. The cover is absolutely fricking awesome, and I’m excited to see how readers react to Ruth and Garrick. I love these two characters so much.

I’d like to thank Monica Burns for stopping by and spending time with us, it’s been a blast getting to know more about you and your books. I wish you all the best and much success in everything you do. J

Thank you for having me, Christine.

*Giveaway*


Two randomly selected commenters will win a copy of "Assassin's Heart", book two in The Order of the sicari series" by author Monica Burns by Berkley Sensation. To enter here are a few simple rules.

* +2 Leave a comment for Monica Burns including email.
* +2 Spread the Word! ( this means go out into cyber world and post it on any network sites that your are a member of, or on your blog or website. +2 Then come back and leave a link so I can verify the post.)
*Follow me on Twitter. (+5) already a follower--GREAT!+10
* Friend me on Facebook. (+5)- already a follower-AWSOME! +10
* Become a follower of Over The Edge! (+3 Already a follower--You ROCK! +2 Become a follower.)


The giveaway is open to All and will be running until August 29, 2010. I'll be picking and contacting the winners directly on August 30, 2010. Please make sure to include your email with your comment. Happy Reading!