biancadarc.com Blog

Winner: Freebie #1

Congratulations to:

Suzette!

You’ve won a print copy of BLUE DIABLO by Ann Aguirre. Please email me (biancadarc at gmail.com) with your mailing address so I can send out your package. Thanks for playing!

Remember, if you commented on any of the other books (and yes, there’s still time to enter!), be sure to come back each day this week to see if your name was picked. Good luck!

Just For Fun

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Friday Freebie!

As promised, today I’m throwing in one of my books! Today you can win a print copy of ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD by Yours Truly.

Thrills, chills and a smoldering sexy hero combine to unforgettable effect in Bianca D’Arc’s irresistible new novel of paranormal romance…When police officer Sarah Petit investigates a disturbance in an abandoned building, she expects to find a few underage drinkers. Instead, she’s attacked by creature straight out of a horror movie. Waking a week later in a hospital, Sarah is visited by Special Forces soldier Captain Xavier Beauvoir. The zombies who attacked Sarah are the result of military research gone terrifyingly wrong, and Sarah’s immunity to the virus makes her the perfect person to help Xavier eradicate them. But his smooth Cajun accent, whiskey-colored eyes, and dizzying kiss are risky to her in a very different way.

Sarah attracts danger like a magnet — and the smart, fearless cop attracts Xavier too, instilling a bone-deep need that’s undermining his steady facade. Enlisting her aid is a necessary gamble, but vicious undead creatures are not the only enemy they face. And the only way to keep each other safe is to trust in an instant connection that could be their greatest strength — or the perfect way to destroy them both…

If you want to win this book, comment on this post. I’ll choose a winner randomly from among the commenters next Friday, so check back next week to see if you’ve won. Good luck!

Freebie #5

Well, I messed up my posting times a little and you guys got an extra book out of it! LOL! So today we have the last minute addition of…

CLOCKWORK HEART by Dru Pagliassotti

(Side note: I went searching for a decent sized cover on the web but the author only had the thumbnail. I actually liked the German cover that they posted better, so I’m giving you both. Note to authors: put different sizes of your cover on your website, PLEASE! LOL)

Taya soars over Ondinium on metal wings. She is an icarus — a courier privileged to travel freely across the city’s sectors and mingle indiscriminately among its castes. But even she can’t outfly the web of terrorism, loyalty, murder, and intrigue that snares her after a daring mid-air rescue. Taya finds herself entangled with the Forlore brothers, scions of an upperclass family: handsome, brilliant Alister, who sits on the governing council and writes programs for the Great Engine; and awkward, sharp-tongued Cristof, who has exiled himself from his caste and repairs clocks in Ondinium’s lowest sector. Both hide dangerous secrets, in this city that beats to the ticking of a clockwork heart….

Comment on this post if you want to win this book. I’ll pick one commenter at random and announce the winner next Thursday on the blog, so check back to see if you’ve won. Also, check back tomorrow for a special treat – one of MY books in print.

Freebie #4

Today we have…

LOVING A LOST LORD by Mary Jo Putney

Battered by the sea, Adam remembers nothing of his past, his ducal rank, nor the shipwreck that almost claimed his life. However, he’s delighted to hear that the golden-haired vision tending his wounds in his wife. Mariah’s name and face may be familiar, but her touch, her warmth, feel deliciously right. When Mariah Clarke prayed for a way to deter a bullying suitor, she didn’t imagine she’d find the answer washed ashore on a desolate beach. Convincing Adam that he is her husband is surprisingly easy. Resisting the temptation to act his wife, in every way, will prove anything but. And now a passion begun in fantasy has become dangerously real – and completely irresistible.

If you want to win this book, comment on this post. I’ll choose a winner randomly from among the commenters next Wednesday, so check back next week to see if you’ve won. Also, come back tomorrow for another chance to win another book. Good luck!

Freebie #3

Today’s book is…

SCREAM MY NAME by Kimberly Kaye Terry

Tall, built, and blue-eyed developer Brandan Walters is one hell of a man. Too bad he and Leila James are on opposite sides of an important issue-he has plans for the neighborhood around her new cafe. In fact, she ought to consider him her enemy. But Leila’s blown away just watching him walk toward her: talk about sexy. Brandan’s deep baritone is as easy as a long, lazy summer day-the kind of day when two hot people oughta get nice and wet. And what she sees in his eyes when he looks at her is hotter than the blazing sun. Leila will persuade him to see things her way. When her cafe opens for business, it’s going to be a very popular place. A place where lovers meet….and passionate affairs get started…

If you want to win this book, comment on this post. I’ll choose a winner randomly from among the commenters next Wednesday, so check back next week to see if you’ve won. Also, come back tomorrow for another chance to win another book. Good luck!

Freebie #2

First, can I just say, I LOVE YOU GUYS! I expected maybe a handful of comments on yesterday’s blog, instead, I got a deluge! Wow! I didn’t know there were that many people out there reading my posts. What a nice gift. Thank you all! Now, on with the fun…

Today’s book is:

THE TRUTH ABOUT LORD STONEVILLE by Sabrina Jeffries

The oldest of the scandalous Sharpes—five hell-raising siblings tainted still by the gossip surrounding the “accidental” deaths of their parents two decades ago-—Oliver Sharpe, the Marquess of Stoneville, like his brothers and sisters, has lived life on his own terms. In his case, as an unrepentant rakehell. Or so life had played out until Grandmother Hetty got a bee in her bonnet. Now the five Sharpe siblings face a daunting ultimatum: Marry by year’s end—or kiss their inheritance good-bye.

Oliver vows to fulfill the bargain in true Sharpe style—by bringing home a fake fiancé from a brothel! But his scheme backfires when he foils a robbery and rescues an American beauty instead. Maria Butterfield came to London to find her missing fiancé, but her prior engagement won’t stop Oliver from getting what he wants: Maria in his bed. His rebellious charade may just call Hetty’s bluff, but not before it become all too real—stirring up a love that tempts him to be a hellion no more.

If you want to win this book, comment on this post. I’ll choose a winner randomly from among the commenters next Tuesday, so check back next week to see if you’ve won. Also, come back tomorrow for another chance to win another book. Good luck!

Freebie #1

Here’s the first of the books I’m giving away…

BLUE DIABLO by Ann Aguirre

Right now, I’m a redhead. I’ve been blonde and brunette as the situation requires, though an unscheduled color change usually means relocating in the middle of the night. So far, I’m doing well here. Nobody knows what I’m running from. And I’d like to keep it that way…

Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border to Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover, and her “gift”. Corine, a handler, can touch something and know its history—and sometimes, its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing—and that’s why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance…

Chance, whose uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep, needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas, and the only hope of finding her is through Corine’s gift. But their search may prove dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies—and black magic…

If you want to win this book, comment on this post. I’ll choose a winner randomly from among the commenters next Monday, so check back next week to see if you’ve won. Also, come back tomorrow for another chance to win another book. Good luck!

Freebies!

I got a bunch of books at the RT convention and want to give some away. So I’ll be posting a different cover/blurb each day this week. Here’s how to play – and I promise it’s simple – if you like the sound of the book posted that day, simply add a comment. I’ll pick one commenter randomly from all the comments for each book on the corresponding day next week.

As an example, the book posted Monday – the winner will be chosen and posted next Monday. The winners will have to send me their snail mail addresses so I can mail them the books – along with some D’Arc Side swag, of course.

One disclaimer – these were freebie books and I haven’t read any of them, nor do I know the authors in most cases. We’ll do a round of 5 books this week, announcing the winners next week and that will give me time to sort through the rest of the stuff I collected and see if we can’t do this again the following week. How’s that sound? Oh, and I might throw in one of my print books here and there. Sound good?

Inspiration Out of Desperation

Good Saturday to you, everyone! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my raison d’etre… Why am I here? What is my purpose? All those big issues that come into question when there are major changes in your life. Today, I’m trying to put all that on hold and just trying to live one moment at a time and making it the best moment I can. Such a simple concept, so hard to do. I find myself drawing on my early experiences with the martial arts to accomplish this… and so much more…

When I was in my 20’s I was a very serious martial arts student. My teacher, who had earned the title Shihan, was so highly ranked in his form of martial arts that he had to travel to Japan to be tested for his next ranking because there weren’t enough people of sufficiently higher rank in the U.S. to be able to test him. The dude was serious. He looked sorta like an old beach bum – longish, streaky blonde hair, a Buddha shaped body that wasn’t fat, but if you didn’t know how much power the man packed, you might assume him to have the beginnings of a beer belly. He was a walking, talking example of why you shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover.

This guy made a huge impression on my young life. I was a pet project of his. I was going to be his next female black belt. There weren’t many women in this dojo. It was mostly cops and ex-military types. Shihan trained police departments in hand-to-hand combat methods as a sideline. I think I was one of maybe 4 women in the entire dojo and one of only 2 who was ranked high enough – and was gung-ho enough – to train with the more advanced guys.

Shihan was a Buddhist. He made us meditate after every 2.5-hour class. It was an eye opening time for me and I find myself using bits of this experience in my writings to this day. As an example, the layout of the dojo in my paranormal shapeshifter romance, CAT’S CRADLE, is based on the dojo I studied in. Some of the things I learned in that dojo were also used in DRAGON STORM, which delves more deeply into the culture of Tibet and the various forms of Buddhism.

Without doubt, I call on my fight training and the actual sparring I once did with a bunch of big, hard, sweaty guys… whoa… sorry… got off track there for a moment. As I was saying, I use that experience in every hand-to-hand fight scene I write.

I also try to remember that discipline now, as I battle depression and grief over the huge hole the loss of my beloved Mom, my best friend, has left in my life. It’s funny how something I did so long ago has had such lingering effects on my life to this day. To be brutally honest, I wound up in that dojo because this guy I was dating studied there. Without him as the lure, I doubt I would’ve even tried to compete on that level. Though he ended up breaking my heart, I still owe that bum a lot, though he’ll never know it. He got me to that dojo and that teacher. He caused me to be in the place where I learned lessons I call on to this day.

Crazy, huh? It’s these little twists of fate that make life interesting, don’t you think?