Spotlight & Giveaway: Smolder by Laurell K. Hamilton

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Laurell K. Hamilton to HJ!

Hi Laurell and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Smolder!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

It’s about power. The power of love, of hate, of family, between couples, lovers, friends, enemies, rivals. In the end everything is about power, or the exchange of power. It begins with preparations for a wedding followed by a murder, then a date night and a truly evil villain, and a fight to save the world.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“… it was like his body was a warm blanket and a cup of coffee, and just what I needed.”
“No reason to use magic if bullets will work.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• For the first time ever I could not find an album, singer, or song list for a book. I tried everything and nothing helped put me in the creative headspace for SMOLDER. I finally turned to TV shows and movies. I played them on my iPad while I wrote on my main computer. I watched every season of Ink Master (I’d seen them all before and I wouldn’t have my own tattoos if I hadn’t been a fan of the show.), Grimm (great world building and the supernatural research was good), Code Black (Intense medical drama), Grey’s Anatomy (this was the show I started watching as I wrote first. I watched some seasons/shows over and over. Great character arcs.).
• The movies I watched included Draft Day with Kevin Coster and a smaller role for Chadwick Boseman. He had such screen presence. Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Hugh Laurie, Greg Wise and so many other wonderful performances, such a great cast. Great script, amazing cinematography, costumes, it’s damn near flawless. Still my favorite version. The 2008 miniseries Sense and Sensibility with Hattie Moravian, Charity Wakefield, Dominic Cooper, Mark Williams, Dan Stevens and a host of others. The cast was good, but it’s hard to top the 1995 version. The 2008 miniseries did add more sensual content on stage. It did make the seduction and betrayal of the Colonel’s ward more piteous, and paint Willoughby as more villainous. I liked that this version gave the male characters more on screen time including a duel which I believe is only a line in the book and off screen in the other version. It did it’s best, but watching them back to back while I wrote may have done a disservice to the miniseries as opposed to the movie.
• The other flawless movie that I watched was The Holiday with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Eli Wallace, Rufus Sewell, and all the rest. It’s another great cast. This is my favorite rom-com because every character has a job and a history rather than being just the love interest either male or female. Even the characters that are not part of the romance are well written and have more character than your typical romcom best friends and supporting cast. The writing is great, and the editing so good that I’ll rewatch just to see how they did transitions between scenes. (One of the things I like about the Magpie Murders on BritBox though I never wrote to that.) White House Down, Made of Honor (after watching so much Grey’s Anatomy I started looking for other Patrick Dempsey movies), The Other Woman with Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Kate Upton. They are probably the most flawed of the ones I watched while I wrote this book, but they filled some creative need obviously.
• Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Some seriously great action sequences and good world building, The Devil wears Prada with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci. Late Night with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling. If I was doing a double feature this would be it. They are both coming of age stories with younger woman learning the business from the famous, successful older woman mentor. The Devil wears Prada is a darker movie, less fun. I honestly think that Anne Hathaway’s friends and boyfriend treat her badly—happy to take the free swag and complain the whole way. Meryl Streep is supposed to be the villain, but she comes off as more sympathetic. The movie shows the price she pays for fame. Late Night also shows the price paid for super stardom by Emma Thompson’s character, but it’s a lighter movie overall and everyone is either likable or redeemable. John Lithgow as Thompson’s husband is a delight. Both these movies also seem to give us a glimpse behind the curtain, whether fashion or late night TV.
• I also watched The Gentlemen written and directed by Guy Ritchie with a stellar cast including Charlie Hunnam, Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, Henry Golding—terrific cast. It’s another movie that I rewatched certain scenes to figure out editing and directorial choices. It is a flawless film. There were a few more movies, but these are the ones I watched over and over.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

In my latest book, SMOLDER, ten years of being in each other’s lives is what has led them to this moment. What first attracted Jean-Claude to Anita was hearing her talk tough and realize that here was a woman who could take care of herself and wouldn’t wait to be rescued. The last woman that he loved died with his name upon her lips before he could save her. Anita was attracted to Jean-Claude’s beauty, but didn’t trust him for a very long time, because he was a vampire and she starts the series believing they are walking corpses, no matter how charming. He would have to prove to her that he was worthy of her trust. Though since Anita and Jean-Claude are part of a large poly group there could be a lot of answers to this question.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

The date night scene between Anita and Jean-Claude at Guilty Pleasures. It had been several books since we’d been back to the strip club and even more since we’d had an on-stage date night that was public so I wanted to make sure it was fun, romantic, sexy, and showed the growth of their relationship from book one to now.

Readers should read this book….

Magic, mystery, romance, friendship, vampires, werewolves, weretigers, wereleopards, murder, exotic dancers, love, sex, and just how far would you go to save everyone and everything you love?

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

My next release, SLAY, the 30th book in the Anita Blake series, will release later this year in November.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A print copy of SMOLDER by Laurell K. Hamilton

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Book Info:

Anita Blake is engaged to Jean-Claude, the new vampire king of America. Humans think she’s gone over to the side of the monsters. The vampires fear that their new king has fallen under the spell of the most powerful necromancer in a thousand years.

In the midst of wedding preparations—including getting Edward, aka U.S. Marshal Ted Forrester, fitted as best man—Anita gets a call that the local police need her expertise at a brutal murder scene linked to a nationwide slaughter of vampires and humans, dubbed the Sunshine Murders.

But there is more than just a murderer to catch: an ancient evil has arrived in St. Louis to challenge Jean-Claude for his crown, his life, Anita, and all they hold dear. Even with Jean-Claude’s new powers as king and Anita’s necromancy, it isn’t enough; they must embrace their triumvirate or allow primeval darkness to spread across the country, possessing first the vampires and then the humans. Evil will triumph unless Jean-Claude and Anita can prove that love conquers all.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Laurell K. Hamilton is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry, Fey Detective series. With more than 40 novels published and 20 million books sold, Laurell continues to create groundbreaking fiction inspired by her lifelong love of monster movies, ghost stories, mythology, folklore, and things that go bump in the night. She lives in St. Louis with her family. In her free time, Laurell trains in Filipino martial arts with a specialization in blade work. Learn more online at laurellkhamilton.com