Thursday, September 6, 2012

New Publisher -- Black Opal Books

I am excited to have been offered a contract from a great publisher. Though the contract is not signed yet, I could not contain my excitement and had to share.
Black Opal Books http://www.blackopalbooks.com/
“Since we're authors as well as businesspeople, we know how much hard work goes into writing a book—endless hours spent staring at a page while searching for words, struggling to finish the first draft, revising, editing, more revising, and still more revising.” Black Opal Books

I am very happy to be included in their wonderful business and am looking forward to our journeys together.


The Dark Lady

Historical Romance, currently under contract with Black Opal Books.

You can read the entire first, second and third chapters of The Dark Lady at www.dawnchandler.net


The Dark Lady, while not my first novel, is the first one that I had completely edited and ready for publication. It was under contract with a publisher that I had some time constraint issues with and they graciously returned my rights. It is now being considered by another publisher, who I am hoping to hear from soon, today would be nice. 
The Dark Lady was a joy for me to write. I fell in love with the characters immediately and knew I had to tell their story.
The struggles that Van has to go through to become a whole person touched me deeply and I found myself cheering for her as I wrote.
In essence, this book is about the struggles to break though the bonds of society and prove that one is more than the stereotypes portray them to be.
I hope that my readers will fall in love with my characters as much as I have.

Blurb
Vanessa Fordella should have grown up in luxury and ease with a father that doted on her and loved her. Instead her mother stole her away and forced her into the life of a boy. Becoming Van instead of Vanessa was so easy for her she was sent to page training at Grayweist Castle. Large for a girl and uneven of temper it didn't take her long to make herself well-known. She rose through the ranks quickly and was sent into battle. She risks her life to save Peter Lawston and in return for her courage and honor King Henry II bestows her with knighthood making her The Dark Knight. For years she enjoyed being a dangerous and deadly knight until one day a message tore her beloved world apart. At her mother's dying request she agrees to marry.
Peter Lawston goes home from the war with ideas of a simple and peaceful life. Peter has always had an ordered and controlled life and he wants to keep it that way. Pain and betrayal from when he was a child dictates the kind of man he is and the kind of wife he will allow himself to have. When his father grows ill Peter reluctantly agrees to marry a woman he has never met. As the carriage pulls up to the castle, Peter is hoping for a shy and controllable wife. What arrives instead is Van, a six foot tall Amazon of a woman with pent up rage and aggression who doesn't know the first thing about being docile or obedient.
Peter and Van fight and struggle for power and control of the relationship. They fall in love quickly but her secret past is always a strain between them. Peter doesn't want to give up his idea of a perfect wife and struggles to turn her into what he wants. Van has always been the one in control and is used to getting things her way. She doesn't know how to let go of the knight that she has always been and struggles to become the woman and wife that she is expected to be. Both must give up their difficult past if they hope to have any kind of a future.

Excerpt from Chapter One of The Dark Lady

Peter closed his eyes and his breathing became shallow. Numbness was beginning to overtake his mind. His thoughts were getting slower, he could feel it. He tried to concentrate on the boy’s voice above him, but his mind felt heavy and sluggish.
The voice that had been gravely and deep at first had changed; softened, like a gentle breeze across his heart. He was confused at his thoughts. His mind was hazy. Delirium was obviously setting in. A groan slipped from beneath his numb lips.
The sweet concerned voice caressed him, washing over him like a warm breeze. “Are you with me, can you focus on my face? Come on, talk to me. Open your eyes. I need to know you are going to be alright.” The gentle voice was like a melody to his war ravaged ears, a loving voice that brought forth images of that life his father had spoken of. Of children to hold and to love, not just some faceless heir to be his future, but a child to be his life.
He opened his eyes to the young boy’s blurry face. The light from the fire pierced into him, cutting through him like a dagger. He shut his eyes again with a moan.
“Come on focus, you are going to be alright.” There was fear in that soft voice that told him he was cared for. That he was needed. “Look me in the eye.” The worry that he heard enveloped him in warmth in a way no fire ever could. He could almost picture the mother of those children who would hold him at night when he was cold, as he was now. She would be beautiful, dark and exotic.
When he opened his eyes once again the boy was gone and in his place was the beautiful yet blurry face of a girl. “Are you alright?” she asked sweetly as she leaned close to him.
“I am here with you.” Concern filled him as he spotted the large gash on her check, oddly in the same spot as the lad’s injury. He shook his head to clear it. Confusion swirled through his weary mind. Peter lifted his hand and ran his fingers along the uninjured cheekbone as blood dripped onto his injured shoulder. “Your face. You are hurt. You must have it looked at.”
The face swirled in and out of focus and the boy was there once again. Peter closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. “I will. You first, I can wait.” The soft voice told him. When he opened his eyes once again she was smiling down at him. Her face was still slightly blurred, but he knew it was her from her melodious voice.
“You have such dark eyes, almost black. One could get lost in them.” Peter continued to stroke the smooth cheek above him, sliding trembling fingers down the warm and inviting skin gently cupping the soft and shapely chin before starting again. Peter squinted in an effort to keep the world focused as he looked deeply into those black eyes and thought of his future. “You are so beautiful.”
Full lips parted in a sweet tinkling laugh, like water rippling over stones. “I will forgive you that since you have lost so much blood, your thoughts must be scrambled and your vision faulty.” A wide beautiful smile took the sting from the words.
A deep trembling breath caused the world to shimmer before him and the image of the boy was once again before him.
Peter pulled his hand away in confusion as he looked at the boy. “Quite. I have lost a great amount.” His arm dropped as darkness swallowed him.


Thank you for taking the time to come visit me. Check out the free reads, free contests and giveaways and sign my guestbook at www.dawnchandler.net

Look for interviews with the characters coming soon.

10 comments:

  1. OMG I want to read this!!!! Let me know when it comes out!!!

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  2. This definitely sounds like my kind of book!

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  3. Thank you Amber,Rhonda and Mohawkgal I will definately keep you posted as to the status of availability

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  4. Yay! Glad to hear it, lady. Congrats and best of luck! I hope you and the new pub get along like peas and carrots :)

    Stephanie Beck

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  5. Way to go on your book and hopefully soon to be all your books out on the market. : )

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  6. Congratulations on your new publishing company and on your expertise at writing and editing your new book. I would imagine a lot of long and tedious but enjoyable hours have gone into it.

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  7. Thank you all for your comments and support, it means a lot to me. I hope all my books are out on the market soon and yes there have been many long hours that went into my books, but I have relished every moment of them.

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  8. Congratulations Rhonda Blazge-Johnson, You are my winner. Please watch your mail for the prize pack. Thank you all so much for playing along and helping me celebrate.

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  9. I have also been offered a contract by B.O.B., which I'm anxiously awaiting. Congrats to us!

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