Thursday, November 1, 2012

Guest Post and Giveaway with Morgan Kelly

United By Books is pleased to let the amazing Morgan Kelly take over the blog today! So without any further hesitation take it away Morgan.......

I hope you all had a fabulous, sexy Halloween last night! Mr. Kelly and I spent it at home, kicking back with some classic scary movies while waiting for trick ’r treaters to come stomping up past the ten foot tall Angel of Death that came to roost on our roof (well, at least it did after Mr. Kelly built it! It’s really scary! Our cat was too scared to come home when he first saw it! Ha.) After the kids all went home, we cracked open a couple of bottles of Pumpkin Ale, and watched another movie. Yeah, I know. We’re crazy like that.

With Midnight In Your Arms coming out at Halloween, with a Halloween theme that runs through the plot, I can’t help but wonder what sorts of horror movies Laura Dearborn, the sexy psychic medium who wins the heart of the ghostly apparition of dashing Crimean veteran Alaric Storm III in Midnight In Your Arms, would have been watching. The year she lives in, 1926, was actually a very good year for horror! The Magician came out that year, adapted from a novel by one of my very favourite authors, W. Somerset Maugham. The movie is about a crazed scientist who tries to steal the blood of a maiden for his Dr.Frankensteinian experiments to create life. The heroine is played by 20s starlet Alice Terry, whose photograph I’ve pasted. She looks very chic and glamourous—maybe Laura Dearborn would look something like her, if she was a real woman living back then. I like to imagine her ducking into a darkened theatre, contraband flask of gin tucked into her handbag, slinking into the back row to enjoy the hair-raising matinee! No doubt she slips into a reverie, fantasizing about the sexy auburn-haired man who keeps haunting her dreams, never knowing that one day she will be his…


​I thought you might enjoy a link so you can see a clip of the final scene of The Magician, and get a sense of what people in Laura’s time found entertaining this time of year : 




What do you think? Scary enough for our modern-day standards? What are your favourite classic horror movies? Mr. Kelly and I still think The Evil Dead takes the cake! I’ve seen the trailers for the remake, and it looks spectacular! There is nothing better than cuddling up to your honey to watch something that makes it okay to get a little closer than would be strictly necessary when watching Seinfeld re-runs, am I right? Leave a message at the bottom of the post and let us know what you did for Halloween, unless it was too naughty for public consumption ;^]


 In celebration of the release of Midnight In Your Arms, I’m offering a giveaway: one digital copy is up for grabs, to a randomly selected reader



Blurb and Critical Praise for Midnight In Your Arms:

For fans of Downton Abbey and readers of Jude Deveraux and Teresa Medeiros comes a brand-new tale of a love that dares to defy time itself . . .
When psychic Laura Dearborn inherits Stonecross Hall in 1926, she has no idea she's inheriting a love story too—one that she's lived again and again. But as Alaric Storm III, the handsome owner of the mansion from sixty years earlier, starts to haunt her waking dreams, Laura discovers her heart's true home has always been within Stonecross's walls.

Tormented by memories of war, Alaric Storm III is used to spirits—just not ones from the future. Set on fire by Laura's ghostly affections, Alaric is forced to choose: follow his heart and grasp Laura's hand through time, or surrender to the call of duty and live without love.

As All Hallows' Eve draws near, Alaric and Laura must find a way to hold on to each other forever—or risk repeating their tragic romance until the end of time.


“Kelly’s thoughtful debut novella sensitively evokes the horrors of war and the emotional difficulties facing veterans in peacetime, and the atmospheric descriptions of 1920s London and Victorian high society illuminate the temporal and social differences separating the lovers.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A lush Gothic romance nested within a time-traveling ghost story, Midnight in Your Arms is the very best kind of fairytale, an inventive tapestry of the nostalgic and the new that begs to be read into the early hours of the morning. A marvelous debut!” (Michael Boccacino, author of Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling)

 If you want to find out more about me, and connect on any social media platform you like best, I can be found at the following places:  BLOG/ FACEBOOK GOODREADS/ TWITTER   

********* GIVEAWAY *********

Morgan is generously offering up one eBook copy of MIDNIGHT in Your Arms to one lucky commenter. Just fill out the rafflecopter below to be entered  
 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 comments:

erin said...

Thanks for the fun post and giveaway! COngrats to Morgan on the newest release! While I appreciate the older movies, I don't think it would be scary enough for modern audiences. We have become waaaay too jaded with special affects and no limits to appreciate psyschological horror :)

Unknown said...

Yeah, I know what you mean! It's fun to watch the old classics, but it's hard to imagine being scared of them when we have things like American Horror Story to watch now, which is one of my FAVOURITE shows. Thanks so much for participating, and good luck with the contest!

xoMorgan.

Mina said...

Hi Morgan. Congratulations on your new release! I love your choice of historical period and ghost theme. I used to enjoy horror movies when I was young, now not that much, unless there is a strong romantic element to provide some sort of relief. My favorite is Bram Stoker's Dracula, the one starring Gary Oldman.
minadecaro@hotmail.com

Linda said...

Oh, i´m still having trouble getting over the Ring *shudders*
Love this and can´t wait for my chance to read, =)

best wishes & Happy Friday!
//Linda

Unknown said...

Congrats..and thanks for this giveaway.