Guest Post & Giveaway with Sharon Ashwood

Been there, slain that—and got the signature fragrance.

I was having a theme day today, and it was about perfume.

First, I was reading the paper and saw an article that I found fascinating. It turns out that Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men is good for luring jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle.

No, I’m not kidding. Researchers wishing to photograph the big cats can spray it around and the complex scent will keep the big cats busy sniffing long enough to get the video they need. Apparently Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps works pretty well, too. Big cats apparently have good taste.

Then, I was at the hairdresser this morning and she asked me what perfume I normally wore (Emporio Armani, if anyone’s interested).  We got talking about women and their signature scents.

So when I sat down to write this blog, my mind turned to perfume as a means of defining the heroines of my Dark Forgotten storyverse.  Even though Ashe and Holly are sisters, the three women I’ve written about are all very different and they’d definitely go for different items at the fragrance counter.

But just to back up for a moment:  For those who haven’t read the stories yet, my books are set in a modern-day coastal university town in the Pacific Northwest. Everyone’s aware of the supernatural citizens in our midst, who are just trying to make a living like everyone else. The problems start when a demon from an interdimensional prison tries to open a portal into our world. Not a good idea, because the prison is crammed with magical creatures who have been locked in the dungeon for centuries.  Some are innocent, some definitely not and the last thing anyone—including the vampire queen—wants is the doorway to hell to open up in a local downtown mall. The books tell the story of what happens when the best laid plans of the undead go horribly wrong.

BOOK ONE is Ravenous (click here to read  Tynga’s Review).  The heroine is Holly Carver, a young witch who is a university student trying to find love and tuition money. She’s still at the age where she’s very wise about some things and naive about others—like the intentions of her ghostbusting partner, the six hundred year old vampire Alessandro Caravelli. He’s got her back, but he’d like to have other parts, too.

Holly is a lively, curious soul, and she doesn’t mind kicking butt when she has to. Her scent would be sunny and woodsy, with a touch of fruit. Something from the Body Shop would suit her—environmentally sound, fun, and priced for a hard-working student’s budget.

Alessandro?  What goes with fangs, leather, guitars, a brooding soul, and a classic red Thunderbird?

BOOK TWO is Scorched.  Connie was a seventeen year old Irish farm girl when she was made a vampire—and then thrown into the Castle prison before she finished Turning.  She’s been locked up in a dungeon, servant to a mad sorcerer, since the middle of the 1700s.  She’s an old-fashioned girl, but when she meets Mac, a police detective facing some highly demonic challenges, she’s quite ready to get a taste of the twenty-first century—and of him.

Connie would go for a light and feminine scent, but there is a darker side to her too. Estee Lauder’s Pleasures Intense would be a good choice.  Pretty, but with a lush, sensuous bite.

Mac?  Tall, dark, and spicy, with a great sense of humour.

BOOK THREE, due out July 6, is Unchained. The back cover copy says it all:

Been there, slain that.

Ashe Carver, monster-killer, has the scars to prove it. But faced with a custody battle, she's hung up her stakes and taken a job at the public library, determined to show the courts and her ten-year-old daughter that she's as good a mother as she is a hunter.

Easier said than done. There are lovelorn vampires haunting the library, a slime demon in the shopping mall, and her new-mom sister needs a hand with her ghostbusting biz. Then, after centuries guarding a supernatural prison, Captain Reynard strides into her world like a hero from the library's Must Reads. Smokingly gorgeous, passionate and courageous to a fault, he has only weeks to live unless Ashe finds the thief who took his soul.

Ashe picks up her weapons to save the day—but not every problem can be solved with a stake. With so much tragedy in her past, Ashe fears the disaster she sees ahead—and prays she doesn't fail everyone. Again.

Memories are the hardest monsters to kill.

My first thought would be that Ashe wouldn’t wear any perfume at all, but then I remembered the Obsession article.  As a woman, a widow, a single mother, a warrior, and a working stiff, something very complex would suit her, too—especially if it drew out the predators.

And obsession certainly describes how Reynard feels about her.  He’s a smoking hot historical hero, and they never do things by halves.

Scent is the most primitive sense, and stays in our memories the longest. What is your strongest sense memory?

**

Thanks to Tynga for inviting me to the Paranormal Summer Fest to tell you about my books!  As part of the celebration, I’m giving away a book to someone who comments on this post (winner’s choice of the above three titles, and I will ship internationally).  Check out my website at www.SharonAshwood.com for excerpts and book trailers.

Have a fabulous summer!

Sharon Ashwood

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Thank you very much Sharon for a quite interesting post =D

I’m wearing Warm Sugar Vanilla from Bath&Bodyworks wonder what it would say about me? *winks*

 

Sharon said it! She is offering a copy of any of her books to one lucky reader!

You must leave a comment for Sharon & FILL THE FORM

you have to do both or your entry will be null.

OPEN INTERNATIONALY

Ends July 4th, 2010.

Posted by Tynga at 00:07

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Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

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