BooksChatter: ☀ Luck of the Irish

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Luck of the Irish, a Contemporary Paranormal Romance by Liz Gavin (first published 30 September 2014, and then serialised; this revised and complete second edition April 2016, Elessar Books, 296 pages).

Don't miss the promotional guest post by author Liz Gavin where she shares with us Useful Tips on Creating Covers.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first two chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Luck of the Irish is FREE on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner's Lending Library and it is on sale for ONLY .99!

Author Liz Gavin will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

Synopsis | Teasers | Author Guest Post | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

Keira Ashe’s parents are great but her mother has overprotected her for years. Now, this twenty-two-year-old Bostonian has graduated from college and can go on a trip she has been planning for years. She fears her shyness may get in the way of her enjoying what could be a life-altering adventure. However, Keira feels her luck is about to change when she meets gorgeous bartender Declan Slane.

Declan Slane is twenty-six and works at a hotel bar in Dublin. He hasn’t been very lucky in his love life so far. Also, he has got a troubled past he has chosen not to revisit in order to keep his sanity. Because he isn’t looking for a girlfriend, Declan isn’t very pleased to meet a certain breathtaking American who walks into his bar one afternoon.

Get a taste of adventure and heartache as Keira spreads her wings and matures while she gets to know her great-grandparents’ home country – Ireland. Hold your breath when she faces tough decisions and dangers. Root for Keira while she weighs up the consequences of making love for the first time. Bite your nails when she comes across unforeseen threats.

Liz Gavin’s second full-length novel is hard to put down just as it is hard to pinpoint its genre. She has woven an intricate web around her characters that will leave readers breathless. In the sizzling concoction, this talented new author poured heart-warming romance, heart-stopping suspense, and a dash of heart-searching paranormal. Take your pick. Regardless of the literary genre you might favor, Liz Gavin’s writing will take you to a whole different side of it.

Teasers

Excerpt | Author Guest Post |

Excerpt

     When Declan opened his eyes again, he didn’t know how much time had passed. The house was deadly quiet. O’Hallon was nowhere to be seen. Sluggish, Declan crawled forward and sat up beside Keira. He could barely breathe, due to the effort to move and the loss of blood, but he pulled her lifeless body onto his lap and held her close. He hugged her tight against his chest. He buried his face in her hair, which was covered in blood, and cried like he hadn’t cried since he was a little boy. He felt like he was six again.
     “Please, please, don’t leave me, Keira.”
     His sobs filled the air. He balled his hands into fists, frustrated because Keira didn’t respond. He couldn’t face the evidence that she wasn’t able to answer him.
     “This is my fault, too. He wouldn’t have killed you, if I had let you go with him.”
     He sat there, rocking back and forth for a long time, hanging on to her as if he could bring her back by sheer power of will. The thought that she was gone forever caused such burning pain in his chest, much stronger than the one from the bullet. He couldn’t breathe.
     “Please, don’t go. I can’t bear it if you leave me, too.”

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Author Guest Post

First of all, I’d like to thank the awesome team at Goddess Fish Promotions for putting together this blog tour. YOU ROCK!!
     Second of all – and equally important – thanks to the host for having me and Luck of the Irish on your blog today. You’re much appreciated.
     Now let’s move on to the actual post. LOL
     Writing a novel is time-consuming to the point we neglect family and friends. It’s so distracting we walk around with our heads in the clouds, hearing dialogs no one else can hear and seeing things that aren’t there. Authors tend to concentrate on the creative process and neglect boring ‘details’ such as covers, format, and promotion. Please note I put the word details between quotation marks because these things are HUGE for authors. More so for indie writers.
     Most of us don’t have the funds to employ a team of awesome, creative people to take care of covers, formatting, promoting and so on. We must do things on our own. Although, I haven’t been publishing for a long a time I have been very lucky so far. I’ve found great resources online, which I’d like to share with you

CREATING COVERS

     You know that old saying ‘you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’, right? Well, the thing is most people do that. Some people do that all the time. In my defense let me make it clear I know covers can be misleading. A beautiful cover image doesn’t mean the content is to one’s liking. On the other hand, a plain-looking cover may hide a treasure inside. However, I often wonder – why not combine an excellent story with a compelling cover?
     Easy! Right?
     Well… it’s not that simple. For starters, you need a picture you can use but it must be one you took yourself to avoid facing copyright issues. If you don’t have one you’ll need to find a high resolution image with the appropriate dimensions on a royalty-free stock image website.
     Does it still sound simple?
     If you’re an author, you know it isn’t. If you’re a reader, let me give you a challenge. Think about a book. Any book. Think about its storyline and main characters. Forget its actual cover and go online searching for an image you think conveys the storyline and characters.
     How long did it take you to find it?
     Great. You have your image. Is the picture royalty-free? Is it ready to be used on the cover of your book? Do you need to edit it? Do you need to include a title and the author’s name? How do you do that? How long will it take you to finish your cover?
     Phew! I’m tired already. Aren’t you? Told you it wasn’t that easy! Now you have an idea of what it takes to offer readers a decent-looking cover.
     Although editing pictures can be tricky, I’ve discovered good ‘how-to’ videos on Youtube teaching the basics about Photoshop. I’m still learning and it’s a great program but I know it can be intimidating as well. There’s another very good website for editing images which offers user-friendly features. It’s called PicMonkey. As for royalty-free stock images my favorite source is Big Stock Photo because they have variety and high-resolution quality at fair prices.
     Hope I’ve helped you guys!! Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy the tour and remember to check out the other blog stops for more chances at winning the giveaway!!

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Luck of the Irish
ONLY .99!

About the Author

When Liz Gavin was in Second Grade - just a couple of years ago, really - her teacher told her mother the little girl should start a diary because she needed an outlet for her active and vivid imagination. She was a talkative child who would disrupt the class by engaging her colleagues in endless conversations. She loved telling them the stories her grandfather used to tell her.

Apparently, the teacher wasn’t a big fan of those stories, and Liz’s mother bought her a diary. She happily wrote on it for a couple of months. Unable to see the appeal of writing for her own enjoyment only, she gave up on it. She missed the audience her friends provided her in class. She went back to disturbing her dear teacher’s class.

Since then, she has become a hungry reader. She will read anything and everything she can get her hands on – from the classics to erotica. That’s how she has become a writer of erotica and romance, as well.

As a young adult, she participated in a student exchange program and lived in New Orleans for six months. She fell in love with the city and its wonderful inhabitants. NOLA will always hold a special spot in Liz Gavin’s heart. Nowadays, living in Brazil, Liz’s creativity has improved many times because it’s such a vibrant, gorgeous and sexy country.

Welcome to her world of hot Alpha males and naughty, independent women. Add a touch of the paranormal in the presence of some wicked souls and you’ll get the picture.

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