Omnific Publishing is celebrating all things Omnific, Romance, and Angels! August 5th-10th, participating blogs will be featuring different guest posts, interviews, and excerpts by the authors of The Omnific Angels. Don’t forget to enter the giveaways and visit the other stops by clicking the Linky list below. Different blogs will be hosting three different giveaways for each author.
Omnific and the authors would like to invite you to join the Angel Goodreads Group! Head over to Goodreads and see what’s going on: Angel Goodreads Group
Click here to view the other Angels of Omnific stops and other giveaways…
The Book Bellas were chosen to host Nicki Elson! We have a fabulous excerpt from DIVINE TEMPTATION, a round of questions with Evan, as well as all of her book info and she has a fantastic giveaway! All the info you need is below:
About the Book
Maggie Brock has everything under control. Even her divorce, though painful at the time, registers only as a minor blip in her carefully constructed universe. Her life in Prairie Oaks has once again returned to a smooth, predictable pace…until an angel shows up in her bedroom.
The angel is just as bewildered as Maggie about why he’s been sent to her, but their unsuccessful efforts to gain understanding of the mystery fade to the background as their relationship grows. Soon, Maggie’s biggest problem becomes the angel himself, as her feelings for him develop into something less than saintly.
While Maggie struggles to keep her desires pure, a nefarious being lurks in the shadows of Prairie Oaks, watching and waiting for the opportunity to fulfill his ambiguous purpose. Preying on her conflicted emotions, the demon manipulates her at every opportunity, but the one to deliver Maggie directly into his hands is the last person she’d expect.
My favorite aspect of Divine Temptation is the way philosophical talks between woman and angel mingle with their increased physical closeness and desire for each other. The angel tends to handle it with more grace and control than the mere human…
EXCERPT from Divine Temptation
“If there’s a divine plan in place that’s all been foreseen, then is there really free will or is it just us thinking we’re making choices while God’s pulling the strings?” Maggie asked.
“Free will is genuine, and often the choices people make lead them far from their intended path, but God offers up opportunities and arranges circumstances to help bring them back to where they’re supposed to be.” Evan’s voice was steady, unflustered by Maggie’s persistent challenges.
She relaxed and leaned against the back of the chair, extending her other leg so that both feet rested in his lap. He’d begun kneading her first foot, and now moved over to the other. “That feels nice,” she said, giving her toes a small wiggle as an indication that she was ready to lay the conversation to rest. As usual, she needed time to absorb the things Evan told her.
Reclining casually, almost lazily, against the wall, he turned his face toward her. Simply staring at his beautiful, serene features would be enough to reassure her on the worst of days, but he offered so much more than that—wisdom, encouragement, true friendship. “Mind if I try this without the socks?” he asked.
After thinking back to the last time she’d painted her toenails—only a week earlier—she nodded. Evan’s fingertips dipped under the cuff of her loose sock, and a giggle bubbled up and out of Maggie’s throat as he worked his way down to her most ticklish spot.
“Is it too much?” he asked, a teasing spark in his eye.
“No, it’ll be fine. Just, maybe avoid the underside of the arch.”
He complied, moving his fingers slowly over her flesh, pressing away the pockets of tightness, and caressing her with his angelic, flowing vibrations. She closed her eyes to take it all in. It was just a foot massage, no lines crossed physically, but emotionally she was bursting. She hadn’t expected it to be easy to control her affection for him, but she hadn’t anticipated that it would be excruciating.
And now, a Character Interview with Evan from Divine Temptation!
Hi, this is Nicki, the author of Divine Temptation. I’m about to interview one of my characters from the book, and I’ve never talked to one of them off the pages before, so I’m a little nervous. Probably best to get to it before I change my mind, eh? Okay, bring on the angel.
Evan (the angel): You sure you’re ready?
Me: No.
Evan: We don’t have to do this.
Me: Um, yeah, we sorta do. You see these people here?
Evan: I’m sure they’d understand.
Me: Don’t.
Evan: Don’t what?
Me: Don’t get all “I’m gonna show up and be soothing and wonderful and—”…just don’t.
Evan: Why not?
Me: Because this isn’t about me. It’s about you. I am interviewing you.
*A protracted silence*
Evan: Are you going to ask me a question, then?
Me: Yes. How’ve you been since the final round of edits?
Evan: (smiles) I’ve been well. How’ve yo— I’ve been well.
Me: Good. And what have you been doing?
Evan: You know I can’t tell you. And even if I could, you wouldn’t und—
Me: Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t understand. But you can’t blame a girl for trying, right? So…is this doomed to be the most boring interview ever—me asking you questions and you not answering them?
Evan: Come on, you know me better than anyone else on this Earth. Ask me something you know I can answer.
Me: (smirks) Okay, at least tell me this: now that you’re done “posing” for my story, have you gone back to Abercrombie modeling? (holds up bag with image of beautiful boy on it)
Evan: (laughs) That might be what gave you the first inspiration for me, but we both know I ended up totally different than the man pictured there.
Me: (looks at the bag and sighs) That is no mere man. And I wouldn’t say you ended up totally different.
Evan: (tilts head and raises eyebrow in warning) I would never pose completely shirtless, arms thrown back behind my head while I leer seductively at masses of anonymous retail shoppers.
Me: He’s not leering seductively! He’s…observing…knowingly. Besides, you’re not wearing a shirt on the book cover.
Evan: I still don’t understand why you didn’t ask to have the lower portion blurred out.
Me: It’s just a shoulder; get over it. And before you go trying to give everyone the impression that you’re oh-so-innocent, do I need to remind you of chapter 20? And let’s not forget what you did in chapters 11 and 16. Got a little frisky in 8 and 9 too, if you ask me. Then there was the whole morning after the exorci—
Evan: Point made, and I think you better stop before you give away any spoilers.
Me: Right. Thanks. So, would you like me to give you a small part in the new story I’ve started writing?
Evan: Ehm, no thanks. Not really my style.
Me: You’ve seen it?
Evan: Enough to know there’s not much room for an angel.
Me: Well, the seeds of the idea actually came from a small scene in Divine Temptation. The one with Maggie on Thanksgiving night, when she returned home alone…
Evan: (nods slightly and shifts his eyes toward the floor)
Me: Do you not approve of the new storyline?
Evan: It’s not for me to approve or disapprove, and regardless of what I think of it, I’m glad you’re having fun writing it.
Me: (smiles) You’re a swell guy. Thanks for doing this interview. I think we can end now so that you can be off to…where is it you said you were going?
Evan: I didn’t. But nice try. (winks)
The Making of a Book Trailer
The Divine Temptation blurb has been plastered pretty much anywhere plasterable, so I wanted the trailer to offer up something different. The video doesn’t give a lot of detail about the book, but it asks the big questions that Maggie has to answer throughout the story, and I hope it pulls potential readers into her basic struggle, which is to resist temptation…or not.
Another very cool thing about this trailer is the music—it’s composed and performed by fellow author and multi-talented friend Jennifer DeLucy. The song has such a soothing quality, but at the same time there are hints of a darker torment, which perfectly fits the tone of the story and Maggie’s relationship with the angel.
Watch trailer:
You’ve heard of speed dating, yes? This is sort of like that—you get to “date” four authors in one interview. One question, four very different answers. If you like what you read, you can take the relationship further by hopping around the other blogs in Linky to get to know these authors better.
What was the first spark of inspiration that made you want to write your angel book/series?
Nicki Elson: I was reading a certain YA paranormal romance series and noted that the heroine just sort of gave up her own identity and life once the supernatural white knight arrived on the scene. So I thought it would be interesting to see how a mature, responsible, somewhat guarded adult woman would react to a handsome, otherworldly man being dropped into her life—Maggie doesn’t exactly handle everything maturely or responsibly, but she also can’t so readily walk away from the rest of her life to be with him the way she wants to be, and that struggle was what I wanted to explore.
Patricia Leever: The first spark was the main character, Evelyn, a 135 year old demon hunter. She was the driving force in my brain and I had to give her a purpose other than just some random ageless chick that went around killing demons for no reason whatsoever. Enter Lebriga Corporation and Lebriga is an anagram for Gabriel.
Carol Oates: The Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish text and The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde both gave the first spark of life to Ember in their own way. The story of the Watchers from The Book of Enoch is well known and I think the threads through the story are obvious. Not so much with The Selfish Giant. For me, Sebastian is the giant, wallowing in a garden that will never see spring. Misery attracts misery, and sometimes putting others’ happiness and peace first is the only way to find our own.
Debra Anastasia: I was entering a monster contest! And of course my entry was a cursing angel. I lost, but I loved the story so much I turned it into a book!
About the Author
Writing wasn’t something Nicki set out to do; it just sort of happened when she realized writing reports was by far her favorite part of her investment consulting position. She traded stock allocation and diversification for story arcs and dialogue and now weaves her creative writing time in with the other activities of her busy life with her family in the Chicago suburbs.
Nicki writes with two goals in mind: #1 to keep the characters realistic, even when their circumstances are anything but, and #2 to make the reader feel. Her published works include Three Daves, a light-hearted romantic romp through a 1980s college campus, Divine Temptation, a romantic novel of angelic proportions, and short stories “Sway” (available as a single), “I Don’t Do Valentine’s Day” (part of A Valentine Anthology), and “Impressionism 101” (included in the debut issue of Insatiable: The Magazine of Paranormal Desire).
Author Social Media Links:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Author Goodreads
Giveaway: (US only)
(1) Print copy of Divine Temptation (US)
(1) Beaded angel wings bookmark
(1) Angel wings earrings (gold toned, hypoallergenic, nickel free)