Category Archives: News/Announcements

My supernatural thriller, DARK LULLABY, now on tour!

May 2 Promo and review
Kindred Dreamheart
May 3 Guest Blog
Fang-tastic Books
May 4 Guest Blog
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
May 5 Promo
Books, books the magical fruit
May 6 Review
Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer –
May 8 Interview and Promo
Carly Fall – Where Fantasy Meets Romance
May 9 Promo and review
Picked by Poison
May 14 Guest blog
J.D. Brown’s Book Blog
May 15 Guest Blog
Soliloquy
May 20 Excerpt/Promo
Read2Review.com
May 23 Review
Reviews By Molly
May 25 Guest blog
Darlene’s Book Nook
May 27 Review
Books, Books, and More Books
May 28 Interview and review
Froggarita
May 30 Interview and review
Storm Goddess Book Reviews & More-
May 30 Guest Blog
Paranormal Romantic Suspense,
Dark Lullaby
By Mayra Calvani

Blurb:

At a trendy Turkish tavern one Friday night, astrophysicist Gabriel Diaz meets a mysterious young woman. Captivated by her beauty as well as her views on good and evil, he spends the next several days with her. Soon, however, he begins to notice a strangeness in her–her skin’s abnormally high temperature, her obsession with milk products, her child-like and bizarre behavior as she seems to take pleasure in toying with his conscience.

The young woman, Kamilah, invites him to Rize, Turkey, where she claims her family owns a cottage in the woods. In spite of his heavy workload and the disturbing visions and nightmares about his sister’s baby that is due to be born soon, Gabriel agrees to go with her.

But nothing, not even the stunning splendor of the Black Sea, can disguise the horror of her nature. In a place where death dwells and illusion and reality seem as one, Gabriel must now come to terms with his own demons in order to save his sister’s unborn child, and ultimately, his own soul…

*Dream Realm Awards Finalist!

What readers are saying…

“Mayra Calvani is a masterful storyteller… Dark Lullaby is complex and compelling…” –Habitual Reader


“Dark Lullaby is an atmospheric paranormal horror that grips you from page one and refuses to let go until you’ve raced, breathless, to the end.” –ePinions


“Dark Lullaby is a page-turner. A horror story from the top shelf! You’ll love it.” –5 stars from Euro-Reviews


“This is a terrific horror…” –Harriet Klausner


“Dark Lullaby will capture you with its rich descriptions, its exotic location, and the need to uncover the dark secrets hidden within its pages.” –Cheryl Malandrinos, The Book Connection

Welcome to the Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Hop!


Hello everyone!

The Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Yara @ Once Upon A Twilight has officially started! It will run from 12:01 AM EST on April 6 and end at 11:59 PM EST on April 12.

I’ll be giving away a $10 Paypal payment to one lucky winner!

To enter, all you need to do is sign up for my mailing list–right sidebar, under my picture. :-)

Here’s a list of all participating blogs:

My interview in LATINIDAD

Hi,

It was an honor to be interviewed by Marcela Landres for her wonderful newsletter, Latinidad. In the interview, I talk about book reviewing, the things to avoid and what reviewers should embrace.

You can read the interview HERE.

Cheers!

 

The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing Workshop, February 6 – 24, 2012

I’ll be offering my Slippery Art of Book Reviewing Workshop at Lowcountry Romances Writers from February 6 to 24. The deadline to register is February 2nd. The price: $16.00.

For details, please visit: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#FEB

This will be a group workshop. If you’re interested in an individual workshop, please visit my workshop page for details.

Happy New Year!

Enter the Boost Your Buzz $1,000 HOLIDAY Giveaway!

Enter the Boost Your Buzz $1,000 HOLIDAY Giveaway! One lucky person is going to win $1000 USD paid via Paypal!

Gain entries in this giveaway by joining my mailing list and following me on Facebook and Twitter. You can be entered on Social Media Junkie & Simply Stacie (you only have to enter on one of the sites as the forms will be the same on each)

The giveaway starts December 1st 12 am EST and will run until December 15th 11:59 pm EST and is open worldwide.

$1,000 CASH prize will be delivered via Paypal after the winner has confirmed. The winner has 48 hours to confirm their winning notification. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours of receipt of the winning email a new winner will them be drawn and so on and so forth.

Boost Your Buzz $1,000 HOLIDAY Giveaway can be entered on Social Media Junkie & Simply Stacie (you only have to enter on one of the sites as the forms will be the same on each).

Embraced by the Shadows blog tour & two FREE ebooks!

Dear Readers,

I’d like to announce the release of my paranormal suspense novel, EMBRACED BY THE SHADOWS, now available on Kindle for $2.99. 

Here’s a blurb:

In a bazaar in Istanbul one evening, ten-year-old Alana Piovanetti sees a man standing in the shadows. He smiles, and over time she convinces herself that it was just her imagination that placed sharp fangs amongst those flashing teeth.

Twelve years later, Alana is surprised when she is chosen to manage a new restaurant opening in her home city of San Juan. She has neither training nor experience to justify her success. But La Cueva del Vampiro has the kind of ambience she adores, for Alana has always had a penchant for horror and the dark side of life. Yet she is also plagued with dreams of dark sensuality, dreams that take on shattering reality when she meets the stunningly handsome, charismatic Sadash.

For Sadash is the man she saw in the shadows so many years before…and Sadash isn’t human….

You may read the prologue and first chapter here: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/EmbracedbyShadows_ch1.html

The link to Kindle is:

http://www.amazon.com/Embraced-by-the-Shadows-ebook/dp/B005T4DPCM/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318158557&sr=1-2

The story features a Latina protagonist and a Turkish vampire.  I hope you’ll give it a try!

To celebrate the release of my novel, I’m giving away two of my other books for free. This offer will run until Halloween night only. Of course, I hope you’ll consider supporting my work by purchasing a copy of Embraced by the Shadows, but if for whatever reason you decide not to, the two free ebooks are still yours to download. This is my Halloween gift to you! :-)

The FREE ebooks I’m giving away are: Dark Lullaby and Cat Cellar and Other Stories and they’re available in various formats on Smashwords:

Dark Lullaby https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94529

The Cat Cellar and Other Stories https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95031

Enjoy! Happy reading and happy Halloween!

I want to thank all the wonderful bloggers who will be hosting me on their blogs and/or reviewing my novel this October. THANK YOU!

Here’s my blog tour schedule, put together by my fabulous publicist, Donna McDine:

10/10 – Anna’s Book Blog - http://annavivian.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-blog-with-mayra-calvani-offer-of.html – Guest post.

10/14 – Books, Products and More! - http://booktoursandmore.blogspot.com - Spotlight.

10/13 – Readinista – www.readinista.com – Interview.

10/17 – The Kindle Fever - www.thekindlefever.blogspot.com – Guest post.

10/20 – Colette, Buckeye Girl Reads - www.lovesromances.blogspot.com – Guest post.

10/21 – Vamp Chix - www.vampchix.blogspot.com – Guest post and giveaway.

10/24 – Book Lovers Inc - www.bookloversinc.com – Guest post.

10/25 – Vamp Chix Read Books - www.vampchixreadbooks.blogspot.com - Excerpt and giveaway.

10/26 – A Book Lover’s Dream - www.abooklovesdream.com – Guest post.

10/28 – Itzel Library - www.the-itzel-library.blogspot.com - Interview.

10/30 – Read All Over - www.read-all-over.net – Guest post, excerpt and giveaway.

Embraced by the Shadows book launch!

Hi all,

The new revised edition of my paranormal suspense novel, Embraced by the Shadows, will be coming out in a few days in both print and Kindle. In fact, I just heard from my publisher, Lida Quillen at Twilight Times Books, that the novel is already available on the Nook for just $2.99!

I’m quite excited (especially because I love the new cover). To celebrate its release, I’ll be on tour from October 10-30 with guest posts, interviews, excerpts and free giveaways! I also have a HUGE surprise gift for all my readers… but I won’t announce it until Monday, so please bear with me. :-)

Latest review of SUNSTRUCK, by Autumn Book Reviews

Sunstruck
by Mayra Calvani
Book Review

A feverish mix of disturbed characters in another time and space, truly facetious entertainment from Calvani.


Meet… Daniella, a naive and deeply sensitive architecture student who feels surrounded by creatures from the Mesozoic Era. Zorro, a deranged criminal running rampant on the streets, terrorizing women who wear miniskirts. Tony, Daniella’s boyfriend, smug and selfish and demonically handsome, who seems oblivious to everything about him except his own obsession with fame and LSD. Ismael, Daniella’s ex-husband, as cruel and innocent as a child, an art critic whose fantasies of revenge will force him to do something that will shock the entire island. Irene Carlier, Ismael’s new wife, better known as Lady Dracula, a ghastly woman who collects torture devices and whose penthouse apartment hides an utterly dreadful secret.

In steamy San Juan, Puerto Rico, these and other crazed, eccentric characters swirl together in an intriguing, warped, darkly humorous world where not even cats are safe from chemically induced madness.

Sunstruck was of interest to me in part because the author Calvani lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico and this is where Sunstruck comes to life. Having been born in Puerto Rico myself I found it fascinating to run into an author from the island. I found Sunstruck to be quite funny and throughout the book I caught myself laughing many times. The crazy characters and atmosphere of Old San Juan create a perfect narrative for this mix of madness. Daniella the main character seems like a regular college student until you step into her life and meet her psychotic friends. For a little while you feel Daniella’s mother, a widow is the only sane one, until you find out what her true interests are. While her best and only friend fills her ear with her amor for a priest, Daniella feels there are more important things to think about. Like Zorro the psycho going around leaving his mark on the rear ends of woman. Sunstruck is like a nutty Whodunit with a little twist. Who really is in the Zorro costume? With all the crazy characters I caught myself pointing fingers again and again. A great read that will make you forget where you are, while you giggle yourself to complete oblivion from all the silliness.

Thanks to Digna Dreibelbis for such a wonderful review!
Visit her blog, Autumn Book Reviews

Latest review of my satire novel, SUNSTRUCK

It’s always so thrilling to read a review by somebody who TOTALLY got my book…

Here’s the latest review of my satire novel, Sunstruck. I’ll have a smile on my face the rest of the week. :-)

*****

Reviewed by Melissa Jackson, Living the Thrifty Life
I’ve recently had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Sunstruck by Mayra Calvani!  Please read on . . .

I love to read, and Sunstruck was great!  I read its entirety in one sitting, because I couldn’t put it down.
What I really liked about the book is the complexity of the conflicts.  It leaves enough room for the audience to wonder what happens next, but I was satisfied with the information it provided at the end.
This was probably the most interesting piece of fiction I’ve ever read.  I think I really liked it, because the main character, Daniella, reminded me a lot of myself.
Here is my interpretation of Sunstruck: (I promise I won’t spoil it!)
Daniella is a girl who has been through a few rough patches in life, and she always seems to date the ‘losers’. (AKA people who have a dream that really aren’t making it.)  She tries to make the best of it, but she knows in her heart that there should be more to her life.  The only two things consistent in her life is her cat, Commando and her mother, Marcela.
At 24, Daniella has been through a divorce, and is living with a guy she really doesn’t like named Tony.  Tony cares more about trying to become famous, and his drugs.
There are some odd characters presented in this story, which made it really interesting.  Everything that Daniella sees is not really what it is.  To me, there was a lot of symbolism in this book, mostly dealing with two-sided everything.  People who seem real, really aren’t.  Commando’s eyes were two different colors, characters were caught in making two decisions, etc.
I really liked how the story subtly described everybody’s way to try to find themselves:
  • Tony: tried to make the life of a famous painter, with his weird-o art.
  • Daniella: always knew there was more to her life than she was living.
  • Ismael: went from a nobody to a somebody really quickly, and was greedy and wanted more.
  • Lady Dracula: wants everlasting youth, and will go through drastic measures to ensure it is hers.
  • Marcela: lonely, tries to find her way in this world.  Feminist in disguise.
  • Mari Carmen: knows what she wants, but can’t exactly make up her own mind.
  • Zorro: The X character who puts life and threat into San Juan.
  • Commando: an imported cat who provided Daniella with stability and faith.
There are so many secrets to uncover.  You will have to read the book to find out!
If I was to describe Sunstruck in 3 words:
  1. Twisted (only book I haven’t been able to guess the ending!)
  2. Intriguing (I couldn’t put it down!)
  3. Personal (It truly hit home with me, and portrayed feelings that I consider my own!)
I would highly recommend reading Sunstruck. It will make you laugh, cry, and relate to the conflicts.  I truly love the story, and already have 3 of my closest friends interested in reading it.  (They are waiting in line!)

You can buy the book on Amazon HERE, in print or on the Kindle.

Link to the original review:

http://imlivingthethriftylife.blogspot.com/2011/03/product-review-sunstruck-by-mayra.html