A Book is like an Elephant

I'm excited about my new release, WHERE DANGER HIDES. Technically, the release date is May 18th, but since stores don't stock the book, that date represents when the publisher will start filling orders. Also, the book has been available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble for some time.

Marketing for this system is a different game. It's not a matter of trying to get people into the bookstore on release day. The reality is, the publisher sells to libraries. Everything else is gravy.
Not to say it's not exciting to find that carton of author copies on your doorstep. I got mine last Saturday, and it's a thrill like no other to see the fruition of what amounts to close to two years of gestation and labor--much like an elephant. And, I confess, I don't even want to open the book for fear I'll find that I might have missed a typo, or that the publisher didn't fix everything I requested. It's a done deal, and the baby is mine, warts and all.

With sales targeting the library market, it's reviews that help sell the books. And not the reader reviews on Amazon or other web-based review sites with "volunteer" reviewers. Libraries prefer sites and publications with professional reviewers, and often the lack of a review in one of those means your book won't be considered.

Normally, I don't like posting pure promo here, but since I won't have another new book from Five Star for another year, I decided to go for it. If you want to get some glimpses of how the book came to be, and see parts that never made it past the first draft of the first chapters, I've put them up on my website, under the 'behind the scenes' tab and 'from the cutting room floor.'

Needless to say, I was delighted to get a positive review from one of the biggies—Publishers Weekly.

Odell follows 2010's When Dangers Calls with this sizzling suspense tale. Dalton, "just Dalton," is a sweet-talking Texas black ops contractor equipped with a sharp mind, big muscles, an intriguing background tragedy that makes him cry over babies, and boatloads of sex appeal. Miri Chambers, manager of a shelter for wayward teens, is just his type: "proud, strong, intelligent, compassionate, and one hundred percent female," with a past she'd rather not reveal. … the real action is in Miri and Dalton's passionate mutual attraction, and not even his cold showers and her idealistic do-gooding can douse its uncontrollable flames. Romance fans will drool over Dalton and his fellow camo-clad helicopter-riding commandos as they look for runaways and love.

I've also had positive feedback from several other reviewers, so I'm pleased that people like my baby—warts and all.

The ARC calls it Contemporary Romance. With all due deference to the press's editors, that's incorrect. Sure, there are some hot romance scenes and some highly emotional connections come and go and arrive again, but there's a gritty, powerful pulse-pounding narrative platform here that drives the novel plainly into the thriller category …With little time out for deep breathing, the plot quickly picks up a palpable sense of menace and slackening of control. Readers will be swept along to a final breathless conclusion that is eminently satisfying. Carl Brookins

Talented author Terry Odell quickly grabs our attention in her suspenseful romance, WHERE DANGER HIDES, the much awaited second novel in her Blackthorne, Inc series. The hero, Dalton, is the kind of man that any reader could easily fall for: strong, confident, and yet compassionate and sexy. His perfect match is the heroine, Miri, who is loyal, nurturing and resourceful. Ms. Odell builds the sexual tension between these two characters as skillfully as she ramps up the anticipation in her story. Readers hang on every word reaching for the climax to WHERE DANGER HIDES and are not left disappointed but eager to learn more about the fascinating group of Blackthorne, Inc. men. Thrills, romance, danger and mystery fill the pages of WHERE DANGER HIDES and thoroughly entertains. Donna, Single Titles

Odell provides a lot of sexual tension and enough hot sex to please avid romance readers. It takes front and center in the novel, but eventually the mystery of the missing people leads to a major crime operation. An exciting climax should satisfy the most demanding thriller readers. Mel Jacob, Gumshoe Reviews

For more information Terry, visit her website. She can also be found at Terry's Place blogging about writing and life in general.