Friday 31 January 2014

Inspiration



Hi everyone,

Today I thought I would talk a bit about the inspiration of my latest story.

I have just finished the first draft of my medieval fantasy, Black is the Colour.

I stumbled across a picture some time ago on Bigstock (and yes I bought it), it was an atmospheric photo of a girl surrounded by ravens.

 

 
 
 
In my head it mixed with the lyrics of an old traditional song and a half forgotten fairytale.
Anyway, I still have to edit the story before I send it off and hopefully find it a home. It is the first in a series and I’ve just started writing the next instalment. This story is about ravens and the next is about wolves.
But I thought I would share some of the inspiration behind Black is the Colour today.
 

 

Blurb

Black is the Colour...

 

Ciana loves Oran and vows that nothing will separate them. But her father has other plans and will do anything to stop their love, even if he has to turn to the dark magic of a witch to do it.

Oran knows that he doesn’t deserve Ciana. She is a lady and he is nothing but the village blacksmith. But their love is stronger than the metal he forges and welds. She has his heart and he will never turn from her no matter the cost.

Separated, Ciana will need all her strength to journey through the deep forest and save Oran from the witch’s curse. Alone and with only a trail of black feathers to follow, Ciana will fight against the odds and attempt to bring her lover home.



 
Black is the colour of my true love’s hair
His lips are like some roses fair
He has the sweetest smile and the gentlest hands
And I love the ground whereon he stands
I love my love and well he knows
I love the ground whereon he goes
I wish that day would soon come
When he and I can be as one
Traditional Folk Song
 

 
Thanks for stopping by.
Nicóle  xx

 



Wednesday 29 January 2014

And the Winner is...


Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for joining me on the Rain Blog Tour and entering the Book'd Out Blog Hop.


Congratulations to...

The winner of the $20 Amazon Gift Card is - Megan Leigh.

The winner of the $5 Amazon Gift Card and a copy of Dancing on Air is - Marisa W



There is still time to enter the Burns' Night Blog Hop.

There's a $50 gift card and 5x $10 gift cards up for grabs.



Nicóle  xx



http://nicolehurley-moore.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/burns-night-blog-hop.html


 
 

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Bewitching Blurbs



Hi everyone,

Here’s this week’s Bewitching Blurbs –

 

Claiming the Rebel’s Heart
By Alison Stuart

Herefordshire, England 1643

As the English Civil War divides England and tears families apart, Kinton Lacey castle is one of the brave few loyal to the roundhead cause.

With her father away, Deliverance Felton will do whatever it takes to defend her family home against the royalist forces ranged against it. She can shoot and wield a sword as well as any man and anything she needs to know about siege warfare she has learned from a book...but no book can prepare her for what is to come.

Captain Luke Collyer, soldier of fortune and a man with his own reasons for loyalty to the parliamentary cause, is sent to relieve the castle. Everything he knows about siege warfare in general and women in particular he has learned from experience, but when it comes to Deliverance Felton has he met his match?

Deliverance will not give up her command lightly and Luke will have to face a challenge to his authority as fierce as the cavalier foe outside the walls. He will do whatever it takes to win Deliverance’s trust but will he run the risk of losing his own, well guarded, heart?



 
The King of Threadneedle Street
By Moriah Densley
 He owns three shipping companies, a diamond mine, and his own castle.
He knows Portuguese, Hindi, Mandarin and Morse code.
His assets net thirteen million.

Everyone thinks Andrew Tilmore, Lord Preston, the financial prodigy dubbed “The King of Threadneedle Street,” has it all, but he wants the one prize money can’t buy: his childhood sweetheart.

Alysia Villier can’t say if it’s worse having Andrew’s father in control of her inheritance or Andrew in control of her heart. He’s ruined her for any other man, but she simply can’t give in to him. She knows he’s destined for great things — marrying a courtesan’s daughter would jeopardize everything he stands for.

Keeping Alysia out of trouble and away from eager suitors becomes a cross-continental quest for Andrew, and he won’t be stopped by his old-fashioned family or the disapproval of the ton. After all, he’s a man with the power to play newspapers and investors like pawns, tumble world markets and incite riots… but can he win the biggest gamble of his life?

 
For One Night Only
By Phillipa Fioretti
When Ornella vacations in Sicily, she meets Hugh, an archaeologist working on a dig in the beautiful town of Taormina. Hugh convinces Ornella to join him on a trip to the island of Stromboli, where they hike up a live volcano at dusk.

After a passionate night together Ornella, an actress usually focused on her career, suspects she's in love. But after breakfast the next morning, Hugh vanishes.

Ornella is left with Hugh's phone, sunglasses and a sudden end to the love affair she thought she didn't want. Desperate to know if Hugh ran out on her or if he's met with disaster, she wants to search for him. But with an important screen test in Rome and her agent impatiently waiting for her, Ornella faces a dilemma.

Little does she know the danger Hugh is in – and that she is the key to his survival.
 
The Officer and the Bostoner
By Rose Gordon
Fort Gibson, Indian Territory 1845...

Allison Pierson is a well-to-do young lady traveling by stagecoach from her home in Boston to meet her intended in Santa Fe, but instead finds herself stranded in a military fort in the middle of Indian Territory when her stagecoach leaves without her.

Given the choice to either temporarily marry an officer until her intended can come rescue her or take her chances with the Indians, she marries the glib Captain Wes Tucker, who unbeknownst to her, grew up in a wealthy Charleston family and despises everything she represents.

But when it's time for her beau to reclaim her and for Allison and Wes to annul their marriage, will she want to go with him, and more importantly, will Wes let her?

 
The Countess Conspiracy
By Courtney Milan
Sebastian Malheur is the most dangerous sort of rake: an educated one. When he’s not scandalizing ladies in the bedchamber, he’s outraging proper society with his scientific theories. He’s desired, reviled, acclaimed, and despised—and he laughs through it all.

Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury, on the other hand, is entirely respectable, and she’d like to stay that way. But Violet has a secret that is beyond ruinous, one that ties her irrevocably to England’s most infamous scoundrel: Sebastian’s theories aren’t his. They’re hers.

So when Sebastian threatens to dissolve their years-long conspiracy, she’ll do anything to save their partnership...even if it means opening her vulnerable heart to the rake who could destroy it for good.

Thanks for stopping by!
 Nicóle  xx



 

 

Monday 27 January 2014

Rain Blog Tour - Final Day


I just wanted to say thank you to all the wonderful bloggers who hosted me during the blog tour.
 
Thanks so much for your posts, reviews, kind words and support.
 
I would also like to thank My Family's Heart Book Reviews & Tours who made the whole tour easy. Thanks Tonya you’re amazing!
 

Thanks everyone for the comments, ‘Likes’ and the ‘Follows’ J
 

So here’s the final round up –



Cherry Mischievous


The Court of the Prince Regent


Samantha Holt


KY Grabowski


Mousehead & Tales


Book Infatuation


Broadway Girl Book Reviews


Little Red’s Book Reviews


 
 
There’s still a couple of hours to enter the giveaway for a $20 Amazon Gift Card.


 

Nicóle  xx

 
 

Saturday 25 January 2014

Burns' Night Blog Hop



Hi everyone and welcome to the Burns’ Night Blog Hop brought to you by Love, Lust and Lipstick Stains.

Today we are celebrating all things Scottish – from a wee dram to mega hot highland heroes. Other than some great posts and a lot of fun there are some amazing prizes up for grabs.

1 x $50 Amazon Gift Card

5 x $10 Amazon Gift Cards

 

I was lucky enough to visit Scotland years ago. I fell in love with its history and beauty. The highlands are just breathtaking as is the rest of the landscape which is dotted with castles and ancient ruins. One day, with a little luck, I’ll be able to go again.

 


But instead of my travel log ramblings and as we are celebrating Burns’ Night, I thought I would share one of my favourite poems – A Red Red Rose by the bard himself.

 
O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That’s sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.



And fare thee well, my only Luve
And fare thee well, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.



 


 Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter to be in with a chance to win one of the great main prizes.


a Rafflecopter giveaway



 
The blog links are below so you can keep hopping along.  J

 

Below is the blurb from my latest medieval fantasy, Rain (alas not set in Scotland).

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the hop.

 Nicóle  xx
 

 

Rain

1216 AD

Nuri is caught between heaven and hell. Two men fight for her love and her soul. The first is Maras, an elemental being who follows the storms. The second is Brother Erebus, a pious monk whose tortured soul is twisted by his desire for her. But Nuri may sacrifice more than her heart when the Church brands her angel a demon. As Brother Erebus will do anything to protect her soul from the silver haired devil, even if he has to crush her body to do it.

Amazon shortened link -      http://goo.gl/JoD3Lo

 
1.Love, Lust and Lipstick Stains9.Inner Goddess17.Nina Mason
2.Samantha Holt10.Hunter S. Jones18.Kate Robbins
3.A Dirty Book Affair11.Christina Phillips19.Scenes from a Chaotic Mind
4.Anne Conley12.Andrea Bellmont20.Sarah Bella
5.Em Taylor13.Isobelle Cate21.Joanne Wadsworth
6.Kirsten S. Blacketer14.Storm Chase22.Anne Stenhouse
7.Willa Blair15.Ceci Giltenan23.BJ Scott
8.Nicole Hurley- Moore16.Tarah Scott


Rain Blog Tour - Day 5 + Blog Hops & a Spotlight



Hi everyone,

Today is an uber busy day. The Rain Blog Tour continues but there are also two Blog Hops and I’m featured on the Darkside Down Under.

Darkside Down Under –


Book’d Out Book Giveaway Blog Hop -


I’m giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card & and Kindle copy of Dancing on Air
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Burns’ Night Blog Hop

Come join us as we celebrate Burns’ Night. There’s awesome prizes  - 1x $50 Gift Card and 5x $10 Gift Cards!


 
 
 
And as part of the Blog Tour, I’ve had these lovely people host me –
Christina Phillips
Palace of Twelve Pillars
The Seven Spells Stories Blog
Can’t Beat a Good Book


Thanks everyone – you rock!
Nicóle  xx
 
Rain Blog Tour - I’m giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card. It closes in two days.
 Here’s the Rafflecopter link –





Book'd Out Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop



Hi everyone,

Welcome to Book’d Out’s Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop. The blog hop highlights Australian bloggers, authors, booksellers and publishers. So come on in and join the fun and discover some fab Aussie blogs and great new stories.

So, turning my attention to Australia day, I began remembering hazy, hot summers of my youth. Thinking back I remembered some fabulous Australian stories that have always stayed with me. So I decided to share just a few of them in no particular order.

 

Picnic at Hanging Rock
By Joan Lindsey

In 1900, a class of young women from an exclusive private school go on an excursion to the isolated Hanging Rock, deep in the Australian bush. The excursion ends in tragedy when three girls and a teacher mysteriously vanish after climbing the rock. Only one girl returns, with no memory of what has become of the others...

 I’ve always loved Joan Lindsey’s Picnic at Hanging Rock. Not just because it is a beautifully woven tale but there is something rather special about the Rock itself. Hanging Rock isn’t that far from where I live, in fact I drive past it every time I go to Melbourne. Hanging Rock is beautiful, grey, quiet, atmospheric and kind of creepy if you are there by yourself. Ms Lindsey captured the feeling of it wonderfully in her mystery story.


 



My Brilliant Career

By Miles Franklin

This classic Australian novel was written by Miles Franklin, and details her life being born of the bush in Australia. A fantastic, well-written book with lively descriptions of a girl's life that can't be passed up by anybody who is drawn by good stories with captivating details. This novel should be required reading by anyone interested in Australia or important female writers and novelists in history.
 



 
 Playing Beatie Bow
By Ruth Park
The game is called Beatie Bow and the children play it for the thrill of scaring themselves. But when Abigail is drawn in, the game is quickly transformed into an extraordinary, sometimes horrifying, adventure as she finds herself transported to a place that is foreign yet strangely familiar . . .
 The story is set in Sydney, Australia and is about a girl named Abigail who travels back in time to colonial Sydney-Town in the year 1873, where she meets Beatie Bow, a girl whose name has become part of Abigail's local folklore. Much of the book is set in real-life locations around Sydney's historical Rocks district.


 
All the Rivers Run
By Nancy Cato
Her handsome, laughing cousin Adam gave young Delie Gordon her first taste of love--its soaring happiness, its heartbreaking pain.

Virile, self-confident riverboat captain Brenton Edwards showed Delie her weakness in the face of a man's overwhelming passion--but though he made her his wife, he could not enslave her proud and defiant spirit.

Wealthy and elegant Alastair Raeburn taught Delie how sweet forbidden ecstasy could be--and how high its ultimate price.

Here is a spellbinding story of a beautiful and vital woman--the man she loved, the children she bore, the dreams she followed, and the destiny she found. Here, set against the lush, wild countryside and winding rivers of Victorian Australia, is a saga that surges over eight dramatic decades and four generations.
 
Here’s the link to get you back to Book’d Out -
 
I’m giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a Kindle copy of my Victorian era romance, Dancing on Air.

Entries close midnight 28th January, 2014.
 


 
Dancing on Air
Cinderella meets Swan Lake in a cross-class, Victorian novel about a ballerina, an aristocrat, and the space in between them.
Lisette yearns for freedom, security and love, but none are offered on the run-down stage of The Imperial Theatre. Instead she has hard work, a tyrannical aunt, and the hope of one day becoming a prima ballerina. Dancing on the stage she catches the attention of two powerful men: Lord Gainswith and Lord De Vale.

Lord Evander Gainswith never expected to fall in love, let alone with a woman so wholly unacceptable to his family and his peers. The sinister Lord De Vale covets Lisette's youth and strength, and is willing to pay well for it. Lisette may dance roles in fairy tales and fantasies, but the real world is about to intrude, bringing with it the harsh realities of life for a young girl with dreams of rising above the demimonde.
Amazon shortened link -   http://goo.gl/a8jlMD
Thanks for stopping by.
 Nicóle    xx


a Rafflecopter giveaway