Anya Bast

Hi guys — I’m looking to send out 10 copies of JEWELED to book blog reviewers for reviews. If you’re interested, please drop me an email at anybast(at)gmail.com with a link to your book blog!

Thanks and have a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate. 🙂

Cross-posted from the Witchy Chicks Blog.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. To me it has little to do with the traditional Thanksgiving story, (which is revisionist history at its worst), and everything to do with the straightforward name of the day—giving thanks.

Every Thanksgiving is the same for me, has been for years. I get up, make coffee and curl up on the couch to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s a yearly tradition that has grown sweeter with the addition of my daughter, who sits rapt beside me under a blanket, staring at the floats and waiting for the Radio City Rockettes to do their rendition.

Toward the end of the parade, I’ll be getting up occasionally to prepare the turkey and put it in the oven. We always host Thanksgiving because we have a large Amish-made dining room table that seats many. I don’t mind hosting, since I love to cook and I love having my family over. I’m never alone in the food preparation, however. I do the turkey and the sweet potatoes (recipe below) and others bring side dishes and dessert. I make the sweet potatoes the day before not only to save time, but also because the ingredients taste that much better when they’ve had time to thoroughly blend in the fridge overnight.

Sometime around noon my family shows up. The wine and conversation flows freely. Before dinner we talk about all the things we’re thankful for. My list goes a little like this:

I’m thankful for our continued ability to help others less fortunate make their Thanksgiving plentiful.
I’m thankful for the good health of myself and my family.
For my daughter, who makes my world shine brighter than I ever thought possible.
For the roof over our heads and the food in our cupboards.
For my ability to find joy, peace and happiness in simple things and simple acts.
For my cats, who never fail, not even one day, to make me laugh and my heart to swell with affection and love.

We eat. YUM. Turkey, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, biscuits with melted butter.

Then comes dessert. Usually we keep it traditional. Sometimes my mom bakes a pumpkin pie, but oftentimes we choose instead to purchase a few gourmet pies instead (the pros can do it so much better than we can). I warm the pies up a bit in the oven, top the slices with whipped cream or drop a dollop of ice cream beside it. You can’t beat that for dessert.

Thanksgiving is always a day filled with good food and good company. I look forward to it every year. May your Thanksgiving be filled with all the things and all the people you love.

Anya’s Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
4 cups sweet potato, boiled and mashed
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped walnuts and/or pecans

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the boiled/mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish.
3. In another bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Chunk in the butter and the walnuts/pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.

Cross-posted from Witchy Chicks

I’ve talked before about how sometimes stories come easily to me and sometimes they’re harder to write. One of the hardest books for me to write was Jeweled, which just released a couple of weeks ago. Its sequel, Jaded, flowed like water even though it’s a similar book in tone and set in the same world.

Why was Jeweled was so difficult? I think several factors combined to make it so, but the major factor was Evangeline, my heroine. She was the inspiration for the novel, but she was also one of the hardest characters I’ve ever written.

Evangeline has not experienced her own emotion since she was a child. Her magickal gift is stealing emotion from others, trading it, and “manufacturing” feeling in others. A part of her gift is the ability to build strong walls against emotion for herself and after a very traumatic experience as a child, she did just that.

But when the palace where Evangeline lives is taken over by a mob during a bloody revolution and she’s turned out into the street, penniless, all her walls coming tumbling down and Evangeline is forced to learn how to feel again.

There to help her is Anatol, an adept of light and illusion. He is also a “Jeweled,” one of those with enough magick to earn him a precious jewel set into his flesh and be considered good breeding material for the royal family, (that, over the years, has bled out all the magick from their line through inbreeding).

The backlash of Anatol’s gift of being able to sculpt illusion is the ability to see truth. He sees that Evangeline is a very special person, but she needs lots love and support to get through the sudden changes in her life. He has loved for her for a very long time and is willing to give her anything she needs.

Anatol loves Evangeline because he can see through to the truth of her. If a person can’t do that, it’s hard to find affection for her in the beginning of the book. Until those walls holding back her emotion fall, she is a petty, selfish, cold-hearted person. Once the walls fall, she’s vulnerable and, really, a mess. Primarily, Jeweled is Evangeline’s story about how she finds love and also finds her true self.

Complicating matters is Gregorio Vihkin, the scholarly mastermind behind the revolution that has disrupted Anatol and Evangeline’s lives. When the upheaval in the streets threatens Anatol and Evangeline’s lives, he takes them in.

At first Evangeline hates Gregorio for what he’s done, but when she gets to know him and sees the truth behind their former pampered lifestyles and how it hurt the rest of the people, her feelings for Gregorio warm. Warm a little too much for Anatol’s taste. Soon both men are in love with Evangeline and Evangeline has more than she can handle.

Together, in a world gone mad, they must find a way to come together.

Jeweled, like Jaded, is a very emotional book. It was Evangeline, a very complex character with a complicated arc of development, that made this one a bear for me to write. But I like a challenge, so I enjoyed every minute of it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks for helping me celebrate the release of Jeweled, which comes out TODAY! I’m so excited. You can read further it you want to hear more about the book and read an excerpt.

Without further ado, the announcement of the final round of winners:

Winner of the autographed copy of Jeweled, the book of the day from yesterday, is — Lauren, who said, “Not really emotional, soft hearted, but not so much emotional.”

Winner of the runner-up prize of a $25 gift certificate to the book store of the winner’s choice is — Susan, who said, “Change makes me anxious! I did make a big change this summer and helped my mother and youngest sister (both have health problems) move to my town. So I made new routines to include them!”

Winner of the grand prize of a $75 gift certificate to the book store of the winner’s choice is — Anne J., who said, “I have a lot of routines in my life, some of which I would like to change but don’t know how. Sometimes I think I’m wasting my life by not doing something different.”

All winner please contact me within 2 weeks from today to collect your prizes, anyabast(at)gmail.com Thanks so much for playing along with me, everyone. That was fun!

Jeweled

In JEWELED, the heroine, Evangeline, has not experienced her own emotion since she was a child. Her magickal gift is stealing emotion from others, trading it, and “manufacturing” feeling in others. A part of her gift is the ability to build strong walls against emotion for herself and after a very traumatic experience as a child, she did just that.

But when the palace where Evangeline lives is taken over by a mob during a bloody revolution and she’s turned out into the street, penniless, all her walls coming tumbling down and Evangeline is forced to learn how to feel again.

There to help her is Anatol, an adept of light and illusion. He is also a “Jeweled,” one of those with enough magick to earn him a precious jewel set into his flesh and be considered good breeding material for the royal family, (that, over the years, has bled out all the magick from their line through inbreeding).

The backlash of Anatol’s gift of being able to sculpt illusion is the ability to see truth. He sees that Evangeline is a very special person, but she needs lots love and support to get through the sudden changes in her life. He has loved for her for a very long time and is willing to give her anything she needs.

Complicating matters is Gregorio Vihkin, the scholarly mastermind behind the revolution that has disrupted Anatol and Evangeline’s lives. When the upheaval in the streets threatens Anatol and Evangeline’s lives, he takes them in.

At first Evangeline hates Gregorio for what he’s done, but when she gets to know him and sees the truth behind their former pampered lifestyles and how it hurt the rest of the people, her feelings for Gregorio warm. Warm a little too much for Anatol’s taste. Soon both men are in love with Evangeline and Evangeline has more than she can handle.

Together, in a world gone mad, they must find a way to come together.

Excerpt from Jeweled

She stood and he did as well. Smiling a little, she inclined her head. “Good night, Gregorio.” Then she moved toward the door.

“Evangeline?”

She turned back to him.

“Do you like me even a little?”

Her smile faded. The problem was that she liked him a lot. She wasn’t sure, exactly, why that was a problem for her, since Anatol didn’t seem to think it was one. “I do like you, Gregorio.”

“Do you still blame me for the deaths of your friends?”

She studied him for a long moment. “No. You were easy to blame in the beginning, but the matter is far more complicated. I see that now.”

“I’m glad.”

She turned to leave again, but he caught her gently by the arm and turned her toward him again. He had a hard, hungry expression on his face and it made her stomach do a warm flip. She knew that expression.

Reaching out with her magick, she tasted his emotions and found undeniable desire. Her body responded to it like a flame to kindling. “Gregorio?” His name came out almost devoid of breath. Suddenly she saw where this was going. She wasn’t sure she could stop him from initiating it—she wasn’t sure she wanted to stop him.

He pushed her backward step -by- step, until he was pressing her up against the wall behind them, the strategia game board long forgotten. This was not a game.

“Don’t do this,” she whispered.

“Do what? I won’t hurt you, Evangeline. Nothing in the world could ever make me do anything to hurt you.” The firelight lit half his face and left the other half in darkness. His breath was warm and sweet on her face, his callused grip strong.

“I know,” she breathed out in a sigh.

“I’m glad.”

Gregorio’s lips skimmed her cheek and her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt. Her breathing hitched in her throat and her heart beat faster. Her body reacted, her sex growing warm and wet, her nipples going hard. She had strong feelings for Anatol and she wanted to be able to use them to push Gregorio away. Yet, there was a ragged emotional wound somewhere deep inside her that seemed to need what Gregorio was offering her.

His hands were rougher and stronger than Anatol’s, and his touch made her shudder with desire. He took her hands and pinned them above her head. Her wrists were so thin and his hands were so big, he only needed one to immobilize her.

“Do you want me?” His low voice rumbled through him as he limned her jaw line with his mouth. “Tell me to stop, Evangeline. Tell me stop and I will.”

She wished she could tell him to stop, but she yearned for his touch and for his kisses.

And so when he bunched her skirt up and slid his hand beneath the hem, she didn’t stop him.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

The winner of a copy of Witch Fury, from Saturday’s contest, is Colleen, who said, “I like bad boys to have depth… many layers to dig through…be dark and dangerous with secrets…” Me, too, Colleen! Please email me at anyabast(at)gmail.com within two weeks of this post date to collect your prize!

Last chance to win a copy of Jeweled before it releases tomorrow!

Defined by magic. Ruled by desire.

In the Court of Edaeii, magic-imbued Evangeline is rewarded for her gift in manipulating emotion with a sapphire stone set into the perfect curve of her lower back. Her greatest rival in the royal court is the enigmatic Anatol, instilled with the power of illusion. He may better her in magic, but he is her absolute equal in passion.

They share something else—they’re both targets of low-born revolutionaries bent on overthrowing the palace of the privileged few. Rescued from the mobs by Gregorio, the brilliant revolutionary mastermind, they’re given sanctuary. But in this warm refuge, Evangeline soon finds herself torn between the magic of one man she has always desired, and the excitingly new and radical moves of another. For her, there is only one choice.

Evangeline, Anatol and Gregorio come together as one to explore the possibilities of love beyond reason, and to indulge in pleasure without limits.

“All I’ve ever had in my life to use was my looks and my willingness to have sex.” She swallowed hard. “Honestly, Anatol, I should go to the Temple of Dreams. It’s all I’m really suited for.”

His jaw locked and something dangerous flashed in his eyes. “We’ve had this conversation before.”

“Why are you so against the idea of it, Anatol? We could both go there to work. I know you say you’re in love with me, but that’s just silly—”

He rounded on her, arresting the end of the sentence in her throat. Fire jumped in his eyes. “Not silly, Evangeline, true. I don’t want to make love to any woman but you. I couldn’t do it. So you go, if you think that’s what you want.” He turned away. “I won’t stop you.”

She chewed her lower lip and let emotion rise up to swamp her for a moment in punishment. She deserved it; she’d hurt him. Wrapping the blanket around herself, she stood and walked to him. “I don’t want to leave you,” she murmured at his back.

He turned and pulled her into his arms. “Good. That’s a good thing to hear, Evangeline, because I don’t want you to leave me.”

She wrapped her arms around him, letting the blanket fall to the floor and his body heat warm her. Nuzzling her nose into his chest, she inhaled the scent of him. “I want you to . . . make love to me, Anatol. I want to know what it feels like.” The words came out as a whisper, like she was afraid to say them too loudly. She wasn’t sure why.

His body tensed against hers. “Don’t tempt me.”

She gave a soft laugh. “Haven’t you noticed that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do?”

“Yes, I’ve noticed.” He made a tortured sound in his throat. “The scent of you tempts me. The sound of your breath tempts me. You tempt me even when you’re not trying.” He turned her and she saw that the cracked head -to -toe mirror was directly in front of them. “Look at yourself, Evangeline. You’re beautiful.”

She smiled. “Like I said, it’s been my currency in life.”

He moved her closer to the mirror. “I don’t just mean your face, hair, and body. Look into your eyes, hold your own gaze in the reflection.”

She met her eyes, blinked, and looked away. Staring into her own eyes was uncomfortable.

He gripped her shoulders. “No, look, Evangeline. See what I see.”

Her face flushing, she raised her gaze to her eyes again. They were gray, the color of metal. That’s what she noticed first. But if she went deeper, which felt a little like diving into her own soul, she saw . . . vulnerability. Honesty. Emotion. Joshui, so much of it. Her eyes seemed to swim with it. She saw strength, too.

Anatol dropped his mouth near her ear. “Your eyes have always been this way, even when you were at your worst. There was always beauty in you, complexity, empathy, caring, and I always saw that beauty. Always. No matter what you did or what you said to me, it was there.”

Her lips parted as she stared into her own reflection in a way she’d never done before. Anatol was helping her see herself in a way she never had.
His hands rested on her hips as he took a slow sweep of her body. “You are, of course, also beautiful in the more traditional sense.”

“Touch me,” she murmured, meeting his gaze in the reflection.

In Jeweled, Evangeline is learning how to feel and deal with emotion after years of complete numbness as a backlash of her magickal gift. As a consequence, Jeweled is a highly emotional book. Do you consider yourself a very emotional person? Do you cry at that
Humane Society commercial on TV (I do!) Answer for a chance to win an autographed copy of this book.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED