You’ve reached the end of Tara’s story!
=D Okay! You ready?? There’s lot to cover: there’s trivia below, there’s “I’ve Got a Book Hangover What books/Authors Would You Recommend As A Fix?” recommendations, there are links to the newsletter, and the link to contact me if you’ve got questions or if you want to say hi (*waves*! =) ), but before we get to all of that:
Thanks for reading Won.
And if you get the time to leave a review: THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for doing this too!!
And most of all, Thanks for being my Fairy Godmother ♥
Amanda
Facebook Author page:
Amanda Milo's Minions Facebook Group:
Some fun trivia!
Why does laughter spur Lem’s offspring to revive?
This part (the reproductive part of Lem) is based on coral. Coral are both sexual and asexual and in natural reef formation it is a massive unit that spreads as it ‘breeds’, adding polyps everywhere.
However, once pulled out of the reef it can be cultured by fragging: cutting a slice off and allowing it to grow on its lonesome. (In reality, most species do AMAZING with this method and reef enthusiasts raise scads of coral, rare coral, that would normally NOT thrive so easily without the tender husbandry of the enthusiast.)
For Lem’s kind—those that are taken or those that leave their family formation—it’s like touch-deprivation but more than that: if formations are made up of tons of close individuals basically jammed on top of each other, little polyps sprouting up everywhere, it’d be loud, crazy, and chaotic and (in theory) happy. The twins reproduce enough of that to provide the environment the wee Lem-frags need to revive & thrive.
…Because Fiction! ;D
I wanted Brax to lament the fact that he didn’t know how to strap the ceremonial blanket in place to make it a proper dress, until he meets Arokh, who grabs Angie and together they demonstrate for him how it is done. It was a cutesy-touching scene that I am not giving up on just yet. (Another fun trivia fact: in real life, there is actually a blanket that can be turned into a dress. It is SOLD for this purpose. It’s like a snuggie dress. I’ve never seen someone actually wearing them - for some strange reason, this fad hasn’t quite caught on yet (Mini note within a note: if the company provided a bonded Rakhii with every dress-blanket, I’d be willing to bet they’d sell GAZILLIONS!))
Tac’Mot is TomCat spelled backwards. It was originally the name for the cat-like alien but I thought readers might groan when they caught that ;D
The Legend of Gelert is a real thing (a real-life legend, that is) but with a wolfhound and a prince.
The story of Gelert & Princess Llywelyn was in this book. I tried it every which way: as a prologue (way too tragic to start off with—I was afraid you would throw your device across the room before you made it to chapter 1), as a companion story/epilogue (HORRIBLE way to end a book, so depressing!), and then I tried to chop it into parts and slip it in during the story. But I really dislike books that do this, because if I’m invested in one storyline, and then I’m forced to switch tracks and you cut me off just when it’s getting GOOD? WHOA NOW.) So it got cut. I think I’ll put it up in the Amanda Milo Facebook group & on the website (someday! One update at a time and I’m only five months behind) for the brave souls who want to know the whole story.
Tac at one point describes his action as “fossicking”. It’s an Australian word, not an alien word. I fell in love with a number of Aussie words that were out-of-this-world original… but I began to grow concerned it could be misconstrued as me poking fun instead of admiring, so to be on the safe side… cut!
Tunable iridescence and reverse countershading in cephalopods and frogs was used for Tac. His mimicry is birdlike. The Myna bird is apparently an invasive species in Australia but they have an incredible gift for speaking that I’m so intrigued with that I had to incorporate it into a story. (i.e. ‘I want to own an aviary of Myna birds now but I can’t so I’ll push my obsession to paper and create an alien instead.’) The Bali Myna (not native to AUS) is my favorite with ice, electric blue and black accents on a snowy plumage. Tac almost ended up that color.
Tac’s penchant for collecting organic ‘clutter’ came about thanks to a school assignment. (Thank you Mr. F!) we were shown videos of studies done with Aboriginal children. Their culture is fascinating. From how they react after they lose a loved one, to their nonverbal communication to their counting—originally, Tac had many traits borrowed from them, but in the end, very little made it into the final versions. The part about seashells and sticks though was from a study where children struggled with tests that tried to gauge their ability to match photos, or reset rearranged painted blocks, etc. But they could recreate setups of natural rocks and sticks to an uncanny degree.
The Cure for Book Hangover? MORE BOOKS! Here be Book Recommendations:
I found out something neat after Stolen & Rescued were published: if you like my ‘voice’/style, you and I probably have similarities in reading tastes. So if you haven’t tried these yet, you might find they’re worth a peek. These authors did not ask me to put in a good word, most of them don’t even know me - I simply have a compulsion to push my favorite books on fellow book lovers ;D
Ruby Dixon EVERYTHING. Her Ice Planet Barbarian Series is a must. If you love Dragon shifters (or if you’ve NEVER TRIED Dragon shifters!) check these out too. I can’t imagine you being disappointed. I really can’t. If you enjoy my books, you’ll love hers: it’s simply a fact.
Kristen Ashley ANYTHING. She’s published about a million amazing books. If you want raw barbarian hotness in a Game of Thrones-esque type world: (Trigger warnings for this one) The Golden Dynasty
If you love the communication difficulties when the hero & heroine have a language barrier, you must read Transcendence by Shay Savage. You Must. Sweet, clueless caveman timetravel hotness. The ending is a heartfelt, beautiful HEA but there’s a high probability it will make you cry.
Another communication difficulty with a SWEET HERO: Ruth’s Bonded by V.C. Lancaster
Major cultural and communication difficulties (has Menage set-up) Venomous by Penelope Fletcher
If you like slow burn romances: Mariana Zapata (try Wall of Winnipeg & Me and Kulti! ) and Penny Reid’s Neanderthal Seeks Human
Laurann Dohner - New Species, Cyborgs and more. Difficult to choose, but perhaps my favorites would be book 2 and 3 of the Mating Heat series and
Rebecca Royce was my first official (awesome!) Reverse Harem
I’ve not gotten to read these yet, but Grace Draven ANYthing has been strongly recommended to me. Specifically, she has a book with a scene with a potato, that—by the way readers crack up when they mention it—it’s solidified it as fact: I need this story in my life.
Same for R. Lee Smith - her books have been passionately recommended though I was warned they are intense and not your traditional romances so I pass that mini-cautionary note to you also: A sector of readers have developed special hashtags to express their feelings about certain characters in these books. You cannot imagine the depths of my curiosity after I’ve watched them talk in hashtags about these stories for months now ;D
Anna Carven – readers LOVE these books! I must try them!
Marina Simcoe’s Demon Mine came so highly recommended I bought it without even reading the blurb. I can’t wait to get to this one.
Robot hero! This is the next Tiffany Roberts story I have loaded up on my Kindle:
Poppy Rhys has THE CUTEST alien heroes – you can jump in with this one or go back to her first book, The Melier:
I enjoyed Tamsin Ley’s Merman’s Kiss & someday, I am going to read her Centaur story. CENTAURS!
Ripley Proserpina has sweet Reverse Harems and I can sympathize with the heroines, because I wouldn’t limit myself to just one of the sweet, adorable, hot men in her stories either:
I have enjoyed Naomi Lucas’ Shifter Cyborgs (YES! How fun!) and am looking forward to reading her latest with a Shark Cyborg Shifter:
This is the next Dark Romance I’ve snapped up: Christine Monroe’s Unbound
Read the blurb for Regine Abel’s Escaping Fate and we’ll see if you don’t one-click it too:
Bethany Aan’s much beloved Hearts of Ishira♥ at
The teaser alone for Nancey Cummings’ hot Warlord Aliens almost made me skip work:
ALL SORTS OF WARNINGS AHEAD - these are some of my Dark Romance Faves. If you do NOT like Dark Romances: steer clear. If you’ve never read one before but are curious in trying… these two have sucked in many a neophyte (Myself included).
K Webster - I’ll start you with her Mad Sea if you aren’t sure you want to dip a toe into Dark Romance, but you think you’re up for Mermaids: and I’ll tell you to check out her website for This is Me, Baby. It’s Dark Romance with SWEETness. (You know. Eventually. :D)
And Addison Cain’s Born to Be Bound is like nothing you’ve ever read and It. Is. DARK:
I’m not sure where this one even fits but Beth Flynn’s books. They… I loved them. I did not expect to fall in love with… um, the people that I did. Boy, there’s not much you can say without giving something away, so I’m just going to link you:
I have more, but I feel like I should slow down, maybe let you check some links out now that I’ve blitzed you. If you want more, email me or find me on Facebook and I will help you fill up your To Be Read List with aliens, and werewolves, and dragons and mafia bosses like it’s my job.
Now, I’m going to catch up on ALL of the books that came out while I was tied to a chair and my Kindle was held for ransom until I finished this book. Good news: my beloved Kindle and I have been reunited and everything is whole—our captor didn’t shave the screen protector off and send me pieces or anything. That would have been depraved. But before I hole up with it, I want to Thank EVERYONE who busted tail Beta reading for me! Including my favorite Court-‘Library Book’-ney ;D And Thank You to my ARC reader team, for taking the time to share what you thought of Won! To the Milo’s Minions Facebook Group: you guys have kept me writing! You’ve also shared book recommendations so passionately that I wanted to stop writing and start reading, but your continual enthusiasm for my stories… wow guys. You’re f*cking awesome.
You’re also f*cking fun to torture tease. Future book snippets coming your way ;)
I think… whew, I think that’s all for now. =) HAPPY READING♥