Vampire Books

15 Oct 2017: Vampires on Vacation

Where does the writer of vampire novels (and a genealogist) go on her vacation? To visit the vampire grave of Rhode Island, of course!

Pilgrimage complete!

While researching odd and interesting places to visit in Rhode Island and Connecticut on roadsideamerica.com, I came across the vampire grave of Simon Whipple in Union Cemetery in North Smithfield, RI.

In memory of Simon Whipple, youngest son of Col. Dexter Aldrich & Margery his wife, who died on May 6, 1841, aged 27 years.  Altho’ consumption’s vampire grasp had seized thy mortal frame, ……. mind …..

We’ll never know exactly how the epitaph ends at some point in the past, his stone was set in concrete?  Why?  Was it because the stone had been knocked over and had to be set again?  Or was it perhaps because to keep something in the ground from getting out?  We’ll never know …

Simon and his siblings … all died aged 27 years …. odd …

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, author of:

I’d love to hear from you!  Click on “Leave A Comment” below and let me know what’s on your mind. You have no idea how much you’ll brighten my day by leaving me a comment!

20 July 2017: Great Summer Read and it’s FREE!

Hello friends and fans.

Just an alert that Falling for Death is free on Amazon until Sunday.  If you haven’t already, now it the time to get your copy of a great summer read and the first novel in the Falling Series. It’s a full length, stand alone novel as well as the first in the series.  Check it out!

-Jennifer

20 April 2017: Free is always the right price.

Just an announcement that the newly rebranded first book in my series, The FALLING Series, is free on Amazon for the next few days.  I’m doing a free promo to try to increase the number of reviews I have for each book in the series.

Here’s a link to the free ebook.

ENJOY!

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, author of:

I’d love to hear from you!  Click on “Leave A Comment” below and let me know what’s on your mind. You have no idea how much you’ll brighten my day by leaving me a comment!

15 Apr 2017: A Controversial Decision

There comes a time when you have to make the hard choices in life, and for me one of those choices was to scrap the titles and covers of my book series and start again.

  • Why would I do such a thing?

Because they were never living up to their potential. My other novel, If Love is a Lie, sold rings around the series and really they’re just no reason why when you take into account the stories. So, I now introduce you to the new and improved book series:

The Falling Series

  • Falling for Death (formerly know as: The Purity of Blood)
  • Falling for Stars (formerly know as: Purity Lost)
  • Falling for a Kiss (formerly know as: The Blood that Binds)
  • Falling Head over Heart (formerly know as: Purity’s Progeny)
  • Falling Ever After (formerly know as: Blood’s Solemn Vow)

The new titles convey that, yes, these are romance novels.  They downplay the vampire aspects of the novels, which in the end are not the most important parts of the books anyway.  The titles and covers are much more cohesive now as well.

Did I make a good decision?  Only time will tell ….

So what are your thoughts of rebranding a book series or any book for that matter?

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, author of:

I’d love to hear from you!  So click on “Leave A Comment” below and let me know what’s on your mind. You have no idea how much you’ll brighten my day by leaving me a comment!

5 Jan 2016: It’s official!! I’ve given birth to a paperback.

At long last, the first book in my series is now out in paperback.

Click here to see it on Amazon

homer-computer-woohoo

After a couple of years of only putting out Ebooks, it’s nice to finally be able to say “Yeah, sure.  You can get it in paperback.”  I always think I’m the last to get any new tech, as I usually am, so I’m still surprised how many people are out there that just won’t read an ebook even if they have access to them.   What’s up with that anyway?  I mean I get the whole you love the feel of the book in your hands, turning actual pages and all, but welcome to 2016. For me, if I read an ebook that I fall in love with, I usually try to buy it in paperback and add it to my library. But I still read the ebook first.  This is especially true for me because I love my Kindle Unlimited that only lets you have 10 books out at a time.  Best to get it in paperback if I want to reread it.

So, if you’re one of those folks who was waiting for the paperback version to buy my book, Today Is Your Day!

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, author of The Purity of Blood novel series and If Love is a Lie: A Partly True Love Story.

I’d love to hear from you! So click on “Leave A Comment” below and let me know what’s on your mind.

23 August 2015: Happy 128th Birthday, Daniel!

Yep, today is Daniel Bennett’s birthday!  Sexy vampire Daniel is one of my main character’s in The Purity of Blood novel series, and to celebrate his 128th birthday, I’m posting a quiz on my Facebook page for my fans, directing them him for the answers to the questions.

Happy 128th Daniel

Here are the questions and answers below:

The Purity of Blood Trivia Questions

  1. What’s the name of the Inn Sara worked at in Port Jefferson?
  2. What town is Lauri’s family from in Pennsylvania?
  3. What word does Sara use to describe Ben’s eyes?
  4. What are the proper names of Roger’s children?
  5. How many humans die at the hands of vampires in all five books? (Not counting those that became vampires once dead)
  6. What’s the name of the vampire trying to kill Sara in Book One?
  7. Do the Donnelly’s have any pets?
  8. Where (town and state) is Ben from?
  9. What’s the name of the dorm Sara and Darcy live in at NPU?
  10. What are the names of the two girls that live in the room across from Sara and Darcy?
  11. What’s Ben’s middle name?
  12. How is it that Randall ends up walking Sara down the aisle?
  13. In what city did Thomas live as a human?
  14. Of all the friendly vampires, who was turned the youngest?
  15. What was Lily’s occupation as a human?
  16. Name three members of Daniel’s human family.
  17. Who was the first person in Sara’s immediate human family to find out about vampires?
  18. How is it that Randall ‘died’ before Lois, but Lois was buried before Randall?
  19. How many years did it take the author to start writing Book One to publish Book Five?
  20. Who designed the covers of each book?
  21. Are there any towns mentioned in the books that are not real places?
  22. Name the five characters that make up Sara’s core group of friends at New Paltz.
  23. New Paltz University is a real school with a fake name. What is the real name of the college that New Paltz University stands in place of?
  24. What is the age difference between Sara and Roger?
  25. What procedure is Dr. Pearce hesitant to perform on Sara in Book Five?
  26. Name all five books in order.
  27. What are Tabitha, Mike and Ryan’s last names?
  28. What important date (Day/Month) on the calendar is continually counted down to the last few books?
  29. In what town does Ben and Daniel find Sara in Book Four when she runs away?
  30. How are Randall and Lois related to Tori and Toby?
  31. How did Roger get his name?
  32. On what street is Roger’s house located?
  33. Name four characters in the novels that are based on real people?
  34. Which book is the longest and which is the shortest?
  35. What is the name of Randall and Lois’ granddaughter that they befriended in Ohio?
  36. What does Sara finally have with a beer in Book Five?
  37. Why does Sara go to Montana with Ben in Book Two?
  38. What’s the name of the dinner Sara and Ben get chased to in Book Two?
  39. What’s under Randall and Daniel’s house in New Paltz?
  40. Where is Sara when she sees Demetrius for the first time?
  41. How does Demetrius die?
  42. What’s the name of the other girl in the dorm that spreads stories about Sara?
  43. How far along was Sara when she found out she was pregnant?
  44. When did Randall and Carl Sr. first meet?
  45. How long was Sophia buried alive by the Brotherhood?
  46. Where are Daniel and Sam when Sam convinces him he’s an idiot to leave Sara?
  47. What does Lois give Sara as a Christmas present?
  48. What kind of car does Sara drive in Books One through Four?
  49. What is the name of Sam’s lost love?
  50. What does Sara get her degree in?
  51. Name six towns, cities or countries visited in Book Five?

Answers

  1. Clipper’s Inn
  2. East Petersburg
  3. Chocolate
  4. Tobias and Victoria
  5. Eleven (Book 1: Unnamed Pure by Demetrius, Book 2: Sharon, the waitress in Big Timber. 6 Men killed by Daniel. Couple Lucy Kills in Savannah. Book 3: Sam kills Mason’s henchman, Chuck, who attacked them at house)
  6. Demetrius
  7. A cat (Mentioned in Book 1)
  8. Big Timber, Montana
  9. Capen Hall
  10. Laura and Keri
  11. Theophilus
  12. Carl had to work
  13. St. Louis, Missouri
  14. Lily
  15. Paralegal
  16. Sophia, Phineas, John, Sophronia
  17. Vivy, her mother
  18. Randall bit Lois than ran away
  19. Two years
  20. Jennifer Geoghan
  21. No
  22. Ryan, Mike, Tabitha, Darcy, Ben
  23. The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz)
  24. Ten Years
  25. Hysterectomy
  26. The Purity of Blood, Purity Lost, The Blood that Binds, Purity’s Progeny, Blood’s Solemn Vow
  27. O’Toole, Wayne and Starling
  28. May 17th (Graduation and Wedding Day)
  29. Elizabethtown, New York
  30. Fifth Great Grandparents
  31. Named after the Rogers family
  32. Omega Street
  33. Randall Wells, Lois (Maxson) Wells, Jonathan Wells, Martha Ann (Rogers) Wells, Russell Wells, Williams Rogers Wells, Elliott Wells, Florence Wells, and many more.
  34. Shortest book is Purity Lost at 170,812 words. Longest book is Purity’s Progeny at 225,480 words
  35. Electa (Wells) Maxson, daughter of their daughter Sylvia
  36. Fish and Chips
  37. To avoid going home to face her parents/to avoid explaining about Daniel
  38. Frosty Freez
  39. A cave with a canoe, under a series of chambers.
  40. Standing on the street in New Paltz
  41. Sara injects him with her blood
  42. Heather
  43. Nearly six months
  44. University of Rhode Island
  45. Nearly 50 years
  46. Savannah
  47. A locket
  48. Chevy Aveo
  49. Mariah
  50. Art History
  51. New Paltz, Hopkinton, France, Egypt, England, London, Paris, Mendlesham, Italy, Greece

Hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane!

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, author of The Purity of Blood Novels and If Love is a Lie: Finding and Losing Love Online.

8 August 2015: Guns, Guns, Guns. Gotta get me a Phonebook!

Today I thought I’d give a report on this month’s Florida Writers Association Meeting held in Winter Park here in Orlando.

This month Kristin Durfee was the speaker. Kristin works for the crime lab here in Orlando as a CSI that works with firearms. She gave a wonderful talk about what is really possible and how much of what we see on shows like CSI or NCIS are farfetched at best. Not knowing much about firearms myself, I learned quite a bit.  Here’s a rundown on some of the highlights I jotted down:

I always knew a bullet would have grooves on the side of it from travelling through the barrel of a gun, but learned that those grooves are caused by what is called rifling inside the barrel. The rifling is purposefully put there to cause the bullet to spin as it’s ejected from the barrel. This is equivalent to putting a spin on a football when you through it.

What Rifling Looks Like

What Rifling Looks Like

Humm ... Now I'm understanding 007's image a bit more.

Humm … Now I’m understanding 007’s image a bit more.

I also learned that a shell casing, not the bullet itself, but the casing it’s ejected from can also be traced back to the gun by the marking the firing pin makes on the back of the casing.  Each firing pin can make a distinctive mark.

Firing Pin impression is dead center

Firing Pin impression is dead center

Apparently it’s very popular to toss a gun in a canal here in central Florida after you commit a crime with it. The cops will dredge a canal looking for a specific gun, but find five guns, none of which were the one they were originally looking for.  Well, there are a lot of bodies of water here in Central Florida.  Just take a look out your window when you’re flying in and out of the city.  It’s not hard to imagine you can toss a gun in any one of them and it probably won’t be found for quite some time.  I’m sorry to report that, you can toss a gun in a canal, but chances are the crime lab will get it to work again if it was in working order when it was tossed in.  Bad for you!!  Good for Justice!!

An antique firearm isn’t considered a firearm until it’s fired. Along with this it isn’t considered antique unless the ammunition for that firearm isn’t commercially available anymore.  So basically a guy on parole can have an antique firearm in his car and it’s not a parole violation until he shoots you with it.  Yeah …. go figure.

While the same CSI on the TV Show CSI will be at the crime scene, in the lab doing ballistics, in the lab doing blood splatter work, in the lab taking a car apart, in reality, all these jobs are done by different CSI techs. It takes years to be trained on one area and in reality, they rarely cross from one area of expertise into another.

.... Not so much, boys. You'd have had to have gone to school/training for like a zillion years to be able to do what you do on those shows.

…. Not so much, boys. You’d have had to have gone to school/training for like a zillion years to be able to do what you do on those shows.

A phonebook will stop a surprising amount of bullets.  Seriously, I probably shouldn’t have tossed mine out quite so quickly.

Something to think about

Something to think about

So that’s it.  Not that I write a whole lot about guns in my books … seeing as I write love stories …. but you never know. 🙂  It was really interesting stuff to learn.

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, writer of romance novels with a twist.  The Purity of Blood Novel Series, and If Love is a Lie: Finding and Losing Love Online.

ALSO…. This weekend Only!! The First novel in my series is FREE ON AMAZON!  Check it out.  Click on the image below to be taken to the page on Amazon.

Free Weekend 2

7 Aug 2015: Like Sands Through The Hourglass … AND A FREE BOOK!

Sometimes it feels like my worst enemy is time.

I work forty hours a week to pay the bills. On my weekends I work at least another sixteen hours on my writing career, not to mention that I try to get in a half hour to forty-five minutes before I head off to work and an hour or two when I get home. Two or three times a week I got to the gym and work on editing on of my books while I work out on the treadmill. I have so much to do and so little time to do it in. I think I’ve sacrificed a lot to my writing career over the past year. Time is a limited commodity. To find time to work on writing/editing/promoting, you have to take time from some other part of your life. For me, that was my social life. Sadly, I’m beginning to wonder if this is why so many writers are hermits.

Here’s how a typical week breaks down for me:

  • 7 days times 24 hours = 168 hours in a week
  • 168 minus 40 hours at work = 128 hours
  • 8 hours sleep a night times 7 days = 56 hours
  • 128 hours minus 56 hours sleep = 72 hours
  • Getting ready for and driving to and from work = 8 hours
  • 72 hours minus driving = 64 hours
  • Going to the gym = 3 hours
  • 64 minus 3 = 61 Hours
  • Working on JG Novels on weekends = 16 Hours
  • 61 minus 16 = 45 Hours
  • Working on JG Novels during the week = 10 Hours
  • 45 minus 10 = 35 Hours
  • Eating (estimating 15 minutes a meal) = 5.25 hours
  • 35 minus 5.25 = 29.75 Hours
  • Shopping/running errands = 2 Hours
  • 29.75 minus 2 hours = 27.75 Hours unaccounted for.

This leaves 3.89 hours a day to do things like watch TV or a movie, read a book, decompress after work, go on Facebook, go to the movies, talk to friends, visit my parents, doctors’ appointments. Now let’s also remember …. I’m single. Imagine if I had to factor in time for a boyfriend or husband!

YIKES!

Anyway, on to more important matters.

Free Weekend 2

Yes, to celebrate the new look of my first novel, the first in The Purity of Blood Series, I’ve created a special on Amazon this weekend and IT’S FREE!  So check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Purity-Blood-Volume-I-ebook/dp/B00J142WK2

THE PURITY OF BLOOD:  VOLUME ONE … Sara Donnelly was completely unprepared for what she found when she arrived in the small college town of New Paltz. Leaving her family behind to begin a new chapter of her life in the Catskills of New York State, Sara hoped to escape the horrors of her past in the unfamiliar surroundings of her new life as a student. But nothing of this new world is what it seems at first glance, especially when it comes to her mysterious professor and his devastatingly handsome teaching assistant, Daniel.
Daniel, the brooding loner who hides from the world finds he can’t hide from Sara … or the sirens call of her blood.
You see, the blood that runs through Sara’s veins isn’t quite like everyone else’s. It’s only through her unusual blood that Sara discovers that her family’s ancient past is the future that’s awaited her in New Paltz all along. Shortly after her arrival, Sara will not only be forced to confront the horrors of her childhood, but everything she’s ever believed about the world she lives in as well. It’s along this journey of discovery that both men unexpectedly find their way into her heart, but for very different reasons.
With a fiery spirit to match her flaming head of red hair, Sara finds her family’s unique history colliding with her present day in ways that even a genealogist such as herself could never have conceived. After all, who could possibly imagine vampires walking out of the pages of novels and into your heart?
The first in Jennifer Geoghan’s wildly popular The Purity of Blood series, the story of Sara and Daniel continues in Purity Lost and three other continuing novels.

Enjoy!!

-Jennifer

31 July 2015: Purity Lost … a whole new look

In my journey to upgrade the look and feel of my series, The Purity of Blood, I recrafted the cover of book two, Purity Lost.  Here’s the new and improved cover:

Purity Lost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As opposed to the old cover:

Book 2 Final Cover Updated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cover had potential, but the typography were weak.  Let’s face it, you just can’t read it.  So I punched up the title, made my author name more prominent, gave the smoke a bit of a twist and for a bit of continuity, I added in the same red hair in the background that I used as a major part of the book one cover.

Is this going to be the final cover?  Probably not.  As I grow as an author/publisher/marketer, so are my cover designs.

So, do you every upgrade your book covers?

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, author of The Purity of Blood novel series and If Love is a Lie: Finding and Losing Love Online.

20 July 2015: Do We Really Need Book Covers?

Gee, I haven’t heard from Jennifer in a few days.  I wonder what she’s been up to?

BOOK COVER HELL!!!!

I finally finished my quick rewrite of my first book in The Purity of Blood series.  I want to do a relaunch for it and send it out to some reviewers.  That said, I want her spiffied up and ready to shine like the glorious masterpiece she is.   Sometimes you have to rip the band-aid off and toss out your stubborn notions.  I’ve been doing that these past few days which is what consigned me to Book Cover Hell, a place of torment and suffering for those who strive for nothing but perfection.

Why don’t you just hire someone to do your covers?

Well, in a perfect world, I could consign someone else to book cover hell, but alas, old Jennifer has a hard time letting go of control (and money) when it comes to covers.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is, I want a cover that will SELL BOOKS!  I know, I’m now on my way to writer hell for profaning my work with a cover that will …. help sell the book more than be a representation of the inner workings of my masterpiece.  This is where the tossing of my notions comes in.  When I designed the cover for this book (about two years ago) I had in mind to do the single item sort of cover (think Twilight and 50 shades book covers)  But in hindsight, I’m thinking that if you’re not a known author, that may not be the best way to go.

Sex Sells!

Yes, this is true, but true as it may be, I may profane my masterpiece with a cover that sells, but AS God AS MY WITNESS, A half-naked man (or woman) will never grace the cover of a Jennifer Geoghan novel.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a half-naked man as much as the next red-blooded American gal, but let’s face it, they don’t exactly scream good literature.  My books may be romance inspired novels, but I do my best to create artful literature as well.

So whatch gonna do now?

I’m glad you asked.  I … dropped the lion.  God, it was soooo hard.  I really love my lion.  It has real meaning in the novel too.  Not only that … I dropped the DNA strand.  Gees …. I’m dying here.  Someone open a window, I think I’m getting the vapers.   Yes, the lion and the DNA strand were the band-aids I ripped off like a virgin running out of a whorehouse.

So what evolved out of my weekend in book cover hell.  This:

New Cover Test 4

Why the red hair?  My protagonist, Sara, has a flaming head of red hair.  It’s also feminine and lends towards a bit more of an air of romance than my trusty old lion.  For comparison’s sake, here’ what I’m currently using as a cover:

Reimagined Cover Design

Reimagined Cover Design

So, what do you think????  Will my new cover attract more sales?

Thoughts?  Predictions?  Let’s hear em’!!

-Jennifer

Jennifer Geoghan, Author of The Purity of Blood novels and If Love is a Lie: Finding and Losing Love Online.