I've loved Erin McCarthy's books from the time I read her very first release many years ago.  One of my all-time favorite books, and undoubtedly my absolute favorite Erin McCarthy book, is HEIRESS FOR HIRE, one of the most heart-wrenching stories I've ever read, making her recent RITA nod for that title even more exciting! 

It has been said that the RWA's RITA award is the romance writer's equivalent of an Oscar.  And Erin was one of nine nominees in the Best Contemporary Single Title Romance category, her first such nomination, with a total of 100 nominees in various categories.  Seeing how this contest begins with over 1,100 books, simply being nominated is understandably satisfying for an author.

I always look forward to spending time with Erin McCarthy, she's one of the sweetest people you could ever want to meet and she truly is appreciative of each and every one of her readers.  Erin's books have an abundance of charm; a perfect mix of humor and romance, never failing to raise my spirits, and supplying the much- loved escape that romance readers anticipate when they first open a new book.

Her new September release, MY IMMORTAL, while varying a tad from the lighthearted fun that readers typically expect in an Erin McCarthy book, is no exception, even if the humor is a little more subtle and the romance darkly erotic.  When asked about trying her hand at this darker vein of writing, Erin replied, "I've started writing dark paranormals as a way for me to creatively expand my writing, to stretch my wings and experiment with more complex stories.  These books are full of curses and regrets, the quest for redemption and the underlying theme of self-destruction.  They are also very sensual, though not necessarily sexually explicit.  So it has been quite a shift for me, but I've found it's easier to go back and write a comedy after I've spent four hundred pages writing a book with dark, emotional elements.  Going back and forth gives me a break from the other and hopefully gives the reader a fresh book every time."

Here's a blurb about MY IMMORTAL from Erin's website:

In the late 18th century, a spoiled, selfish plantation owner struck an unholy bargain with a fallen angel: an eternity of servitude for the gift of immortality. For over two hundred years, Damien du Bourg has held up his end of the bargain—by inspiring lust in everyone around him…

Stumbling upon Damien’s plantation on the outskirts of New Orleans while searching for her missing sister, Marley Turner enters a world of shocking decadence. Drawn to the tortured man at the center of it all, Marley feels a powerful sensuality stirring inside her. For the first time, it’s Damien who can’t resist the lure of a woman. But his past sins aren’t ready to be forgotten—or forgiven…

I was excited to have the opportunity to read an ARC of MY IMMORTAL, and am pleased to share the following review:

When Marley Turner’s sister Lizzie disappears in New Orleans, leaving a vague message that she’s recently been to an adult party at the home of Damien du Bourg, Marley begins her search for her sister at his property. Marley finds Damien very distracting, very seductive, and very dangerous; a combination that has her instantly wary, but when Damien generously offers to assist in her search, she has no choice but to graciously accept. Damien’s first course of action is to have another adult party, where anything and everything – anywhere – goes, but he forbids Marley from attending. Marley, in her desperation to find her sister, sneaks in anyway, witnessing sexual deviancy that she never could have imagined. Surprisingly, she also found herself undeniably aroused. When Marley and Damien begin a romantic relationship, she soon discovers that he has been living under a curse since the eighteenth century, a story so incredulous that she can scarcely get her mind around it.

Damien has been cursed to inspire pleasure to those around him, and as miserable as he has been through the years, he has never regretted it as much as after he meets Marley and finds himself actually picturing what a future with her could be. She is everything a man could possibly want in a woman, beautiful, kind and considerate, passionately sensual; simply too sweet to be true. He regrets that he can only dream of being with her, and once she finds out the truth about the curse, he knows their relationship is doomed.

MY IMMORTAL is one of those books that stay with you long after you finish. I didn’t start another book for about three days after finishing, while absorbing and thinking about the beautiful story. It is darkly erotic, sizzling with steamy sensuality, and visits into the past by way of a packet of letters provide insight to the man Damien was so many years before. Erin McCarthy has written a brilliant story with MY IMMORTAL, and while Damien’s curse is certainly cruel, the story wrapped around it is irresistibly sinful and arousing.

Erin McCarthy is also trying her hand at young adult fiction with an October release called DEMON ENVY under her pen name ERIN LYNN.  DEMON ENVY is a light paranormal about a typical teenage girl who's life becomes anything but typical.

Here's a little something about the book from Erin's heroine: Vanity isn't even one of the seven deadly sins, but that's what got me into this mess...  This is my story.  The tale of a normal morning in the life of a normal girl - WHO HAS A DEMON POP UP IN HER SHOWER. Yeah, that's where the vanity comes in.  While trying to get rid of a monster zit, I dropped my face lotion in the tub.  And while fifty bucks' worth of it swirled down the drain, it freed a demon from his prison portal.  A mysteriously geeky looking demon.  (In the movies, they're always hot, right?) So here I am, Kenzie Sutcliffe, saddled with a creature who looks and acts like every other guy I know.  That is: ANNOYING.  At least Levi has a job - if you could call it that.  He has to stir up envy and jealousy in humans...or he starves.  All he's tempting me to do is crawl back into my bedroom and hide there until forever.  Because beleive me, no one is going to be coveting my life after this...

Knowing the charm and wit Erin brings to all her work, I'm sure her new Demon Series will have an impressive following among teenage girls, as well as their mothers. 

To learn more about Erin McCarthy and her work, please drop by her website.  And to learn more about her new young adult book and watch the great trailer for DEMON ENVY, check out her Erin Lynn website.