Saturday, September 15, 2012

Blog Tour: Released: The Shapeshifter's Library Book One by Amber Polo (giveaway too!)

This virtual book tour is presented by ABG Reads Book Tours.
The entire tour schedule is below:
Sept 10 Hezzi D's Books & Cooks Review 
Sept 11 Bound To Astound Guest Post 
Sept 12 Aria's Dark Muse  Review
Sept 13 Nette's Bookshelf Excerpt
Sept 14 Hezzi D's Books & Cooks  Guest Post 
Sept 15 Books, Etc. Review 
           Sept 15 The Wormhole Review/Author Inteview
Sept 17 A Simple Love of Reading  Guest Post 
Welcome to The Wormhole and my day on the tour.
It is my pleasure to feature Amber Polo and 
Released: The Shapeshifter's Library Book One.

AUTHOR BIO:A love of books drew Amber Polo into a career as a librarian. A greater love turned her into a writer.The Shapeshifters’ Library series is an urban fantasy filled with books, librarians and dogs and a library everyone will love.The mystical side of Sedona, AZ became the paranormal setting for her first novelRomancing Rebecca. One day a plane flew past her office window and she turned her pen to her own airpark backyard and Flying Free was the result. In addition to her two novels and short romantic fiction, she is proud of her self-produced , Relaxation One Breath at a Time a CD that uses her voice to teach relaxation to calm your body and mind and/or help you fall asleep.Relaxing the Writer: Guidebook to the Writer’s High offers hundreds of tips to help writers and readers relax. ample her writing and see why Midwest Book Review called her work “quirky” and “profound” (is that After living in seven states, she happily calls a small town in Arizona home.
Amber Polo has stopped by for an interview:
What did you do before you became a full-time writer? 
I was a librarian, in both public and university libraries, and then became a yoga teacher. In some ways being an English major and then getting my MLS may have discouraged my own writing. Always being surrounded by wonderful books can discourage trying to write your own. I think my yoga practice became the wonderful transition to open my own creativity.

What’s your most interesting writing quirk?
It’s interesting that you use the word “quirk.” My writing’s often been called quirky. When I need to write a scene or get my characters out of trouble I pick up my AlphaSmart (sort of a wireless keyboard that doesn’t receive email or connect to the internet or offer distractions), put my hands on the keys, and the characters tell their story. Sometimes what they say is a complete surprise to me. 

Where did you get the idea for The Shapeshifters Library?
I have always been passionate about libraries and also learned a lot about dogs during the time I was active in training and showing. I loved writing fantasy and paranormal romance. Noticing all the shifter stories (cats, dragons, and lots of werewolves), I wondered why there were no dog shifter stories. Surely dogs were noble, caring creatures that in human form would be interesting and lots of fun. So, I put dogs, librarians, and fantasy together and out came dog-shifters. And added a few werewolves to provide conflict.

How long does it take you to write a book?
It seems like a full length novel takes a year - especially the first two of my fantasy series because there is so much to research and details to layer. I try to make sure there’s plenty of humor and book references. I’m hoping book 3 writes itself faster.


What are you reading? 
I love a good book in almost any genre. The Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing were two recent delightful escapes. I’m reading A Fistful of Collars by Spenser Quinn. Waiting for me are Jasper Forde’s The Woman Who Died A Lot (a bookish fantasy), 12.21 by Dustin Thomson, and The Portrait of Doreen Gray, a Chihuahua mystery by Esri Allbritten. I am also an audiobook addict.

What book, if any, do you read over and over again?
I seldom re-read a book. There are so many out there and as we all know - so little time.

Do you have any pets?
I don’t have any pets right now, but I recently went through old photos and scanned my favorite dog pictures and posted a slideshow on my website. It reminded me of living with five Old English Sheepdogs (at one time) The hero of Book One of The Shapeshifters Library is a dog-shifter (Old English Sheepdog/librarian) Most of the photos are of my dogs but there’s one cat picture of note showing how I trained a cat to jump through a hoop like a lion. I’d trained dogs and figured if lions could do it through flaming hoops my two kittens could make it through an embroidery hoop. And they did. 

Book Title: Released (The Shapeshifters’ Library Book One)
Author: Amber PoloPublisher: Blue Merle Publishing
Genre: Light Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Heat: Sweet
Length: 266 pages

Love dogs? Love books? Love libraries? 
Hate Book-burning werewolves?

Once long ago the Shipsfeather Academy was a training ground for an ancient race of dog-shifters whose mission was to protect the world’s knowledge. A powerful curse sealed these librarians in the basement of their building and gave the control of the town to a pack of book-burning werewolves. 

Librarian Liberty Cutter watches in horror as the town’s public library goes up in flames and plans to re-establish the library in the abandoned Shipsfeather Academy building. Chronus, the Old English Sheepdog headmaster of the academy and leader of the dog-shifters, knows he must make some changes to continue to keep his pack safe. But even if he could persuade Liberty to believe in a talking sheepdog, how far can she be trusted? And will she ever be able to care for him as a man. He has to try, because Liberty Cutter and her staff of zany librarians may hold the key to the dog-shifters’ freedom…and the future of the town.
Giveaway!
Open to U.S/Canada residents only: Prize pack to include:   Large canvas Shipsfeather Library book bag, 4 signed books by Amber Polo including The Shapeshifters’ Library Book 1: Released, Amber's Relaxation CD, 2 collectible dogs, a tuft of Arctic wolf fur.



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