This week, Terry Spear was featured twice on USA Today’s Happy Ever After romance blog, promoting her December release, Dreaming of the Wolf (ISBN 9781402245558).
On Tuesday, she was interviewed by bestselling author and HEA contributor Pamela Clare. You can read the full interview here: http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2011-12-13/interview-terry-spear-author-of-dreaming-of-the-wolf/584349/1 and I’ve pasted the full interview below.
This morning, a great review of Dreaming of the Wolf was posted. The full review is also below, but this was a particularly great blurb: “Just as intense and swoon-inducing as the books before it… The chemistry is steamy and hot.”
Dreaming of the Wolf is Terry’s eighth werewolf book with us, and it has been receiving great praise from the book blogging and romance community all month long! All reviews can be found in the allotted review table in the Title Database in Filemaker.
Happy Ever After Interview: Terry Spear, author of 'Dreaming of the Wolf
December 13, 2011
By Pamela Clare, USA TODAY
Terry Spear grew up hearing that a girl can do anything, and, clearly, that message made an impression on her. She's built a habit of success and created a life out of doing things she loves to do.
She started with a bachelor's degree in business, was a Distinguished Military Graduate of West Texas A&M, and then got her MBA from Monmouth University. Those are some pretty amazing accomplishments, but we're just getting started. Spear's military service eventually earned her the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
Now retired from service, she continues to shine, but these days it's for her urban fantasy, Scottish medieval and YA novels — and her custom-made teddy bears. And not just teddy bears, but award-winning teddy bears.
Somehow, she manages writing and making teddy bears — and her other interests, which include gardening and researching her family's genealogy — while holding down a job in the heart of Texas as a librarian, where she is surrounded by books, some of which end up coming home with her.
Spear's popular Wolf urban fantasy series continues this month with Dreaming of the Wolf, the eighth book in the series. HEA caught up with her to talk about her wolves, her Wilde and Woolly teddy bears and what role her success in the military — and her lifelong belief that being female does not come with limitations — has had in shaping her strong heroines.
Pamela: You've earned accolades for your Wolf urban fantasy series, which continues this month with Dreaming of the Wolf (Sourcebooks Casablanca). In fact, Publishers Weekly praised the real feel of these stories, saying, "Her wolf world feels at once palpable and even plausible," when it named the first book in the series, Heart of the Wolf, one of the best books of 2008. What went into your world building that resulted in such detail with regard to pack dynamics and wolf culture? What does it take to make the unreal seem palpable and plausible?
Terry: When my editor told me she loved Heart of the Wolf, one of the things she commented on that really tickled her was that I had written that the werewolf pack traveled in SUVs. I used to own one and hauled my Girl Scout troop around it in. And when needed, helped out my son's Boy Scout troop. It seemed obvious to me that a pack of werewolves would use them, too.
Pamela: OK, I'll buy that. SUVs. I guess I can't really imagine werewolves driving subcompact cars, now that we're talking about it.
Terry: Just think, the hunky single guy who lives next door, who collects your mail and mows your yard when you're off on a trip, or the one who helps jumpstart your (car) battery, could really be a wolf in disguise. A werewolf kind of guy. You just never know. If he's protective, loves family, loyal to a fault, and when he has eyes for you, and only you, well, he might just have wolfish roots.
Pamela: I like that idea. A hunky werewolf neighbor. Your interest in wolves and pack behavior was piqued as a teen, as you read Jack London's Call of the Wild and White Fang.
Terry: I also do a lot of research into wolf behavior, reading wolf biologist reports, watching videos both of wolves in the wild and captivity, and often incorporate some of their characteristics into the stories to make the werewolves as realistic as possible.
Pamela: Let's talk teddy bears. Author Catherine Mann helps find homes for lonely dogs and puppies. You've placed teddy bears in homes all over the world. Your award-winning Wilde & Woolly Bears have even been featured in Teddy Bear Review magazine. The Celtic clan bear, with the tartan sash, would be a sure hit with readers of Scottish romance. How did you get into making teddy bears? It's not really the kind of work one associates with retired lieutenant colonels. In fact, I've never known a retired lieutenant colonel who made teddy bears. Then again, I've never known a retired lieutenant colonel.
Terry: LOL, well, I have to admit not too many retired lieutenant colonel write werewolf romances either!
Pamela: Good point!
Terry: My folks had a business where they designed fancy doll carriages, mirrors, swings and the like for doll collectors. I was making cloth dolls and had embroidered for years, so they asked if I could design an old-time teddy bear to sit on their doll furniture. One won best of show at the Fort Lauderdale Doll and Teddy Bear Show, another two won best-dressed, and Peg-Leg Pete the Pirate Bear won most unique bear. They were featured in Teddy Bear Review three times, Texas Monthly, and a couple of other magazines and several newspapers! They were in the International Teddy Bear Connection film. I just shipped my first Celtic clan bear to France! Some have made it as far away as Australia. One a fella sent to his girlfriend in Russia! For the Celtic bears, I personalize them with the clan name embroidered on their paws and also personalize bears for new babies with their birth date and first name. They have their own unique personalities just as much as my characters do in books!
Pamela: They're all adorable. Does your military service — thank you very much, by the way — influence your writing with regard to pack dynamics? Does it affect how you portray your heroines? After all, you've gone where few women have gone before.
Terry: Thanks so much, Pamela! My military service influences some of my work as far as knowing some weaponry, rappelling, orienteering, water survival. My heroines are definitely influenced by the notion that women can do most anything they put their minds to. My dad always said that, and he had three daughters, no sons! So he truly felt that way.
When I had to get over seemingly insurmountable obstacles at the leadership reaction courses, obstacle courses, and confidence courses, even rappelling off the side of a building or tower, or whisking through air from a tiny platform 75-feet high toward a lake at a very fast speed, clinging to a handlebar with no safety lines attached with nothing but lots and lots of air between me and the cold water way down below, it made me appreciate just how much women can do if given the opportunity.
Pamela: Have you ever considered writing straight-up military romance?
Terry: I've written a couple of straight military romances, but I love the paranormal. And so it really is what I enjoy writing the most.
Pamela: Among your many interests is genealogy. Your heritage is Irish and Scottish, and you've done enough work to discover that your ancestors have some interesting stories of their own, even ties with royalty. Which of those stories is the most touching and interesting to you?
Terry: My favorite is about a commoner MacNeill who fell in love with the Duke of Argyll's daughter, and the duke offered that he could walk as far as he could in a day and the duke would give him that land. But the MacNeill was too proud, and with his wife and two young sons and new daughter, he paid for passage to the Carolinas. The ship was diverted to Prince Edward Island.
The story goes that the ship's captain was the son of the reverend at the church in Argyll and the minister encouraged the Scots to go to this new world. But the captain's other brother owned land in Prince Edward Island and to keep it, he needed settlers. So the ship sailed to PEI, instead of the Carolinas. The Scots, thinking they were going to a built-up area where stores would sell them goods they needed, had not brought tools to build homes or prepared themselves for living in harsher conditions where they had no way to survive.
The Indians living in PEI helped the new settlers to survive the first winter, showing them where to find walruses that they could catch and use for food and clothing. Lady Elizabeth traded her jewels and fancy clothing to the Indians, but she did not survive the harsh conditions, and her youngest son and daughter were raised by other families. But still, it was a tale of a love between two Highlanders from different classes that could not be denied, and the pride of such hardy Highlanders, and how no matter the stakes, most did survive.
Pamela: That's quite a story! Thanks for sharing it with us. In addition to your Wolf series, you've also written Scottish medieval romantic suspense for Vintage Romance and both adult and YA vampire romance for Samhain. Can we expect more titles in either historical or YA paranormal/urban fantasy in the future?
Terry: Yes. My Highland romantic suspense is really popular, and fans keep asking when I'm going to write the next book. I am working on it now. I've also had a lot of requests for the sequels to both vampire books for Samhain. Although right now, I have the world of fae YA series, beginning with The Dark Fae, that has sold extremely well, and I will continue to add to that series, too.
Pamela: Dreaming of the Wolf, the eighth book in the Wolf series, was just released. What can you tell us about it?
Terry: This is Jake's story, from the Silver wolf pack in Silver Town, Colo. It started with Destiny of the Wolf, Book 2, and I had so many requests from fans to read Darien's brothers' stories, both Jake's and Tom's, I'm finally giving Jake his due. His older brother — they're triplets — swore that he'd found his mate through dream mating.
But Jake absolutely does not believe in such a thing, although there's a family history of it. So he seemed perfect for the role of finding a dream mate. Only, nothing is as it should be.
The woman is human, and wolves don't dream mate with humans. Plus she's a bounty hunter going after Mob ties, and she doesn't want him hurt. Him? He's a wolf. He'd take them on any day. But she doesn't know that. The problem is that he can't just have a human for a mate either. So it's complicated. Like relationships should be to make them worth all the while!
Pamela: How many more books to you plan to have in the series?
Terry: Fans beg me to continue with the series. Many thought when I had 10 written, that was going to be the magic number, and they were disappointed. But then I received a contract for another three. I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. Right now, I have 13 contracted, eight of them published, two more ready for publication and three works-in-process. But I've also started a jaguar series with Sourcebooks and the first is due out next fall. Jaguars are a little different. They're not pack animals. Don't have stick-to-it-ness when it comes to taking a mate. But then again, they're shifters, so the human part of them will have to come into play also! And that means happily ever after!
Pamela: That HEA is what it's all about. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me, Terry!
To learn more about Terry Spear, her books and her bears, visit her website at TerrySpear.com.
Also, stay tuned to HEA for an upcoming review of Terry's Dreaming of the Wolf.
Pamela Clare is an award-winning journalist and nationally best-selling author of both historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense. She loves coffee, the Colorado mountains, and her two grown sons. Her website is PamelaClare.com.
December 16, 2011
By Jessie Potts, USA TODAY
http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/HappyEverAfter/12/D/Dreaming%20of%20the%20Wolfx-inset-community.jpg" title="" align="left" border="0" width="230" height="383" hspace="12">Dreaming of the Wolf is the eighth book in Terry Spear's Heart of the Wolf series. I enjoyed the book immensely and wasn't confused at all for not having read the previous seven in order. Spear has a vast imagination and a definite skill for world building and creating characters we all come to love. Below is a list of the first seven books along with a brief synopsis of each.
Heart of the Wolf: Bella Wilder is searching for clues on how to catch a killer, one who is a lupus garou (werewolf). She is a red wolf, and her old pack leader, Volan, has claimed her as his. She has no say and ran away before he could further torment her. When Volan finds out where she's located he sends Devlyn to fetch her. It is a powerful order and one Volan expects to be fulfilled. What no one knows is that Devlyn and Bella are mates and nothing will get between them.
Destiny of the Wolf: Darien Silver is a pack leader whose mate died. He torments himself over her death and constantly blames himself. Then he meets Lelandi. Lelandi's twin, Larissa, died mysteriously, and she vows to find out the truth. When she becomes a target, she realizes that she may have fallen for Larissa's mate. Only Larissa wasn't who she said she was, or who she pretended to be. So who is the victim in this story?
To Tempt the Wolf: Tessa Anderson is a wildlife photographer who has a big problem: Her brother has been charged with murder, and she's the only person who can prove his innocence. When she comes across a half-dead man, she realizes she has even bigger problems. Hunter is a lupus garou, and that is all he can remember. He doesn't know what happened to him before he ended up on the beach. Now, he's staying with Tessa and fighting off his instincts to turn her into a wolf like he is.
Legend of the White Wolf: Both Cameron and Faith venture to Maine to search for something. Faith is looking to find her ex-boyfriend and thief, who stole research that belonged to her father. Cameron is looking for his partners who are late coming home from a hunting trip. The two meet, sparks fly, and Cameron and Faith realize that they just might have a future together.
Seduce the Wolf: Leidolf Wildhaven is a pack leader, one who just inherited a troubled pack. He has to deal with the authorities, the zoo that wants more wolves, rogue wolves and a human woman who wants nothing more than to protect wolves. Cassie Roux has dedicated her life to helping wolves. She doesn't care for Leidolf and just wants to help a female wolf and her pups, not fall head over heels for a man with secrets.
Wolf Fever: Carol has problems: She can see glimpses of the future, and she feels the need to help the people in her visions even when they ostracize and humiliate her. Her latest escapade has now turned her into a werewolf. Being female is rare among the werewolves, so the pack leader, Ryan, is pressuring her to mate. Ryan wants Carol, but first she has to accept her wolf so she can become more stable. He also can't accept her ability to see the future. But when a virus begins to ravage his pack, he realizes he had to make a choice, if he's not too late.
Heart of the Highland Wolf: Pack leader and Laird Ian MacNeill reluctantly allows a film crew into his castle. Trouble arises, though, when Julia, who insists she's part of the film crew, keeps showing up in all the wrong places. Julia is on a mission: Her grandfather wants her to steal a mysterious box from the MacNeill castle. Neither Ian nor Julia are prepared for the sparks that fly between them.
Which leads us to Dreaming of the Wolf, which is just as intense and swoon-inducing as the books before it. Alicia Greiston has become a bounty hunter after her mother was killed by men in the Mob. She wants to bring the men to justice by making sure they show up for their court date. The Mob, though, has a lot of guns and a lot of men.
Jake Silver is on his way to sell his painting to an art gallery (landscapes!) when he spies Alicia, and his wolf sits up at attention. Jake wants to protect Alicia, but Alicia knows that if Jake gets involved he might be killed. This decision will haunt her after she's taken captive and forcefully turned into a werewolf.
Now, Jake and Alicia need to figure out how to stop the Mob and help Alicia accept her inner wolf. Their passion for each other spills over into their dreams (hence the title). What I loved about this book was that Jake was so confused about wanting a human and then dreaming of her. I also loved how Alicia was ready to take on the Mob on her own and, in essence, saved herself. Mob boss Mario is scary and violent — an excellent villain. And Jake is a good fit for Alicia. Readers might find themselves wanting to smack these two! The chemistry is steamy and hot, but be prepared for their scenes together to leave you wanting more.
Jessie Potts, also known as Book Taster, adores books in all forms. She is a top 500 reviewer on Amazon and also does reviews for Bitten By Books and AllRomance.com.
You might also be interested in HEA's interview with Terry Spear.
Sourcebooks Casablanca has SEVEN nominations in The Romance Studio’s annual Cupid and Psyche Awards! The awards will be announced on February 14, Valentine’s Day.
This week’s issue of Publishers Weekly is running a STARRED review of Enraptured by Elisabeth Naughton (April 2012, ISBN 9781402262128)!
