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Title: Devil to Pay

Author: Renee Bernard

Series: Eternity Gambit #1

Pages: 342

Date Published: August 8th 2014

Publisher: N/A

Format: ebook

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:
Workplace comedy is always fun but when the company in question in H.E.LLc (Hades Enterprises LLc) and your job is being Lucifer, let's just say, there are some unique challenges beyond Casual Fridays and who keeps taking your lunch out of the break room. Even if Hell really is just a place where evil is tracked and analyzed in endless cubicles—no brimstone and not a human soul in sight—there’s no room for error. This Lucifer (who is the seventh unlucky archangel to get the position behind the black onyx desk) is about to have his entire world rattled when a very sweet and likable mortal woman crosses his path.

After all, angels can't lie. And when Jayne Hamilton wants to know what he does for a living, all bets are off. Because "dating" isn't exactly in the cosmic scheme of the Eternity Gambit, but Love... Well, Love is never really off the table.

Now, if Lucifer can just figure out how to win the girl and get himself fired, he'll be one very very happy angel.

~Guest Post!~

The Plot Less Taken

When I decided to try my hand at paranormal and then added the fun of making sure it was a romantic comedy and not just another grim tale of clichéd good vs. evil in a world gone wrong—I apparently had already broken a few rules.  But romance readers love a happy ending and I wanted to make sure that I tried to leave the formulas behind and attempted an original approach.  DEVIL TO PAY and The Eternity Gambit Series is a direct result of my wicked sense of humor married to my ambitious wish to be different in a time when that probably isn’t the smartest/safest path to success.

But I want to encourage every aspiring writer to avoid the easy choices when you are plotting your stories.  (And yes, even if you consider yourself a pantser, choices happen.  Make them count.)  Think of your books in terms of film.  If in the first five minutes of a movie, you can guess the entire plot, if every dramatic cliffhanger is one you saw coming and you can even mouth the lines before the actors speak them…it’s a dud.  Why would you expect a reader to spend precious hours with a predictable story?

I know the push from some author advice pieces is to ‘give them what they want’ to score more sales but be careful of the trap.  Even if a novel has required and familiar elements, there is no law that says you can’t change it up and make it yours.  Push yourself.  Don’t just play the ‘what if’ game until the plot works.  Play it until the story is riveting and fabulous.

In DEVIL TO PAY, I let comedy be my guide.  I made Hell into Hades Enterprises, LLc (or H.E.LLc) and Heaven, Inc. into a tandem organization, both owned by a mysterious Corporation run by Upper Management.  I put “Office Space” into a creative blender with “Moses” and “Sex in the City” and decided that the ultimate hero was probably the last guy you’d ever expect. Lucifer. He’s not the original Lucifer.  He’s the seventh angel to get the job behind the black onyx desk and to keep it interesting, I made sure that even if he’s wearing the dark suits, he’s the same sweet angel he always was.  And when Jayne Hamilton accidentally meets the man of her dreams…and it turns out he’s the Prince of Darkness…can she talk herself into believing the fairy tale or does common sense kick in so she can run for it?

So, there you have it.  If you like to laugh and you love romance, I hope you’ll take look at DEVIL TO PAY and decide for yourself if there’s room in the literary world for a unique take on an old formula.

~Try an Excerpt!~

“Smitten without a prayer,” Lucifer regained his focus on the present moment.  “There’s no Sanction for me.”

“Wrong,” Uriel said softly.  “How many people have walked into your building’s lobby in the last seventy-five years?”

Lucifer calculated his answer trying to remember.  “Two.  Besides her, I think it’s two.”

“Invited?” Uriel asked.

“Of course! Mortals can’t even see the structure unless—“ Lucifer stopped himself.  “Oh, my God!”

Uriel smiled in triumph.  “See?  Sanctioned.”

“What did I just miss?” Raphael put the cards in the box.

“She found him without an invitation.  She walked in of her own free will and unless it was Sanctioned, Management would have never allowed it.”  Uriel smugly folded his hands like a magician revealing his best trick.  “I’d say Michael’s going to eat his own hat when he finds out.”

Lucifer was speechless as he absorbed the implications. 

Sanctioned.  Was it really true that she’d been allowed to come to me?  That there’s a chance?  It’s all still human free will and the long shot of the millennia, but oh, God…thank you.  I’ll have to get Malcolm to send you a gift in the morning for this one!

Luke shoved the chips at Azrael and excused himself with a bow.  “I hate to win and run, but I have to see a Demon about a fruit basket.”

He instantly vanished and Raphael’s laughter filled the room.  “You gotta love his exit lines!”

~Meet Renee!~ 

What in the world is a retired Navy chaplain’s daughter doing writing scorching hot historical romances and paranormal romantic comedies and even comic books? Renee Bernard is applying a great education from traveling all over the world to story telling and doing her best to keep her father proud. Truthfully, her father is her number one fan, even though he has sworn never to read a single word of her books (a vow he has kept to this day!) Nothing stops him from telling everyone he knows that his daughter is now a USA Today Bestselling author or from handing out bookmarks on the golf course.  Love can make even a minister do strange things!

Renee Bernard is a freelance writer and host of “The Romance Bookmark” on Readers Entertainment, as well as a contributor to Romantic Times BookReviews magazine.  Renee currently lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California. (Note an interesting proximity to great wineries!)

DEVIL TO PAY is available now online wherever books are sold and is coming soon to Audio!  The Eternity Gambit series is a fun departure from her well-known Victorian set historical romances and creates a new world for readers unlike any other.  DEVIL TO PAY is the first book in this new series and is gathering up 5-Star reviews and momentum as more readers discover that office politics can hit a whole new level of crazy when you work at Hades Enterprises, LLc (or H.E.LLc).

For more information, please visit her website at http://www.reneebernardauthor.com or http://www.eternitygambit.com .

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