Hauntings in the Garden and Writing "small."

Halloween is almost upon us and, in celebration, the Wild Rose Press has brought out  Hauntings in the Garden, a set of nine mini-novellas on a Halloween theme. I'm celebrating the occasion with a series of posts looking at the art of writing "small." I won't pretend it's easy but judging from my own experience, it's the ideal way for a slow writer to catapult their fiction into the publishing marketplace.

Some of these I have read and shall review, some of these will also be mini-novellas by friends that I have read in the past and shamefully not reviewed. As a newly published writer, I now realize the importance of reviews and the understand the anguish of waiting to see what readers might say.

Today's post focuses on the blurbs. Analyse what features they have in common. Decide what makes them successful. Would they intrigue you enough to buy the book? 

Firstly are the three books out this week: click on the links for full details and excerpts at TWRP. The first is a sweet romance with a private eye  hero.

Caper Magic [d9137] - $1.99 : The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

P.I. Nick Forrester comes to Cape Brendan ostensibly to assist with Caper Madness, a month-long celebration of everything Halloween. In reality he is tracking a woman on the run. Within days he is confronted by Annunciata Doyle, a vivid reminder of a pain-filled past.

After retreating to Cape Brendan in defeat and humiliation, Nunie Doyle's only hope was to make the best of forced retirement. There, in this quaint tourist town on the shores of Lake Ontario, she earned the love and respect of new friends and neighbors—and put her talent for helping women to good use.

With the mutual goal of making Caper Madness the best ever, Nicke and Nunie fight tooth and nail on the personal level, each discovering a new side to the other, sides that make them consider making drastic changes for the rest of their lives.

This attraction: Is it complete madness-- or sheer magic?

Rating: Sweet
Page Count: 60
Word Count: 14880
978-1-62830-656-9 Digital

And now for something completely different-- a spicy New Adult suspense.

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5862

What Carrick County’s powerful Phelan family want, they usually get, whether that’s land like the Fitzgerald farm, or women, like the Fitzgerald girls. Handsome Liam can’t tempt Ranalt, whose heart belongs to neighbour Colin Sweeney. But his older brother Rory attracts her sister Lacey like a magnet draws steel.When the boys and their father Patrick visit Joe and Sheila Fitzgerald with a mysterious offer, all hell breaks loose. A furious Joe orders the Phelans off his property and away from his daughters, warning he knows what to do about ‘their kind’. Soon afterwards, Fitzgerald fences are slashed and cattle lie torn apart. Coincidence or cause for fear?There are secrets in Carrick County people don’t dare reveal. But Ranalt will risk everything to protect her family, the man she loves and the little girl she adores. Each turn of the summer moon brings danger and in the shadows, something waits...

Werewolf, New Adult, suspense
Rating: Spicy
Page Count: 57
Word Count: 14500
978-1-62830-564-7 Digital

And again for werewolf lovers from Dayana Knight.

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242_177_136&products_id=5863

Breanna McShae is a practicing green witch—harm to none, do as you will is the mantra she lives by. She must seek a familiar as her powers have reached peak and grounding does not pull enough of her magick back.  After performing a ritual asking the Goddess to provide her with her given familiar, she finds she has two animals vying for her attentions—a wolf and a raven.  The catch is one of them is the love of life and the other devastating trouble—a sikkqui—a creature that can assume any shape and sucks the very essence of human spirit and soul out leaving none but death and destruction behind.  The only way to destroy it is too perform a dark ritual, which is taboo for a green witch.  Her biggest problem is to figure out which animal is the sikkqui and then go against her very nature to destroy it without destroying herself and the shifter who has captured her heart.

Werewolf
Rating: Sensual
Page Count: 46
Word Count: 12320
978-1-62830-565-4 Digital