Meredith Allard Her Dear and Loving Husband Blog Tour with Giveaway and Guest Post

So sorry everyone I had this scheduled to be up at 3:00 AM this morning and only found out now that it didn't post!

Author Bio: 

Meredith Allard is the author of Her Dear & Loving Husband and the executive editor of The Copperfield Review, a journal for readers and writers of historical fiction. Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Muse Apprentice Guild, Wild Mind, Moondance, and Writer's Weekly. She has taught writing to students aged 10 to 60, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction at Learning Tree University and UNLV. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

website: http://www.meredithallard.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000069807223
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ - !/copperfield101

I am so excited to have Meredith Allard here to to talk about Is It Paranormal Romance or Urban Fantasy in a guest post here on Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

Meredith is currrently touring to promote her new book Her Dear and Loving Husband.

Thanks so much Entangled Publishing for connecting us on this blog tour!

Please take it away Meredith!

Is it Paranormal Romance or Urban Fantasy?

I still don’t know how exactly to classify Her Dear & Loving Husband. Sounds funny, that statement, especially since the book has been out since April and now I’m working on the second book in the series. I’ve only recently become familiar with the term Urban Fantasy. Not too swift for someone who writes about vampires, right? I’m not sure how the term escaped my notice. I had heard it before, certainly, but for me the term Urban Fantasy conjured images of a futuristic city — like the Jetsons with their flying saucers and talking toasters. Since I don’t read novels that fit into the science fiction/fantasy genre, I didn’t pay much attention to the label Urban Fantasy.

Before, my best guess for the genre of Her Dear & Loving Husband was paranormal romance, and yet I was never entirely comfortable with that label. I have nothing against romances; in fact, I love them. But for my vampire James Wentworth and the human woman he loves, Sarah Alexander, I wasn’t sure the romance genre fully described their story. James and Sarah’s love, how it grows from tentative caring to passionate connection, is a major part of their story. And James is a vampire, which fits in nicely with the supernatural aspect of Paranormal Romance. But the romance, while important, isn’t the only facet of the novel.

Then I began reading Paranormal Romance blogs, and I saw various discussions about Urban Fantasy versus Paranormal Romance. After some research, I found out that Twilight and the Harry Potter books fall into the genre of Urban Fantasy. How did this affect how I viewed my own book? I found that paranormal characters are welcome in Urban Fantasy. Check. I found out that in Urban Fantasy there is a coexistence between human and paranormal characters. Check. In Urban Fantasy the human learns of the existence of the paranormal. Check. In Urban Fantasy there can be romance. Double check. There is also emphasis on backstory, historical settings, and the characters may have tragic pasts. Check, check, check. Salem, Massachusetts doesn’t quite qualify as a city, but otherwise we’re on the right track here. And since Her Dear & Loving Husband is book one in a trilogy that features the same characters, that further qualifies James and Sarah’s story as an Urban Fantasy. Who knew?

What a realization — that Her Dear & Loving Husband fits into a genre I wasn’t even familiar with. Personally, I think that’s a pretty neat trick. I can’t wait to write my next book to find out what genre it belongs to.

Her Dear and Loving Husband
By Meredith Allard
Published by Copperfield Press
Release Date: April 11, 2011
Genre: Vampire Romance

Book Description:

How long would you wait for the one you loved?

James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties anywhere. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on.

Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. Soon James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?

Her Dear and Loving Husband is part historical fiction, part romance, and part paranormal fantasy. With elements of Twilight and The Crucible, Her Dear & Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies.

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Dear-Loving-Husband-ebook/dp/B004UVQOBO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1309479941&sr=1-1

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/49588

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11610337-her-dear-and-loving-husband

Giveaway Rules

Giveaway is a digital ebook copy of Her Dear and Loving Husband.

To enter the giveaway please leave a meaningful comment with your e-mail, thanks!

Open internationally and ends on Sept 21st!