Hi all!  I had a wonderful time at RomCon 2012, met a lot of great authors and readers, bloggers and models, and reconnected with some old friends I haven't seen in way too long.  (And according to a few I got married there too, but that's a story for a different day.)

I have passels of stuff to share about RomCon and pictures to upload.  All of which I'll begin doing tomorrow.  And I came home with two amazing things:

1.  A new assistant -- oh thank the powers above now there is someone to keep me organized.  I'm so very excited to work out all the technical requirements and get her rolling.

2.  Remember this book?

With Immortal Hope's release date just passing, I'm super excited about The Curse of the Templars series.

I received word from my editor at Tor that Immortal Surrender, the second book in series, will be released in September 25, 2012, not October as I previously believed.

YAY!

On that note, here's another peek at Immortal Hope. Remember, it's the first in the series. You don't want to miss where it all begins!

CENTURIES AGO,

Templar knights defied the archangels and unearthed the copper scroll, revealing the gates to hell. Cursed for their forbidden act, they forever roam the earth protecting mankind from evil. But darkness stalks them, and battles they fight bring them ever-closer to eternal damnation. One promise remains to give them salvation – the return of the seraphs.

Embittered by his purpose, Merrick du Loire must honor an ancient pact and bring peace to his cousin’s soul. When he stumbles upon history professor Anne MacPherson, he discovers she possesses a sacred artifact that marks her as a seraph. Duty demands he set aside his personal quest and locate the knight she’s fated to heal. As he struggles with conflicting oaths, Anne arouses buried hope and sparks forbidden desire that challenges everything he’s sworn to uphold.

Anne has six weeks to complete her thesis on the Knights Templar. When Merrick takes her to the Templar stronghold, he presents her with all she needs—and awakens a soul-deep ache, he alone can soothe. Yet loving Merrick comes with a price. If she admits she's destined for him, her gift of foresight predicts his death.

Well, it's been a fun an exciting month with this blog tour, and I hope you've learned some exciting things both about the noble knights in The Curse of the Templars series, and Merrick and Anne from Immortal Hope.

But today's the last day, and we conclude the blog tour with Urban Girl Reader, where you can meet the last knight, Farran de Clare.

Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!

The winner will be posted here tomorrow.


While the tour is over, I still have plenty of things coming down the pipe and some more appearances scheduled. Check back for the latest news and additional giveaways with Immortal Hope.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today you'll find me at In the Name of Books, where I'm discussing the challenges of writing Immortal Hope and meeting them head-on.


Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today you'll find me at The Quillery, a fantastic, super classy, review site. I've been put to the test, and faced down a battery of thought-provoking questions!


Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!











The STRIPPED Blog Tour has concluded. The winner of the Amazon Gift Card will be announced shortly!

Thanks for following the tour and I hope you enjoy STRIPPED!

Today you'll find me at many places.

The first, Michelle's Book Blog, where you can meet the ever-so-charming, Templar Knight, Gareth.

When you've had your fill of him, hop over to Fallen Angel Reviews for more in-depth information about the series and Immortal Hope.

THEN, stop in at I'm Lovin' Books and learn a little about how angels and witches go to gether.

Today you'll find me at Romancing the Book, where I'm talking about the roles of archangels in Immortal Hope and the series, The Curse of the Templars.

Secondly, I am at Grave Tells today as well! Please stop in!

How Blog Tours Work...

After what's amounted to a week of having to chase down posts for one tour or the other, and hearing my author friends comment on this as well, I thought I'd explain to you, the people who come here to find out where to go for a blog tour stop, how this whole process works.

Let's skip past the whole contact, confirm, schedule date, etc. It's the author's responsibility to create material and get it to the host. Either through a third-party tour coordinator, or directly. This includes pretty much everything you see on a blog post -- answers to interview questions, guest post material, photo, bio, blurb, cover, etc.

At that point, once that material is sent off, it is really out of the author's hands. Some hosts confirm receipt of material, some don't. An author really has no idea if there's been a transmission error, or anything, unless the host communicates so. A really busy host may not even recognize there's something amiss until the last minute, or approaching the last minute, and hopefully the author can address that problem pronto if he/she is able to receive the email timely.

Unless the author has heard from the host, the author has no idea until the day of, whether there's been a problem.

And as the host is posting the material, and the author does not have access to that blog to do the posting hisserself, the author can't control whether that material gets live or not.

All an author can do (cough) is apologize to the people who've faithfully and diligently followed the tour, offered support, and may be emailing privately to inquire. He/she can also politely express some angst on a blog as well.

And then he/she can beg you to have patience and keep going with the flow.

So, I'm apologizing, I'm expressing, and I'm begging!

Thanks for all your support folks!



You asked for more knights -- I've delivered! Jump over to Lovin' Me Some Romance, and get cozy with a knight who knows the true meaning of chivalry, even if his suspicion sometimes gets in the way. Lucan of Seacourt is making a guest stop today!



Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today I'm super excited to be over at Laura Kaye's blog site. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, she's a fabulous author and her recent book, North of Need, is really making a name for itself! It's on my TBR pile and it should be on yours! (Not that I'm going to tell you what to do or anything. Hee!)



You should check her out, whether you're following my tour or not!










Stripped, as you know, is not on official tour on the weekends. However, I have an unrelated stop planned for today. I'm over at The Writer's Space

Darn that pesky HTML Code that masked my fabulous writing. Darn me for not realizing it was wonky until... 2pm.

So. Here it is with much ado:

Today I'm at the incredible KMN BOOKS with Karen Michelle Nutt!

This is a great blog site, folks. Absolutely wonderful. You should check it out, even if you aren't interested in IMMORTAL HOPE.

(Gasp! How could that be?)

So jump on over there and check out Karen's blog. Right now!




Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Love to Read for Fun.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

It's that time again -- time for another up-close and personal with a sexy, tortured knight. Stop in over at The Book Nympho and meet Tane du Bruiel a little more.

Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at As the Pages Turn, a smokin' hot, fun and informative book review and information site.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today I'm across the ocean, in Glascow, with Lesley at My Keeper Shelf. We're talking about the world building involved with Immortal Hope and the Curse of the Templars series.

Lesley reviewed IMMORTAL HOPE yesterday, and ranked it with 4 Stars. Here's a tidbit of what she had to say:

"Immortal Hope definitely has the feeling of a really good series, it reminded me a little bit of J.R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood (which is one of my all time favourite series) where each book will focus on one warrior finding his HEA. So if you are a fan of BDB then this is right up your street."

Be sure and check out her Review while you're there!



Comment on the blog tour post and be entered to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Sexy Lady, a really fun blog site for the... erotic inclined.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

We have our first WINNER, folks!

Please congratulate Terri M!. For her participation on the Immortal Hope Blog Tour, she's receiving the mid-month prize of an Amazon $25.00 gift card.

Keep on playing, keep on commenting -- we have one more drawing left.


Today I'm over at Good Choice Reading, another fantastic review site. You should check them out beyond reading about how I blended history with fiction. They have some wonderful thoughts on equally wonderful books.












Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Carrie Ann Ryan's Blog, who's making an appearance over here on February 29th as well!

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today I'm at the very cool paranormal book review site, Fang-Tastic Books. Hop over and talk about your New Years hopes and hear a little of mine for the forthcoming year.

Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








The STRIPPED blog tour does not run on weekends. It will resume on Monday.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

If you like paranormal romance, you need to check out Dark Faerie Tales. I'm there today, talking about who was the most fun character to craft in Immortal Hope.

Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!






The Stripped Blog Tour does not encompass weekends. It will resume on Monday.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today I'm at Wicked Lil' Pixie, another incredible review site for paranormal enthusiasts and anyone who likes a little steam in their romance! Stop in and learn why I chose the topic of the Knights Templar.

Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Ramblings From This Chick, where you can get a first-hand look at what it takes to be a Black Opal.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today's I'm swapping blogs with author Joya Fields. The Immortal Hope Blog Tour Stop is at her place.

Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!


I'm also making a second apearance at Sizzling Hot Books, where Marissa recently reviewed Immortal Hope. She rated it 4 Hearts, and had the following to say:

"Immortal Hope looks to be a tantalizing new series that promises epic battles, strong women, amazing men and a commitment to a better world. Read it today!"

For the Full Review, click here.

Otherwise, leave a comment there too and double your chances to win. The first giveaway will be coming up very soon! And, if we get some more participants on the tour -- alert your friends! -- I'll up the rewards by doing a 3rd drawing.




Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Immortality and Beyond, where I'm giving you a sneak peek at an exclusive excerpt for STRIPPED, and talking about the Black Opals in depth.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Need another up close and personal with a chivalrous knight? Stop in at Bookaholic Does Blogging and say hello to Caradoc of Asterleigh.

It's up and live! Yay!! Enjoy Caradoc, all!

Then, stop in at Book Chick City and learn about why I chose the serpents to symbolize the seraphs.

** Due to a sudden death in the family, Book Chick City has rescheduled the tour date -- TBA currently. I would like to extend my sincerest condolences.**



Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop is at Seductive Musings, where you can get a first-hand look at what it takes to be a Black Opal.

And this fabulous blog is live! Laugh!

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Today's Stop on the Immortal Hope Blog Tour is at Fiction Vixen. There, I'm talking about the inspiration for the novel and the series, and sharing some interesting facts about the cursed knights.



Comment and enter to win an Amazon Gift Card!








Today's STRIPPED blog tour stop isat Romancing the Book, where I'm also being interviewed about STRIPPED and the naughty but dangerous, Black Opals.

Comment here as well, and double your chances to win!

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com