TRRC READING

A Few More December Release Reads

2012-01-14T08:30:00.003-05:00

YOU MIGHT AS WELL DIE is An Algonquin Round Table Mystery release written by J.J. Murphy. A fast paced historical mystery focused around a group of writers, in which Dorothy Parker is a member of. She always seems to be the brunt end of horrendous mysteries that need to be solved, but who better equipped to do it than newspaper writers? The twists and turns with the early 1920's music playing in your head brings about a nice flavor for Murphy's series. And of course, Dot Parker is a sassy slueth who takes nothing from her male counterparts so that always brings a grin or two. (ISBN: 978-0-451-23532-9 Obsidian Dec 2011 Rating: 3.0)

A COOKIE BEFORE DYING is a new release in A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery written by Virginia Lowell. Olivia Greyson is the owner of The Gingerbread House which specializes in cookies. She is taunted by the store owner on the opposite side who owns The Vegtable Plate that sugar is bad for people and her store should close. Although there is no love lost between these women, when Livie finds Charlene's veggie shop broken into, she is on the case. Especially when later she finds the body of the man she saw flee Charlen's store. This winding tale of how two people can build a friendship through adversity would be completely touching, if not for Virginia Lowell's hilarious writing style and incidents that occur as Livie is trying her best to be a secret sleuth. A nice read about friends, neighbors, and how far we really will go to solve a good mystery.
(ISBN:978-0-425-24501-9 Berkley December 2011 Rating: 3.0)

THE LAST WORD by Ellery Adams is a new release in A Books By The Bay Mystery series. This series is like an old shoe. Comfortable and easy to slip into the small town of Oyster Bay. Olivia Limoges and the Bayside Book Writers feel like old friends whether you have read all of the series, or are beginning with this one. Olivia is a terrific sleuth, and someone you would want on your side as you go through trials or triumphs. The pages of this story will fly by! An excellent sit by the fire, curled up, and not to be disturbed read!
(ISBN:978-0-425-24500-2 Berkley Dec 2012 release Rating: 4.0)

THE COCOA CONSPIRACY was written by Andrea Penrose and is a new addition to the A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery series. It is a high paced, breath holding, dark of night historical mystery that will have you constantly checking around each corner before you walk on. Arianna is a smart and fiesty heroine that makes you want to grab the edge of her skirts in order to not miss one thing that she sees. An interesting read on politics, chocolate, love, and the internal desire to know the whole truth. You will not be able to put this one down.
(ISBN: 978-0-451-23531-2 Obsidian Dec 2011 Rating: 4.0)

CROPS AND ROBBERS is a new A Farmer's Market Mystery written by Paige Shelton. Someone is headed out to do a killing and it's not at the farmers market. And it's not Becca Robins, although it is someone who had been mean to her, and it is at her farm. Still, Becca is not one to sit back on her preserves and let someone tell her she did it when she knows she didn't. And she is not one to listen when the going gets, well, sticky either. Becca is a normal woman who finds herself in the most inopportune situations. This time, her mom is in it too. So she has to work double time to make sure they both don't end up in a double cooker! This is a read that reminds us that summer is coming with it's fragrant breezes of fresh farm food and farmers selling their wares. A nice addition to your winter reading stack.
(ISBN: 978-0-425-24499-9 December 2011 Berkley release Rating: 3.0)

FOUL PLAY AT FOUR is A Lois Meade Mystery written by Ann Purser. Lois Meade is a mother, a housecleaner, and a secret super slueth in the dead of night. When a client needs some extra TLC, Lois is ready for the job. Until other robberies occur, even to her own daughter's store! And then when Lois' husband gets hit in the head when he stops to check on one of her clients, Lois knows there is something amiss underfoot. Never one to let the dust settle, Lois is on the case. But she has to be very careful to make sure she isn't the next one to be hit in the head and hidden in a back barn left for dead. This read takes you a few steps back into time on a spinning path that will make you shake your head in disbelief. A fun read and a good addition to the series.
(ISBN:978-0-425-24359-6 Berkley Dec 2011 release Rating: 3.0)

New December Releases

2012-01-13T08:18:00.002-05:00

Since the holidays are over and we can all snuggle down with some good books through the rest of the winter season, I would like to share with you a few December releases in the Mystery department.

A SPIRITED GIFT was written by Joyce and Jim Lvene. It is a new release in the A Missing Pieces Mystery series. Revisiting Dae, O'Donnell, the mayor of Duck, NC is like visiting an old friend. This series is nice in that you can pick it up wherever and not feel lost. Each book gives a different piece of Dae, but none build on each other so the reader feels great just jumping in. And jump in you must! This series is lively with great characters that mesh well together and the plot is always interesting. If you have ever lived near or in a coastal town, you will love this one! (ISBN: 978-0-425-24502-6 Dec 2011 release by Berkley Rating:4.0)

A PLAY OF HERESY was written by Margaret Frazer and is an addition to A Joliffe The Player Mystery. This one is a little slow at first if you do not know all of the characters. But once you get a feel for the story line which is based in 1438, the plot because to flow quickly. Writing back in time is difficult due to realistic historical components that must be followed and Margaret Frazer does a fabulous job at doing this. Joliffe is involved in two extravagant plays. One with his fellow players he helps direct, but the other he is a player in. The group is mismatched and the director and Joliffe must make them all pull together before show time. When one of the players is murdered, Joliffe wonders if it was purely an accident, or related to the upheaval of silent heretics that want to destroy the church. He must find the answer without putting his own life, or livelyhood, on the line. A wonderful read!
(ISBN: 978-0-425-24347-3 Dec. 2011 release by Berkley Rating: 4.0)

THREADBARE is A Needlecraft Mystery written by Monica Ferris. When you live in a small town, you do not expect to have many homeless people, let alone wind up finding them dead. But that is what happens in Excelsior, Minnesota. One of the homeless women had a will sewn into her belongings bequething everything to her niece Emily, who is a member of the Monday Brunch at Betsy Devonshire's Crewel World needlework shop. That is what prompts Betsy to begin sluething again. Putting together all of the facts is dangerous work and she has to wind it all together quickly before the killer strikes out again! Not only does this book give you a winding plot to follow, it also includes free embroidery patterns. A score either way!!!
(ISBN:978-0-425-24358-9 Dec 2011 release by Berkley Rating: 3.0)

HOLLY LANE by Toni Blake

2011-12-31T13:38:00.006-05:00

HOLLY LANE

Destiny Series

Toni Blake

Avon

ISBN 978-0062024602

November 2011

Contemporary Romance

This book falls in place after the first three, and is set around Christmas time. Destiny Falls, Ohio, is your typical small town, where everyone knows everyone and their business. Sue Ann Simpkins has grown up here, fell in love here and had the perfect marriage. However, all that changed when her husband left her for another woman. Still reeling from the aftershock, she's desperate to regroup, so she heads out to a secluded cabin on nearby Bear Lake. That's when she is surprised by her husband's best friend, Adam Becker, who also shows up at the same cabin after a small mix-up at the front desk. Then a snow storm keeps them bound up together in the cabin. She wasn't looking for a relationship, so after things get a little heated and a lot passionate with sexy Adam, she tells him so.

Adam also tries his best to get Sue Ann out of his head, but running into her all over town doesn't help. And then his best friend puts him in an awkward position with Sue Ann. However, the insane, wild attraction they have for one another has them both trying to avoid crossing paths. As Adam falls in love with Sue Ann, she keeps him at arms length, but at a price - she's miserable. How can she trust anyone again after such a betrayal by her high school sweetheart turned husband? Adam isn't like Jeff, she knows, but it doesn't stop her from keeping him at arm's length as insecurities keep her emotionally detached. But this Christmas, the gift of a second chance at love may be just the kind of present both of them need.

Most Christmas "themed" books have little to do with Christmas, or have one scene, but HOLLY LANE starts the day after Thanksgiving and goes straight through to Christmas, with all the shopping, holiday cheer, Christmas traditions that most towns go through. Combine that with an emotional roller coaster for the heroine, and the angst of thwarted love for the hero, and you have yourself a great holiday read. Adam is super sexy, and reading about him in the first books has built him up a little for his own story. Sue Ann is the one who had "everything" and the one women envied, so it was good to see all the stages she had to go through to get to her happy ending. Sexually charged love scenes, in great Toni Blake style, combined with the hope for new beginnings with old friends will enchant readers and makes a great addition to the Destiny Series.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Jones

Four Midwestern Sisters' Christmas Book

2011-12-28T06:51:00.004-05:00

My favorite holiday book takes me back to my childhood. I was raised on a farm in Iowa, so is it a surprise that my favorite holiday book is the “Four Midwestern Sisters’ Christmas Book?” The authors of this book are 4 sisters who also spent some of their childhood years at “the farm” which consisted of an old house on acres of wooded land far outside the city limits of Columbus, Ohio.

The book starts off with a chapter entitled “Remembering Snow,” and it is my favorite. Growing up, sledding parties were a favorite activity for 4-H clubs, church youth groups and, also for young children living on a farm. The authors loved this particular time of their childhood because they spent it building snow forts, making snow angels and sliding down “suicide hill,” “Suicide hills,” had to be a widespread phenomenon among children living in the country, because I had one and I am positive my sled would have be taken away had my parents known about it and my intense fascination for it.

Holiday traditions are the theme of this novel. Mouth-watering recipes, homemade holiday decorations and gift ideas will evoke nostalgic Christmas memories. The authors nail the importance of holiday baking by stating, “: Christmas cookies are food for the heart, the memory, and the spirit. Let there be no conversation about thighs and cholesterol!” Love this!

This book was published by Viking and released in 1991. I got my copy from Amazon.com and I will read it every year!

Charlene McConnell

Favorite Christmas Read

2011-12-26T16:04:00.004-05:00

UNDER THE MISTLETOE
Mary Balogh
Signet 2006
ISBN-10: 0451219791
ISBN-13: 978-0451219794
Historical Romance

When I think of favorite Christmas reads, I think of Mary Balogh.

She has had a long writing career beginning in the 1980s continuing through today where she has continually made the bestseller lists with her Regency historical novels. It’s the Christmas novels and novellas written for the now defunct Signet Regency line that make my favorite Christmas reads list. Balogh has a particular genius writing novellas—perfect little gems that sparkle with excellent writing, deep emotional intensity, the real meaning of Christmas, and sensuality. Gathered together in UNDER THE MISTLETOE are five of these wondrous gifts, four from the various Signet Regency Christmas anthologies, and one new story written for this volume. I dare any reader not to be touched, not to tear up and/or smile happily at each perfect story’s end. Historical romance fans won’t find any other book that will set the Christmas mood than this collection of Mary Balogh novellas:

In “A Family Christmas,” Elizabeth and Edwin have a second chance at happiness at making their arranged marriage of an aristocrat and a wealthy merchant a real marriage if only they seize the chance at the family Christmas celebration.”

When a costly much beloved-jewel, “The Star of Bethlehem,” disappears, it takes a child chimney sweep to bring love and joy to Lord and Lady Lisle’s marriage.

Teacher Jane Craggs receives “The Best Gift” when she is invited to spend Christmas with one of her students at Viscount Buckley’s estate—to have the Christmas of her dreams and to make this a special Christmas for him and his newly-arrived young daughter.

In “Playing House,” Lilias is about to become a governess having fallen on bad times and to be separated from her much younger brother and sister, but when she seeks out her former love the Marquess of Bedford and asks him to help her give them a Christmas to remember, the magic of the holiday works its magic on Bedford’s and his young daughter’s hearts.

There’s “No Room At The Inn” when several people are stranded at a less-than ideal place for the Christmas holiday. Mary Balogh shows how you can have a wonderful awe inspiring story without the usual Regency holiday trappings and create a most magical, wonder-filled story.

UNDER THE MISTLETOE is destined to become a holiday classic…it’s available as a mass-market paperback as well as Kindle download at amazon.com.

Reviewed by Deb Hosey

TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY

2011-12-21T09:33:00.003-05:00

TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY by Sandra Brown is the story of architect Ria Lavender and Mayor-Elect Taylor Mackensie, two people that meet and fall into lust over shrimps at a Christmas Eve buffet table. Their night of passion results in an unexpected pregnancy. For Ria there is no question that she will not bear an illegitimate child. Being illegitimate herself, it's a foregone conclusion for her that Taylor will have to step up and join in the responsibility of bringing a child into the world.

When confronted by Ria, the Mayor-Elect initially attempts to play the "whose the father" game, but deep down he knows that his passionate one night affair has produced a baby. Both agree that the thing to do is marry for the baby's sake and part after the birth. The thing is, once these two set up house together they discover the passion has not died and there is a possibility to build on something more. But, there are doubts and obstacles that blur the process. Taylor has the reputation of being the sophisticated,handsome, political play-boy, and there is a woman he's stepped away from that is not pleased at being shoved aside. He has to convince Ria that he's worth staying with and can provided all that she requires in a relationship. Meanwhile, Ria is battling career concerns and doubts over every providing her child with a loving two-parent home.

TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY is filled with the type of story-line traditional romance readers love. It has plenty of very heated sex, emotional angst and two secondary characters that are schemingly annoying. Initially published by Loveswept in 1987, it has since been reprinted in hardcover and has become my holiday favorite.

My Favorite Holiday Book

2011-12-17T20:54:00.005-05:00

All She Wants For Christmas

Jaci Burton

Carina Press

ISBN: 9781426890871 (Single) and 9781426890826 (Collection)

December 2010

This book was released as a part of a Holiday Collection from Carina Press "Naughty and Nice" which featured 3 other authors in the Nice section. This was the first time I had read a holiday themed romance and while reading the collection this automatically became my favorite and one I would read every holiday.

The story is about Riley Jensen, a country music singer, who is forced to go back to her hometown to film a biography. Riley left her hometown in Missouri when she caught the love of her life Ethan Kent and her best friend Amanda in bed together. Ethan made a huge mistake which cost him Riley and after ten years he has never stopped loving her. Ethan has had to hear the hurt filled songs from Riley with everyone in their small hometown knowing who she was singing about and to make matters worse his daughter is her biggest fan. When these two see each other again the chemistry that brought them together in the first place is back in full force. Ethan thought that if she had stayed in their small town she would have never became a huge star, which is why he stopped looking for. Will Riley get past the anger and hurt and let Ethan into her heart or will Ethan still be afraid that he doesn't have anything to offer Riley that is just as good as what she has in Nashville?

I read this book in just a few hours, I couldn't put it down. The book was so popular that Jaci made it into a series with the second book of the series having been released this holiday titled "A Rare Gift" which I also read in just a few hours. If you want a great story to sit by the fire or just sit in bed and read I would definitely recommend this book. I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Have a great holiday!

Reviewed by: Tasha

Rating: 4 1/2

My Favorite Holiday Book

2011-12-13T19:28:00.003-05:00

A VIRGIN RIVER CHRISTMAS
Robyn Carr
Mira
ISBN: 0778328961
January 2010
Contemporary Romance

This is one of my absolute favorite holiday books by the increasingly popular Robyn Carr. While it is certainly fine as a stand alone novel, if you are a fan of her Virgin River series (like me!) this book is the perfect holiday antidote if you want information about Jack and Melinda, Paige and Preacher, and all the interesting people who populate Virgin River.

The story is actually military themed and tells about Marcie, a young widow who has just buried her beloved husband after he has lingered for over a year in a vegetative state, unaware that he is home, or that his family cares for him as he lies in a convalescent home. When Bobby dies, Marcie is determined to find the Marine who saved his life, Ian Buchanan. Her search brings her to Virgin River, at Christmastime, to a backwoods cabin, to a man who does not want to be found. Ian has given up on a normal life and is consumed by his regrets from the war.

This is the love story of how Marcie pulls him out of his shell and in the process finds her own peace and redemption. I absolutely loved this book, the detail, and the story it told, in the wonderful style we have come to expect from Robyn Carr. If you only read one book this holiday season and come across this amazing novel, pick it up. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. For those of you familiar with Virgin River this will be one more terrifc chapter in that community's story. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by: Jeri Neal
Rating: 4 1/2

My Favorite Holiday Read

2011-12-09T08:28:00.001-05:00

BLUEBIRD WINTER
Linda Howard
Harlequin
Shilouette Christmas Story (1987)
ISBN: 0-373-15147-0

It is true...good things DO come in small packages. BLUEBIRD WINTER is a timeless story, one which I pull out every couple of years to read. This superbly written short story gives readers a glimpse of what it means to have faith, determination, and belief in the miracle of life and love.

Kathleen Fields is eight months pregnant and unexpectedly goes into labor during a severe Oklahoma snowstorm. With her labor progressing, pain increasing and no power, Kathleen makes a terrifying decision.

Derek Taliferro is heading home from celebrating the holidays with his mother and her husband. Knowing he should have left the previous day, Derek prepares to endure a long dangerous ride, in the snowstorm, back home, to Dallas. Before he makes it home, he will make an unexpected delivery.

BLUEBIRD WINTER is truly a heartwarming read that I hope you have had the chance to read or will read.

Monica

THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT by Tracy Wolff

2011-12-05T11:02:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite holiday novels is, "THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT", by Tracy Wolff. Vivian Wentworth is a divorce attorney working at the local women's shelter, helping the residents escape abusive marriages. The law firm she works for needed to take on more pro bono case, so Vivian is assigned a murder case. Vivian is not sure why she was handed this case, she is not a defense attorney and she knows almost nothing about criminal law, except what she learned in school. Vivian planned on meeting with the client, Diego Sanchez, but she is running a little late, and the meeting is not in the best part of town.

Rafael Cardoza hearing Vivian scream, saves her from a gang of teens. He doesn't believe that she is the right attorney to defend Diego, he believes Diego is innocent of killing his pregnant girlfriend. He can't help admire Vivian's determination to do right by Diego. Frustration mounts as someone is trying to stop their investigation. The attraction between Rafael and Vivian grows, but he knows Vivian is not for him, she comes from a wealthy background. There is no way Rafael will get involve with someone from a rich family again. Maybe he can just play awhile, but Vivan is not willing to let him get away. Can Rafael forget his past, and learn to trust again?

In THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT, Ms. Wolff combines a legal thriller with romance. Can two people from opposite sides of town learn to love, and have faith in each other? I enjoyed the dynamics between the two main characters, while Vivian comes from a wealthy family, she is left pretty much on her own. The only thing her parents are interested in is their social standing. Rafael comes from a large family where everyone knows everyone's business, and family celebrations are a way to have family time. The novel deals with death and grief, and what I liked best is that it is not a traditional Christmas story.

THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Harlequin
ISBN # 00373716079
December 2009
Category Romance

Reviewed by Gloria

Christmas Read

2011-12-03T08:31:00.003-05:00

If you like Kate Kingsbury, like I do, here is a new one of hers that has never before been published. HERALD OF DEATH is a special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery that will leave you shocked in horror at what the human mind can act upon. Thankfully, it is just between the pages of this great holiday read that will have you vacillating between disbelief and holiday cheer. The perfect book to grab, snuggle up next to the fireplace, and get lost in.

HERALD OF DEATH

A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery

Kate Kingsbury

Berkley Prime Crime

November 2011

ISBN: 978-0-425-24335-0

Rating: 4

Reviewed by: Kathy Fisher-Asbery

A Christmas Read

2011-11-30T22:11:00.005-05:00

With the onset of the Christmas Holidays, we here at the Romance Readers Connection will be posting throughout the month with some Christmas picks made just for our readers. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I always look forward to reading all of the seasonal romances. And since there is nothing better than love for Christmas, get ready to experience it in some of our favorite Christmas books.

I will start first with my selection, THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Heidi Betts.

Heidi Betts
Brava
ISBN: 978-0-7582-4761-2
October 2010
Paranormal

Just in time for Christmas, the vamps are making their
appearance in an anthology titled THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. The first story
stars Connor Drake, a vampire looking for a traditional Christmas and more
family time with his two younger siblings. Turned at the tender ages of 19 and
21, he is dealing with youngsters for the most part and they view him as
regimented and stuffy. When he hires a party planner to assist with the plans,
he soon finds that just maybe she will be the best Christmas gift he has ever
gotten.

Next is A VAMPIRE IN HER STOCKING. Vivian has had a
crush on her boss for two years and when she learns that Sean is dying, she
confides to her friend and fellow vamp, Angelina. Vivian refuses to turn Sean,
especially since he had no idea that she is a vampire. When Sean is turned and
left as a Christmas gift, Vivian knows that Angelina is to blame. Sean was not
prepared for the change and he just might resent Vivian instead of thanking
her.

Last in this Christmas trilogy is the story of Angelina in IT’S A WONDERFUL BITE.
Angelina runs a profitable match making business and is very happy in her life
except for one thing. Her boyfriend has yet to pop the question. When she goes
to sleep and wakes up in a different life, she quickly learns that everything is
not always greener on the other side. She becomes mortal and after so many years
of being a vampire, humanity is the last thing she would want. Especially now
that she is very destructible and working a dangerous job to boot.

Overall, these three stories make for a great read on a cold winter night. So, if you are looking for a little something under your Christmas tree, Ms. Betts book is just what Santa ordered.

Reviewed by Lori Sears
Rating: 4

The Women of The Kauffman Amish Bakery

2011-11-21T10:25:00.004-05:00

This week the holiday season begins with our celebration of Thanksgiving on Thursday. I wonder how many of our readers remember the Thanksgiving and Christmases of old when there was no "Black Friday" and no going to bed early to be in store lines by midnight on Thanksgiving night, in order to get the best deal or bargain for the upcoming Christmas Holiday. Well if you were a resident of the fictional Amish community of Bird-In-Hand located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, you would probably enjoy a holiday of old where gift giving comes from the heart and is not always store bought.

Amy Clipston is the author of a series of Amish novels that introduce us to The Women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery and the Bird-In-Hand community. The Amish experience a simple life style and each woman you'll meet in the series displays a sense of hope and a life filled with christian faith and family. They also experience romance and old-fashion or not, they find that the road to love and happiness is often rocky. Of course the women of Bird-In-Hand are accomplished cooks and bakers and you'll find this out throughout the each story; and always the Kauffman Amish Bakery plays a part in the lives of these women.

Currently there are two recommended holiday books available: A PLAIN & SIMPLE CHRISTMAS (9/2010) and NAOMI'S GIFT (9/2011; reviewed in an earlier TRRC newsletter)

The stories in The Kauffman Amish Bakery series are connected and clearly the lives of the women involve overlap. However, the author does an excellent job of providing a brief synopsis for each novel and the reader will have no problem following each woman's story. The holiday books are of course exceptional and uplifting, but it is also a real treat to read the stories associated with normal times in Bird-In-Hand. Please try:

Book One - A Gift Of Grace (3/2010)
Book Two - A Promise Of Hope (12/2010)
Book Three - A Place Of Peace (1/2011)
Book Four - A Life of Joy (1/2012)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Livia

A few cooler weather reads

2011-11-08T15:26:00.002-05:00

Now that the weather is cooling off, it's time to snuggle up with a few good romantic mystery books. Or just some good ole' who dun-its.

JoAnna Carl has a new October 2011 release titled THE CHOCOLATE CASTLE CLUE A Chocoholic Mystery series book and it is sure to hit anyone's sweet tooth with a fast paced mystery and some yummy chocolate trivia.

Liz Lipperman has a new series: A Clueless Cook Mystery debuting with LIVER LET DIE which will make you a fast fan. A twisty tale, an every day gal hero, and sexy men are on every page. This is an Oct 2011 release as well and it will stay on your need to read the next to read list.

No mystery lover can resist a Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain story. Based on the television series, MURDER, SHE WROTE The Fine Art of Murder is sure to please old and new fans alike. This one moves quickly with several story lines whizzing by simultaneously. One of my most favorite from this series yet! This one is an Oct 2011 release.

There is never a better time to grab a good mystery, light a fire, and burrow in for the long haul. If none of these strike your fancy, just wait, there are more to come!

BLOOD ETERNAL

2011-11-01T10:27:00.001-04:00

BLOOD ETERNAL

Awakened by Blood-Book

Marie Treanor

Signet

ISBN:978-0451234728

October 2011

Paranormal

Vampire enthusiasts have a new author to rave over with the Awakened by Blood series. In the latest release by Marie Treanor, BLOOD ETERNAL, Dr. Elizabeth Silk is still trying to reconcile her place in the world. She is consort to Saloman, the last Ancient vampire. She awakened Saloman from his death and since then her world has changed greatly. She is straddling two worlds, as she continues to assist the vampire hunters while still making time for the love of her life. Her skills are growing and along with them her powers as well. Saloman is torn by his feelings for Elizabeth and he is slowly starting to realize that he can't live without her. When his cousin is awakened, he fears for her life as well as for the rest of the world. Luk was insane when he was put down by Saloman and if he continues to live, his power may soon eclipse Saloman's. Elizabeth will have to convince the hunters that they need Saloman in order to defeat this newest foe. But the hunters have fought against all vampires for centuries and will not be swayed easily. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Saloman will have to learn to trust in each other as well in their love. Ms. Treanor has created a unique new series for paranormal fans that will keep the them clamoring for more.

Reviewed by Lori Sears

Rating: 4

All About Seduction by Katy Madison

2011-10-31T21:37:00.003-04:00

ALL ABOUT SEDUCTION

Katy Madison

Avon Historical

ISBN 978-0-06-201735-2

November 2011

When Caroline Broadhurst is forced by her old husband to get with child by another man, she reluctantly goes along with his plan in order to save her family that depends on their money. Jack Applegate is a mill worker at the Broadhurst mills, and has secretly wanted Caroline for a long time. Then, a horrible accident leaves him with a broken ankle and convalescing at Broadhurst under the care of Caroline. Here, Caro's plan comes together. Will their tryst turn to love, and will they ever be able to be together?

I recently read a similar story line a few months ago that was well done (Lorraine Heath's WAKING UP WITH THE DUKE). Heath's was well drawn out, tasteful and understandably written. However, this one was just plain creepy. First, Caro tries out several men to have sex with. And while she doesn't succeed in having "actual" intercourse, she does go quite a way with one of them. Even her old, drecrepit husband gets his fair share in a fit of jealousy. While the premise is to build up her husband as a sterile old man, and even a meanie, this does not negate the fact that the author chooses to have the heroine being intimate with several men, other than the hero.

The buildup of romance between Caro and Jack was slow and tedious. Jack's family is not much better, sponging off his money while they can, leaving him little choice in the direction of his life. Ultimately, he's dependent on Caroline's money to save him. I get that the author had to make valid reasons for Jack staying on at Broadhurst, but poor Jack was made out to be little short of a beggar. The romance between them, sadly, was not enough to save this book from the agonizing process of getting to the end, which felt too neatly tied in a ribbon for it to seem believable

Reviewed by: Jennifer Jones

Rating: 2

2011-10-31T14:14:00.002-04:00

VISIONS OF SKYFIRE

The Awakening Series-Book 2

Regan Hastings

Signet

ISBN-13: 978-0451234971

October 2011

Paranormal

The Awakening series is back with the latest release from Regan Hastings, VISIONS OF SKYFIRE. In the newest story, Teresa Santiago is the witch about to come into her powers. Teresa has prepared for this role her entire life and now that the magic is quickening within her, she knows that it is just a matter of time before her Eternal appears. An Eternal is an immortal who is the destined mate of each of the witches who is tasked with finding an artifact that they hid several reincarnations ago. Teresa belonged to a coven of witches who attempted to gain more power through the creation of a powerful artifact and after almost destroying the world, they broke it into pieces and each witch hid it somewhere safe. Now they are coming into their powers and their destined mates must help them remember the past and recover the pieces. If they are unsuccessful, the world will be destroyed. Teresa and Rune have a lot against them and their quest is filled with danger and death. Rune is still caught in the past and the person Teresa used to be and Teresa is determined not to love her Eternal. But fate will have its say and both may find that their wishes are the last thing they have to worry about.

Reviewed by Lori Sears

Rating:4

MUCH ADO ABOUT VAMPIRES MacAlister (Oct 11) Paranormal

2011-10-31T09:44:00.003-04:00

MUCH ADO ABOUT VAMPIRES

Dark Ones, Book 9

Katie MacAlister

Signet

ISBN-13: 9780451234926

Paranormal

MacAlister returns with her latest Dark Ones novel and it features Alec Darwin. Alec lost his Beloved in a tragic accident and is pretty much ready to end it all. When he is saved by Cora Ferreira, he ends up in one big mess after another. He has been banished to the Akasha by the Moravian Council, but with Cora's help he ends up traveling around the world fighting against those who are trying to destroy her. When Alec learns that Cora is his reincarnated Beloved he is confused and hopes that she will complete the steps needed to fully join with him. But Cora isn't real keen on becoming the mate of a vampire. She doesn't know if she can overcome her past relationships and settle down with someone of the paranormal nature. As danger stalks them, Cora finds herself in a do or die situation. If she doesn't chose Alec, she will not survive. MUCH ADO ABOUT VAMPIRES is another great release filled with humor and sensuality and another reason to love Katie MacAlister.

Reviewed by Lori Sears

Rating: 4

New book by Megan Hart

2011-09-30T16:34:00.002-04:00

September brings us a new title by Megan Hart. Part of the Order of Solace series, VIRTUE AND VICE gives us the story of Notsah, a kitchen worker, who ends up in the quarters of Prince Jarron Bydelay. The tortured prince, scarred by an inherited skin disease, is kind to Notsah and they have an intimate encounter. She never forgets this and years later, when she returns to the palace as Sister Redemption, Handmaiden to Jarron, the new king, he does not remember her. As their relationship deepens, political intrigue and an enemy from her past, threatens them. An intriguing erotic novel, this one is fascinating both for the time and characters. Its only flaw is a little too much attention to the politics of the court. I would have liked more about the characters. If you are a fan of this series, you will resonate to this book.

Upcoming ebook release: Tallent & Lowery 13 - The Ultimate Adventure Begins!

2011-09-19T14:08:00.003-04:00

Click the title to watch the trailer of Amy Lignor's upcoming release.

New September Reads

2011-09-03T10:52:00.004-04:00

September has started off with a good list of books. First was Dee Davis' DEEP DISCLOSURE. Alexis Markham has led a life deep in the shadows after her family's death in a tragic fire when she was just a teenager. Now, years later, she must face her demons, because their death's were not an accident, but part of a deadly scheme that will bring her face to face with her long lost past. Tucker is assigned to protect Alexis, but their attraction to one another may just be the very thing that leads them straight into danger. A very good, suspenseful and simmering read, I had a hard time stepping away from this intriguing romantic suspense!

Next was Cathy Maxwell's THE SEDUCTION OF SCANDAL, a historical romance that is along the lines of a Robin Hood romance. Lady Corinne Rosemont is being forced to wed Lord Bossley's son, Freddie Sherwin. She doesn't want to, especially after witnessing him in a most indelicate position with her maid. So she runs away, and straight into the path of the notorious Thorn, a hooded highwayman who robs in order to give to the poor. When she steps in front of a bullet meant for the Thorn, she is taken to a secret place where he helps her recover. The only problem is that she knows who he is now and she doesn't want to leave. Being blackmailed, he tries to ignore the fact that she is the very girl he wanted years ago, as he deals with his own haunted past. Something sinister is lurking behind the scenes, and his very life is at risk with all he is doing and who he really is. This book was very entertaining, somewhat a light read, but plenty of sparks between Corrine and the Thorn.

Katharine Ashe's IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS is different in tone than most historical romances. Set in both India and England, Lady Octavia Pierce never forgot the man who saved her life and broke her heart in India, Benjirou Doree. After seven years, she is finally able to see him again in England, where he is now the Marquess of Doree. What really happened between them in India years ago keeps them apart from each other emotionally, but they cannot stay away from each other physically. Even though she is nearly engaged to another, Octavia finds herself in a dangerous mystery that will keep Ben Doree close enough to discover their true feelings. Ben secretly yearns for her as well, so there is plenty of heartfelt desires, anguish and pining beneath the surface of their passion. Another storyline of the secret dealings of her almost fiance that Ben is trying to uncover that will lend an air of mystery about them. A good romance that is different than the usual, as well as all that yearning and heartbreak that makes for a very staisfying read!

Coming up, I will have Tessa Dare's A NIGHT TO SURRENDER as well as an August release of Tracy Anne Warren's THE BED AND THE BACHELOR.

WOLF TALES 12 - Kate Douglas, the last book in a series comes to an end.

2011-08-20T16:14:00.002-04:00

Here we are in August, the weather is hot, and Kate Douglas's WOLF TALES 12, is even hotter! Ms. Douglas has taken us on an amazing journey into the shapeshifting Chanku wolves. From the very first book, our attention was captured. The Chanku are complex, pack oriented, and everything good or bad revolved in and around the pack. With each book written, we were introduced to one more member of the pack, and the sexual tension rises. The WOLF TALES series is not for the faint of heart. There are very explict sex scenes with M/F, M/M, F/F, and group sex. This is the ultimate in erotic romance.

Over the years, the Chanku have learned to survive. They have hidden who they are, as best they can, especially their unique and special abilities. The pack is thriving, they are planning to come together for the birth of Adam and Liana's child. There is an assasination attempt, and the pack is thrown into the lime light. Decisions have to be made, how much should they tell the world? Also, Lily has disappeared, on a quest to help her father. With everything happening at once, the pack must once again band together.

It's a little sad, knowing this will be the last book, in a truly great series. Although some questions were answered, I felt some had been left out. Who is Lily's mate? What happens to Ig and Star? And where does Sunny fit into all this? Over all, WOLF TALES 12 is an Outstanding book, and an excellent ending, to a great series.
　
　
Gloria

August Historical Pick: Sue-Ellen Welfonder's TEMPTATION OF A HIGHLAND SCOUNDREL (Book II, Highland Warriors Trilogy)

2011-08-16T21:27:00.006-04:00

This author, who is ‘beyond’ a dedicated medievalist of Scottish descent, offers this next intriguing - highly romantic - story of the Highland Warriors.

In this continuation, readers are still enveloped in the feud going on between three Highland warriors, and the fantastic vow that three women made to marry these heroic and stubborn men in order to bring about absolute peace to the “Glen of Many Legends.” In Sins of a Highland Devil, Book I, James Cameron was highlighted and his attempt to make a pact with the heads of other clans in order to fight a ‘King’s decree.’ He ended up falling fiercely in love with Lady Catriona of the opposing MacDonald clan, and romance blossomed. With this new story, readers move on from the clan of Macdonald to the clan of Mackintosh.

Lady Isobel chooses Kendrew Macintosh because she has had a fascination for the amazing Laird since time began. This gentle woman already loves him, and is hoping that he will ultimately feel the same way about her. Unfortunately, Kendrew shows no desire to marry Isobel; he and his clan would much rather fight. But the Mackintosh ‘world’ is completely unprepared for the quiet Lady Isobel, who has the innate power and strong resolve to seduce Kendrew. Soon Kendrew begins to fall for her, not knowing that she is the sister of Laird James Cameron…who he despises.

The story line consists, for this installment, of the same stunningly ferocious warriors that all women dream of meeting on their trip across the Scottish moors. As these star-crossed lovers bring together yet another clan with their intriguing romance, while still trying to keep their own families happy with their decisions, the Lady and Laird begin to see that love and passion far outweighs the anger they have for their “neighbors.”

As always, this wonderfully talented romance author provides a twist from the first book by allowing Isobel and Kendrew’s story to take a different road than that of the previous couple. This book has everything that a true Historical Romance reader, and Scottish ’lover,’ will enjoy.

Reviewed by Amy Lignor

Rating: 4

August Pick: Jude Deveraux's HEARTWISHES: AN EDILEAN NOVEL

2011-08-16T21:17:00.006-04:00

The amazing Jude Deveraux - the author of forty New York Times bestsellers - has ‘hit’ yet another one ‘out of the park!’

Readers go on a journey with Gemma Ranford - a PhD candidate who wants desperately to help a family in rural Virginia to catalog their English history. She is also looking for a good topic for her own dissertation so that she earn PhD status, and get a good job teaching. This will be a very formidable undertaking, as Mrs. Peregrine Frazier has purchased from her husband’s family estate in England several hundred boxes full of documents that date back to the sixteenth century.

This amazing family was made up of the Earls of Rypton, and lived in the estate during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Mrs. Frazier wants to see if her husband has the right to call himself Earl, and she would very much like to have the title of ‘Lady’ Krypton - which is the real reason behind this incredibly large project. The job will take at least two years and there is a beautiful guest house on the property that Gemma will be able to live in. Also, as an extra added incentive, this family has three unmarried sons who are, shall we say, very handsome and very interesting.

Gemma throws herself into her new job with enthusiasm. One of the first things she discovers in the wealth of papers, are references to something called the ‘Heartwishes Stone.’ This legendary ’gem’ is said to grant wishes to anyone named Frazier. Gemma writes it off as legend at first but, as she spends more and more time with the family and begins to have feelings for their oldest son, Colin, it becomes clear that this stone does seem to grant wishes. Indeed, many wishes are coming true.

Unfortunately, Gemma isn’t the only one who surmises that wishes are being asked and answered. In fact, there seems to be a thief in the area who is keeping track of the wishes and is on the hunt for the stone and/or Gemma, herself. Gemma and Colin need to find this stone and make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. And the journey that ensues is a truly fun, exciting, and slightly haunting story.

There are other books in the Edilean series, but the bestselling Deveraux, with her always amazing talent, has made sure that this book stands alone in the plot and characters. The families in the story are very believable and the author’s path joins family history and passion, with a little magic thrown in for good measure. A really unforgettable tale by the ‘mistress of romantic suspense’ that will enchant readers of all genres.

Reviewed by Amy Lignor

Rating: 4 1/2

The Bride Wore Scarlet

2011-08-04T22:56:00.003-04:00

Well, to be quite honest, I had a very hard time reading this book. I usually like Liz Carlyle, but this one was so detailed, tedious and tightly written, I had a hard time concentrating on who was who, and who was doing what. This is the second book in her St. James Club series, and has a bit of the paranormal elements to it. I perservered and did finally finish it.

Anais de Rohan has a special gift of seeing into the future. As a child, she is sent to live with her guardian for protection. Years later, she is a smart, tough woman capable of fending for herself and wants to be a part of the all-male club, the Fraternitas Aureae Crucis. Lord Geoffrey Bessett is one of the men of the club, and although they don't want to let her in the group, she is given the opportunity to prove herself by going along with Geoff on a secret mission to rescue a girl.

Needless to say, as they are posing as husband and wife, there is deep attraction between the two that is restrained up to a point. Once this part of the story gets underway, it was easier reading. It's just the beginning has so many names, titles, background information, unless you read the previous book and can keep it all straight in your head, I found it to be confusing at times.

That being said, if you are a lover of Liz Carlyle and have read and remember the previous book, you could read this one and may be able to sort through it all.

Two more July books for your list!

2011-07-27T22:44:00.006-04:00

July is almost too hot to do anything outside except lay by a pool, on the beach, or inside in a cool room, but all with a good book in hand! Two more books in my reading pile have let me pass away the hot days in a cool place that I just had to tell you about.

The historical by Donna Fletcher, LOVED BY A WARRIOR, is set in Scotland, where a Highland warrior rescues a beautiful maiden, cursed as the "death bride". Reeve MacAlphin doesn't believe in that sort of thing, so he takes her to his clan, where he's convinced she will be able to live in peace. Tara knows she is cursed, that anyone she loves or who loves her will die. She's not about to let her rescuer fall to the same fate, but the love that develops between them is not easily put aside. Will they be able to fight the curse and other things in order to be together? A fast read that is sexy and filled with tension. There is plenty of sizzling romance, some nice little conflicts and of course the added twist where Tara is supposed to marry someone else. It all adds up to a book you won't put it down until the end.

Next was a romantic suspense by Elizabeth Jennings. Now I love a good romance, complete with a hunky military/cop hero and this one fits the bill! This one features a super sexy Army guy, Mike, pulled in from Alaska by the CIA to work with a renown restorer of historical manuscripts in a deadly mission. Lucy is beautiful, haunted and the only one who will be able to go into the country of Nhala to help track down the culprit behind a bio-chemical weapon that is headed for the U.S. Instantly attracted to one another, Lucy and Mike must fight against all odds and cheat even death itself in order to rid the world and the U.S. of this deadly threat. In the end, will death win out after all? If you are a fan of the military romances that have the characters trekking across the world, fighting for each other unto the death, this is a good read. The only thing bad I have to say about this book was that it was too short! I wish it had lasted longer because the tension, action and romance kept me hanging on to the end. I expect more books by this author!

One more book for July, and that is Liz Carlyle's THE BRIDE WORE SCARLET. I'll be posting about that one in just a few days!

More July Paranormal Picks

2011-07-25T23:28:00.002-04:00

As July winds down to a close, I wanted to update all my paranormal followers about some more great reads. First, as I mentioned in my last post, I have read the first two books in a new series by Karina Cooper. Let me just mention the first in the series called BLOOD OF THE WICKED. It is a June release and sets up the series with a lot of action and steamy romance. The July release is LURE OF THE WICKED and I enjoyed it very much. The Dark Mission series is set in a new world where witches are considered the enemy and the Holy Order is a church based order bent on destroying all witches-evil or not. As there are a lot of evil witches involved, the Order does have some merit, but with them destroying all witches indiscriminately, innocent ones are suffering along with the guilty. In both novels, the main characters are soldiers of the Holy Order and their lives are changed when the start to realize everything is not so black and white as the church would have them believe. I am not usually a big fan of futuristic style novels, but I must say Cooper's take had me interested from page one.

Next on the list is Shiloh Walker's HUNTER'S FALL. As a big fan of Walker's, I always look forward to her next Hunter book and this one was awesome. This is Nessa's story and she really needed her own happy ending. Nessa was an ancient witch who lost her mate at an early age. He promised to return to her and after 500 years she finally gave up. Prior to giving up, during a fight with an evil witch, her body was destroyed and she ended up in a new body. The only downside was that part of the other witch was still with her and constantly giving her grief. Meanwhile, Dominic, another hunter starts having hallucinations and frankly thinks he is losing his mind. When he seeks out help, he starts to remember more about his previous life and his promise to return. But before he can find Nessa, she disappears and he will have to find her come hell or high water.

Last in my July selections is FEAST: HARVEST OF DREAMS written by Merrie Destefano, a new author to me. The book stars an author who takes a vacation to a childhood resort in order to overcome her writer's block. Once there she starts experiencing some paranormal events that frighten her as much as they exite. She also starts to remember some experiences she lived through as a child. When she meets Ash, he feels vaguely familiar as well he should since he saved her life as a child. Ash is a Darkling and the protector of the people of Ticonderoga Falls. He has suffered for a long time since the death of his mate, but Maddie may just be the cure. I really enjoyed FEAST, but I do have to warn readers that the book has many short chapters told in each characters voice and made the story feel choppy, otherwise it is quite an enjoyeable read. Happy reading all!
Lori

July Picks

2011-07-24T13:27:00.004-04:00

July is fast coming to a close, with one week left; I thought I’d share with you my July reads. My selections are definitely a mix of genres, a potpourri of sorts, and each title offers readers a great story. So, if you are a romantic suspense, paranormal or contemporary romance fan, I am confident that one of these titles will pique your interest.

First up, Nancy Bush’s, HUSH. She has moved to the top of my list of authors that writes an exceptional story that causes the reader to really stop, re-group and really take in all the small details of the characters and storyline. HUSH, starts off with a griping murder that appears to be a horrific accident while families and friends are on the beach. Twelve years later, the same group of folks (with a few exceptions) are gathered again, in the same area, for another celebration; a celebration that would take a tragic turn, leaving the same unanswered questions and even stronger accusations. Reunions are always interesting, however, it’s the revelations [secrets] from past and current dalliances that shocking, to say the least. A totally engrossing story and a plot that will twist and turn leaving the reader gasping and trying to figure out who the killer is!

TRRC rating of 4 ½

Next, Cynthia Eden’s, NEVER CRY WOLF. What’s an alpha wolf to do when he is arrested for a murder he did not commit, this time? Accept the assistance of a beautiful stranger and provide her with protection in exchange for an alibi, is all Lucas Simone has to do, to become free again. Sensing that there is more to Sarah King, Lucas reluctantly accepts her conditions and in the process finds out that he is the target of another pack’s leader revenge. With a coyotes and a former lover on Sarah’s trail, a traitor in his pack, and not to mention, his own increasing attraction to Sarah, Lucas may have bitten of more than he can handle. NEVER CRY WOLF is an engaging read worth adding to your summer reading list.

TRRC rating of 4

Finally, the conclusion to Christie Ridgway’s, Three Kisses series, CAN’T HURRY LOVE. If you are familiar with the series, you know that the stories take place on a vineyard in Napa and the sisters are desperately trying to save the family business. In the previous books sisters, Allie and Stevie, found love and married. Now, it’s time for Giuliana to make peace with Liam Bennett. Jules and Liam were Edenville’s “it” couple as teenagers, but young love is not strong enough to sustain them in their adult lives, or is it? With the future of Tanti Baci hanging on the success of their wedding business, Jules make plans that could potentially create a rift in the relationship with Allie and Stevie. With a vested interest in ensuring that Tanti Baci survives, Liam, decides enough is enough and sets out to reconcile with Jules. No one is aware of what happened between the two so many years ago and only through a series of misfortunes will they be able to heal and forgive. The best of the series, YOU CAN’T HURRY LOVE, will pull you in as the emotional connection between Jules and Liam becomes stronger once they confront the hurt and begin to trust again.

TRRC rating 4 ½

Two More Terrific Books To Read

2011-07-17T12:04:00.002-04:00

This weekend on the East Coast is absolutely beautiful and hot, hot, hot. Two new books will fit the bill for your reading pleasure as you stay cool. The first is by one of my favorite authors, JoAnn Ross, and is her latest in the Shelter Bay series. ONE SUMMER is the story of former Marine photojournalist, Gabriel St. James. A famous photographer who has managed to keep his feelings out of his work, his cynical attitude is challenged when he sees a stray dog thrown from a car. As he turns his motor home around and rescues the pooch he ends up taking it to veterinarian Charity Tiernan. This begins his reluctant involvement with Charity, her friends in the town, and most memorably, the dog. I absolutely loved this complex, well plotted novel, found myself crying at one point; animals are a decidedly effective way of integrating human emotions. Not to be missed, this one is a keeper. Plua we get to catch up with characters from previous books, which is always fun.

Equally good but a different romance genre, is the latest historical novel by a relatively new author, Kaki Warner. The first in her Runaway Brides series, HEARTBREAK CREEK, details a young woman who answers an advertisement for a wife and goes, with her half sister, from the deep south to the wilds of a cattle ranch in Colorado. Declan Brodie is a widower with four children who are running wild. Edwina is appalled but digs in and endures. Threatened by a renegade Indian, they endure intense challenges. Their love story is delightful and just gives us further proof that Kaki Warner is distinguishing herself as a historical romance writer. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Both of these novels deserve a 4 1/2 in the TRRC rating system. Both are outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable. Have a safe summer and happy reading until my next post! geri

A delightful Regency charmer - A Matter Of Scandal

2011-07-16T19:49:00.005-04:00

Just barely back from my week long escapade to the Caribbean, I was able to finally get back to reading - the first on my list was A MATTER OF SCANDAL. The Duke of Wycliffe, trying to get out of the sights of matchmaking mammas, heads to his uncle's estate where he is asked to help the estate get out of a dangerous debt. Wycliffe decides to raise the rents on the estate's properties, one of which is the girl's Academy where young girls are taught how to become ladies and gain a respectable marriage. Wycliffe despises the notion of ladies learning how to trap men into marriage, so he has no qualms with raising their rent. When Miss Emma Grenville stands up to the Duke, they end up betting on a wager. What ensues is charming, funny and witty, with Wycliffe becoming more enthralled with Emma, since she seems to be the only female on earth that isn't falling for his legendary charms. A host of secondary characters bring some added spice to this romance, and I hope for Tristan's story next! Very entertaining and sexy romance to add to your summer reading pile.

Contemporary Romance - Dance of Temptation

2011-07-16T17:17:00.003-04:00

It's summer time and everyone is looking for ways to stay cool and relax. Relaxing for me means curling up with a good romance book, and last week my selection was the third book in the series written by one of my favorite authors, Janice Sims, entitled DANCE OF TEMPTATION. This story is about prima ballerina Belana Whitaker and sports agent Nicolas Reed, whose relationship ended before it really got started. But one fateful night a chance meeting allows them to clear the air and start again. The task isn't easy as they both learn that relationships take a lot of work. As they begin to learn more about each other, they not only learn what real love is about, but they struggle with family issues too. There's one major hurdle that Belana struggles with and it maybe the one step n the relationship that could end it for good. If you haven't already done so you might want to read the other books in this series; TEMPTATION'S SONG and TEMPTATION'S KISS, stories that involve Belana's two closest friends. The one thing I like about Ms. Sims romance stories is that the characters are always memorable.

TRRC Post for 7/11/11

2011-07-11T19:17:00.002-04:00

Hello to all you TRRC readers out there this hot summer night. I am going to talk about two new books that you can get NOW in bookstores. The first is Tori Carrington's second book in The Pleasure Seekers series. A Harlequin Blaze, WICKED PLEASURES is just as wickedly hot as the first book in the series. Former marine and FBI agent Linc Williams is monitoring Regina Dodson, the ex-girlfriend of a target. What Linc doesn't count on is continuous, ongoing passion. This book is hot, hot, hot and perfect for the beach as you delve into their complex relationship. Honestly, the writing duo of Tori Carrington does categories better than anyone. And let me tell you, we have the third book in the trilogy to look forward to and I can reveal that UNDENIABLE PLEASURES, which comes out next month, has a bonus second book, making this one extra long with a gorgeous guy on the cover. I can't wait!

I also have to tell you about the latest from the talented Olivia Gates, TO TOUCH A SHEIKH, out in bookstores right now. This is the third book in her popular Pride of Zohayd trilogy and we meet Amjad Aal Shalaan, a tarnished hero, who has survived a murderous wife and never sees himself emotionally involved with ANY woman. The ultimate cynic, he is rattled by the beautiful Maram Aal Waaked, from a rival family. She gives as good as she gets and as always, the locale is exotic, the dialogue is intense and witty, and the intimacy is intense. Fans of this author will adore this last book in the series. I am sorry to see it end. Again, another good one for the beach.

That's all for now. I hope you are all enjoying your summer and making romance books part of your relaxation! geri

2011-07-05T17:46:00.004-04:00

Paranormal Pick for July

Just in time for the July 4th kickoff, Lara Adrian pays us another visit with her latest release in the Midnight Breed series. The latest story features Hunter, the Gen 1 warrior who is rather new to the Breed warriors. As a former assassin for the Order's enemy, Hunter was never exposed to anything other than violence and battle. He has changed since devoting himself to the Order's goals, but never would he guess that his greatest battle would come in the form of the lovely breedmate named Corrine. Corrine was held as a prisoner for many years and when Hunter volunteers to take her home, their world is changed forever. DEEPER THAN MIDNIGHT is book 9 in this series and another hit for Adrian.

The summer holds more great reading and as usual I will be trying to find the best in the paranormal world, so stay tuned! Right now I am checking out a new series by Karina Cooper and it looks really promising.

Lori

July reads from Avon

2011-07-01T08:47:00.003-04:00

I'm excited for this month's reads from Avon! First up is Lorraine Heath's latest and third in her trilogy - WAKING UP WITH THE DUKE. And if you are a Heath fan like I am, you'll really enjoy this one where Lady Jayne Seymour and the Duke of Ainsley are basically forced together by Jayne's paralyzed husband so she can have a baby. Yes, you read it right, but don't let that premise put you off - it's very well written and sympathetic towards all characters. I couldn't put it down!

Next on the list is A MATTER OF SCANDAL by Suzanne Enoch, which is so far a delicious read involving the headmistress of a finishing school and the Duke of Wycliffe who wants to increase the rent on the school. Heads are butting!

Then there will be Donna Fletcher's LOVED BY A WARRIOR and a romantic suspense from Elizabeth Jennings - DARKNESS AT DAWN. Both look equally wonderful!

I will be leaving on a week long cruise from Sunday, July 3 until next Sunday, July 10, but I will be posting as soon as I get back about these books. Enjoy your holiday weekend and happy reading!

Jennifer

L. K. Below’s Cinnamon and Spice Scavenger Hunt

2011-04-22T08:05:00.007-04:00

Hello, everyone! As a writer of erotic romance, among other things, I’m very pleased to introduce to you my latest release -- and my latest contest!

Blurb:

Jack is smart. Jack is charming. Jack is persistent.

But Melissa is dead certain that he isn't the guy for her. In a moment of weakness caused by his shiver-inducing voice, Melissa finally agrees to one date. She shows up on his doorstep determined to get it over and done with, but Jack has something different planned. With a home-cooked meal, wine, and cinnamon-scented candles, can he break down Melissa's resolve?

Can he steal her heart?

Rules:

1. Must be 18 or older to enter contest.

2. Contest open to entrants world-wide

3. Email me at the provided address (lbelow at lbelow dot net) with the answer to the question. No need to answer in essay format (unless you feel moved to do so) a simple sentence or even one word will enter you.

4. Only one ballot per question -- but if you visit my other stops and answer the other questions, you will be entered multiple times.

5. Contest open until May 2nd, 2011 at 11:59PM EST. Winner will have 48 hours to confirm their email address and give a physical address where they would like their prize to be mailed.

Prize:

1. A goodie basket of cinnamon-scented products.

2. A photo of the Cinnamon and Spice cover, signed by me (L. K. Below)

3. A PDF copy of Cinnamon and Spice.

CONTEST ALERT: To enter to win the above prizes, simply email the answer to the following question to lbelow(at)lbelow.net.

Question: What is your favorite scent?

Do you want more chances to win? Each scavenger hunt question answered counts for one ballot towards the prize. Check http://lbelow.blogspot.com for the full itinerary. Good luck!

Read a review of Cinnamon and Spice.

Pocket author based new book on 2009 ice storm experience

2011-02-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

An ice storm. Stranded in a strange, isolated place without power. Children with an unsettling ability to win staring contests. This is how horror movies start.

Watching the news coverage as cities across the Midwest are pelted by the much-touted historic blizzard, I’m having strange sympathy pangs. In January 2009, an ice storm ripped through Kentucky, taking out power and phone lines for thousands of homes, including mine. The first night I spent camped out in my in-laws’ darkened living room with my two young children, I was sure this was just a temporary blip. It was going to be a funny story we could tell the next winter. As in, “Remember that night we had to sleep on an air mattress in front of Grandma’s fireplace and cook on a gas grill in the garage?”

By the sixth night, I was no longer amused.

Over the next week, Kentuckians were cold, cranky and progressively ill-groomed. I returned to my dark, cold house to forage for supplies one afternoon, only to find my neighbor shaving his head in his driveway. I sincerely hoped that was related to the lack of electricity and not just a personality quirk I'd never noticed before. Neighborhood block parties have been stilted and awkward since.

But I managed to channel my cabin fever, before going the full fire-ax-through-bedroom-door and elevator-full-of-blood route. I started writing. Having recently published the Nice Girls books, a vampire romance series about an undead librarian in small-town Kentucky, I’d already decided that I wanted to write a werewolf story. And being isolated, in the dark, in an increasingly crowded, enclosed space, I decided to set the story in the frozen regions of Alaska.

While we waited for the power to come back on, I wrote about twenty pages of notes by candlelight. What emerged was the story of Mo Wenstein, a woman who moves across the country to escape her intrusive hippie parents and make a life for herself in the remote town of Grundy, Alaska. Cantankerous neighbor Cooper has been giving Mo a hard time about her place in her new community since day one. But when Cooper stumbles onto her porch, naked, with a bear trap clamped around his ankle, she realizes there’s more to him than a surly- though attractive- surface. A series of werewolf attacks, for which Cooper may or may not be responsible, dysfunctional werewolf clan drama, and romantic hijinks ensue.

The manuscript grew over the next few months and became HOW TO FLIRT WITH A NAKED WEREWOLF, which is due to be released by Pocket Books on Feb. 22, wherever books are sold. The sequel, THE ART OF SEDUCING A NAKED WEREWOLF, will follow on March 29.

So, while the encroaching claustrophobia is frustrating, make the best of your snow days. Use the milk, eggs and bread you hoarded to make French toast. Plow through the To-Be-Read pile of paperbacks on your nightstand. Write journal entries about the sights, sounds and emotions you’re experiencing as a blizzard survivor.

You never know. You could turn this experience into your first manuscript.

http://www.mollyharper.com/

2010-09-15T00:13:00.000-04:00

True Confessions of a Southern? Novelist

I have a confession to make. I think I write Romance stories. Okay, okay. Maybe they aren’t Romance as in the genre that has a beautiful pattern that must be fulfilled to qualify as a Romance novel but to me they are full of the essence of all good things romantic. People misaligned and finding themselves and one another, even over the course of death and great mystery, (The Gin Girl) Old girlfriends from down south and back home showing up on the doorstep of promising, dashing political figures (The Messenger of Magnolia Street). Skirt chasing men finding out that there is strong magic and medicine in finding the right woman and that it’s never too late for true love, Saints In Limbo. Romance I tell you! Yes, the characters are a wild and wooly bunch, usually raised on biscuits and fried chicken by strong women with wide hips who are not afraid to tell the truth. Yes, they usually bump into some mysterious happenings that must be resolved come, well - you know – and let’s just say a lot of high water and strange circumstance does arrive at their door. But in the midst of all this wildness you can believe a connection is being made between two people that will navigate the waters of their own special connection.

People often ask me what have been some of the greatest influences of my writing life. Many times they are wondering if it was great authors like Harper Lee, Flannery O’Conner, or William Faulkner who have influenced me. What I have to tell them truthfully is that it was Grandmama (the worrier with the sixth sense), Mema (the snake killer and cake baker), Aunt Leaner (the little one that could move a train) Katie Ruth (the second mama and Private eye), Uncle John (the dancing, singing, life-loving wild man), Uncle Eddie Louis (the great liar) and so on and so forth. It was the people who surrounded me in the late night on those porches telling stories, lies, and alibis that fed me more fodder for novel writing than I would ever need. And being born to be a writer I took it all in like nobody’s business. When they talked about love, loss, and broken hearted women who were out to get even, I pretended not to even be there I sat so small so they wouldn’t send me somewhere else. When they talked about wars and true love that lasts forever, I took note. When my closet romantic Mema received her new issue of True Confession magazine I tried to sneak them and read them while she cooked in that hot kitchen. When she told us kids to come in and be quiet because it was time for her ‘stories’ as she called her soap operas, we dutifully lined up on the little couch for a dose of the Days of Our Lives. Trust me, it was the romance that kept her coming back for more.

In my novels I think it’s the romance found and lost and rediscovered between many of the characters that keep people coming back for more. It’s the reason I receive notes about why they’ve read the novels more than once or begged me to write a sequel but by the time I get the note I’m already trapped, lost between the lines of another woman’s story who is navigating the tricky lines of love. Never in a novel have all these elements come together more than in The Miracle of Mercy Land. With elements of suspense, a touch of the supernatural, and a breath of mystery and a whole lot of room for shall we say, the powerful possibilities of romance.

I think if my Mema, the great romantic that she was, could be here to turn the pages she would agree with me. The Miracle of Mercy Land contains all the best elements of her True Confessions magazines and her daily ‘stories’. I think it will keep readers turning pages to discover if in the middle of the greatest mystery of her life Mercy Land will dare to allow love to find a way.

2010-08-15T15:35:00.001-04:00

Books versus Movies

My name is Thia and I am a movie-holic. I love movies. I am a straight-up movie buff. I am also addicted to romance novels. These two things are my vices and I am extremely proud to say that I am not looking for rehabilitation from my addictions anytime soon.

One thing that kinda gripes me is when people complain about movies that are adapted from books. You will hear these people say things like – The characters did not look like I thought they would. Or They left out a bunch of the good stuff. Or The movie just did not capture the message of the book. This is when I have to grit my teeth and not say Well, duuuhh! Of course they are not the same!!

Reading is a journey for your imagination. Unless you are reading one of those books that have bright, pretty pictures on every page, you are in complete control of how you perceive the characters and their actions. The authors are merely our guides. What your mind does with the information it takes in is truly up to you. I have discussed with other readers how we would picture a certain hero or heroine. It is amazing (not really ;) ) how many of us insert ourselves into the role of heroine or hero. Or how many of us see the same character is such completely different ways.

For example, ONE FOR THE MONEY by Janet Evanovich has just begun filming. This is one of my all time favorite books and series. I have always imagined the lead female as a Marisa Tomei or Sandra Bullock as the beautiful, slightly flaky, trouble magnet heroine. However, Katherine Heigl has been cast in that role. Oh, this is something we could debate all day. Who is Ranger? The perfect Joe Morelli is so-and-so. In the end, the actors chosen to play these parts may become our new ideal for their characters. There is no perfect answer for this side of the issue. But it sure is fun to get together and discuss with your friends. ;)

My son is the world's worst critic for books-turned-movies. He always complains about whole storylines being left out. (Especially Harry Potter movies.) What I try to remind him is that in a book, we are given a lot more background detail that does not necessarily need to be in a movie. We read that the boy is walking into a dark and dreary alley that smells of filth and decay. With a movie, we can see that scenario. Also, it is simply too much to ask for to have the screenwriters transfer every aspect of a book and still not have us spending all day at the movies. Can you imagine?

TV series' adapted from books are a particular favorite of mine. Oh, Sookie! True Blood is all the rage among my fellow paranormal reading friends! My hubs, who is very much not a reader, loves the show as much as I do. However, I have to watch myself so that I don't discuss how Eric did this on the show but would never have done that in the book. (And Oh, I love to see what Eric does! Could they have picked a better Eric?? He is not what I had originally pictured, but I love their choice!!)

My solution or final thought on the whole book versus movie debacle – Take them each for what they are. Movies and Books are separate forms of entertainment. Do not compare them, because truthfully, apples and grapples are not really the same thing. One is a version of the other, but they are simply not the same thing.

Now, are there any movie characters or television characters that you think fit your ideas of them perfectly? Which ones far exceeded your expectations and which ones bombed? What book are you looking forward to seeing as a movie? Which one has been the best so far? Which one tanked? Is there a book you want to see as a movie – give us the who, what, when, and wheres!

Oh, The Rakes! Anna Campbell - Guest Blogger

2010-05-20T22:06:00.003-04:00

Oh, Those Rakes! By Anna Campbell

Hello, Romance Readers! I’m delighted to be here! Thank you for inviting me.

As a long term romance reader, and someone who spends a lot of time talking to romance readers, I know there are a couple of terms that really get people excited about a story. Bride. Scandal. Scoundrel. Sin. Just check out the titles in the historical romance section of any bookstore and you’ll get a nice list – all very delicious.

But to me, the most delicious of all is ‘rake’.

Think of the images those two words ‘Regency rake’ conjure up. The bad boy who’s irresistibly tempting. Someone wild and reckless and passionate. A man who breaks the rules of his society and just clicks his elegant fingers at any disapproval. Tall. Usually dark (although not always – I’m currently writing a blond!). Definitely handsome. Turned out in those gorgeous Regency clothes – coat, neckcloth, breeches, boots. A man who can seduce any woman with a single look. Witty. Arrogant. Intelligent. Sardonic. Skilled in the sensual arts.

Oh, yeah, we LOVE a rake.

Especially when he meets that one woman who turns his world upside down. That’s one of the reasons I love to read about a rake falling in love. These gorgeous alphas are always completely at sea when that happens. All their charm and sophistication won’t save them from tumbling head over heels – usually into drama! Or comedy. There’s plenty of scope for comedy when a rake falls in love. Mr. I’m Always In Control finds there’s some things he can’t control – and he doesn’t like it!

My June release from Avon, MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, features a notorious rake and I had such fun writing him. Tarquin Vale, Earl of Ashcroft, has his world pretty much as he wants it. He definitely qualifies as my first non-tortured hero!

Then a mysterious woman called Diana proposes a short affair to while away the summer months while most of the ton is away on their estates. At first he says no – he’s suspicious of this woman who is so obviously following a secret agenda. But it doesn’t take him long to succumb. Things get very messy indeed when both he and Diana start navigating deeper waters emotionally than either ever expected.

Before Diana propositions Tarquin, she has a stereotypical image of a rake in her mind. Perhaps she’s been reading too many historical romances, LOL! She has a chance to make all her dreams come true, but first she must seduce the Earl of Ashcroft. She’s sure a careless, selfish libertine won’t endanger her heart.

Instead of the jaded roué she expects, she discovers a man like no other. A man with his own code of honor. A man she falls in love with, even though her secrets threaten nothing but disaster.

You can read an excerpt of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER on my website at: http://www.annacampbell.info/recklesssurrender.html

So do you have a favorite rake in romance? Why do you think the rake is such a mainstay of the historical romance genre? Let’s talk rakes in all their decadent glory!

Guest Blogger: Cindi Myers

2010-01-22T06:42:00.003-05:00

Writing short stuff

Like many budding writers, I started out writing short stories. Specifically, I wrote confession stories for "the Trues" — True Story, True Romance, True Confessions, True Experience and Modern Romance. Told in first person, these were stories of everyday women facing problems. Sometimes the problems were ordinary — interfering mothers in law or impossible to please bosses. Other times they were bizarre — stealing the neighbor's baby or moonlighting as a stripper. I loved writing those stories and they were a good way to learn how to write emotion, character and dialogue.

Writing short stories is very different from writing complete novels. I don't do much short story writing these days. One exception is novellas. Novellas are between 20,000 and 30,000 words. Most of the ones I've written have been at the invitation of my publisher, Harlequin, who often comes up with a theme for the novella collection. Then it's up to me to create a story to fit that theme.

This month I have two books out. A full-length novel from Harlequin Superromance, The Father For Her Son, and a novella, "Melting Point" in the collection, Baby, It's Cold Outside! with Jennifer Greene and Merline Lovelace. The title says it all about the theme of this book — all the stories take place where it's cold. I was told the book could be set anywhere as long as it was cold and romantic and maybe even a little exotic. It didn't take me long to decide to set my story in Iceland. Hot springs, geysers, fjiords, not to mention tall blond men with sexy accents. What more could a gal want? I made my heroine an American in Iceland on business and my hero a sexy Olympic athlete with a reputation as a playboy. I hope you'll agree they create a lot of sizzle for such a cold climate.

Novellas are a fun change for the writer, and I think they are for the reader, too. Most novellas can be read in an hour or two, making them perfect for busy times. What do you think of novellas? Do you enjoy reading them or not? Why or why not?

***************************************************

THE FATHER FOR HER SON Harlequin Superromance January 2010 Life hasn't been easy for single mom Marlee Britton, but she's proud of her ability to look after herself and her son. Then old flame Troy Denton shows up after seven years, wanting to be a father to his son. and to rekindle his relationship with Marlee. While Troy struggles to prove himself trustworthy, Marlee wonders how she can ever give her heart to the man who broke it so long ago.

**************************MELTING POINT" in BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE with Jennifer Greene and Merline Lovelace Harlequin Anthology January 2010 Kristjan Gunnarson is Iceland's first ever Olympic medalist. Coloradoan Stacy Bristol thinks he'll be the perfect model for her new advertising campaign, but she isn't prepared for the impact handsome Kristjan has on her. As she supervises filming around Iceland, Stacy fights her attraction to Kristjan. Can a down-to-business American and a footloose Icelander find love in the land of ice and fire?

******************************************Bio: Cindi Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote and illustrated their own historical romance novel. The manuscript was eventually confiscated by her English teacher, who told her she should spend her time learning to properly conjugate a sentence. Since then, Cindi has gone on to write more than three dozen novels, both historical and contemporary. She also teaches writing and is a popular speaker and workshop presenter. She produces a weekly market newsletter at http://www.cindimyersmarketnews.wordpress.com/ Visit her website at http://www.cindimyers.com/

Christmas Parade Guest Blogger: Dana Marton

2009-12-21T10:35:00.002-05:00

Just yesterday, I was complaining to friends about not being able to find my Christmas spirit. I was telling them how since it's called a Christmas Break, I keep thinking I'll actually get a break, which could not be further from the truth. There's more shopping, cleaning, baking, wrapping, and visiting to be done than ever. I did get some great advice on what to do to get myself in the mood, ranging from egg nog, to committing random acts of kindness to watching Love, Actually. Okay, I'll give those a try. But, seriously? They'll take even more time! And my main problem was having too little time to start with.

Well, be careful what you wish for.

Yesterday evening my daughter and a friend were watching music videos on my computer and managed to download a virus that completely destroyed the computer to the point that it cannot even be turned on. My husband spent the whole night putting together a PC for me from spare parts. All I have today is Internet. (But all my research bookmarks gone.) I still don't know if my files with all my past and future books and all the family photos can be recovered. I don't even have Windows installed on this new unit yet.

But I found my holiday spirit. It came with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I'm grateful that I sent in my copy edits for my next book a few hours before the computer crashed. I'm grateful that I have a husband who stayed up all night so I can at least have email today. I'm grateful that, most likely, he'll be able to recover my files and I don't have to pay several thousand dollars for that someplace else. (He's a software engineer.) And I'm even grateful for the time I have today to go through my email and catch up with all those wonderful friends who've been waiting on a response from me through this last rush job with the next book then the edits. I'm writing everyone. Then I'm going downstairs and decorate the tree that has been standing there all week, waiting for me to find the time. Maybe all this will turn out to have been a blessing in disquise. Well, as long as hubby will get my files back. If not, you'll hear me screaming into the night, wherever you are :-)

Wishing you happy holidays,
Dana Marton
THE SOCIALITE AND THE BODYGUARD, Harlequin Intrigue

Christmas Parade Guest Blogger Susan Wiggs

2009-12-18T07:38:00.002-05:00

Where Do You Get The Books You Love?

It’s nothing new (pun intended)–used book sales have been a part of the publishing equation ever since the first undergrad sold her first college textbook back to the bookstore in order to get money for Christmas presents. A book is one of those things that is the same whether new or used, content-wise, anyway.

With online swap sites making it ridiculously easy to acquire books for little more than shipping costs, the impact is finally taking a heavy toll on publishers and authors. The book you buy for a penny + shipping is a sale that will never show up on a royalty statement. No one except the reseller and the post office will see a penny from the transaction. Yet it’s not the reader’s job to care about this. Like any responsible person, the reader is probably looking for the most economical way to indulge her passion. I don’t blame her. I’ve bought plenty of second-hand books in my time. The used book I buy today was once manufactured and sold new, and the publisher, bookseller and author each got their cut. Now the book has been released into the wild, and any further readers it finds are simply a bonus. In my genre, books go out of print quickly, often within months of their release, so having them available used is a way to keep the backlist alive. I don’t make money from those sales, but I might find new readers.

The New York Times weighs in here with “Bargain Hunting for Books, and Feeling Sheepish About It” by David Streitfeld. The headline sums up the dilemma. We love books so much that we can’t get enough of them. But we’d go broke, buying everything at premium prices, so we buy used books, even knowing that some publisher’s sales are going to slip, and some author might find herself out of work.

Streitfeld is frank about his motives and methods. He’s an avid reader whose appetite for books conflicts with his sense of responsibility. I do wish the article had offered the obvious solution. People who want books at no cost should borrow them from the library. That way, everybody wins. The reader pays nothing for the book, the library wins a patron, the publisher sells a new book and the writer gets her royalties. Okay, so maybe the independent bookstore is left out of the equation, but in my community, the library and bookstore often cooperate.

These days, many libraries offer the option of downloading an audio or e-book directly to your home computer, so you don’t even have to go anywhere. My new novel, Lakeshore Christmas, is more than a love story featuring food, friends and family. It is also a passionate drama involving an institution near and dear to my heart–the public library. I don’t have to tell you that this most precious of resources is facing serious economic troubles. Please support public libraries this season. See my blog (http://www.susanwiggs.wordpress.com/) for suggestions.

Where do you weigh in on the debate? Do you buy books new to support the industry? Do you buy them used to save money? Or do you use the library?

I clicked the used-book aggregator link in the NYT article to look up my own books. Somebody’s charging $292 for a copy of my novel, The Lightkeeper. Good gawd. I’d sell it to you for half that price.

Christmas Parade Guest Penny Watson

2009-12-16T07:27:00.002-05:00

I have been asked many times "What was the inspiration for your book?" My debut novel, Sweet Inspiration, is definitely a departure from a typical paranormal story. It's a 55,000-word light paranormal Christmas-themed, spicy romance about Santa Claus and the North Pole. A bit outside of the box for romantic stories, but also a fun and refreshing reworking of the Santa legend.

I took great joy in playing around with the standard Santa myth...making Santa into a fitness buff, Mrs. Klaus a bohemian knock-out, the elves a bunch of hard-cussing workers, and Santa's five sons a sexy group of bachelors who all help to run the North Pole. I must admit that there is one source of inspiration from my childhood that helped to mold my novel. The classic 1970 animated holiday film, Santa Claus is Comin' To Town, narrated by Fred Astaire, is the story of Kris Kringle (voiced by Mickey Rooney) and Miss Jessica (voiced by Robie Lester), the future Mrs. Claus.

As much as this children's film is the story about the origins of "Santa Claus", it is also a love story between Kris and Jessica. It's a great little film, filled with villains, magic, a loving elf family, music, and of course the healing power of the Christmas spirit. Jessica is a lovely, strong-willed and loyal woman, with gorgeous red hair (just like my heroine Lucy!), and she is the perfect companion for Kris Kringle. The scene where Jessica and Kris are married in the evergreen forest, with only the animals as witnesses, is a touching and romantic moment. Even as a young girl, I totally appreciated the sweetness of that wedding scene. They are married under the stars, with nature's beauty as the "decorations" for their ceremony. This film really captures the wonder of the holiday for children, and I certainly hope that my Christmas story has captured some of that magic for adults, too.

What is your favorite holiday film/book that really captures the Christmas spirit for you?

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Happy Holidays, Penny

Christmas Parade Guest Wendy Roberts

2009-12-15T07:38:00.002-05:00

Mistletoe and Murder

Ah December … the time for Christmas cheer, goodwill to mankind and, in my world, bloody messes and murder. For the last three years the books in my Ghost Dusters mystery series have been released the first week of December. This series is about a woman who cleans crime scenes for a living and happens to talk to the dead. They’re definitely not your usual holiday tales.

This year, Dead and Kicking hit shelves December 1st and I’m hoping that it’ll find its way into shopping baskets alongside copies of Holiday Decorating for Dummies or Night Before Christmas. Even though my story is lacking in holiday cheer, my readers don’t really seem to mind the distinct lack of candy canes and sugar plums. I like to think of the stories as a welcome relief to all the sweetness abounding throughout the holidays.

Having spent a few days now shoulder-to-shoulder with the masses fighting for the best Walmart deals, I have to tell you that my mind is full of murderous thoughts. I watched a grown woman elbow a small child out of the way to get the last Holiday Barbie and it’s enough to make me think arsenic instead of sugar cookies! So this evening after I put up the mistletoe and have a cup of cheer I’ll sit down and write a little murder plot.

How about you? Anything about the holidays make you think of murder?

Christmas Parade Guest Ann Pearlman

2009-12-14T12:27:00.004-05:00

“Christmas Curls”

My sixth Christmas we spent at my Grandmother, Lala’s house with Mum, my great grandmother, who lived with her. We rode from Chicago to Pittsburgh on a train arriving on Christmas eve. The house was decorated for the holiday. The tree was lit up, the fireplace mantel decorated with fresh pineapples and festooned with swags of evergreen. A fire helped to perfume the house with heady fruit and forest.

That Eve, before dinner, I cut out a string of paper dolls. Lala pointed to one and said, “That’s me.” Her gnarled finger moved to the left and she said, “That’s Mum, and that’s your great great grandmother all the way to the distant past, to Eve.” Then she skipped over the figure that was hers and moved to the right. “That’s your Mommy, and you, and your daughter and grandchild off to the unimaginable future.” I stared at the paper figures holding each other’s hands so tight.
What I wanted for Christmas that year, I could not have. Curly hair. Ringlets like some of the girls in my first grade class. Not my straight hair that fell out of the sparse ponytails or crept away from the barrettes that Mom pinned in a vain attempt to keep it neat. But real curly hair.
My aunt, Anne, who was only nine years older, tried to help me out. She wet my hair and wrapped sections in socks, tying the cuff and toe together. I was skeptical of my aunt’s endeavor when I saw my sock curlers scattered across my head.

“It’ll work,” she reassured me.

“Your hair is curly.”

‘I’ve done it for friends.”

That night, I struggled for sleep in my grandmother’s attic and watched car lights from the street sweep across the room revealing the gigantic red roses splattered on the wallpaper. I listened to their sound as they approached and then whooshed away, willing myself to sleep so that Santa and morning would arrive. At least the socks didn’t poke me like bobby pins.

The next morning I was more interested in my curly hair than Christmas. I crept into my aunt’s room and woke her to untie the many socks. “See, I told you it would work.” We stared at each other in her mirrored vanity. I had soft coils all over my head.

When I came downstairs, proud of my curls, dazzling wrappings greeted me. The entire living room and dining room were crowded with red, green, and white boxes tied with glistening bows, adorned with pinecones, vivid miniature fruit, Christmas ornaments. Piles as tall as me. Several crowded together. After all, there were presents to be given out and received for over twenty people.

And my presents, my birthday presents for Christmas is my birthday, were in their own special stack, off to the side, not wrapped in red and green, but gold!

I don’t remember everything I got. I know the adults were eager to see my reaction and I always smiled, even though I thought the baby dolls were strange and lifeless. I later spent hours building log houses with Lincoln log but could not appreciate my creations in the chaos of the day. I loved the pencils with my name on them. I carefully saved the bows and pressed the paper.

The adults listened to the radio. I helped Lala set the table for dinner, helped her pass out her pecan butter balls and Stollen.

After dinner, after the roast beef, and green beans, and homemade mashed potatoes, and trays of pickles, olives, spiced peaches and candied crab apples, after the desert we called ‘a kiss’ which was a baked meringue filled with ice cream and maroons, I grinned and opened my birthday presents.

And then my last present-- a box wrapped in printed paper with a hand tied bow.

“This is from Mum,” Lala said. Mum sat on a Queen Anne chair, her hands cupping the arms, her back straight. Wisps of white hair struggled out of her hairpins. Blue veins mapped the backs of her hands, rode up her sinewy arms. Each joint of her fingers was tipped with bulges, her nails blunt. She smiled at me and nodded, her lips curved as she worked her hands massaging the knuckles of one with the other. My last present. The last one for an entire year.

I unwrapped the box to find a doll’s wardrobe covered with wallpaper of plump red roses and sprigs of lilac. I opened the top drawer on the left, pulling the ivory knob, and, laying like fallen rose petals, were doll’s peach slip with a ruffle, an eyelet pinafore. The next drawer held a dotted dress with sash, trimmed with tiny lace around the collar and a ruffle at the hem. Next to it was a matching bonnet banded with miniature yellow velvet flowers.

The middle drawer was divided. Pajamas. Bathrobe. A little Red Riding Hood cape. A pink silk dress, a flowered dress. Pantaloons. Slips. All old fashioned clothes.

“Mum made this, made this by hand,” my mother said. I squinted at the stitches no larger than the machine ones holding my dress together.

The bottom drawer was turned into a bed with pink quilted sides, a pillow and blanket of white trimmed in lace. The doll was made of china, a red painted circle mouth, long wavy hair, eyes that opened and closed with painted long eyelashes. She was dressed in pink silk dress, the collar, ruffle at the hem edged in minuscule lace. On her head was a pink crocheted hat with pale roses and ribbons. Over her shoulder was a matching purse that opened with a pearl button to reveal a hand crochet handkerchief.

Mum blinked her eyes behind glasses that magnified her pupils.

I carefully examined the clothes and hugged her, smelling lavender and talcum. Her hard hands gently patted my shoulder as she kissed my cheek. “You like it?” she asked.

“Oh, yes.” The love proven by the tiny stitches, the spectacular wardrobe belied the somewhat taciturn woman. Perhaps it was the exhaustion of age.

Later, Lala pulled me aside and told me that Mum had been a famous seamstress with people pleading with her to do their fancy clothes. “This is her last. Her fingers ache and her eyes have trouble seeing her own stitches.” Lala’s hands rested on my shoulders. “You have received the last gift, her last sewing.”

At six, I didn’t understand the treasure I’d been given. I only sensed the love and hard work and talent.

“You must be very careful.”

I was. I did not play with dolls much, but I appreciated the honor of the present.

“They’re museum quality,” my father said, almost half handedly.

“Save them and your children can enjoy them, too,” my mother suggested.

Only occasionally would I open the flowered chest, carefully remove the doll and dress her in different underwear, slip, dress and bonnet of a by gone era. I examined the delicate precise stitches, the clever crochet, the stiffening in the brim of the bonnet. Carefully, I unbuttoned the tiny pearl and welcomed the detailed handkerchief inside. I imagined the doll walking across bridges and meeting boys. Going to parties and being the belle of the ball. I imagined Mum sitting on that Queen Anne chair with petals of fabric fashioning the wardrobe. And then I slid her back in her drawer to sleep. She was a sleeping beauty.

Other dolls were added, one that my brother won that could wear the clothes. A china doll who almost instantly got her head smashed.

And then I was a mother with daughters of my own. On special occasions, birthdays, holidays, or when they were sick, I pulled down the treasure chest, took out the doll with the clothes made by their great great grandmother and we played together. Yes, they had their Barbies but there was something magical about the old-fashioned, hand stitched clothes. The clothes fit a Madame Alexander doll perfectly, and she snuggled in the bed next the one Mum had given me whose hair was now mostly worn off, but her eyes still blinked. And then my granddaughters carefully dressed the doll with clothes that their great great great grandmother had made. All those years. All those loving times spent between the generations. The worn china dolls still the most fascinating.

Maybe it was the garments themselves. Maybe somehow Mum’s love for me and her hopes for the future, in which she would not be around, were stitched into the fabric to hold the magic of her experience and hard hopes. But there they are, evidence of a great grandmother’s love and efforts for her progeny. Like that string of paper dolls stretching from the past into the future. Of my presents as a child, all those toys, all the clothes, only this and a few books remain. This and a book that Mum also gave me of Snow White when I was only three. I know this, because it is signed to Baby Ann and dated.

There’s a picture of me taken that night. I sit in front of the fireplace with the doll in my hand. She wears the flowered dress and bonnet. I’m already in my pajamas. If you look closely, you can see that I still have a few curls left in my hair.

Christmas Parade Guest HelenKay Dimon

2009-12-10T07:28:00.002-05:00

This lady has proven that it is hotter anywhere she chooses to write about! Welcome to our blog - HelenKay Dimon!!

I have no idea where November went...or May, for that matter. This entire year has been a big, racing blur. But it's hard to be upset about being perpetually behind or anything else right now because it's the holiday season! I love this time of year. Something about all the lights and the Christmas music playing in restaurants and bookstores puts me in a good mood.

It's also easy to be a little extra merry when I have releases out around the holidays. This year I have two – a single title, HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO, and a novella in the holiday anthology KISSING SANTA CLAUS. I remember writing the Christmas-themed novella, "It's Hotter At Christmas" at the beginning of the year. I wasn't feeling all that Christmassy then. See, it was after the holidays. The tree was down and the gifts put away. Jumping into the holiday spirit at that point was a bit tough.

Well, it would have been except that I was writing about one of my favorite places – Kauai, Hawaii. Yep, a Christmas novella based in warm and sunny Hawaii. Instead of snow and gloves I talk about fireworks over the Pacific Ocean and hiking Waimea Canyon. Not exactly what people think about when they imagine Christmas morning. But for me it worked because I love Hawaii as much as I love Christmas. My husband grew up there, my in-laws live there and my hubby proposed to me there. It's special. Writing a Christmas novella set there reminded me that the holidays are really about being with the people you love, in the place that you love. Hawaii turned out to be the perfect setting for a holiday happily ever after.

Is any going away for the holidays? Anyone escaping to somewhere warm? And does anyone want to win a copy of the Christmas anthology I was in last year, TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT? I'll select a winner from those who comment here.

Happy holidays!

Christmas Parade Guest - Red Garnier

2009-12-04T07:34:00.003-05:00

Reader's, let us welcome the lovely Red Garnier!

Keeping your cool during the holidays . . .

Oh my goodness, Christmas is upon us! When I was younger, it would feel like decades passed between one Christmas and another, and now that I’m older it seems that I’m barely recuperated from a holiday when I’m greeted with the next.

There’s tons to do, and so little time to do it.

This year, December was a big month for me. After almost a year and a half after finishing my first full length single title, it finally released. My family moved, so getting settled in a new household has taken up most my time during the past couple of months.
Between book promotion, gift purchases, house cleaning, and writing deadlines, I tell myself that I’m not stressed and yet there are a few telltale signs that I am: little sleep, hair loss, anxiety, and a ball full of energy that keeps simmering inside me without release.

So how to cope with the tornado of Christmas and all it brings with it?

Here are a few things I’m trying.

1. Holiday music – they do bring the cheer. We all know the songs, and yet usually my kids are the only ones to listen to it. It’s amazing how much peace and contentment “Jingle Bells” brings!

2. Extra hot showers – a soak in the bathtub or an extra hot shower instantly loosens up all the taught muscles in my back. Sometimes I wish I could stay soaking in a warm bath all day!

3. Lists – they’re proving to be extremely helpful in organizing my time. My mind keeps spinning with all my things to do, and yet once I put thoughts to paper, there’s an immediate and wonderful sense of relief.

4. 5 minutes a day – that’s it. Five minutes to just breathe, relax, and try to pull myself together. I used to be a smoker – and sometimes, I admit I still crave a cigarette. But what I’ve discovered I most crave is maybe not the tobacco itself but the five minutes you get to sit down and inhale and relax and hear yourself think.

5. Snuggling – after a hectic day, your heart is pumping faster, your nerves are frazzled, and the last thing you think you should be doing is sitting down to snuggle with your loved ones. But that’s just what I’m doing, and wow, it feels so good. And it works! Snuggle with the kids or with hubby and three minutes later I feel the stress start to dissipate.

Holidays are beautiful times that come and go so quickly, I’m determined to enjoy mine to the fullest this year. I plan to forget all the things I have to do and just enjoy a moment of health, love, family, and happiness. And I wish the same for you!

What are you doing to keep your cool during Holiday Season?

Don’t be shy and share your tips with us. A randomly chosen commenter will win a Redlightbooks.com relaxation kit – complete with lotion, CD, and black sleep shape mask!

It Is That Time of Year!!!

2009-12-02T19:03:00.003-05:00

Hello, everyone!! It is that time of year again!! The Christmas Parade is just around the corner and TRRC is gearing up!! On the schedule so far we have:

December 4 Red Garnier

December 10 Helen Kay Dimon

December 14 Ann Pearlman

December 15 Wendy Roberts

December 16 Penny Watson

Be sure to join us and see what they have to say!!

Guest Blogger: Karen White Owens

2009-10-28T19:04:00.002-04:00

Recently, I went to Amazon.com to take a look at the reviews for my latest release, I Can Make You Love Me. Yes, I know I shouldn’t do this. But I’m like that driver on the freeway who can’t help slowing down and gawking at the roadside auto accident. It’s in my nature.

Anyhoo, I was surprised by the title one reader gave her review “Cougar Story Tastefully Done.” I sat up straighter in my chair and fumed, glaring at the computer screen with my lips pressed together as mentally willed the reviewer to see my displeasure.

Cougar story? I don’t write about animals. This story is about sensitive people that find love, but battle issues and problems along the way. My heroines are women with careers who find themselves involved in older woman-younger man relationships.

Contemplating the term cougar, I discussed the phrase with a coworker. When I think of a cougar I envision a slick, beautiful animal perched in a tree, stretched along a branch, lying n wait for an unsuspecting younger man to stroll by. Suddenly, the woman notices a prospective cub and she pounces. The cougar catch of the day as been caught.

Being an adult reference librarian, I did a quick search using Google. I typed in the term ‘cougar’ and was surprised by the number of hits I received. I truly expected to have to refine my search strategy. There was even information about cougar dos and don’ts.

A co-worker and I pondered this lifestyle and why this trend is so popular. We came up with several scenarios, including the fact there has been a role reversal for women. They are now in running multi-million dollar companies. Also, ladies have the financial freedom to make any choice that suits them.

Also, at this point in most women’s lives they are unconcerned with what others think. It’s a time to do what makes them happy and feel good. Younger men do a fine job of helping the women enjoy life.

Now that I’ve discussed the concept of cougars, I want to tell you that I Can Make You Love Me is a sensitive story about a man that finds the love of his life in a woman that happens to be thirteen years older than him. It is up to the hero to convince the heroine that they belong together. Although the heroine is willing to get involve with him, she is unwilling to allow her children to get attached to her new and younger lover. Problems arise when the heroine’s ex-husband tries to control the heroine’s love life.

Take a look at the book and pass your thoughts to me via e-mail. I can be reached at karenwowens@gmail.com. I’m always anxious to hear how readers view my stories.
Remember, don’t be a stranger.

Please welcome our guest blogger - Cheryl Norman!

2009-09-01T12:20:00.003-04:00

Hiding Behind a New Identity
by Cheryl Norman

For my newest book Reclaim My Life, I had to research the Witness Security Program because my heroine, Sofia Desalvo, is hiding from a contract killer. One of my best resources was the book WITSEC - Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program, co-written by the program's creator Gerald Shur. Although most protected witnesses are criminals, too, the program offers protection for the innocent witness as well, like Sofia.

Everything I’m about to relate happened to Sofia a year before the beginning of Reclaim My Life (what we writers call "backstory") and won’t spoil the story for you.

After Sofia reported the crime she witnessed, the police learned the suspect was part of a larger investigation by the feds. Moved immediately to a temporary safe house, Sofia met with personnel from the U.S. Marshals’ office for a pre-admittance interview. Once the U.S. Marshals determined her to be a candidate for the WitSec program, they paired her with a handler, in this case Special Agent Cory.

Working with several government agencies and under total secrecy, Sofia was given a new identity and all supporting documentation for her new persona. First they moved her to Athens, Georgia, to enable her to complete an accelerated degree program. Relocated in a new town—Drake Springs, Florida—where she was unlikely to be recognized, she secured a job and a place to live, helped in part by reasonable financial assistance for living expenses. In exchange for all the tools necessary to create her new identity as Elizabeth Stevens, English Professor, she had to agree to adhere to all rules and guidelines of the program—no easy task. But following the rules keep witnesses alive.

The strictest and most vital rule is no contact with anyone from your former life. According to the U.S. Marshals, no one who adhered to the rules has been killed.

While Sofia/Elizabeth followed the rules to the extreme—enjoying nothing or wearing no clothing or jewelry she loved in her former life—she was lonely and isolated. Eventually, she made new friends but with reluctance, knowing she could be ripped from her new home and relocated with no notice if her new identity was compromised. Not a day went by that she didn’t look over her shoulder or wonder if she’d somehow betrayed her identity. Scrupulous and honest, she felt like a fraud, yet she became adept at lying. Lying kept her alive.

As you can tell by the title, more than anything Elizabeth wants to reclaim her life as Sofia, before a murderer and racketeer drove her into hiding. But can she? Reclaim My Life is a new romantic suspense from Medallion Press. I hope you’ll give it a read.
　

We are back!!!

2009-08-26T10:35:00.002-04:00

The site is back up thanks to the wonderful site admin ladies!!! You guys are awesome!!

Next order of business, a new guest blogger, just for you guys!!! Cheryl Norman will be joining us on September 1st! Be sure to join us!!!!

http://cherylnorman.com/

Pardon our Construction!!!

2009-08-17T22:13:00.003-04:00

The Romance Reader's Connection has hit a new high! We had so many viewers to our site, that we overloaded the server! Thanks to all the fabulous readers who come to see what we are reading! Temporarily, we are down. However, we are hoping to be up and running very soon and will keep you all updated on our progress as we switch to a new server.

Thanks for your patience!

GUEST BLOGGER: VICKI HINZE

2009-07-02T09:39:00.006-04:00

IS WRITING WORTH IT? Yes, When You Write from the Heart

As writers, we often ask ourselves if writing is worth the sacrifices it takes. We often wonder if we should keep writing or stop. We often wonder if we’re going to get to the end of our life and look back with regret that we spent it as we did.

If you’re like most writers, you’ve wondered these things and more. And if you’re a people person you’ve no doubt asked yourself this type of thing even more because writing requires you to spend so much time alone.

For many writers, it’s a dilemma. But it’s one I’d like to solve for writers today through two examples.

A few years ago, a close online friend was dying. I was one of many writers called on to send messages to her. And I’m telling you, that was the toughest writing I ever did. So tough that right after her passing, I wrote an article about it. I’m sharing it here so that you get the full grasp of my thinking on this dilemma.

The article is the first example, and it follows:

There are times of uncertainty and doubt in every writer's life. Times when all the hard work, the frustrations, the efforts, and the isolation inherent to executing the craft seem to narrow to one question in the writer's mind: Is it worth it?

Is it?

We give up our hobbies, or limit our time investment in them, to focus more intently on developing our skills. We lower our standards in areas of our lives that we once had adhered to fastidiously. Now, we consider it far more noble to ignore chores in our homes to study, so that we might get past that psychic distance challenge we're facing in Chapter Three of our current Manuscript-in-Progress. By necessity, we isolate ourselves from those whose company we enjoy--during deadlines, even from our families. We're confident that our dedication will propel us to success. Our investment is worth it. We will reach our goals.

And then something traumatic happens (our publisher ceases operations, our line at the house folds, our editor leaves) and we're tossed into a pit of despair where investment doubts return with unrelenting vengeance to assault us with that confrontational: Is it worth it?

We debate, mull, and consider. Discuss our uncertainties with our families, our peers, our mentors. We weigh and measure and, somehow, we adjust to our new circumstance, then focus on alternatives, on solutions, on new paths to explore. We endure. Our creative selves survive. And we again convince ourselves that we are spending our time wisely--and exactly as we must spend it. We are writers. Writing is worth the physical effort, the emotional investment, the sacrifices it demands. We go on, pursuing our dreams and working toward our goals.

As if being rewarded for our persistence, some small success (which seems large to us, due to our need) comes our way and we feel vindicated. The investment was wise, the struggle worth everything it took, and more. Confirmation smells so sweet and brings us such contentment.

Until the next time we're dumped into the pit and doubt assaults us.

Then we suffer a focus shift because Is it worth it? now has company. A new question lands on the scene to torment us: When will these doubts stop?

Obviously, I can't answer for everyone. But I can answer for me. My doubts ended on January 8, 1995 at 12:50 p.m. CST: the moment a beautiful writer named Suzanna died.

Suzanna exemplified my vision of a heroine. She was clever and courageous and beautiful, inside and out. Her battle with death was a long, hard one that she fought admirably. She inspired smiles, and she radiated strength.

In excruciating pain, two days before her death, Suzanna reached out to friends, saying she needed their strength. These friends were a group of writers on GEnie's Romance Exchange. I was one of them.

Most people are uncomfortable with death, and shun it. Writers are not immune to this discomfort, yet we rallied and wrote individual letters to Suzanna. I was very worried about writing this letter. Suzanna had been such a tower of strength throughout her illness. A person who reached out to help others, but rarely asked for anything herself. Now, she desperately needed support, and I didn't want to fail her. When I sat down at my desk, I knew I would be composing the most important writing of my life, and I wasn't at all sure I was up to the challenge.

I prayed for the right words, for the ability to link them cohesively and clearly, to say precisely what needed saying in the right tone and style to give Suzanna what she hoped to find on the page—strength. I prayed for competence, for the skill to convey a message of sincere support, but not of pity. Suzanna was far too remarkable a person to pity. And I remember being comforted because I wasn't alone. I knew all my GEnie sisters were composing their letters, suffering these same fears and doubts, praying these same prayers.

The decade's worth of studies and struggles, of time and effort, the wisdom gleaned from my many mistakes, my every trial—all merged inside me, and I wrote the letter. I did not use the word heal nor death—the time was near, we both knew it, and I would never insult Suzanna's intelligence or the courage she'd displayed by pretending otherwise. Yet I somehow was blessed with not being reduced to falling back on time worn clichés. I reminded Suzanna of all the kindnesses she'd shown others. Told her that she had made a difference. And I wished her peace.

Along with those of my GEnie sisters, my letter was read via phone to Suzanna. Within moments, I plunged into the pit of doubt. Had I said the right things? Said them the right way? Was the tone comforting? Would the strength she said she needed be there for her in what I'd written on the page? Again, I feared, but I wasn't alone. I knew that all my writing sisters were suffering these same doubts about their letters.

The next afternoon, I got that most dreaded call. In her husband's arms, at 12:50 p.m. Central Standard Time, Suzanna had passed away peacefully.

Peacefully.

My doubt died.

While I'll never know for certain if my letter had any part in bringing about Suzanna's peaceful passing, I do know that writers rallied and showered her with heartfelt support when she needed it most. And I know that she knew her life had value, that she mattered. I know because I told her. Many of us told her. There's a great deal of comfort in that.

And if I should never write another word, then every moment I've spent studying, struggling, and sacrificing to develop my skills still has been time well-spent.

In the length of one letter, I received indisputable proof that, yes, it is all worth it.

The day Suzanna died peacefully.

The second example happened many years later. Actually, this past October—the 15th, in fact. That’s the day my mother-in-law found out she had three months to live.

After getting the news and leaving the doctor’s office, on the way home she saw the most beautiful rainbow she’d ever seen. And she wondered if it was for her—God’s way of letting her know that he was aware of what was happening to her.

I asked if she knew about the Rainbow Covenant. She’d been a Christian all her life, so I thought she probably did, but she didn’t relate it to her specific situation. I sat down and wrote The Rainbow Covenant and made it into a card and sent it to her.

She kept it close those last three months. This writing that I had done relaying promises made to all believers brought her comfort during the most difficult and challenging time of her life.

When she passed, the card was with her personal things, and now I keep it close and remember her. Her courage, her faith. I read the words I wrote and remember her, and each time I see a rainbow, she and faith flood my mind.

The wounds are raw now from her passing. But to think that words relaying the promise brought comfort . . . well, it’s worth it.
As I discovered years ago, and rediscovered recently, writing can be worth whatever it takes. Like so much else, it depends on purpose and what is done with it.

I’m fortunate. Twice I have seen firsthand. And now, so have you. I ask myself, is writing worth the sacrifices it requires? I answer. Yes. When you write from the heart, yes, it is. For me that resolves the issue and it troubles me no more.

And so I share with you the reasons why it is no longer an issue, and I hope when the question arises in your mind, you’ll remember Suzanna. You’ll remember the Rainbow. And I hope you’ll write from the heart and feel the worth of your work, too.

Blessings,
Vicki
Vicki Hinze
www.vickihinze.com

Interview With An Author - Marjorie M. Liu

2009-06-23T13:12:00.003-04:00

1)Describe your creative process. Any rituals or specifications when you sit down to write? When do you prefer to write, and for how many hours daily? I think avid readers and aspiring writers are always curious about this aspect.

It varies from book to book, but I usually like to start early in the morning, before dawn, with me heading straight from the bed to the office. I sit down, work for a couple hours -- or until I get really hungry -- eat breakfast, check some email -- and then get back to work. I stop for lunch, then work for another couple hours, stop for dinner or a snack, work a little more, and then just sort of quit at the end of the day when I feel like it. It's a natural rhythm, but not set in stone. If I'm really on fire, I won't quit for anything, not even to eat. I just push through. But typically, I work anywhere from seven to fourteen hours a day, every day.No rituals. Just comfy clothes. Lots of water or tea. Anything to make me comfortable.

2)Maxine Kiss, the heroine of the Hunter Kiss series, is one of the most complex, dynamic, and interesting characters I have ever come across in Urban Fantasy. She has these incredible supernatural powers, yet is so relatable and realistic. Are there any autobiographical features in the character of Maxine?

That's very kind of you. Maxine is always fun to write, because she's so straightforward -- too much so, at times. Her social skills leave something to be desired, partially because she's been raised in a peculiar kind of isolation, always as an outsider. And because she hasn't dealt with that many people -- on a normal, human basis -- she's both shy and bold, confident in some ways -- and insecure in others.But as for autobiographical features...that's a tough question, in a way. I just write the characters as they come to me, without much conscious thought. I'm not as tough as Maxine, not by any stretch of the imagination, but we do have a shared fondness for cowboy boots, 80's music and pop culture, hot chocolate, and books.

3)How much of your life experience is woven into the Hunter Kiss series? How are your interests reflected in your writing?

I think that every aspect of our lives -- our experiences, no matter how small -- are woven into the fabric of our unconscious minds, and that's the place we draw from as writers. So if you want specifics -- I could say, for example, that I lived in Seattle for many years -- but the series as a whole has been developed organically, very much from the seat of my pants. I never intended Maxine to have a grandfather, for example, but Jack sort of...marched onto the page, for better or worse, and established himself in the thick of things.I will say this, though -- I've always been interested in science, and I minored in Bioethics in undergrad, with a similar focus in law school. Those kinds of issues are part of a long-running theme that can be found in many of my books, including DARKNESS CALLS.

4) In the novella, HUNTER KISS (available as an ebook), Maxine meets Grant and they begin to forge a relationship that is carried through into THE IRON HUNT. Can you explain the evolution of their romance and how it changes in DARKNESS CALLS?

As a romance author, I've always found it difficult to chart the evolution of a relationship in one book. Some writers manage it beautifully in a single go, while others set up characters over the run of a series until they receive their own chance to fall in love. The thing I find liberating about the Hunter Kiss series is that I can take my time with Maxine and Grant. Which might seem like an odd thing to say, as they meet in the novella, and are pretty much joined at the hip in THE IRON HUNT. But, as we all know, even if you fall madly and deeply in love with a person, that doesn't mean you both stop growing. It doesn't mean that what you have between you won't change -- for better or worse.For Maxine and Grant, I wanted to write something that was very quiet, a deep partnership between two people who share an intense friendship and trust. They love each other, passionately, but there's more to each of them than the other realizes -- and in DARKNESS CALLS I explore that further, especially in Grant's case. He's always known he was different from other people, but he's about to find out that those differences are far more profound than he realized. It's going to shake him up -- and Maxine, as well.

5) Anything else you would like to say about DARKNESS CALLS?

It was a blast to write. I go deeper into the mythology of the world, hopefully taking it in unexpected directions, and there's a little something for everyone -- time travel, genetic engineering, demons, psychic barmaids -- as well as that evolving relationship between Maxine and Grant, which is potentially...well...apocalyptic.

I also urge folks to check out the web-exclusive promo letter that I wrote to celebrate the release of Darkness Calls. It's a letter from Grant to the unborn daughter that he hopes one day to have with Maxine. Part three just went up, and can be found here: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/exclusive-darkness-calls-teaser-part-iii-of-a-letter-from-grant-cooperon-by/

Summer Reading Recommendations from the TRRC Staff!!

2009-06-04T20:38:00.008-04:00

In this post, you will find many different reading recommendations for this summer. Some are old favorites and some are new releases we are dying to read!! From our many varied tastes, there will be plenty for just about everyone!

Must-Read Mysteries for Summer by Angela Etheridge:

As a teacher, I love summer for many reasons, but additional “reading time” is the best reason of all! A new Lisa Gardner book, THE NEIGHBOR, is coming out this June, and Ms. Gardner is an automatic purchase list. All her books are absolutely gripping, intense, and highly original. Also highly recommended is Kelley Armstrong’s MADE TO BE BROKEN; this unusual tale follows the experiences of a female contract killer. Neither of these books are light, summery reads, but they are sure to keep you reading late into the night! For lighter summer fare, Cynthia Baxter’s MURDER PACKS A SUITCASE really fits the bill—with a tale about a travel writer exploring Florida . Highlighting the kitschy parts of Florida , this lighthearted mystery packs an unexpected punch. If you are like me and hope to lose a few pounds this summer, consider reading Kathryn Lilley’s Fat City mysteries series, starting with DYING TO BE THIN. With characters as real as you and I, Ms. Lilley’s books are fun and believable. No matter where you go or what you do this summer, don’t forget to pack a mystery!

From Sarah Siversmith:

Must reads for this summer, there are a bunch of books coming out this summer that I think are must reads for those who like paranormal books and romantica.Emma Holly has a trilogy coming out in her Upyr series. These revolve around Edmund St. Clare and his family. Kissing Midnight, Breaking Midnight and Saving Midnight. Nalini Singh also has a new book coming out in her psy series, Branded by Fire, which is highly anticipated. Laurell Hamilton's newest Anita Blake book - number 17 is out, Skin Trade. Of course there is J R Ward's Lover Avenged, which came out last month, but still a must read for this genre. Karen Marie Moning's newest Fae book, Dreamfever comes out in August. Jeaniene Frost's fourth Night Huntress book, Destined for an Early Grave comes out in August as well. Who can forget Lora Leigh's next Breed book? Bengal's Heart comes out in August. All in all, a banner summer for HEAT books!

From our Paranormal Coordinator - Lori Sears:

Summer reading at it's best can be found in the paranormal genre with my following choices for June and July releases.
Alyssa Day has a duo of books scheduled for release in The Warriors of Poseidon Series with ATLANTIS UNLEASHED in June and ATLANTIS UNMASKED in July. Both books are fantastic and very sensual.

Brenda Joyce releases her next book in The Masters of Time Series in August. DARK LOVER was absolutely awesome and my favorite Master's book so far.

Carolyne Jewel has MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE coming up in June. It is the follow up to MY WICKED ENEMY and is perfect for poolside reading.

Let us not forget one of my favorite authors, Lara Adrian and her Midnight Breed Series. ASHES OF MIDNIGHT is due out in June as well. This particular series has continued to grow with each installment and the latest story kicks butt!

Last but not least, my newest discovery in the paranormal genre is a book that actually came out in April and was a really fun and intriguing new series. Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampire Series Book 1 is titled SOME GIRLS BITE. It has a refreshing and contemporary feel and I totally loved it.

Livia, our Editor, sends her Young Adult recommendations:

ELEVEN, TWELVE and THIRTEEN by Lauren Myracle, the adventures of Winnie Perry as she experiences life begining in the sixth grade.

CAMP CONFIDENTIAL SERIES - Books 1 thru 21 by Melissa J. Morgan
A fun series for girls ages 9-12 featuring the members of summer Camp Lakeview,
Bunk 4C. This series is definitely about summer camp years but also extend to the school years.

From Monica:

This summer I have decided to catch up on a few series that have been piling up. While, I have many books in that wonderful tbr pile I have found myself picking titles where the men are dangerous and the women are more than up to the challenge.

With that said, I am recommending Cindy Gerard's Black Ops Inc. series for those of you that must have your romance with a twist of suspense. Three books have been published so far and they are all outstanding. The first book in the series is, Show No Mercy and is followed by Take No Prisoners and Whisper No Lies. Reading these three will definitely be a primer for the next installment, Feel The Heat due out later this year.

Now, for those readers looking for a little more heat, Lora Leigh's Nauti series is sure to ignite a few fires. Four titles have been released each one should come with a warning. Nauti Boy is the first title, followed by Nauti Nights, Nauti Dreams and Nauti Intentions.

Happy Reading and I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I did.

Monica

From Geri:

If you've never read them, I highly recommend the four books that make up Nora Roberts Chesapeake Bay stories. They are about family and relationships and romance and are delicious. I've read them each at least 2-3 times over the years. The titles are: Sea SweptRising TidesInner HarborChesapeake BlueMore recent recommendations would include the very quirky but excellent new book by Erica Orloff, FREUDIAN SLIP, about guardian angels and the devil. ONE RECKLESS SUMMER, by Toni Blake, is a steamy romance with a good girl and a bad but misunderstood boy. Lovely, lovely romance that I highly recommend. If you want to go off to a foreign land and intense, passionate writing, get a copy of Olivia Gates' THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING. The first in a new trilogy, this one will be fun to keep reading. Finally, for Tori Carrington fans, their newest, BRANDED, is an outstanding and hot category romance with a western theme. Yum!

From Jasmine:

Well the summer months are considered beach months. Hence, my first recommendation in the Inspirational genre is Beach Dreams - a story centered around a beach house that has been instrumental in a lot of relationships and lives. While this is the fourth book in the series, it is not necessary to have read the other ones. Another recommendation is A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist. A historical read, it is sure to transport you to a different place and time if and when the heat gets unbearable. Ms. Gist is an exceptional author and pens the story of Anna Ivey and Joe Denton. Anna is tricked into a bride wagon and is handed off to Joe Denton, without her knowing that she is supposed to marry the man. And a final recommendation from the Inspirational mystery/suspense genre The Justice Game by Randy Singer. The story deals with a murder and its aftermath. I ensure you that you won't go wrong with Randy Singer. His writing will captivate and keep you on the edge of your seat. Have a good summer and hope you enjoy the recommendations.

This summer must read by Gloria Gehres:

An old classic THE BRIDE by Julie Garwood, is an excellent Highland romance. Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. She is headstrong and challenges him at every opportunity. For a laugh out loud funny book, I would choose, FINGER LICKIN FIFTEEN by Janet Evanovich, due out later this month. Is the next installment in Stephanie Plum's complicated life. SAVED BY THE MONARCH by Dana Marton is a romantic suspense, where a royal wedding is more a duty to ones country, or so he thought. KNIGHT OF DESIRE is a fast paced historical romance by Margaret Mallory, due out In July. She brings history, intrigue, romance, all together in one amazing book. Contemporary Romance, VISIONS IN WHITE by Nora Roberts, four friends combine their talents and create the perfect wedding planning company. But will they find love themselves? This is definitely the summer, for relaxing, grabbing something to drink, and reading a good book.

From Deb, our Regency Goddess:

If you're looking for a delightful beach read that's perfect for the sun and sand, then I recommend the Harlequin Historical anthology, THE DIAMONDS OF WELBOURNE MANOR, Regency-set with three related stories by Diane Gaston, Deb Marlow, and Amanda McCabe. You'll fall in love with the Fitzmanning family and cheer when the three heroines find their happily ever afters. Also, if you haven't read Jane Porter's single title FLIRTING WITH FORTY--a real beach book indeed, then you've missed a wonderful novel with Porter's exquisite voice about second chances and love with a younger man in Hawaii. The Lifetime Channel made FLIRTING WITH FORTY into a tv movie, so after reading the book, head over to the Lifetime website and view exceprts of the movie and an interview with the star, Heather Locklear...later, check back to see when Lifetime will re-broadcast the film...

and, now, my two cents worth:

Summer is here and I am looking forward to time to relax and unwind. One of my favorite ways to do that is by reading! I love a hot romance and I have several on my plate. Fyre Brand by Lora Leigh is the first! This Ellora’s Cave release is about a woman with an elemental talent for fire. She is one tough cookie and it will take two special men to tame her! After that, I am looking forward to perusing their stock to find some new hot reads! Also, I think I may read back over some old favorites, like Lora Leigh and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down! Emma Holly is giving us three new books this summer Kissing Midnight, Breaking Midnight, and Saving Midnight, featuring Edmund Fitz Clare from her Catching Midnight and Courting Midnight – both of which are excellent reads for vampire and erotica lovers, alike! Other than these reads, I will be exploring the YA genre with my daughter who has just discovered the fun of reading romances! Sci-fi will be on the menu with my son – rereading Harry Potter. Yes, Twilight will most likely be one of my picks for my daughter, but who can resist a hunky vampire and all his teen angst!

Happy Reading!

GUEST BLOGGER: Cynthia Eden

2009-03-28T16:24:00.002-04:00

Let’s begin with death…

Yes, this was my thought when I started to write IMMORTAL DANGER, my upcoming paranormal release from Kensington Brava. Maybe starting the book with my heroine’s death wasn’t the nicest thing that I’ve ever done to a character—the woman barely has screen (er, book) time before she’s attacked.

But for this particular story, the beginning had to be about death.

So my heroine, Maya Black, dies in the first few pages of my book, and it is only with her death that her character truly comes alive. Because Maya doesn’t stay dead. She comes back, better, stronger, and ready to kick butt like never before.

From that death, the rest of my story unfolded. The novel appeared for me, the characters and plot points all fell into place, and, well, all it took was a little death. J

Since I’m talking about my beginning, why don’t you share your favorite book openings with me? Maybe I can add some books to my TBR list! And one commenter will be selected to win her/his choice of an autographed book from my backlist.

Thank you so much to the wonderful folks at TRRC for having me here today! It’s a pleasure to visit your home on the web!

Cynthia Eden
http://www.cynthiaeden.com/
IMMORTAL DANGER—03/31/09 from Kensington Brava
Believe in monsters. They believe in you.

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Mallery

2009-03-15T11:21:00.002-04:00

Let me start by saying it's not my fault. I didn't plan to write a women's fiction book. I'm a romance writer. I love romance. I love all the firsts. First meet, first kiss, first—well, you know. But I had this idea for a story...

The heroine came to me one Saturday afternoon while I was watching Project Runway. (I’m obsessed with Project Runway.) With great excitement, I told my agent all about this quirky, artsy girl. Megan was one of those kids who could take an outfit from ordinary to awesome with nothing but scissors and some thread. She saw art in fabric and texture, put together odd combinations that shouldn’t have worked but did.

What would happen to a girl like that, I wondered, if she bowed to family pressure and got a “sensible” job? And how would she feel about a sister who rejected sensibility to pursue her own crazy dream?

“Sounds fabulous,” my agent said. “You realize, of course, it’s not a romance.”

Not a romance? Heresy! Of course it’s a romance. I’m a romance writer. So I pulled out Travis, the Boy Not Taken. The bad boy Megan loved but let go. See? A real, live hero. They kiss. They—well, you know. (Hope I haven’t ruined any surprises for you.)

My agent patted my hand condescendingly. “Not a romance,” she repeated. “You want to tell Megan’s story.”

She was right, as she often is. Travis is a big part of Megan’s story, but her annoying sister and hypochondriac mother also play major roles. Sunset Bay is Megan’s journey. Rediscovering her quirky, funny side. Making peace with her less than perfect family. And yes, finding the man who will appreciate everything that’s unique and wonderful about her.

Sunset Bay was such fun to write that I almost hated finishing it. Almost. To celebrate its release, I’m giving away $250 in gift cards to some of my favorite department stores so that some lucky reader will be able to enjoy a fashion spree. You can enter at my website, http://www.susanmallery.com/.

Sunset Bay is, I’m forced to admit, women’s fiction. But wow, the line between romance and women’s fiction sure is blurry. At least for me. What’s the difference between the two for you?

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Krinard

2009-03-03T21:16:00.001-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I'm a drama queen.

Anyone who's read my books knows that I am not a subtle, delicate writer. I love drama. I love big, windswept tales of passion and adventure. My characters are unabashedly larger-than-life, and so are my stories.

That's why, when a new Publisher's Weekly review of my forthcoming book, Lord of Legends, called my story “overwrought,” I really wasn't surprised.

That's right. I'm as overwrought as a New Mexico sunset, a raging Pacific Ocean, a Texas thunderstorm. As melodramatic as one of those humongous historical epics Hollywood doesn't make any more. As unapologetically romantic as The Prisoner of Zenda, King Solomon's Mines, or The Mask of Zorro. I love duels to the death, hair-raising escapes, operatic sacrifices, and eternal love.

In short, I'm an old-fashioned storyteller.

So, this is a warning to any reader who prefers a quieter, more refined type of story. I don't believe in false advertising. If you don't care for swashbuckling characters, intricate plots, “overwrought” sacrifices and explosively dramatic finales, I'm not for you.

And that's okay! Where would we be without a good range of different types of writers and stories? I happen to love Jane Austen as much as Jane Eyre, and would be lost without them. Not everyone is a drama queen, nor should they be. I'm thrilled that we can all find what we want, that reading can bring such joy to our lives.

Well … now that you've been warned , may I tell you a little about Lord of Legends?
I've always loved writing paranormal stories, of course. Way back in the early 90's, when werewolf protagonists were almost unheard-of in romance and those few that existed were “cursed,” I wrote my first romance novel, Prince of Wolves. Luc Gevaudan was not cursed … he controlled his own Change, wasn't affected by silver bullets, and was very happy to be what he was. Little was I to know that fifteen years later werewolves (the non-cursed kind) would be all the rage.

Meanwhile, I've been plugging along with my paranormal romances for over fifteen years, continuing with my werewolves series and adding vampires, time-travel, ghosts, reincarnation and witches into the mix. And I'm always looking for something a little different, a little new … which is why I took a chance on setting my three werewolf/vampire novels in the 1920's.
That trilogy didn't go over as well as I'd hoped … seems that once again I'm ahead of the curve. I'm willing to bet in less than five years the 20's will be all the rage, too.

But back to Lord of Legends …
I decided a few years ago that I'd like to explore some of the “faerie” myths of the British Isles. After a bit of research, I created my “Fane” … the Fair Folk of Celtic legend, also known as the Sidhe (pronounced “shee”.) Though most faerie lore shrinks the Fair Folk to a diminutive size, I decided to go back to the old Irish legends that paint the Sidhe as resembling humans in stature. I placed my Fane in the Land of the Young, Tir-na-Nog, a plane where life is eternal and beauty commonplace.

Like most Faerie folk, the Fane were not always kind to mortals. In fact, my Fane tended toward selfishness, arrogance, and disdain for humankind. There were exceptions, of course: my hero Hern in The Forest Lord, for one. And their half-human children, like Donal in Lord of the Beasts, were often torn between the magical Fane world and troubled earth, between immortality and love.

Since I've always adored shapeshifters, I considered how I could fit them into my Fane world. I wanted to do something different. So I came up with the idea of a shape-shifting unicorn: the King of the Unicorns, Arion, who is exiled from Tir-na-Nog and forced to take human form.
Arion begins by despising the human world to which he's been condemned, a helpless prisoner of the mortal lord who longs to hunt him as the rarest of game. But his arrogant heart is slowly awakened by the woman who saves him, Mariah Marron, the new but untouched bride of the Earl of Donnington. He'll have to decide if he can sacrifice his true nature—even his very life—for the sake of the woman he's coming to love, or abandon her to her own imprisonment. And Mariah will have to make the same choice between captivity and her love for the man she calls Ash.

It's a dramatic story. It's larger-than-life. It doesn't come with a warning label, but if it did, it would say:

Caution: Raging Romance Ahead!

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Crandall

2009-02-24T14:56:00.004-05:00

ROMANCING THE MUSE

The question I’m most asked is, “Where do your ideas come from?” I always respond with something logical, something that doesn’t make me look like a crazy person. And my answer is partial truth. I do get my ideas from observing what’s going on around me, from newspapers and overheard conversations, from family experiences and observed relationships. But the whole truth is I have a secret relationship that spoon feeds me ideas, characters, conflicts and many a surprise ending that I’d never seen coming.

“Ah, ha!” you say. “I knew there was more to it than Susan was letting on.”

You’d be right. But there’s a reason for my partial truth. It’s very complicated to explain the muse and my relationship with her. She is a very delicate creature and requires an extraordinary amount of attention and wooing for me to remain in her good graces. She doesn’t like to be tired. She doesn’t like to be hungry. The sound of the phone ringing sends her off to hide in a closet (after which she won’t come out for hours because I was fickle and talked to someone else). She sneaks up on me in the middle of the night just to see if I’ll pay attention to her. And she never, never works when she has a headache.

Sometimes she whispers in my ear. Other time she clubs me on the head with a shovel. And every once in a while, she jumps out of nowhere in the dark and startles me breathless.

My dearest, my muse, must be nourished on a steady diet of movies, books, undivided attention, and silence

“No problem,” you say. “Who wouldn’t want to take her to the movies and read her wonderful novels?”

If only it were that easy. The problem arises when you can’t figure out what mood she’s in. Does she need a comedy? Is she hungry for drama? Would she rather go for a long walk instead? Believe me, she won’t give as much as a hint beforehand. It’s like dating a … a woman.

If all of the above don’t work, I have to ignore her completely. As with any fickle creature, she can’t stand it. Sooner or later she’s telling me what I need to know – usually at the most inopportune moments; when I’m on the lawn tractor far from the house without a notepad and pen; when I’m on a long drive by myself and have no one to tell, “Hey, remind me later….”; in the middle of a public function where I must remain engaged with real people. Truly, she’s quite a handful.

But as with any worthwhile relationship, I accommodate, I indulge, I persevere.

I hope you’ll read my latest release, SEEING RED, and let me know how you think my muse is doing. You can send me an email (susan@susancrandall.net), or stop by my message board at http://www.susancrandall.net/. It’s completely safe to speak the truth; the muse isn’t allowed to see either of these things. I may need to modify my wooing strategy.

Monica Burns Dangerous Giveaway

2009-02-18T23:01:00.003-05:00

Monica Burns is an Ultimate Staff favorite here at TRRC. Some of us love our romance from the steamier side of page. Monica knows how to deliver, time and time again. We have enjoyed many of her erotic romances. I was ecstatic when Monica contacted me about a contest here at the blog. She has offered up her latest release, signed, to a lucky TRRCreading reader who gets my pleasure(scavenger) hunt right. It will be easy and painless, I guarantee.

Simply email the answers and or a picture of the requested item to :ultimate@theromancereadersconnection.com

Also, you must comment on this post letting us know what you think of the blog! Both actions are required of the winner!!!!

1. Who is the author that has an advertising for the third and final book in a series on the front page of TRRC's review site.

2. Who has the 187th Romantic Suspense review at TRRC?

3. A cover of Monica's THE ART OF PLEASURE.

4. Where will Monica be appearing on June 6, 2009?

5. A cover of Monica's Dangerous.

6. A quote from Monica's Victorian Closet -hint: it is somewhere at her website.

7. A depiction (drawing, painting, etc...) of Isis, the Egyptian Goddess.

8. How many Ultimate Romance reviews are currently posted at TRRC? I am aware this may be a fluid number, as the site admin ladies are constantly adding new ones, I will take the answer that fits the time frame you emailed me!

9. A nice pic of a hot guy - just to add to my collection. Make it as naughty or as clean as you like, just make him sexy!

I will post a PG version of the winning pic along with the winner of the contest on February 27, 2009.

If the winner is someone from outside the continental U.S., then they will receive a free e-version of this book.

Thank you all for joining me in my fun!!!!

Thia

GUEST BLOGGER: Caridad Pineiro

2009-02-11T08:37:00.005-05:00

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you! It’s one of my favorite times of year, although the idea of a love for all time certainly takes on new meaning when you write about vampires. LOL!

There are lots of challenges to envisioning how two people will react to spending millennia together or in the case of the hero and heroine from FURY CALLS, the next novel in THE CALLING vampire series, how they will manage to put aside old grievances to have a happy ending.

I knew the relationship in FURY CALLS was going to be a difficult one since I first introduced the characters years ago in TEMPTATION CALLS. Blake, the hero, had accidentally turned Meghan, the heroine, into a vampire. Meghan has hated Blake ever since and yet, beneath all the fury of her hate, there lingered other emotions for Blake.

An interesting conflict, made even more interesting by the fact that Blake is not your typical hero. He’s a bad boy in some ways including dressing the role with lots of black leather and chains. But that bad boy exterior actually hides a gentle man who has had a lot of pain in his life and who is searching for love after centuries of being alone.

It only makes it harder for him that the one true love of his life is a woman who hates him for taking her life.

As a writer, I love imperfect heroes. They are so much more fun! There’s something about making heroes like Blake and Meghan rise above their fears and weaknesses to really do something special. I think readers truly enjoy that and even more, can identify with such characters because they, too, have had to overcome their fears and weaknesses in life.

I knew that when Blake and Meghan first came to life years ago that they deserved a full story that would explore all those conflicts. Even more importantly, I wanted to do a story that would let Blake shine as a hero because he is so wonderfully complex. It was truly enjoyable to see Blake rise to the occasion (and in more ways that one!)

Although FURY CALLS is a romance, there is lots of action because as a writer, and as a reader, I enjoy books with a solid suspense line. In FURY CALLS, the suspense revolves around an Asian vampire – a chiang shi – who has come to New York City to create problems for the resident vampires. When bodies start turning up, Blake, Meghan and the rest of their undead friends are going to have to find out what is wreaking havoc in their underworld.

I think the suspense elements in THE CALLING are what help readers who don’t normally enjoy vampire books cross over to the paranormal area. Likewise, those readers who are paranormal fans get a kick out of seeing real world suspense elements woven into otherworldly tales, especially in dark, edgy stories.

I want to thank TRRC for giving me an opportunity to tell you the story behind the story about FURY CALLS. Anyone who leaves a comment on this blog before midnight Friday, February 13th will be eligible to win a CALLING t-shirt, copy of DESIRE CALLS and SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD. The winner will be chosen at random from all the blog comments.

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Wiggs

2009-02-10T10:01:00.005-05:00

Getting The Words Out - guest blog by Susan Wiggs

When my daughter was about eight years old, she asked me, "Where do all the words and paragraphs come from?"
I gave her the simple, magical answer: "They're all right here, up inside this pen."
She thought about this for a moment, then said, "I need to borrow that pen."
The pen doesn't look like anything special. It's kind of beat up now, a Sheaffer fountain pen I was given as an award. It’s engraved “Teacher of the Year, 1983.” It has a very fine tip, which works well with my cramped handwriting. I use Skrip cartridge ink because it dries instantly on the page. If you’re left-handed, you know why this is important. I’ve ruined many a sleeve, dragging it through wet ink. And for me, color is everything. My favorite ink color is peacock blue. When I was very young, I found some old papers of my mother’s from college, and she used this same color ink. So it must be in my blood.

But there’s tragic news for us lovers of Peacock Blue. Because, okay, they still make the ink and it still looks the more or less the same. But they changed the name to turquoise. What’s up with that? Peacock blue is evocative. It’s romantic. It means something. Turquoise is just a color.

I’m curious about the marketing decision that resulted in changing the name. I wish they’d checked with me first. Writing is hard enough without messing with our heads about the tools of our trade. From thehttp://www.pendemonium.com/ web site:

“In July of this year, Sheaffer announced that Skrip was being re-formulated and would be available in new colors….Sheaffer also took this opportunity to inform us that Skrip was now being manufactured in Slovenia! A mild panic set in amongst pen collecting Skrip fanatics… And just where is Slovenia? …. Favorite colors such as peacock blue went the way of the Skrip-Well. Gone are the transparent cartridges where you could easily see how much ink was left. In their place are just very slightly translucent cartridges that appear opaque at first glance. The new cartridges are the same color as the ink inside them….Prior to the recent changeover to Slovenian Skrip, the available colors were: Jet Black, Blue, Blue Black, Green, Red, Brown, Lavender, Gray, Kings Gold, Burgundy and Peacock Blue. Sheaffer discontinued Lavender, Gray and Burgundy entirely. They replaced, or perhaps better said, renamed Kings Gold to Gold and Peacock Blue to Turquoise. Both of these colors have changed; the new turquoise is still definitely turquoise, but darker than the old Peacock Blue.”

Okay, so that’s probably too much information, but I am down to my last cartridge of real peacock blue, courtesy of Barbara Bretton, one of my favorite authors and friends. Who knows how my next book will turn out? Will it be darker? More obscure? We’ll see–I have to start work on it tomorrow.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, here’s a great quote. When THE MARCH by E.L. Doctorow won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction, Doctorow said in his acceptance speech: “A book written in silence and read in silence goes from heart to heart and soul to soul as nothing else can.”

I’m just as particular about the paper as I am about the ink. I use only a Clairefontaine notebook–wire-bound, graph ruled and tabbed by color. The pastel-tinted paper is thick, with a silky writing surface, and putting the words down is a meditation and a pleasure for whole minutes at a time (I’m not one of those writers blessed with effortless first drafts). In French, the notebooks are called “velin veloute,” a reference to the smooth texture of the paper.
When I’m working on a book, I tend to drag this notebook around with me everywhere. When it’s not with me, I try to keep it in a safe place, like in the freezer. So if there’s a fire, it’ll survive.

The U.S. distributor put up a list of writers who use Clairefontaine notebooks, including yours truly, as well as the main character of Passing Through Paradise:
“Best selling author Susan Wiggs, in her...novel, Passing through Paradise, devised a heroine who uses Clairefontaine tablets and peacock-blue ink. This is no surprise, since the author herself always writes her first drafts with a special fountain pen, peacock-blue ink, and, yes, Clairefontaine notebooks.”

Author Anne Tyler once said that writing a book in longhand is like “knitting a book.” Maybe, but I don’t think that hard when I knit.

[Author bio:

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends...and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on Bainbridge Island, and she commutes to her writers' group in a 17-foot motorboat. She's been featured in the national media, including NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.

According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with "refreshingly honest emotion," and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is "one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book." Booklist characterizes her books as "real and true and unforgettable." She is the recipient of three RITA (sm) awards and four starred reviews from Publishers Weekly for her books. Several of her books have been listed as top Booksense picks and optioned as feature films. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have made national bestseller lists, including the USA Today, Washington Post and New York Times lists.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. Her latest novels are Just Breathe and Fireside, both from Mira Books. Currently, Fireside is the #1 bestselling book on the New York Times list. Readers can learn more on the web at http://www.susanwiggs.com/ and on her lively blog at www.susanwiggs.wordpress.com.]

Guest Blogger: Kelli A. Wilkins

2009-02-09T12:02:00.003-05:00

Love and Romance, Living Happily Ever After
By Kelli Wilkins
Amber Quill Press Author

Happy Valentine’s Day! On this day more than any other, love is in the air. Take a quick trip to the mall and you’ll see expressions of love and romance everywhere – lacy lingerie, “I love you” diamonds, red roses, pink hearts filled with chocolates…all that’s fine, but it’s not always realistic or practical. Where does such “perfect romance” leave the every day, “everything’s not always roses and sunshine” love? What about the rest of the year?

As an author of romances, I write stories based around characters who find each other, fall deeply in love, and live happily ever after – but not without going through some emotional ups and downs. Although my characters love each other, they have to face reality and learn a few lessons (about themselves, trust, and honesty) before they can live happily ever after.

For example, Princess Elara in A Most Unusual Princess has to open up and develop trust. In Dalton’s Temptation, Elara and Dalton learn important lessons about temptation and fidelity. Lord Adrik in The Dark Lord is moody and misunderstood, until an innocent girl teaches him how to love and trust again. All these trials and emotional hardships are realistic challenges that people face every day.

Sometimes love can be a surprise. In some of my stories, the characters aren’t looking for love – it’s the furthest thing from their minds – but there it is! Lauren in The Sexy Stranger quickly found herself falling for her ex-con “captor.” Claudette from The Pauper Prince had Prince Charming literally stroll into her dress shop, and Brian found his true love on a deserted beach in Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover. Although these relationships are uncommon, they’re about more than just meeting the right person and having a wild love life — the characters focus on commitment and being there for the other person, no matter what.

Many of my characters only find true love when they are willing to open their hearts and risk sharing their deepest emotions, darkest secrets, and intimate desires — and then discover that the other person loves them even more for it. (Julian and Annabelle from A Midsummer Night’s Delights are excellent examples of this.)

People read romances for many different reasons: for great storylines, to live vicariously through the characters they care about, and to know that whatever obstacles these lovers face, they’ll overcome them together.

However, in real life, not every relationship turns out the way we’d hoped. Promises aren’t kept, hearts become broken, egos get crushed, and sometimes people end up alone and looking for love all over again. That’s why I enjoy bringing unique and interesting characters together in my novels. Sometimes I never know where the story will take me – but I’m always sure of one thing – that my characters will end up together, forever. And that’s the way it should be.

Remember back in grade school when Valentine’s Day came around? Everyone got a Valentine! So today, take a few minutes to let someone (or everyone) special in your life (a lover, brother, sister, best friend, cousin, parent, grandparent, and especially your cat) know you care.

With love,
Kelli
*************
Author Bio: Kelli Wilkins has published seven romances with Amber Quill Press. Her paperback romance anthology, Naughty Nobles is being released in February. To learn more about Kelli and her writings, visit her website at: http://www.blogger.com/www.KelliWilkins.com

BOOK LINKS:
(I included these in case the links I embedded in the text don’t show up. They all link to the book purchase page on the Amber Quill site.)

A Midsummer Night’s Delights - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/MidsummerNightsDelights.html

Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover: http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/ConfessionsVampiresLover.html

A Most Unusual Princess - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/MostUnusualPrincess.html

The Dark Lord - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/DarkLord.html

Dalton’s Temptation - http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/DaltonsTemptation.html

The Pauper Prince - http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/PauperPrince.html

The Sexy Stranger - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/SexyStranger.html

GUEST BLOGGER: Cat Adams (Cathy Clamp and C.T. Adams)

2009-02-07T12:45:00.003-05:00

Hi everybody!

Thanks for inviting us to blog. I hope you’ll be glad you stopped by.

One of the things we’re asked about most often is how we manage co-author collaboration. It’s not easy! (LOL). While Cathy and I are the best of friends, we do occasionally have creative differences. And over the years we’ve found out that we have very different work styles.

When we first started out we tried writing alternate chapters.

It didn’t work.

Because, while Cathy plots everything out ahead of time and her characters da**ed well will do what they are supposed to. I don’t. I let me characters lead me through what winds up being the plot. So she would write a perfectly planned chapter and, figuring she knew exactly where I was going to take it, would plan out in her head where to go in her next go ‘round. Only to find that I hadn’t gone that direction at all. I didn’t mean to frustrate her. But it did. And I really couldn’t write her way.

So we tried something different.

We talk about the books, explore the characters personalities, discuss possible plot points and twists, relationships and subplots. Then we each begin a first draft of a separate book.

When the draft is done we each hand our draft off to the other for edits. And we each begin ripping into the other’s work, making changes, tagging things that we don’t think make sense, expanding some things, subtracting others. Then we hand it back. And the arguments discussions begin.

It works pretty well . . . with a few refinements.

There are some things in every single book we are never going to agree about. We could discuss it until doomsday, and neither of us would change our mind. (Not that either of us is strong willed or stubborn, LOL). So, when we hit one of those points the primary author gets the final decision. They can veto changes.

While the process we use wouldn’t work for everyone, we’ve found it DOES work for us. With the added bonus that we can each be working on different things, doubling our output. Since we each have separate strengths, the editing process inevitably strengthens the book. Too, having a co-author and business partner gives us the opportunity to have one person handling various business or family responsibilities while the other is writing. Because, let’s face it, family crises DO come up, and they’re never convenient.

For example: Today Cathy is in the throes of a deadline for the next Sazi book (March 1st). Galleys came in on the August release (Cold Moon Rising - another Sazi under C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp); we’ve got a February release that we’re doing promo for (Magic’s Design -- the first book under our new pen name, Cat Adams), and we’re in the process of updating our website. So, this weekend she is writing furiously while I’m here blogging, then moving on to editing the galleys and hopefully working on the website, before working on the draft that’s due May 1st for our brand new urban fantasy series.

See, it works . . . for us.

In my opinion, the biggest thing to keep in mind, in any collaborative writing venture, is that you respect the other person. That means you have to cage your ego and do the following: 1. Don’t ever dismiss their suggestions out of hand. You think about them. AND2. Keep a tight rein on your temper. AND 3. Be tactful and respectful when suggesting changes to the other person. After all, you’re both working for the same goal -- producing the best book you possibly can, so that the readers will be moved, thrilled, and put it on the "keeper shelf" with the rest of their most treasured reads.

Voila. That’s it. The secret recipe.

Happy writing.

C.T. Adams

GUEST BLOGGER: Diane Whiteside

2009-02-04T06:18:00.006-05:00

Gardens of Flowers and Ideas

Hello there! Thanks for inviting me to join you at The Romance Readers’ Connection.

I’m currently huddled indoors by the fire, indulging in my favorite wintertime pastime: choosing plants for my garden. Okay, I’m thumbing through tiny pictures in catalogues and on websites, and the little darlings will be thinner than my thumb when they arrive around Easter. But one day, they’ll be big and strong and glorious, standing tall in my yard.

It’s rather similar to what I go through when I start a book. I usually know roughly who my hero and heroine are, plus when they live. (Think of that as being close to the dimension of my yard and what kind of sunshine it has.) After that, I start trying out different ideas to see which ones will work best into a plot – for the big overall conflict (like a tree in a garden), a smaller detail such as the treasure they’re hunting for (like a beautiful rose bush), and so on. If I’m very lucky, a bloom sprouts unexpectedly and thrills me to death.

Gardens are so special to me that I like to sneak them into my books whenever possible. In KISSES LIKE A DEVIL, my latest historical novel, my heroine is a university student who’s turned into a radical by how the steelworkers’ children are mistreated. She lives in a world of beautiful gardens overlooking a pristine mountain lake. But the children play on cobblestone back alleys amid overhanging stone buildings. And then there’s my hero, who’s William Donovan’s son. . . But you’ll have to read the book to find out more!

Today, my garden sleeps under a blanket of snow and ice. My catalogues offers plants that’ll be maybe six inches tall by a quarter of an inch wide when they show up in another two months – or about the size of a good idea. But my creativity is humming along and I’m sure I will be a very happy author and gardener in August, if I take care of my garden well.

What about you? Anybody else like to garden? Does it help you with any other part of your life? Or do you find that creativity in one area strengthens another?

Diane Whiteside
www.dianewhiteside.com

GUEST BLOGGER: JAMAICA LAYNE

2009-02-02T07:13:00.003-05:00

Greetings Romance Readers' Connection Fans!

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm JAMAICA LAYNE, a hot new rising star in the erotic romance market. I had the pleasure of meeting one of TRRC's administrators, Livia, at a book-signing for my latest print release, MARKET FOR LOVE last week in downtown Chicago. Livia invited me to do a post about my book and my writing career in general, and I'm honored to have the opportunity to share some information about myself with TRRC readers.

First of all, my current print release is MARKET FOR LOVE, a Virgin Cheek release that is available in bookstores everywhere, and available on Amazon by clicking here, or BN.com by clicking here. In keeping with the current economic downturn and stock market crash, MARKET FOR LOVE takes place in the high-pressure Chicago financial industry in the midst of---you guessed it----a major stock market crash. The novel opens with protagonist Miranda Johannson having a VERY bad day. The stock market crash has trashed her clients' investment portfolios, to the point that she has just lost eighty-seven million dollars of her clients' money. Humiliated and fearful she will lose her job, Miranda takes a coffee break and heads downstairs to her office building's coffee shop. While there she meets a handsome, mysterious stranger---and despite her strait-laced, conservative nature, Miranda finds herself sneaking off to have an impromptu tryst with this red-hot stranger. Little does she know that the mysterious stranger just bought the company she works for, and will soon become her new boss. The plot just gets thicker (and hotter) from there!

MARKET FOR LOVE is getting rave reviews. ROMANTIC TIMES just rated it 4 stars, and DIRTY GIRL REVIEWS gave it 5 stars, and also commented "once you read Jamaica Layne, she will be on your auto-buy list!" For a complete list of reviews, check out the "What Critics Are Saying" link on my webpage, http://www.jamaicalayne.com/.

In addition to my latest print release, I also write ebooks for new erotica epublisher Ravenous Romance. I currently have 4 books and 2 standalone short stories available at Ravenous, as well as several short stories included in their several currently available anthologies. For a complete list of all my available titles, check out the "My Books" link at http://www.jamaicalayne.com/. (Also be sure to check out "Taking Care of Business", a "lost scene" from MARKET FOR LOVE, which is for sale exclusively at Ravenous Romance!)

A little bit about me----"Jamaica Layne" is a pen name I use for my erotica. In my "other" writing life, I'm a playwright and journalist. My plays have been produced around the US as well as abroad, and I have also contributed journalism and commentary to numerous newspapers and magazines, including the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Reader. I live in the Chicago suburbs with my husband and son, and I write full-time. Back when I had day jobs, I worked as a journalist, healthcare policy analyst, technical writer, and financial journalist and editor. In fact, it was my days as a financial journalist/editor that inspired me to write MARKET FOR LOVE. My healthcare background comes into play in the VITAL SIGNS series, a five-book erotic medical romance series I'm writing for Ravenous (volume 1 is currently available). I also write time-travel and paranormal erotic romance (such as my Ravenous release KNIGHT MOVES), as well as some kinky S&M stuff (like my Ravenous release A CAPITOL AFFAIR). My own favorite erotic romance authors include Zane, Alison Tyler, Kathryn Harrison, Kate Pearce, and of course, old standbys like Anais Nin.

I will have a lot more new material releasing this year, so be sure to keep your eyes on my website http://www.jamaicalayne.com/ for all the latest news! And thanks so much to Livia and Thia for inviting me to participate on the site.
Remember to always keep things sexy!

JAMAICA LAYNE
"Circle Line" Produced by Mind the Gap Theatre, NYC, October 29-November 1, 2008
MARKET FOR LOVE (writing as "Jamaica Layne") Coming October 14, 2008 from Virgin Books.
KNIGHT MOVES and VITAL SIGNS (writing as "Jamaica Layne") Coming to RavenousRomance.com December 1, 2008
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS. Included in BEST AMERICAN SHORT PLAYS 2004-2005. Forthcoming in 2008 from Applause Books.Visit my blog: http://jillelainehughes.blogspot.com/

60 Years of Romance from Harlequin

2009-01-29T16:37:00.002-05:00

Harlequin is 60! WoW! They have been providing us with hours upon hours of reading goodness for that long? They hardly look a day over 50! HEHE!! To celebrate, they are offering up free books at their website -

http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html?cid=1316&cmpid=BLSOC200901290002

I am going to share with you all some of the email I got from my friend Jayne at Harlequin:

We’re launching our HarlequinCelebrates site on Thursday, but we have a special Anniversary hub on eHarlequin.com with updates on our many celebratory activities and events throughout the year and I’m happy to give you a sneak peek. Any woman can access these wonderful stories from anywhere in the world provided they have a computer connection and an appetite for engaging, compelling stories. From Moncton to Memphis and beyond we’re celebrating the love of the romance novel.

And we hope you will help romance novels become the viral story of 2009!

This is the link for our special 60th Hub on eHarlequin.com: http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html?cid=1316&cmpid=BLSOC200901290002

Celebrating 60 years of pure reading pleasure

Ø 60 years

Ø 5.8 billion books sold

Ø 2,700 authors

Ø 34,000 titles

Ø 640 bestseller placements

Ø 1 Publisher

Ø HARLEQUIN

To thank our many readers for taking us into your hearts and homes for 60 years and making us the world’s leading publisher of romantic fiction, Harlequin is giving every woman in America a free book.

In fact, we’re giving away 16 free Books that your readers can download by using the following URL:

http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html?cid=1316&cmpid=BLSOC200901290002

Let me list the free books:

Harlequin American Romance, Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren

Harlequin Blaze, Slow Hands by Leslie Kelly

Harlequin Historical, His Lady Mistress by Elizabeth Rolls

Harlequin Intrigue, Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels

Harlequin Presents, Price of Passion by Susan Napier

Harlequin Romance, The Bride’s Baby by Liz Fielding

Harlequin Superromance, Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson

Silhouette Desire, Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child

Silhouette Nocturne, Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf

Silhouette Romantic Suspense, Stranded with a Spy by Merline Lovelace

Silhouette Special Edition, Dancing in the Moonlight by Raeanne Thayne

Love Inspired, A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight

Love Inspired Historical, Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart

Love Inspired Suspense, Hide in Plain Sight by Marta Perry

Kimani Romance, Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson

Nascar, Speed Dating by Nancy Warren

You have to admit that is one compelling line up of great books! You can download the books as a PDF or as an eBook. Moreover, in a couple of weeks you will be able to download a version for your iPhone from Stanza.We have lots more celebrating planned throughout the year for our 60th anniversary including:

Ø The Harlequin Famous Firsts Collection – In March, June and September, look for reissues of some of the very first series books written by current New York Times bestselling writers

Ø The Heart of a Woman: Harlequin Cover Art 1949-2009 – We’re sponsoring and exhibition of original cover art at the Openhouse Gallery, May 29 to June 12 in New York City.

Ø Series Spotlight – Every month a different series is in the spotlight. Look for diamond-themed miniseries, series stars and more from all the Harlequin and Silhouette lines.

Little did Richard and Mary Bonnycastle know what they were starting 60 years ago when they founded Harlequin, but we’ve been satisfying women’s desire for romance, speaking to their hearts and transporting them beyond themselves ever since.We hope to spread this joy of reading far and wide – please feel free to contact me if you would like further information.

Happy Reading!

Jayne Hoogenberk

Manager, eHarlequin.com Community

Thanks Jayne, for all the wonderful news!! I know I am headed to the website now!!

Thia

GUEST BLOGGER Beverly Jenkins

2009-01-17T11:52:00.004-05:00

I should probably introduce myself. My name is Beverly Jenkins. My first published novel, Night Song was an historical published by Avon in 1994 and I’ve been an Avon writer ever since. I have 22 titles under my belt and have written not only historicals but romantic suspense and Young Adult as well. Bring on the Blessings due out at the end of the month is my women’s fiction debut. The engine of the story is wealthy middle aged woman named Bernadine Brown. She catches her husband cheating, and when she wins a multi – million dollar divorce settlement she buys a tiny town in northwest Kansas called Henry Adams. One of the reasons for her purchase is to preserve the town’s history. Henry Adams is one of the last surviving all Black townships founded in Kansas after the Civil War. Another reason is to provide a home for a group of foster kids needing a shot at a normal life.

The town of Henry Adams is familiar to my readers because I’ve used this town before as the setting for two of my historicals; Night Song and Something Like Love. Both stories take place in the 1880s. Night Song features a feisty schoolteacher named Cara Lee Henson who falls in love with drop dead gorgeous, Buffalo Soldier Sgt. Chase Jefferson. Something Like Love is about town mayor Olivia Sterling and the love she finds in the arms of an outlaw named Neil July, eldest brother of the train robbing, bank robbing July family. (Baby sister Teresa July, also an outlaw has her own book – Wild Sweet Love. )

In Bring on the Blessings we look in on 21st century Henry Adams and the descendants of the Jeffersons and Julys. The story has many arcs: romance, suspense, humor, hope, and the foster kids provide their own YA arc. Bernadine and her millions bring many blessings to the near destitute town. For me, weaving all the story lines together into a cohesive whole was hard work but it was great fun and being able to spread my writing wings a bit made it even more special.
Historicals continue to be my first love and Avon will publish Captured my pirate tale in the fall. In the meantime, I hope you’ll pick up Bring on the Blessings, on sale everywhere January 27th , and then give some thought to what you would do if you were suddenly given Bernadine’s millions. Thanks for having me. B

GUEST BLOGGER: Julie Hyzy

2009-01-11T16:58:00.005-05:00

Last night my husband and I took a drive up to Chicago ’s Gold Coast to engage in one of my favorite guilty pleasures: looking into the living rooms of the uber-rich families who occupy the old mansions. We take this short detour once every couple of years, usually around the holidays when the tall houses are decorated and bustling with activity. From our vantage point in the car, we don’t see a lot, but we do get an idea of the bright spaciousness of the homes. And with an occasional glimpse of a chandelier, or tuxedoed butler, we get a sense of who lives there.

I think this is why I enjoy writing books about the White House so much. To me, the White House is the ultimate mansion. And it provides an irresistible temptation to peer inside. We all know there are tours of the president’s home, but what we really want to know is what goes on when the tours are over—how the family lives day-to-day. I want to be there as the First Family interacts with the staff. I want to experience the last-minute panic before a State Dinner, and I’d love to watch as such an intricate event is orchestrated. I especially want to know what happens when things go wrong.

Since I can’t actually sneak peeks inside, I create stories to satisfy these cravings. Researching the White House has been more fun than I ever imagined. What I like best is discovering bits of unexpected trivia I can incorporate into Ollie’s adventures. In speaking with Walter Scheib, (former White House Executive Chef), for instance, I found out several nuggets I was able to include in the second book, HAIL TO THE CHEF. Who knew that the basement-mezzanine level was affectionately referred to as “The B.M. Level”? I don’t think you’ll find that in too many other books. I love learning these hidden details. And the best part is the fact that the White House is not only a seat of our nation’s history, it’s a living house, so changes occur every day. Keeping up with the news, and keeping in touch with people in the know, helps me to keep Ollie’s stories fresh.

As of this writing, interest is high regarding the position of executive chef under the Obama administration. Foodies across the nation are speculating as to who will be named to the position. Personally, I hope the Obama family retains the current executive chef, Cristeta Comerford. Appointed by Laura Bush, Cristeta is the first female in history to claim that position. Not only is she talented and well-respected, she’s as close to my character, Ollie, as any White House chef ever has been. Of course, I’ll bet Cristeta doesn’t run around whacking assassins in the head with frying pans. At least not too often….

Which brings me to the next book—Number Three in the series has been turned in. In this book Ollie continues to report to fictional President Campbell and his wife. But in Book Number Four, I think it will be fun to take Ollie through a transition. Will a new administration find her as charming and capable as the Campbells do? I imagine it will be fun to find out what a new president thinks of his adventuresome chef and I can’t wait to peek into their lives to find out.

GUEST BLOGGER: Kathryn Shay

2009-01-02T21:50:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year, Romance Readers.

What fun it is to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me and to share my current release with you. I’m Kathryn Shay and I write for Harlequin Superromance and The Berkley Publishing Group. I have 23 Supers and ten Berkley Sensations published; there are over four million copies of my books in print. I write contemporary romance, sometimes with a bit of suspense thrown in. I deal mostly with everyday characters like firefighters, cops, teachers and construction workers, but once and a while I have a TV chef, a senator or a secret service agent as the hero or heroine. I like to explore social issues and I’m told my books are highly emotional, often tearjerkers, and have hints of humor.

A MAN SHE COULDN’T FORGET, out in a few weeks from Superromance, deals with the traditional theme of amnesia, but I think I put a new spin on this idea. There are so many elements involved in this plot—a best friends turned lover angle, a love triangle and of course, a woman who can’t remember anything about her past. Both the hero and heroine are writers—he writes children’s books and she writes cookbooks, as well as having a TV cooking show. (I used many of my family recipes in the book, which are on my website now.) And there are best friends and a sister who have a real stake in what happens next.

I love the three main characters, but they all have flaws. The heroine, Clare, has changed over the last few years and her best friends don’t like her new love interest, especially, Brady, the hero. In turn, he’s angry and impatient, and feels a bit of guilt about what happened to her. (I won’t tell you why.) And Jonathan, the other man, loves Clare deeply but he’s resentful of her other life, of her other friends and of the fact that he can’t get her to commit to him fully.

And then there’s the mystery—what actually did happen that night Clare lost her memory and why doesn’t either man want the heroine to remember everything?

I think that’s enough to whet your appetite and get a dialogue going. Please feel free to ask anything about me, my career, and the book itself. I’ll be back several times to check in.

Kathy

What is the deal with TWILIGHT??

2008-12-14T19:46:00.004-05:00

On Facebook, at school, at Girl Scout Meetings, from my kids, and even all over the TV, I am hearing the word TWILIGHT everywhere!!!! At first, I was not going to investigate, because it is a teen book and I only read adult books. (Yes, that is true book snobbery, there!) I kept that up for a long while, longer than I can believe now. Then, one day, I was in the book section at my favorite "W" mart and saw the book. Thinking "What is the big deal, anyway?" I pick it up and start a quick skim of the first chapter. WOW! I was hooked, but, I still denied myself. After all, I like stories for adults, with those good old adult situations, if you know what I mean. Still, I held off. My son goes to see the movie with his friend, comes home raving - yet, I still hold off. My bestest girlfriend takes her daughter to see the movie and immediately goes out and buys the books. She gushes to me that I have to read it. Okay, so now I give in. I buy the movie cover paperback at the same store I skimmed it at previously. I zipped through this book at amazing speed. It was so well written, not at all what I was expecting from a teen book. Alas, there came a part where I had to set it down. The romance seemed to be pointless. How on earth were they ever going to overcome his bloodthirst to have a relationship? Why couldn't they just get to the sex and bloodletting that I wanted? How was I going to ever finish this book!?!! Oh, the agony! Well, after reading some good old Sherrilyn Kenyon and JR Ward, I dove in again. I finished it rather quickly and handed it off to my son to read - Yes, he knew it was romance, but he was just reading it for the vampires. Scoff, scoff, cough, cough! Yeah, right!!!

So I loved it, I can admit that now. Yes, my teen Girl Scouts and I are discussing this at our next book club meeting this Tuesday. Yes, we are all going to the movies together to see it soon. YES, I am totally into Edward Cullen. I pacify myself by saying it is not perversion, since he is a vamp and well over the legal limit for my lust. Now, if my bratty scouts would hurry and finish NEW MOON, I could read it myself!!!

ARRRGGGHHHH! Where was Edward when I was a teenager!?! Thank you, Stephenie Meyer, for giving me yet another addiction!

GUEST BLOGGER - LISA MARIE RICE

2008-11-24T21:37:00.001-05:00

The World versus THE WORLD
　
　
　
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I have the best job in the world. The best job ever, actually. I sit at home in my beautiful study which looks out over a gorgeous valley and far off on the horizon is a bright blue line which is the Ionian sea. With a powerful enough telescope, I could see the Greek temple where Pythagorus taught over two thousand years ago.

So here I am, in comfortable, pretty homewear, with a steaming cup of vanilla tea, my favourite, by my monitor, writing (living) tales of love and adventure. Of goodness and truth prevailing and—oh yes—having the sexiest man alive madly in love with my heroine. And (whisper this) me. You can’t write these intense stories unless you fall in love with your protagonists, fall into being your protagonists.

On a good day—not all days are good days—I will melt into my computer monitor in the morning and wake up, dazed, hours later. Having to remind myself that it’s time to make the beds, cook lunch, jump back into The World. Which to be honest is not all that easy if you’ve just spent the past four hours falling in love, evading vicious bad guys and, ahem, having outrageously good sex. All in words alone, it’s true, all simply sitting in front of that monitor, all in your head. But while you’re writing it, if you’re lucky, it’s all true, and it’s all happening to you. In THE WORLD.
The World is the real world of work and bills to be paid and meals to be prepared and –ack!—housework to be done. Going to the dentist, booking the flight, fighting with your bank over unfair charges. All those fun things. It’s The World where you get sick or loved ones get sick, your best friend undergoes a wrenching divorce, another good friend’s son is on drugs. The world where things are often hard, unpleasant, and don’t always end well.

I spent 30 years in The World, doing a hard, stressful job that required massive, industrial amounts of travel. It required incredibly focused attention and fanatical attention to detail, every second of every day. It required for my travel to be calculated down to the minute if I were to make it to the next job or even home. Meeting in Brussels ends at six, at six oh five taxi waiting downstairs for the twenty minute ride to the airport to make the seven o’clock feeder flight to Rome, to make the last nine o’clock flight, which was my last chance of getting home. If anything went wrong, I ended up staying the night in Brussels or in Rome. In conditions like this, you must stay as alert as a gladiator in the arena, because if you miss any step of the way, you’re in trouble.

After a while I hated having to be constantly geared for battle. I could never allow myself dream time, down time.

Call it the left-brain, right-brain divide. You know the one—there are two people inside your head. There’s the logical, factual, detail-oriented you that sees things in segments and then there’s the dreamy, imaginative you that feels your way through situations and can see the big picture.

Integrated personalities are both left-brain and right-brain, but today’s world of work privileges the left brain to the exclusion of the right brain, and most of us end up lop-sided.
The left brain lives in The World, this one, with its duties and limits and facts and the right brain lives in THE WORLD, infinitely brighter and more exciting.

When I switched to writing I felt like I’d been given my life back. I moved from The World to THE WORLD, the one where my books take place. I love it so much there, where I am so immersed in my story I end up walking into walls, because the wall isn’t there in the book, why should it be there in reality? It’s so luscious just sinking into the story, like into a warm bath, living it so intensely you can feel the emotions on your skin. If things are going well, I just hate being yanked from THE WORLD to The World, it feels like some vital part of me is ripped away.
I feel the same about reading, actually. I dive into the book and live it passionately. One of the few things I miss about travelling is those long, long periods of time in which there is nothing to do but read a book. Eight, sometimes ten hours of full immersion in an exciting romance or thriller and you wake up in another city, another country, sometimes another continent and you’ve lived the story completely. Bliss.

What magic our stories are! THE WORLD takes us so far away from The World, often to a brighter, more exciting place. You only get one life in The World, but in THE WORLD, ah, you can have a thousand lives!

Lisa Marie Rice

New Sue-Ellen Winners picked!

2008-11-15T11:18:00.002-05:00

Hello all,
New winners have been picked. If your name is listed please, please email me at highlandlovesong@yahoo.com (highlandlovesong at yahoo dot com)

Signed Devil in a Kilt winners:
Andreaw
flchen1
Lorraine

signed ARC Tall,Dark, & Kilted
sarabelle

CD
MelJPrincess

Please email me by Sunday November 16th.

Thank you.
WendyK

Making some changes....

2008-11-13T13:52:00.004-05:00

We are going to make a few changes to the Four Ladies Reading blog. We will now be called TRRC READING and will be directly connected to The Romance Reader's Connection site. The reviewers at TRRC will be posting reviews, chatting it up, and maybe even venting a little here at the blog. Please join us for what is surely to be some lively discussions. We will still be having guest bloggers - so let us know if you are interested. Also, our Fair Wendy is moving along to a bright future! We will miss her terribly and hope she will visit often! Thanks and stick with us during the transistion!

A new winner will be drawn!

2008-11-12T20:25:00.003-05:00

Hello all, I will be drawing new winners for Sue-Ellen Welfonder's post as many of the winners did not contact me.

If you are a winner and did not email me, please do so tonight.

hugs,
WendyK

Writing with Brenda Novak

2008-11-07T08:00:00.001-05:00

It was a dark and stormy night…

How many of you have heard about the various “first line” contests that are out there? Some offer prizes for those who come up with the best first line. Others reward those who create the worst (the popular Bulwar/Lytton Fiction Contest sponsored by San Jose State ’s English Department is one of these--and offers $250 to the winner). Regardless of whether they’re looking for the best line or the worst, I’m always tempted to enter. The bigger contests I’ve seen, at least the ones that offer amazing prizes, usually require new writing (a short story or whatever). With my deadlines, my on-line auction for diabetes research (which I’m already organizing for 2009), and my five kids, three of which are currently in the midst of volleyball/soccer season, I can’t even consider taking the time to prepare something for submission. But one line? Hey, anyone can take a few seconds to come up with a good—or bad as the case may be--opener.

So…since it’s just after the elections, and I’m tired of all the rhetoric we’ve been fed, and the angst over the economy, and the onslaught of telephone solicitors telling me the world will come to an end if I don't vote a certain way, it’s time to have some fun, and I’m hoping to do that by sponsoring my own mini version of the Bulwar/Lytton contest.

To give you proper incentive to put your most clever foot forward, I’m going to give the winner a $50 gift certificate he or she can spend at my 2009 On-line Auction for Diabetes Research! There will be at least 1600 items in the auction, many of which you can’t find anywhere else, including rare, autorgraphed books, incredible gift baskets, one-of-a-kind experiences, jewelry, autographed sports paraphernalia, gift certificates to Borders/Waldenbooks, and much, much more. We have 350 items already listed and will be gathering at least another thousand between now and May 1st, when the auction opens at www.brendanovak.com (you can visit there today to see what we have already).

How does this contest work? Submit the absolute worst first line for a romance novel (or any romance subgenre) you can think of. Post it here and I’ll choose a winner at the end of the day.

To get everyone started, I thought I’d list some of the past winners of the Bulwer/Lytton Contest (aka Dark and Stormy Night Contest).

10. “As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break win in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it.”

9. “Just beyond the Narrows , the river widens.”

8. “With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description.”

7. “Andre, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: ‘Andre creep. Andre creep. Andre creep.’”

6. “Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved.”

5. “Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eking out a living at a local pet store.”

4. “ Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do.”

3. “Like an overripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor.”

2. “Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘fear’; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death—in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies.”

1. “The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog’s deception, screaming madly, ‘You lied!’”

Okay, start noodling… Maybe this will get you ready to enter the real thing and we’ll soon have an official Bulwar/Lytton winner in our midst!

Happy writing—Brenda Novak
The Last Stand…Where Victims Fight Back
TRUST ME, STOP ME and WATCH ME, On Sale Now!

Excerpt of Sally Painter's Fae's Gargoyle...

2008-11-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Fae’s Gargoyle
The Hussies series

Maria Jennings awakes to find a naked man in bed with her—how he got there is a blank. Her shock soon turns to panic when she recognizes gargoyle warrior Denton Prescott, the man she’s loved—and hungered for—for years. Before she can steal away, Denton , the sexiest hunk ever to draw breath is seducing her again, and it’s every bit as hot as she ever dreamed.Scorching sex aside, Maria is a Hussy, and her reawakened desires for him threaten her mission—to save Denton . But Denton has a mission of his own—convincing Maria it takes more than the loss of gargoyle magic to stop two soul mates from falling in love. He’ll use every weapon in his erotic arsenal to prove it.

EXCERPT

Maria Jennings opened her eyes and was startled to find a naked man lying beside her. Her erratic heartbeat pounded in her ears. She jerked up in bed but the painful throbbing in her temple forced her back down onto the pillow. The room spun around her. Swallowing the dryness in her throat, she tried to remember what had happened. How had she ended up here? Naked?

The sound of the ocean pounding outside the open patio door matched the hammering in her head. The last thing she remembered was standing in Danu’s castle saying goodbye after months of training. It was time to begin her mission, so why was she naked and in bed with—just who was this man?

Gingerly, she lifted up onto one arm and blinked against the diffused light. The room illuminated brighter each time the silk draperies billowed out and a breeze rushed across the room, carrying the scent of ocean and tropical flowers. Her spirit soared with the smell of home, only something was missing within the familiar scents. Something was very wrong.

Moonlight rushed across the room and fell over the muscular man lying beside her. Shadows swayed and the light moved across indented buttocks, then rose past broad shoulders to stretch toward dark wavy hair. Before she could glimpse his face, the light flittered away with the retreating breeze.

She held her breath and waited until the next gust of wind shoved the draperies aside in a fluttering mass and once more bathed the naked man in soft light. It moved over him like an ocean’s tide and this time touched his face.

Her pulse spiked. She sat straight up in bed and smothered a gasp with trembling hands. This had to be a dream!
She was in bed with Denton Prescott!

It couldn’t be. She closed her eyes, but when she opened them he was still there. Denton Prescott? In bed with her? Naked? He shifted onto his stomach, turning his back to her. Maria dropped her gaze. Heat rushed to her cheeks. His buttocks were just as fine as she remembered. Well, she’d never seen them in the flesh, only in stone when he’d stood to take flight but had been caught in the rays of sunrise.

The moment rushed back to her as though it happened only yesterday instead of ten years ago. They’d been chatting on the campus steps late into the night. Time had seemed endless until the first rays of daylight struck his face. She’d been in awe as she watched his magnificent gargoyle form emerge and his clothes singe to ash. The hardening had spread over him until he was completely cast in stone.

She released her breath. It seemed an eternity since that night. A painful eternity when he was called to war, never once contacting her. And when he returned home a hero, he was quickly caught up in the life of a celebrity. She stared down at his hard, muscled body, her fingers itching to stroke the fine planes. Instead, she closed her hands into fists. How cruel this was. Her fondest fantasy come true and she was unable to touch him.

Unable to tell him how much she loved him. Not that he cared.

The air stirred cooler and she shivered. What had Danu been thinking, plopping her down into his bed? She had long since tamped down her feelings for him, but at that moment realized when she’d been captured forever. Ever since he’d flashed that first devastating smile.

Oh, Danu, what have you done? Maria shook her head. The ancient guru wasn’t a cruel creature so this had to be a mistake. She tried to recall arriving there but met a thick fog where memories should reside.

Regardless how she’d ended up in Denton’s bed, she must fly away before he woke up and discovered her. Scooting out of the bed, she bent down and groped at the discarded clothes littering the floor. Her fingers closed around a dark-colored dress but she froze when he stirred again. She scooped up the dress and tiptoed toward the open bedroom door.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as she hurried down the hall, all her attention focused on the arched doorway ahead. She emerged into what appeared to be a large den lit by a corner floor lamp. Her bare feet slapped against the terra-cotta tiled floor while she struggled to pull the silk dress over her head. She hurried toward the glass doors, determined to exit through the portico and fly into the night. The ocean sang to her and her pulse pounded like the waves beating against the sand. Just where the hell was she? Nothing seemed familiar. The gardens surrounding the pool were not the rich vibrant colors she was accustomed to seeing. There was no magical vibration in them. In anything.

She’d worry about that later. Right now she needed to escape. She stretched forward, but the familiar pop didn’t come. She checked the dress to make sure none of the material was covering her shoulder blades. The strapless garment fit fine. Nothing to block her wings. Again she flexed her muscles and mentally summoned her faerie wings to release.

Nothing.

Okay, maybe she was sick. That might account for her inability to recall how she’d ended up in Denton’s bed. Pain seared her temple and she gripped the back of a nearby chair. Oh, that was not normal. She massaged the throbbing ache with trembling fingers. She’d just leave by her own two feet and try flying once she was away from the house.

The image of Denton lying beside her flashed across her mind. Oh dear butterfly wings! She’d been in bed with Denton Prescott. Her breath came in hard, short pants. And she was running away from him because? She mentally shook herself. Because she had no explanation for being there. Because he didn’t love her.

But Denton…naked… She wrung her hands together, longing to return to his bed and at long last live out her greatest fantasy. Enough of this. She had to leave before he found her there. She took a deep breath and reached for the door knob.

“Where are you going?” came a groggy baritone voice behind her.

Caught! Her heart skipped a beat. What should she do? She pretended she hadn’t heard him and closed her fingers around the knob.

Sally

http://sallypainter.com/

http://romanceexaminer.com/

REUNITED, Book 1 Gargoyles Seduced - EC, Top Pick - Night Owl Romance"The man is a walking triple orgasm..." Literary Nymphs Reviews

Reunited nominated Best Paranormal - Vote NOR Awards - http://tinyurl.com/4wm2q3

Winner please email me!

2008-11-03T10:05:00.001-05:00

If you won a book or prize from Sue-Ellen Welfonder please email me. I will give current winners until tomorrow to contact me with their information then new winners will be chosen.

Thank you to everyone!

hugs,
WendyK
highlandlovesong at yahoo dot com

Sue-Ellen/Allie Winners...

2008-10-29T17:00:00.002-04:00

We have winners! Congratulations to all the winners of Sue-Ellen/Allie's great post! Please send your information to me at highlandlovesong at yahoo dot com.

And the winners are:

Signed ARC of TALL, DARK, AND KILTED

1) catslady

2)Swenholt2

3)Greta

Signed copies of DEVIL IN A KILT

1)heather

2)Bullrem

3)Suzanne Lajoie

Signed ARC of SEDUCING A SCOTTISH BRIDE

1)forstrose

1)elsiehogarth

*Thank my son for picking your name and thank you all for helping me teach him his numbers!*

Thank you to everyone who posted a comment!

*images are thanks to Sue-Ellen! Aren't they awesome! If you all do nothing else you need to visit her websites: www.welfonder.com and www.alliemackay.com to view her pictures! Thank you Sue-Ellen for allowing me to use them*

How do you woo? With Sue-Ellen Welfonder aka Allie MacKay

2008-10-27T07:00:00.001-04:00

How Do You Woo? … Highland Magic

Readers familiar with my books know I love the woo. And, no, I don’t mean old-fashioned courting. The woo is how I think of paranormal light. To me, that means ghosts, time travel, and Celtic lore. My Scottish medievals written under my real name, Sue-Ellen Welfonder, always have a touch of woo. My Allie Mackay Scottish-set paranormals really let me indulge this particular passion.

I don’t think I’ve ever visited a Scottish castle, ruined or otherwise, without wondering what it would be like to encounter the ghost of dashing medieval Highlander. Of course, he’d seem real. He’d also be ready and eager to sweep me off my feet. Another wish I have in such places is to slip back in time and land in the arms of a medieval hottie Scottie. He, too, would be keen on ravishing me.

Of course, he would. These are my fantasies, after all.

As for Highland magic … I really do believe.

Scotland is magical as I’ve seen again and again when spending time there. Take a peek at the Tomnaverie stone circle in northeastern Scotland. I took this photo on a chill and drizzly November day. Tomnaverie – believed to be 4,500 years old - is remote, small, and you can almost be guaranteed you’ll be alone when you visit. To me, that makes its magic so much stronger than an over-run site like Stonehenge.

Scotland abounds with places like Tomnaverie.

Places that are steeped in a magical, otherworldly feel.

And there enough tales and legends about each such place to fill centuries of long and dark winter nights spent around the peat fire.

I have great fun exploring such themes in my Allie Mackay titles. My upcoming release, TALL, DARK, AND KILTED ~ NAL ~ Nov. ’08, has the kind of sexy medieval ghost hero I’d love to meet. And the setting, Scotland’s wild and remote far north, is just the kind of place where staunchest disbelievers might think twice before they rumple a nose at Celtic whimsy and the unexplained…

***
A good man is hard to find.
Cilla Swanner has been jilted by her lover, and she is struggling with a jewelry business that’s far from sparkling. She needs a getaway to someplace quiet and remote. Someplace like Dunroamin Castle in Scotland where her aunt and uncle run a retirement home in the majestic Highlands. But what she finds there may be more than she can handle.
Or is it the other way around?
Centuries ago, the roguish Scots knight known as Hardwick was renowned for his swordsmanship, both on and off the battlefield. But a traveling bard cursed him to wander the world forever, pleasing a different woman each night with no hope of fulfillment or true love. Then Hardwick meets Cilla, who may be his only chance for salvation.
***
Cilla - being my creation – is up to the challenge of a ghostly hero. She’s enchanted by Dunroamin Castle. A place where the past embraces you the instant you step through the door. She loves the sense of slipping into an older, less harried world, even if her room reminds her of the set of an old black-and-white Dracula movie. Cilla also falls under Scotland’s own spell. She learns that the Highlands are more than hauntingly beautiful. And she discovers that this world holds things that can’t always be explained.

But not everyone is Cilla.

Or me.

Some people struggle with the woo.

They can’t wrap their minds around Highland magic. Drifting mist is scenic but not supernatural. The beautiful luminosity of a Highland summer night is just that, beautiful. The smooth, perfectly round and white pebble found on a Hebridean strand will never cure terrible maladies. There aren’t any sprites in the woods and certainly not a water horse in the river. Heaven forbid someone mention a water bull. That wasn’t a faint skirl of pipes out on the lonely, night-bound moor. It was the piercing cry of a bird. Everyone knows it’s impossible to catch a glimpse of the past if you step – all by your lonesome – into the tumbled walls of a castle ruin. Ghosts are out of the question.

There are many people who agree with the above.

I am not one of them.

But such a skeptic lives in the pages of TALL, DARK, AND KILTED. He’s Cilla’s Uncle Mac who owns Dunroamin. As you can see in the following exchange that takes place not long after Cilla’s arrival at the castle, Uncle Mac wouldn’t acknowledge a ghost if one floated right past him. In this snippet, Cilla has just asked him if Dunroamin has ghosts….
***

“Ho! Not here an hour and already you’re asking what every American wants to know.” Uncle Mac’s face split in a broad, twinkly-eyed grin. “The only ghosts hereabouts are my creaky knees. If you count both together, they’re well over a hundred.”
Cilla smiled. “If your knees are creaky, I would’ve noticed.” She crossed the room and hugged him. “I’d rather hear about ghosts.”
“Would you now?” Uncle Mac lifted a bushy brow. “Truth is you won’t be seeing any. I took my first breath in these walls. If there were bogles flitting about, sure enough and I’d know it.”
Aunt Birdie sniffed. “What about the gray lady on the main stairs?” She came forward to join them, her purple-and-blue watered silk dress swirling around her like an exotic, perfume-scented cloud. “Or the little boy who sits on a stool in a corner of the kitchen?”
Her husband hooted. “The day a misty lady floats down my stairs, I’ll shave off my beard.” He rocked back on his heels, amused. “The offer stands for any spook that might care to put in an appearance.”
“Have a care, dear. There’s always a kernel of truth to any legend.” Aunt Birdie tapped his chest with a red-tipped fingernail. “Bucks County back home is steeped in tradition and ghosts. Here ….” she let her voice tail off. “Let’s just say that you, as a Highlander, should know better than to scoff at such things.”
Uncle Mac huffed and waved a hand.
“Tell me” – he winked at Cilla – “do you believe in such foolery? Ghosts, tall tales, and plaid-draped, sword-packing beasties that go bump in the night?”
“I-”
Cilla bit her lip.
From what she’d seen of Scotland so far, she doubted Uncle Mac would like her answer.
***
That’s Uncle Mac. A wonderful character – always kilted, by the way – who is full of life, bluster, and good humor. He doesn’t believe in the woo.

There are lots of Uncle Macs in the world.

I encountered one early in my career. This reader found it ridiculous that my heroine was gifted with second sight. She ended her online commentary by asking: “How many people do you know with second sight?”

Well, … err, ahem….

It just so happens that I know quite a few. My own grandmother had it in spades. So much so that she scared me sometimes. And I have many Highland friends who have someone in their family who is so gifted. Or they know someone in the village who is. Or they have the sight themselves. I don’t know a single Highlander who’d deny its existence.

But there is so much more to Celtic legend and lore.

Second sight is just the tip of the iceberg. Highland Scotland is a treasure trove of the woo and the farther back in time that you go, it just gets more fascinating. People really did believe in sacred wells, charmed stones, mystical creatures and fairies. Sea monsters swam in the waters around the Hebrides and every Islesman kept a watch for Selkies. Trolls were greatly feared by Shetlanders and Orkneymen. Everywhere, the evil eye was dreaded, the local seer (usually a man) was highly respected, and the powers of wise women were in great demand. Omens were carefully sought and studied before any clan embarked on an important venture. Clan elders knew such signs could foretell the outcome of a raid or a battle and acted accordingly. Childbirth brought its own array of precautions and charms, the wealth and variety of which is beyond mind boggling.

Now look at the other two photos. This is Smoo Cave in Scotland’s far north. Legends abound about this cave, one being that it is a dwelling place of fairies. Another tale claims Smoo Cave hides an entrance into the netherworld. Could be those orbs surrounding me are fairies. Or spirits of the many souls said to have met their doom in the cave. Or they might be droplets of spray from the waterfall behind me.

Either way, Smoo Cave is a place where you can believe in anything.

Truth is Gaelic Scotland has an incredibly rich heritage of folklore, tradition, and beliefs. There were customs and superstitions that touched every aspect of daily life. It would take many more words than suitable in this blog to discuss them all.

Thanks to the Highlanders’ fierce pride in ancestry and culture, this amazing tapestry of lore has been well preserved. Those fortunate enough to visit Scotland can see living traces of this legacy. I sometimes think each blade of grass, clump of heather, and stone has a story.

Wonders are everywhere. Sometimes in the most unexpected places. Here’s one example: Glamis Castle is a huge tourist draw. It also brims with mystic and legend. But! Those who care to look beyond the well-known, and are willing to tramp down a steep, wet and weedy riverbank, can find an ancient pagan well beneath the old church in Glamis village. The well is just a few feet from the river’s edge and hidden behind a tangle of ivy fronds.

But it is there.

Testament to the old ways and … no surprise, really … if you peer into the peaty water, you can see a fairly modern looking tin cup. It would seem the ancients aren’t the only ones who trusted in the well’s healing abilities.

Highland magic is alive and well.

And it was more than that in medieval Scotland. It was everything. A part of daily life as natural and accepted as eating, sleeping, and breathing.

I cannot imagine writing a Scottish-set book (no matter the century) without including these traditions and lore that are so tightly woven into Scotland’s heritage. Yet I know some of my colleagues would rather sit on a tack than include anything ‘paranormal’ in their historicals. And (see above) I know there are readers who feel the same.

Sooo … how do you woo?

Do you enjoy threads of Celtic myth and legend in your Scottish reads? Can you push the envelope enough to enjoy a sexy medieval Scottish ghost hero? Or do you prefer your tales wholly de-wooed?

I’m curious!
All views are welcome.

Please comment to win:
3 signed ARCs of TALL, DARK, AND KILTED (or wait until Nov. for the actual book – winners can decide)
1 signed ARC of SEDUCING A SCOTTISH BRIDE – my next (Welfonder) Scottish medieval, coming from GCP in March ‘09
3 signed copies of my reader favorite, DEVIL IN A KILT
1 pipes and drums CD as a special bonus prize

Readers can visit me at:
http://www.welfonder.com/ (Scottish medievals written under my own name for Grand Central Publishing, formerly known as Warner Books)

http://www.alliemackay.com/ (Scottish-set paranormals written under my pen name, Allie Mackay, for Penguin/NAL)

Thanks so much, Wendy and friends, for inviting me to guest blog. I appreciate it!
To everyone else … Alba gu brath! (Scotland forever)

Special guest tomorrow...

2008-10-26T10:14:00.001-04:00

I wanted to let everyone know that Sue-Ellen Welfonder aka Allie MacKay will be dropping by for a visit tomorrow. It's sure to be a great day so make plans to stop by.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

hugs,
WendyK

Some news...

2008-10-23T09:06:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
I thought I'd pass on something. Although if you read Genn's blog you'll already know it. But Jenn has been has been released from her contract with Mira. They published her first book in her Virtual series over a year ago, May 07, and were supposed to have released book 2 by now. But they kept pushing it back. They blamed Walmart for not buying enough of Jenn's books. But regardless she is now released from her contract and can look for another publisher. The bad part? She will have a hard time getting another publisher to release book 2 and 3 in a series, meanwhile us fans of the series are left without a book. She's considering self-publishing, but we'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

If you'd like to read her words on the matter visit her blog here:
http://www.rooferauthor.blogspot.com/

It's sad and yet it's not. Those of us in her group have known about ongoing issues and concerns for awhile, but I really hate it for Jenn. Please send her good thoughts and prayers that she finds a new publisher soon and will see her books once more in the hands of fans, both new and old.

I think Mira has made a mistake and realize it at a later date, but that is my personal opinion on the matter.

hugs,
Wendyk

Pumpkin and Bean Soup recipe...

2008-10-21T11:58:00.002-04:00

In TRRC's feature article for October, one reviewer commented on making a Pumpkin and Bean Soup. Well here is the recipe. I hope you will try it and let us know what you think. If you have some great Halloween or fall recipes you'd like to share we us, we'd be honored.

hugs,
WendyK

PUMPKIN AND BEAN SOUP

2 cups Water
2 tablespoons Dried Haricot Beans
1/4 Red Pepper
4 Chives
20g Butter
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 Clove Garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Curry Powder
250g Pumpkin, peeled, chopped
2 cups Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Grated Smoked Cheese
1 tablespoon Sour Cream

Combine water and beans in a bowl, cover, stand overnight.
Transfer undrained beans to pan, simmer, covered, about 1 hour or until beans are tender; drain.
Cut pepper into thin strips, cut chives into 6cm lenghts. Heat butter in pan, add onion, garlic, and curry powder, cook, stiring, until onion is soft. Add pumpkin and stock, simmer, covered, until pumpkin is soft. Blend or process pumpkin mixture until smooth.
Return pumpkin mixture to pan, stir in beans and pepper, bring to a boil. Add cheese and sour cream, stir until heated through. Serve soup topped with chives.

Recipe can be made a day ahead.
Storage: Covered, in refridgerator.
Freezer: Suitable.
Microwave: Suitable.

I hope everyone tries this!!! You can probably just get canned haricot beans instead of soaking them, etc...I think that is what Mark does to save time and do it all in one day. But it is DELICIOUS!!!

Christa

And we have a winner!

2008-10-19T10:47:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to our winner of the Pamela Britton book : Carol! Please email me at highlandlovesong at yahoo dot com to send me your contact information. It's a great book!

And we have Winners!!!

2008-10-19T10:43:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to the winner of our Shannon K. Butcher post:

Greta!!!!

Greta please email me with your contact information and which book you'd like, so Shannon can get your book out to you.

ON THE MOVE by Pamela Britton

2008-10-16T18:11:00.003-04:00

ON THE MOVE
Pamela Britton
The NASCAR Library Collection
ISBN: 9780373772223
September 2008

Vicki Bradford might work for the most ruthless sports agent in the business, but she's no quitter, even when she hits the lowest of career lows—acting as a glorified babysitter to NASCAR's disruptive newcomer, Brandon Burke. But his devilish grin and the gleam in his eye tell her he won't be so easy to tame.…

Brandon isn't about to let his wild ways on and off the track be tempered by a buttoned-up stunner hired to make him behave. And he's not above a little pulse-pounding game of seduction to send her running. But one kiss ignites something powerful between them. And now it's a matter of how to avoid the crash and burn of two opposites steering recklessly toward love.

http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/reviews2/brittonpamela1908.html

hugs,
WendyK *BTW this is a great story and series!*

Think Pink...

2008-10-16T18:05:00.002-04:00

Pamela Britton is part of a great organization. Think Pink , http://www.norcalthinkpink.org/. This is a great cause and group. Please visit the site and hopefully we can open up a discussion on this issue and what it means to us all.

If you have questions about the group or it's cause please ask away.

hugs,
WendyK

Pamela Britton...a special message

2008-10-16T17:38:00.001-04:00

Okay, I'll be honest. The original draft of this blog was a morbidly sad account of my father's death. How it affected my writing. How, to this day, I draw on the pain I suffered as I slowly watched him die of cancer.

Blech.

I deleted it. I hate sad stories. That's probably why I write romance novels for a living. Besides, these days cancer doesn't have to be scary. It doesn't have to be sad. It can be cured, especially if we're talking breast cancer here.

I'll be honest. I'd never had a mammogram when I first joined Think Pink. I'd volunteered my services after my father died having made the commitment to do whatever I could to help fight his awful disease. He didn't have breast cancer, although men can get it, but I figured one cancer was as good as another to try and sucker punch. So I joined. Unfortunately, I made the mistaking of mentioning my lack of a mammogram to one of Think Pink's founders, Melody Christenson. We were at her work--a place that does medical imaging--and so you can imagine what happened next. She trotted me over to the receptions desk and said, "Get Pam an appointment today." I remember mentally screaming, "Noooooo." I didn't want my breasts squished, especially on such short notice. I needed time to psych myself into the deal. But I didn't think it was right tell one of Think Pink's founders that I was too scared to do the very thing that Think Pink is all about: early detection. So I swallowed my fear and did it. And you know what?

It wasn't that bad.

It wasn't that bad at all. In fact, I feel like silly baby for thinking it would hurt. I didn't.

So I chose for this blog to be a positive account of my first breast screening. And a reminder to all of you to CHECK YOUR BREASTS. And, failing that, to get a yearly screening. Cancer doesn't have to be a death sentence. Especially breast cancer. In fact, it now has a 97% cure rate if detected early.

Get out there, girls! Get your ta-tas mashed. It just might save your life.

*leave a comment for your chance to win a signed book from Pam*

NO ESCAPE by Shannon K. Butcher

2008-10-15T08:52:00.003-04:00

NO ESCAPE

Shannon K. Butcher

ISBN: 9780446510288

October 2008

*taken from Shannon's website*

Nowhere to Run

Teacher Isabelle Carson is grief-stricken, angry, and scared. Three of her childhood friends have died. The police say they’re suicides, but Isabelle knows they would never, ever take their own lives. Her past binds her to every victim, and she knows it’s only a matter of time before the killer comes after her. Only one man can help her now, the only man she’s ever trusted, the man who saved her so long ago . . .

No Place to Hide

For Grant Kent, Delta Force vet, just being near Isabelle brings back old memories and desires, and stirs longings he’d rather deny. Yet he can’t deny the real terror in her eyes, or resist the thought of holding her again. But even as their friendship begins to blossom into a passionate affair, a killer continues his deadly rampage, and plots his next move, the “suicide” of Isabelle Carson.

Review of NO ESCAPE done by www.theromancereadersconnection.com

http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/reviews2/butchershannonk11008.html

Welcome Shannon K. Butcher

2008-10-15T08:46:00.003-04:00

I have a confession to make. I’m a blog virgin.

I’ve read them, but never actually participated in blogging until now. I’ve heard several smart people say that if you’re not a “blog person” you shouldn’t try to be one. It would come across fake and unpleasant for all involved.

Not having any innate knowledge as to what constitutes this elusive blogging nature, and having even less time, I decided the smartest thing I could do was avoid blogging altogether. Besides, I always figured that I don’t have anything to say that someone would find so interesting they’d feel the need to stop their day and read it. Heck, half the time I can’t even get my family to stop what they’re doing long enough to hear me yell it’s time for dinner. Perhaps that’s more a commentary on my cooking than anything else, but I digress. We were talking about my clever plan to avoid blogging so as not to induce any fake unpleasantries -- a plan that is clearly doomed to failure.

It’s becoming increasingly evident to me that avoiding blogs is akin to avoiding cell phones or ATMs -- not smart. So here I am, throwing myself upon your mercy, hoping that some of you brilliant “blog people” might enlighten me as to what draws you to certain blogs so that I will no longer feel compelled to avoid participating in the future.

Thanks for helping deflower this former blog virgin. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.

Thanks,
Shannon K. Butcher
http://www.shannonkbutcher.com/

*Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of your choice of NO ESCAPE, NO REGRETS, or NO CONTROL signed by the author!*

Congrats, Winner of Colleen Coble's book...

2008-10-13T11:57:00.003-04:00

Congrats!

Congratulations to Ladystorm! Please email me at highlandlovesong at yahoo dot com. This is a great book you are certain to enjoy!

hugs,

WendyK

Winner of Gennita Low book:

2008-10-13T11:55:00.003-04:00

Congrats to Mo! Please email me with your address information! You won a book from Gennita Low!

hugs,
WendyK

Winners will be drawn later today....

2008-10-13T11:42:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that winners will be chosen later today for Gennita Low's post and Colleen Coble's post.

I've been sick with sinus issues and haven't felt like being online.

hugs to everyone,
WendyK

Colleen Coble

2008-10-08T09:01:00.003-04:00

Synopsis
An Amish Romantic Suspense Novel from Million-selling Award-winning Novelist Colleen Coble.
Hannah Schwartz slipped away from her Amish family to meet with her beau, Reece Ericson. When she returned, she discovered her parents murdered and their handmade quilts stolen.
Years later, a shunned Hannah returns to the scene of the crime in hopes of restoring her family and her faith. But while much has changed in Hannah's life, the danger at home now threatens with a vengence.

http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/reviews2/coblecolleen1708.html

Synopsis
In the quiet safety of the Bluebird Ranch, old promises resurface and unexpected love brings new hope.
Though tragedy has wrecked her life, Allie Siders holds on to the hope that her five-year-old daughter, Betsy, will speak again. But with a stalker out for revenge, all Allie can think about now is their safety. She must sever all ties and abandon life as she knows it. She heads to the peaceful Bluebird Ranch, nestled deep in Texas hill country, and to the only person who can help them.
The ranch is a sanctuary for abused horses, and also for troubled youths: the perfect place for Betsy to grow and recover. Ranch owner Elijah DeAngelo eagerly welcomes the duo. But Rick Bailey-the ranch foreman and DeAngelo's right hand man-hasn't decided to let his guard down . . . yet.
Promises made long ago soon force Rick and Allie to work together to escape danger. Will they discover love along the way?

Reality Bending with Colleen Coble

2008-10-08T08:26:00.002-04:00

Reality Bending

Okay, I admit it. My characters are real. No really. They have to be real or they wouldn’t take over the story the way they do. I can be typing along with a destination for my character in mind. The next thing I know she’s off doing something I had NO IDEA would happen. Before I was a writer, I heard authors say crazy stuff like that and thought it was a publicity ploy. Um, no. It’s real. Characters have minds of their own, and I often can’t fathom them.

The very best characters live on it in the minds of readers. My readers’ favorite character is Bree from the Rock Harbor series. She eats pistachios and has a search-and-rescue dog. She is crazy about Elvis music. She lives in a restored lighthouse on Superior’s south shore. I had so many requests for more books about her that I recently had to write another one that will be out in February called Cry in the Night. I’d intended to write a normal murder mystery and embroil her in it. She and I had no idea where the story would head once I got started. Bree is in big personal trouble. Very big personal trouble that threatens her son and her marriage. Poor girl.

See, she is a real person that I feel sorry for. That didn’t keep me from putting her in terrible difficulties, but I did feel a twinge of regret. And really, part of the trouble is her own fault. She veered off into new directions and I had no choice but to follow. She can’t blame me for the mess she’s made of everything. I told her I was washing my hands of it all.

Now you see why authors are thought to be a little demented. We talk to people in our heads. Mostly because we’re alone all day with a computer and it’s talk to our characters or to ourselves. I recently went on a big author bus tour. It was a luxury bus with 26 other authors, most of them romance writers, put on by Levy and Meijer Supercenters. Great fun! I had almost forgotten how to talk to real people, but it’s like riding a bicycle and it soon came back to me. The good news is that we were all a little twisted and could talk about our characters like they really exist.

And the weird thing is, we all KNOW they do.

*Leave a comment to Colleen's post for your chance to win a copy of LONESTAR SANCTUARY!*

THE POLITICAL SEASON & BOOKS

2008-10-05T11:07:00.003-04:00

Well all, it is officially twenty nine days until election day and no matter what your party, Democrat or Republican, come November 4, 2008 it will be time for you to do your civic duty and VOTE. While this process occurs yearly in some areas it is the every four year election, where we choose our next President, senators and representatives that garners the most attention. So in taking a step back from all the campaigning, i.e, rallies, political debates and town hall meetings, I thought about the number of romances that I've read or that are available when the premise of the book relates to a political figure, be it the hero, heroine or a secondary character. The list is long and some have been out for quite a while.

Lets start with Evelyn Rogers' GOLDEN MAN published in 1999, the hero is the President of the United States and the heroine a lowly wage earner that stumbles into the wrong room at the absolutely right time. STATE SECRETS by Linda Lael Miller has a secondary character as the newly elected president, he is the cousin of the heroine, and it is her brother the secret service are after, so they put an agent on her. STATE SECRETS was re-released By MIRA in 1995. For those that are Merline Lovelace fans, PERFECT DOUBLE, part of the Code Name Danger series features the head of the OMEGA agency, sexy Adam Ridgeway and covert operative Maggie Sinclair who in PERFECT DOUBLE poses as the vice-president of the United States.

Among the fictional Silhouette Desire families are the Danforths. Their family dynasty was presented to readers in 2004 and one of the main heroes, Abe Danforth is a newly elected US senator. The romance of course is with his campaign manager, a very pregnant campaign manager who leaves before the scandalous secret is revealed and senator's private life becomes very public. Author Kathryn Shay also has a political romance in the offering, SOMEONE TO BELIEVE IN, where the hero is Senator Clay Wainwright and the heroine is a community activist. Flip the coin and author Vicki Hinze gives us a female vice president named Sybil Stone that is the lead character in HER 2002 romantic suspense LADY LIBERTY.

These are only a few of a very long list of books that feature political themes under the romance genre. these also just happen to be my personal favorites, but I'm sure some of you out there have a few you can add, if so let's here from you.

Livia

Virtually His by Gennita Low

2008-10-02T08:59:00.003-04:00

Chosen to be the ultimate secret operative, Helen Roston has become the
most dangerous woman in the world. Two years of training and she's now ready for
the final phase—a risky combination of virtual reality and a mind-altering
serum. When her mysterious and faceless "trainer" syncs his mind to hers using
the program, she's amazed at her sizzling response to his virtual touch. But
Helen likes to be in control. She's not going to beg for more. Helen's final
test is a challenging mission, picked by the other government agencies whose
candidates lost out to her. To succeed, she has to put herself completely in the
hands of her trainer, a man she's not sure she can trust. But all of COS Command
are counting on her. She cannot fail.
*taken from Barnes and Noble website.
Read my review of Jenn's great book, VIRTUALLY HIS here:
http://www.theromancereadersconnection.com/reviews2/lowgennita1507.html
*just a note VIRTUALLY HERS release date is wrong within the review. For more information on the correct release date and updates on Jenn's writing please visit Jenn's website at www.gennita-low.com*
Have you read VH? Did you love it? Are you eager for more?

A visit with Gennita Low and a free ebook

2008-10-02T08:48:00.010-04:00

The last thing I had ever thought I'd end up writing was spy romance novels. My first attempt at a romance was in a genre I happen to love--a medieval. I knew I loved reading about warriors with big swords, knights out on a quest, who fell in love with some damsel/maiden in distress.

This was pre-Internet days, so I did a lot of my research by buying books and going to the library. When I finally started, I fell in love with the act of writing, sitting for hours happily scribbling the story long hand. I finished my masterpiece in a mere few months, without any idea about things such as first draft, revision, or that the big pile of typed papers was called a manuscript. I just wanted to tell the story.

It took me a while before I realized that, even though I read up everything I could about medieval life, there were a few things wrong with my masterpiece:

1) That book wasn't a historical; it was a his-te-rical. It was really, really bad.
2) My knights all spoke like Navy SEALs on horses
3) My heroine, who was a Viking slave girl, could wield a sword like a "berserker" because the bad guy, the Viking madman wanted her to berserk for some reason by practicing this mind-control thing on her
4) There was a final kungfu-like scene in which the hero/knight duels with the really bad-ass Huge Viking Bad Guy with my heroine in a berserker rage by his side against her lover.

Oh yes, this his-te-rical really exists and it's hidden in a safe place never to be discovered. At times I think of shredding it. Better still, burning it and spreading its ashes in different places so that no spirit on earth can bring it together again. I cringe at the memory of having allowed a few friends and literary agents read it. Those poor folks probably haven't ever recovered.

But you know what? I did discover something about my writing. I found out that I love writing action scenes, especially those involving bawdy men speaking like they were spec. ops. warriors, and that I enjoy showcasing heroines who are capable of taking care of themselves. I discovered that I like weaponry and their usage in warfare and defense systems. I didn't know it, but in those early years, I was, in my own mind, developing my own super-soldier-spy, a theme that is the basis of my current three-book Virtual series, the first one being VIRTUALLY HIS (http://www.eharlequin.com/).

After studying the craft and the writing business more, my first "serious" manuscript was called Big Bad Wolf. It was as much a surprise to me that I could write this spy romance novel because really, at that time, I never enjoyed spy books that much. They were okay, lots of bang-bang, and then more boom-boom. Then, I read Linda Howard's Diamond Bay. Oh. My. God. Something just clicked on in my head. I've found my favorite genre, that dark-souled hero with the darker-souled heroine. And I've never looked back.

Big Bad Wolf (link:http://www.gennita-low.com/GEMS/gems3/BBW1Authornote.rtf) *visit here to read the first chapter of this great story for free* is my first spy novel. It contained all the nuggets/seedlings to my COS commando and GEM verse/mythos. Besides winning several major competitions, it also finaled in RWA's Golden Heart, a contest for the unpublished, twice. Yes, I'm very proud of it ;-) because this manuscript was the beginning of my discovery of myself as a writer.

I hope that you enjoy the free ebook.(http://www.rooferauthor.blogspot.com/ visit here to get all the chapters of this great book for free) Please answer my question at the end of the book because it'll help me make a decision. I hope I gave readers a little insight into the growing evolution of a writer. For writers, I hope I gave you the encouragement to look for your strengths and to go with it in your work.

I also love to hear from readers, so please ask your questions here or email me at Jenn@Gennita-Low(dot)com (sorry, I hate trolling spambots too. Damn tech-spies ;-P).

***********************

--Jenn

If you'd like to read part of the beginning please visit here:

http://www.amazon.com/Virtually-His-Virtual-Book-1/dp/0778324486/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222954272&sr=8-12

*Leave a comment to Jenn's post for your chance to win a signed copy of VIRTUALLY HIS!*

TRRC READING

A Few More December Release Reads

New December Releases

HOLLY LANE by Toni Blake

Four Midwestern Sisters' Christmas Book

Favorite Christmas Read

TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY

My Favorite Holiday Book

My Favorite Holiday Book

My Favorite Holiday Read

THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT by Tracy Wolff

Christmas Read

A Christmas Read

The Women of The Kauffman Amish Bakery

More October Mystery Reads

A few cooler weather reads

BLOOD ETERNAL

All About Seduction by Katy Madison

MUCH ADO ABOUT VAMPIRES MacAlister (Oct 11) Paranormal

New book by Megan Hart

Upcoming ebook release: Tallent & Lowery 13 - The Ultimate Adventure Begins!

New September Reads

More August Reads

WOLF TALES 12 - Kate Douglas, the last book in a series comes to an end.

August Historical Pick: Sue-Ellen Welfonder's TEMPTATION OF A HIGHLAND SCOUNDREL (Book II, Highland Warriors Trilogy)

August Pick: Jude Deveraux's HEARTWISHES: AN EDILEAN NOVEL

The Bride Wore Scarlet

Two more July books for your list!

More July Paranormal Picks

July Picks

Two More Terrific Books To Read

A delightful Regency charmer - A Matter Of Scandal

Contemporary Romance - Dance of Temptation

TRRC Post for 7/11/11

July reads from Avon

L. K. Below’s Cinnamon and Spice Scavenger Hunt

Pocket author based new book on 2009 ice storm experience

Oh, The Rakes! Anna Campbell - Guest Blogger

Guest Blogger: Cindi Myers

Christmas Parade Guest Blogger: Dana Marton

Christmas Parade Guest Blogger Susan Wiggs

Christmas Parade Guest Penny Watson

Christmas Parade Guest Wendy Roberts

Christmas Parade Guest Ann Pearlman

Christmas Parade Guest HelenKay Dimon

Christmas Parade Guest - Red Garnier

It Is That Time of Year!!!

Guest Blogger: Karen White Owens

Please welcome our guest blogger - Cheryl Norman!

We are back!!!

Pardon our Construction!!!

GUEST BLOGGER: VICKI HINZE

Interview With An Author - Marjorie M. Liu

Summer Reading Recommendations from the TRRC Staff!!

GUEST BLOGGER: Cynthia Eden

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Mallery

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Krinard

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Crandall

Monica Burns Dangerous Giveaway

GUEST BLOGGER: Caridad Pineiro

GUEST BLOGGER: Susan Wiggs

Guest Blogger: Kelli A. Wilkins

GUEST BLOGGER: Cat Adams (Cathy Clamp and C.T. Adams)

GUEST BLOGGER: Diane Whiteside

GUEST BLOGGER: JAMAICA LAYNE

60 Years of Romance from Harlequin

GUEST BLOGGER Beverly Jenkins

GUEST BLOGGER: Julie Hyzy

GUEST BLOGGER: Kathryn Shay

What is the deal with TWILIGHT??

GUEST BLOGGER - LISA MARIE RICE

New Sue-Ellen Winners picked!

Making some changes....

A new winner will be drawn!

Writing with Brenda Novak

Excerpt of Sally Painter's Fae's Gargoyle...

Winner please email me!

Sue-Ellen/Allie Winners...

How do you woo? With Sue-Ellen Welfonder aka Allie MacKay

Special guest tomorrow...