I’m so sorry I’m late with this today. I’ve gotten caught up with some writing (yay!), making a delicious and homemade deep dish chicken pot pie, wasting time on Tumblr, and reading. I’ve been reading a lot. Writing has been so super slow…worse than molasses. It’s driving me nuts and actually my feelings about it fit in with our Bring Me A Tissue theme today… just makes me want to cry!
I’ve been considering all my books and my heroines don’t really cry. Me on the other hand, I’ll cry at the drop of a hat if the circumstances are right. But, a few readers said that there was a part of Sweet Caroline that made them want to cry, so… I’ll give you just a little snippet from that one.
Snippet:
Caroline watched out the driver’s side mirror as Buck walked around the back of the trailer. He was checking the locks one more time to make sure they were secure. She was tired, and her eyes were gritty. She’d cried some before she went to sleep then cried again when he made love to her early this morning.
She was a damn basket case, worse than she ever figured she’d be. But Buck was solid. His lip hadn’t even quivered. He didn’t tell her not to go. He didn’t ask to come with her. He didn’t even say he’d call, write or send up a flare.
He didn’t want things to end either, though. It was in the way he touched her, the way he kissed her, the way he looked at her when he thought she didn’t know. They were both grownups. They could do this. People moved and separated all the time even when they cared for one another. And…if she kept telling herself that, she might actually start to believe it by the time she reached Atlanta.
“Everything looks good. Got the keys?”
He stood at the window. She wanted to reach out and touch him but didn’t dare. “Yeah. In my pocket.”
“Okay then, I’d say you’re all set. Take care with the turns.”
They’d had this discussion before that she’d never towed anything on the back of a vehicle. “I will. I’ll be fine, Buck.”
“I know you will. I would say call me when you get there…”
“I don’t know if I can.”
He nodded. She knew he understood and that it didn’t make things any easier. “Be careful.”
It was her turn to nod as she cranked her Jeep and put it in drive. It was awkward, this feeling of something being unfinished. She wasn’t used to it and didn’t like it. Not one bit. There was more to say, more to do, oh hell lots more to do, but…
“You need to get on the road. You don’t want to hit Atlanta anytime between now and eight tonight.”
He was trying to make a joke, and she did manage a smile that didn’t seem forced. Not to mention, Atlanta was hell on traffic. She dreaded going up I-75 anywhere near the large city. Come to think of it, I-75 sucked no matter if you were near Tampa or Valdosta or Atlanta. There was construction at every mile marker it seemed and dumbass drivers that didn’t know they weren’t supposed to brake on the interstate. Hence, the lack of traffic lights and stop signs.
Thank you was on the tip of her tongue, but it wasn’t enough to convey what he’d brought to her life in the months she’d known him. He saved her from that too with his next words.
“It’s okay, Caroline. Nothing needs to be said.”
End Snippet
Y’all have a great weekend. Don’t forget to change your clocks back if you’re in a time zone that participates. And don’t forget to check out the snippets from these awesome authors:
As all of you know, and if you don’t, you need to come out of hiding more often, today is the release of my newest title from Samhain Publishing, Sweet Caroline!
I am so excited. I truly love this story, this couple, this damn HOT cover!
I’m sure most of you have heard somewhere that I got the idea from an episode of Glee and you heard right. I also sat for hours upon hours listening to Neil Diamond sing it on my mp3 player as I wrote the book.
For those that have bought the book, thank you. I hope you really enjoy it. For those that haven’t, well…
If you haven’t watched Glee, I thought I’d share the Sweet Caroline clip here on the blog.
And here’s a little Elvis action…
Of course, we have have a little Neil Diamond, for without whom we wouldn’t have this song and well, might not have this book…
I told y’all the other day that I’d be picking some people at random in a sort of modified draft since I was watching the oddest, and in some ways worst NFL draft recent years. The second, third, and so on rounds made much more sense than the first. Anyway, I have picked my draftee’s and they will be receiving an email from me shortly.
Those names are:
Bianca_Riot Shetlands Pixie Chloe Waits and Danyel McDaniel
I hope all of you have had a great Tuesday and I’ll see you on the flipside!
Happy Monday! (Yeah, right!) I’ve not slept well lately and I’m not at all sure how happy I am about that. I am growing exhausted and that’s not a good thing when I need to don the Author Hat and the Promo Ho Corset and Heels!
I am gonna need a lot of coffee over the next few weeks. I’ve been drinking Kona Coffee from Trader Joe’s the last few weeks and damn is it ever good! I am almost out of it, but when I am, I will be buying the new seasonal blend from Caribou Coffee called Lakeshore. I’ll be giving away 1/2 pound bags of coffee over the next few weeks, so, stay tuned! You might win one!
Okay, about today’s blog. I thought I’d give y’all a peek at the blurb for my next Ellora’s Cave Exotika, Carnal Ecstasy due out July 2nd.
If you read Simple Need, at the very beginning there is a bartender. Carnal Ecstasy is his story. It can be read by itself, it is not tightly tied to Simple Need, but, IF for some reason you haven’t read Simple Need, may I ask, why not? Grins…
Here is the blurb for Simple Need just in case there’s someone reading this that hasn’t picked it up yet!
Vinter is not your typical businessman. Tattoos, piercings and not a suit and tie in sight. One-third owner of a bar and a tattoo parlor along with being a bassist in a band, Vinter comes and goes as he pleases. He likes his beer cold, his music hard and his women scorching hot. Until he’s knocked off his game by a suburban doll he can’t stop wanting.
Elise needs a change. In men. The buttoned-up businessmen she’s been dating leave a lot to be desired—in romance, in respect and most definitely in sex. A recent text message from her now ex-lover drives Elise into a popular bar on the outside of town, where she meets one of its owners. He’s just the kind of man she’s never had and definitely the kind she’s always fantasized about. Big, bad and oh so naughty.
Unexpected tenderness. Unimaginable lust. Being dumped has never felt so damn good.
Carnal Ecstasy doesn’t have a cover yet, so, we have to use the coming soon cover from Ellora’s Cave for the time being. As soon as I have a cover, believe you me, it’ll be posted! Here’s the blurb:
When good girls go bad, very, very bad…
The minute Carrie meets tattooed, bad-boy bartender Dallon, her decision is made. He’s the one, her ticket to freedom and a new, independent life. She’s tired of dictates and zero dates and following the path laid out before her by her well-meaning-but-completely-out-of touch-with-her-reality religious parents.
Dallon sees the buttoned-up, full-of-curves woman outside the grocery store and feels the flames of hell licking at his heels. When she asks him for directions to the large, nearby university where she’s starting work, his gut-twisting lust for her doesn’t diminish, but those flames start to singe his tough-as-nails hide.
With the promise he made to himself about not fornicating with anyone associated with the university his father is the dean of about to go up in smoke, Carrie takes the first exit off the Heavenly Highway straight onto Sin Street. She wants Dallon to teach her all the things a good girl should never know and she won’t take Hell no for an answer.
Reader Advisory: What Dallon does with a beer bottle may be illegal in forty-eight out of fifty states…and at least two territories.
So, anyone wanna read it? Hell, with an advisory like that I want to read it and I’m the one that wrote it!
Have a fantastic day and I hope all of you have your credit cards ready for the release of Sweet Caroline tomorrow!
I, myself, am doing well, and busy. But then, what else is new?
Readers and Friends, we have a lot of work to do in the next month! Between Tuesday, April 27th and Wednesday, June 2nd, I have 4 books coming out! Ack!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 27th, Sweet Caroline from Samhain Publishing
Tuesday, May 11th, Stick Shift from Loose Id
Tuesday, June 1st, The Swing from Ellora’s Cave
Wednesday, July 2nd, Carnal Ecstasy from Ellora’s Cave
That’s a lot of promo, a lot of giveaways, a lot of a lot!
I’ve guest blogged over at Lisa Pietsch’s website about inspirations for my writing. The post is up all weekend, so come by and say hi!
On Tuesday, April 27th I’ll be at All I Want and More with that Smutty Hussy Cecile! She is such a naughty influence on me!
On Wednesday, April 28th Buck from Sweet Caroline will be interviewed by The Black Raven herself over at The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe.
On Thursday, April 29th I’ll be hosting an hour at the Samhain Cafe’s Home Alone During RT event! I’ll be there from 6pm-7pm for Coffee and Chat with Lissa.
I’ll be participating in Samhain’s Spring Showers at Coffee Time Romance and will get you some more information soon!
So, there’s a lot going on and there will be some great prizes and giveaways! Now, I guess I need to get back to writing!
I do not really watch NFL football, however I am a very big overall college football fan and I watch it religiously from the end of August through the beginning of February and the National Championship Game. It is because I watch these players for years that I watch and pay attention to the NFL draft and some very special players, I’ll follow their career through the pros.
Tonight, the draft moves into primetime for the first time. How fun! My son, husband, and myself will all be gathered around watching to see who takes whom and then we’ll discuss it being a good choice, bad choice, or who really cares choice. It’s fun and sports is about the only thing I have in common with my husband.
Some of the players I’ll be watching for:
Tony Pike out of Cincinnati. Myron Rolle out of Florida State C.J. Spiller out of Clemson Sam Bradford out of Oklahoma Brandon Spikes out of Florida Tim Tebow out of Florida Ndamukong Suh out of Nebraska Blair White out of Michigan State Maurkice Pouncey out of Florida State Jimmy Clausen out of Notre Dame Golden Tate out of Notre Dame Mardy Gilyard out of Cincinnati
Of course, there are many others as well.
I was going to a giveaway and I still am. I was going to have my readers look up this list of players on Monday and tell me in what round they were drafted, but I’m sure most of you don’t care. So, I think I’ll just randomly pick 7 people out of those that follow my blog publicly for a prize of either a bag of coffee or $5 in ebook bucks from All Romance eBooks. You will have your choice.
This is my own draft. At random I am picking people!
And don’t forget, Sweet Caroline will be available on Tuesday, April 27th! I know I’m looking forward to it! Are you?!
I’m so sorry I’m late with this today. I’ve gotten caught up with some writing (yay!), making a delicious and homemade deep dish chicken pot pie, wasting time on Tumblr, and reading. I’ve been reading a lot. Writing has been so super slow…worse than molasses. It’s driving me nuts and actually my feelings about it fit in with our Bring Me A Tissue theme today… just makes me want to cry!
