Release Day!

Hey all! I'd be remiss if I didn't at least pretend to be half-decent at self-promo and mention I have new book out today. Headstrong is now available as an e-book from Samhain (and via Kindle and Nook, though Samhain has the best price at the moment.) It's a full-length contemporary love-triangle romance. Here's the blurb:

Libby Prentiss is ready to simply be herself. After half a lifetime rebelling against her privileged family’s expectations, she hopes her biological research trip to New Zealand will cut the cord for good.

It doesn’t take long to spot the hopelessly amateurish spy her overprotective father has hired to keep an eye on her. Fortunately, Reece Nolan’s desperation to save his family’s pub makes it all too easy to convince him to turn double-agent. Yet there’s something different about him. His icy reserve sets her on fire…and ignites a secret yearning to let him see the mass of insecurities she hides behind her provocative persona.

Where Reece is a glacier of cool self-control, his brother Colin is a hot-blooded, unpredictable volcano. Libby’s instant friendship with Colin is more satisfying than anything she’s ever known—and traps her in completely foreign territory. She’s caught between one man determined to hold her at arm’s length, and another who offers her the intense connection she’s worked so hard to avoid.

Something’s got to give or the fallout could tear them all apart…and put the Nolan family’s future in serious jeopardy.

If you'd like to read an excerpt, you can find one on the book's Samhain page. Thanks for your attention! We will return to the Kung Fu reviews and creepy man-lusting and recipes shortly.

Six Sentence Sunday #17

This week I thought I'd pretend I'm remotely good at self-promo, and share six sentences from my December 27 Samhain romance release, Headstrong (aka the New Zealand love-triangle book). The basic deal: Libby Prentiss has an unrequited crush on Reece Nolan; Reece's brother Colin has an unrequited crush on Libby. Colin is bartending at the Nolan family's pub, and Libby is sitting across from him.

From where he leaned against the back counter, Colin flung a coaster at Libby that bounced benignly off her forehead. She raised her chin to fix him with a stare, and her wide lips twisted into a haughty smirk. Colin was willing to bet this was exactly how her face would look as she coaxed the zipper down the front of his jeans.

“Don’t make me hurt you, Nolan.”

He flashed her an unapologetic grin. God, if only.

Thanks for swinging by, everyone! Now head here to check out all the other Six Sentence Sunday excerpts this week.

Six Sentence Sunday #8

Greetings again, intrepid sixers! One final excerpt from my evil twin Cara's brand new release, Curio. Oh yes, the Parisian man-whore book is finally out, and available through Kindle, Nook, and direct from Ellora's Cave, if you're intrigued. Or go see what readers have to say about it on Goodreads. Right. Requisite promo done. Now, on to the good stuff…

As I took my final breath, knuckles poised to knock, the door swung in.

Didier was taller than I’d anticipated. He was more of everything than I’d anticipated. Which is saying a lot, because I’d purposefully built him up in my mind, so grand he could only fail to measure up and hence give me permission to do as I always do and declare myself above the bothersome magnetism of lust.

But Didier did not disappoint. My mouth went dry and I must have looked stoned, standing there with the blank expression I rely on when desperately trying to appear unaffected.

Thanks for stopping by! Now head here to check out all the other Six Sentence Sunday excerpts this week.

Man-whore release day!

Hey all! My evil conjoined erotica-writing twin Cara McKenna has a new book out today! It's called Curio, and it's as romantic as it is filthy, so I am deigning to endorse it. This is the so-called "Parisian man-whore book", with the virgin heroine and the male prostitute hero, and you may have caught some snippets from Six Sentence Sunday posts of late. If you'd like to read more, here's the official excerpt. And here's the blurb:

Caroly Evardt never expected to find herself patronizing a male prostitute. Then again, she never expected to be weeks from her thirtieth birthday and still a virgin.

When a friend mentions that a gorgeous male model in Paris sells his body as well as his image, Caroly’s intrigued. Finally, a chance to sample the gifts of a beautiful man—no strings, no stakes, no fear of rejection.

But she soon discovers that Didier Pedra amounts to more than a striking face and talented body. He’s a kind, charming, damaged man, and after a few evenings of pleasurable education, Caroly’s interest blossoms into something far deeper than mere lust. Her simple arrangement is suddenly feeling downright dangerous…

If you're interested, you can buy it here (and on Amazon, B&N, All Romance eBooks, etc. in the coming days). Five bucks for several hours with a French prostitute! What a deal! It's also on Goodreads, if that's your scene.

Thanks for sitting through the promo!

Mah latest book, you can has!

I'll keep the self-pimpin' brief. Samhain released my latest romance today!

It's called Trespass, and it's about a woman on the run from the law after a crime of self-defense. She takes shelter in the home of a stranger, deep in the heart of Montana's ranch country, and much lust and betrayal ensues. It's been getting shelved under such awesome Goodreads categories as "hot-cowboy-lovin" and "cowboy-stud-fever", but I feel obligated to point out to any true cowboy fetishists, Russ is technically a large animal vet. Though he does own horses and the requisite hat. Here's the official blurb:

He opened his home. She stole his heart…and his money.

Many would envy veterinarian Russ Gray’s life in rural Montana’s wide-open spaces. Russ calls it lonely. In a country with more cattle than eligible females, he doesn’t envision his seven years as a widower ending anytime soon. Until a mysterious woman lands at his door in the dead of night, riddled with buckshot.

Sarah Novak hates lying to such a kind, handsome man, but if an upstanding citizen like Russ finds out why she’s been three weeks on the run, he’d surely turn her in. Yet she can’t refuse his offer to let her stay until she heals, no questions asked.

From the start they fall into an easy companionship, then teasing flirtation flares into an unexpected intimate connection. But no matter how right it feels in his arms, guilt tugs at Sarah’s heart. Russ doesn’t deserve what she must do next.

When Russ wakes up with an empty bed—and an empty wallet—his first instinct isn’t to call the cops…it’s to catch her and find out why his urge to protect her overshadows all reason. Because he’s had a taste of real passion, and he’s not letting it slip away without a fight.

If you want more details or an excerpt, check out Samhain's Trespass page, where you can order and save 30%. It's also available through the Nook and Kindle. You can read an early review here.

Six Sentence Sunday #1

Six sentences from my July 26 release from Samhain, Trespass.

She regretted what she’d done back in Buffalo, and until this morning she thought she’d never regret anything that badly for the rest of her life. But this, seeing the kindest man she’d ever met so clearly disappointed and untrusting… Right now she’d give anything to fix what she’d wrecked, or maybe to have never crossed paths with Russ Gray in the first place. He deserved her like he deserved a kick in the teeth, the way she deserved a second chance—not at all.

Sarah watched him clearing the dining room table as she settled into the blankets, and she saw the biggest regret of her life standing there by the window. She had another urge to run, run far and fast until her lungs burst, if only to stand a chance of forgetting what they’d had for two glorious nights, the thing she’d wrecked, just like she’d known she would.

Head here to check out all the other Six Sentence Sunday excerpts.

Skin Game is out now!

Forgive me as I channel my evil conjoined erotica-writing twin Cara McKenna yet again, but her honking big weird-ass magnum opus is out today! Skin Game is now available direct from Ellora's Cave, and in the coming days it will also come to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, Fictionwise, and many other vendors. And in a few months it will also be available as a paperback! For interested parties, here's the blurb:

Seven days, seven challenges. Twelve strangers. Eight thousand cameras. Only one winner.

Welcome to The Ant Farm, a social study in the wilds of interior Alaska, documenting the dynamics between a dozen competitors as they take part in a series of physical and psychological face-offs. With five hundred grand up for grabs at the end of the battle royal, the stakes are high and the tension blazing.

Could the seemingly mild-mannered nice guy win it all? The cutthroat alpha female? The strongest or the smartest, the idealist or the cynic? It’s anyone’s guess as teams are undercut by alliances, loyalties tendered and tested, and passions enflamed by both affection and animosity.

In this contest where even knives and guns are fair game, sex may prove the most dangerous weapon of all.

Reader Advisory: This book features the recreational use of illicit substances, and non-explicit references to childhood abuse and trauma. It also features an unlikely mix of romance, lust and hate-sex, plus a ton of way crazier crap that the author delights in not preparing you for.

I hope you'll check it out! I'm not sure I've ever been this excited on a release day…or at least this unafraid. The book's a bit odd, but I wrote exactly the story I wanted to, so if people don't like it, I can only shrug. I have no regrets. Plus luckily I'm busy at a conference this weekend, so even if I were tempted to, I can't sit in front of the interwebs, nervously refreshing and awaiting reader ratings and reviews. However, I am looking forward to snooping around on the book's Goodreads page in the next week or two, to see if readers comment about which characters they hope or think will win, as they're reading…

Again, here's the buy link. Enjoy your weekends!

Skin Game

Giveaway!

Just wanted to share the new ad for my evil conjoined erotica-writing twin Cara McKenna's upcoming release, Skin Game. It's sort of a weird mix of Lost and Survivor and the Stanford Prison Experiment, plus a bunch of nasty outdoor sex crammed into a hefty, extra-long ebook package. It's out next Friday, but I'll be busy at the RWA New England Chapter's annual conference (go NEC!) all weekend, so forgive the advance BSP. Click on the ad if you want more info!

And why not, how about a giveaway? Leave a comment before noon EST on Thursday, April 28, and I'll pick a random winner to receive the book the day it comes out! Go ahead, go nuts.

Release day, wooo!

Feels like I just had one of these a couple of weeks ago…oh wait, I did. But publishing is nothing if not stormy and spastic, so here we are again in the midst of my feast (famine to commence shortly, I'm sure).

So The Reluctant Nude is out today from Samhain! It's a contemporary romance about an unorthodox affair between a no-nonsense ecologist and a hot-blooded French sculptor, sequestered together one autumn in the artist's studio on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I'm very proud of this story. It's very me, as an author…quiet and intimate and a bit wonky. Fallon, the heroine, is waaay out of her element, and as a result she's wary and irritable and defensive. The hero, Max, is somewhat eccentric and occasionally galling, as provocative as Fallon is guarded. A match made in my own twisted idea of heaven.

I was going to make a big to-do, maybe post a recipe from Nova Scotia or Britanny, France, as there is a lot of food and wine consumption in the book…maybe talk about my Cape Breton honeymoon in 2009 which completely inspired the story…well, the setting, not the plot… But on second thought, I'm exhausted from the week already, so I've decided to keep the pimping minimal.

Ah, Cape Breton in autumn! Photo ©Dave MacDonald

But I must spew forth my thanks! Thanks to you future readers, and thanks to the book's very first readers, MB, Amy and Liz. Thanks to the judges who deemed it worthy to final in the 2010 Golden Heart, gigantic thanks to my editor Anne Scott for choosing it and making it stronger, to Kanaxa, who designed the beautiful cover, and to the kind reviewers who've weighed in on it so far.

Actually, I will dwell on the reviews. I've taken to forcing my forthcoming romances on my RWA chaptermate Penny Watson, and so far she's enjoyed them both, despite her repeated claims that she doesn't like contemporaries. She promised if she hated the book she'd diplomatically keep those feelings to herself and not review it on her blog, but as it turns out, she loved it! You can read her review here.

And this morning I woke up to an equally kind and thoughtful review from Smexy Books. Apparently I made both reviewers cry, which is pretty delightful since so often it goes the other way 'round for us authors.

Anyhow, for more information (blurb, excerpt) or to buy direct and save 30%, you can check it out in the Samhain online store. It's also available for Kindle and Nook, and come February of next year it will be available as a paperback.

That's enough for now. Thanks for swinging by on this exciting day!

A thousand days later…

I won't ramble on and on, but I wanted to share that it's my very first [official] romance release day! Caught on Camera is out from Harlequin Blaze today. It's actually been out for a couple of weeks on eHarlequin, but now it's available everywhere as both a paperback and e-book, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and maybe even in bookstores (not sure—haven't gone out to hunt for it in the wild yet).

I haven't popped champagne for a release day since my first erotica release in February 2010… But I think today I'll relax my what's-woot-worthy policy and celebrate. After all, this is a day I've been dreaming about for exactly 995 days—since I first opened a blank Word doc and began to write my very first romance. Wow, from zero-to-mass-market-published in just under a thousand days! That's kind of cool.

I'll be cracking open the champs around four this afternoon, and also cracking open my iPad and celebrating with some Angry Birds Rio. A big thanks to everyone who made this day happen—my husband, my beta readers Jen and Amy, Blaze editors Laura Barth and Brenda Chin, my RWA New England chaptermates (I utlimately sold the story based on a two-sentence pitch at our 2009 conference), Les Stroud and Bear Grylls, and all my awesomely supportive family and friends, both tangible and digital!

Quick additonal note—I was recently invited to guest post on the RT Book Reviews blog, so I'm over there today, chatting about my personality disorder. Er, my writing.