Category: Give-Aways

Kimberley Troutte Visits Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Kimberley Troutte joins us on the blog to celebrate her first sale to Samhain Publishing. Way to go, Kimberley! Kimberley’s blogging about Getting the Call and her paranormal romance ebook novella, SOUL STEALER.

SOUL STEALER Blurb:

When Death falls in love with a saint, there’s holy hell to pay.

Sara Lane expects to die young, but when the time comes, she’s not ready. She needs two more weeks to finish a homeless shelter before winter sets in and people die on the streets. Who does a girl have to sleep with to live a few extra days?

How about the sexiest, most dangerous of all bad boys—Death himself?

Cain’s job as a designated death dealer is clear. Kill and move on. Don’t get attached. Don’t feel. But when Sara pleads to cut a deal for more time, Cain is tempted by an unexpected craving for this beautiful, courageous woman. As their lips meet, her life force shakes him to his bones, seals the bargain—and breaks all the rules.

Keeping Sara alive is a dangerous proposition. The Powers That Be are furious and unleash bloodthirsty demons to steal Sara’s soul from Death—the one man who’s hell-bent on saving her life.

Warning: This book contains the sexiest of all bad boys, a woman desperate to get what she wants, deadly soul-sucking demons, surprise visits by Biblical characters, frog grenades, very bad dogs, sacrifice, redemption and eternal love.

Read an excerpt on-line.

Tomorrow, please leave a comment to enter to win an ebook of SOUL STEALER. Entries will be accepted until midnight, March 23rd, Pacific Standard Time.

About Kimberley:kimberley_troutte

Kimberley Troutte was born a writer. Creating stories seems to be an unusual part of her genetic make-up. If she didn’t get those words on the page her head would probably explode. Happily, she writes everyday. Along the way to publication, she has been a substitute teacher, caterer, financial analyst for a major defense contractor, aerobics instructor, real-estate broker, homework corrector and caregiver to all the creatures the kids/hubby/dog drag in. She is living her dream with her husband, two sons, one dog, the goofiest goldfish still alive, and three snakes in Southern California.

To learn more about Kimberley and her books, please visit her website.

Welcome Guest Jan Scarbrough

RESEARCH IS FUNscarbrough_pic1

My husband tells the story about going into a cubicle at work to see the ladies in accounting. We were dating at the time. The ladies asked him, point blank, if he was the model for all my romantic heroes and if he helped me research the love scenes. As he tells it, he blushed mightily and ducked out of the cube FAST!

That kind of exploration is fun. But investigating a book can open your eyes to other things too, which can be fun as well. For my recent release, KENTUCKY COWBOY, I learned about the Professional Bull Riders—scarbrough_ridingabout bull ropes and suicide wraps, “rank” bulls like the famous and dangerous Bodacious, and courageous cowboys like Ty Murray and the Brazilian Adriano Moraes.

Researching meant my husband and I had to take many enjoyable field trips to see PBR events. That’s me riding a stuffed bull at a competition in Nashville. How do you like my form?

Bull riding is “America’s original extreme sport” and it’s no job for the faint of heart. Like my hero Judd Romeo, the cowboys are in it for the love of competition and the love of the sport.

scarbrough_cowboy_coverCome to think of it, that’s why I write romance. It’s not because I enjoy deadlines and the editor’s edits. It’s certainly not because of the money. I write romance because that’s who I am—a writer. And I choose romance because I like happy endings. Too much in life is not happy and a good romance novel can take us away for a while and make us forget our problems.

KENTUCKY COWBOY is part of my series called Bluegrass Reunions:

They thought the boys they loved were out of their lives. They were wrong.

KENTUCKY COWBOY: She dumped him in high school because he was a risk-taker. Available in various electronic formats and in paperback in March 2009.

KENTUCKY WOMAN: She had his brother’s baby, but never forgot him. Available now in e-formats from Resplendence Publishing.

KENTUCKY FLAME: She had his baby and he left not knowing the truth. Available in May 2009.

I hope you join me in Kentucky—even if only through my books. And I hope you have fun when you research—no matter what kind of research you do!

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Please leave  a comment or question for Jan to enter to win an ebook of KENTUCKY COWBOY (available formats: Adobe PDF, HTML, Microsoft Reader, Palm-Mobipocket, Rocketbook, Fictionbook, and Blackberry file formats). Entries accepted until midnight PST.

Please visit yesterday’s post to read the back cover blurb for KENTUCKY COWBOY and to check out Jan’s bio. To learn more about Jan and the rest of the books in her Bluegrass Reunions series, please visit her website.

Jan Scarbrough Blogging Tomorrow

Resplendence Publishing author Jan Scarbrough visits the blog tomorrow to talk about researching her December 2008 release, KENTUCKY COWBOY, the first in her new Bluegrass Reunion series. Jan will give away an ebook of KENTUCKY COWBOY to a winner chosen at random from the Comment trail, so if you’ve yet to try an ebook, now’s your chance!

Blurb for KENTUCKY COWBOY:

A contender for the world title, professional bull rider Judd Romeo defies death for a living. Now he must deal with the death of his mother by settling her estate. Returning home to Kentucky, he runs smack dab into the arms of his high school sweetheart, a woman he has never forgotten. Veterinarian Mandy Sullivan learned early on that risk-takers are trouble. Having custody of her sister’s child, she is working hard to be both mother and father to the abandoned girl, and doesn’t count on trouble showing up next door.

Mandy discovers she can’t avoid the famous cowboy she’s never quite put out of her mind. When Mandy’s sister comes back threatening to take away the little girl she loves as her own, will Mandy realize Judd is not the same man he was back then?

About Jan:scarbrough_pic

A professional technical writer by day, Jan Scarbrough spends her nights writing romance. She is a member of Novelists, Inc., the Romance Writers of America, and the Kentucky Romance Writers, where she manages their award-winning web site. Jan has written for Kensington and ImaJinn Books, and currently has contracts with The Wild Rose Press and Resplendence Publishing. She is the mother of two grown children and is a very “young” grandmother. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and rides American Saddlebred horses for fun and recreation.

To learn more about Jan and her books, please visit her website.

Guest Blogger March Madness

When I first began hosting guest bloggers, I thought it might be a cool idea to host up to one guest per week. And I always have a good time with my guests, but four guests per month is a lot of work. I realized this when I hosted three guests in February. If three guests is a lot of work, then four is even more so, right?

Right.

Because I not only have to coordinate, format and schedule the blogs, I also feel duty-bound to promote the heck out of them and to stick around the office the date of the blog in the event the guest needs me (like when my spam filter went gonzo a couple of guests back).

So Guest Blogger Madness continues, and it’s March, so I’m dubbing the month Guest Blogger March Madness. I have four guest bloggers in March. Two have already visited. The next two are visiting on the next two Mondays (the 16th and 23rd). After that, well, I’m taking most of April off. Only one guest scheduled to appear that month. Then three in May. June and thereafter, I plan to narrow the schedule to no more than two guest bloggers per month. That’s a schedule I feel I can maintain without feeling too restricted by, well, a schedule.

However, next year, depending how I’m feeling, I might go all out for March. If I’m going to host Guest Blogger March Madness, why stop at four guests for the month? Why not host two per week? Eight for the month? I’ll truly be mad by the end of it.

Good idea, bad, indifferent?

How do you feel about guest bloggers? I enjoy interacting with the new commenters who visit during my guest blog dates, and I enjoy getting to know the guests in the weeks preceding their dates. But there are sooooooo many opportunities to guest blog out there… Do you feel inundated with opportunities to visit guest blogs and possibly win free books? Would you rather I keep to my vow to restrict myself to no more than two guests per month come June? Or do you like the guest bloggers, even if you don’t always comment or have a chance to visit?

Now’s your chance to help mold my actions for the remainder of the year and next March.

Welcome Guest Blogger MJ Fredrick

I LOVE ROMANCEfredrick_pic

I love romance. I love it in everything.  I just, in fact, had a dream where Anthony DiNozzo from NCIS, was falling for his partner (NOT Ziva). The tension was terrific (yes, I know, my dream). This is a guy who doesn’t go looking for love, and watching him fall was so much fun.

I love the build of the romance, I love the tension, I love the balance a writer has to find—don’t pay it off too soon, don’t pay it off too late. (In the book I’m listening to, I’m afraid it’s dragged on too long. It’s an older historical, though, so it makes sense in the context of the time, but still….)

All the shows I watch, except Supernatural, have romance in them. In fact, to get me to watch a show, just mention the romance subplot and I’m there.

fredrick_hotshot_coverI’m judging a contest, and got the single title category. The first two entries I read didn’t introduce the hero. They were great stories, well written, but no hero. The third entry not only introduced both the hero and the heroine, it gave them a past. I was so hooked.

Whether I’m reading or writing it, the story flows best when the hero and heroine are on the same page, interacting in whatever manner. The first romance I read as an adult separated the hero and heroine for pages and YEARS. And then there was DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, remember that? How long were Clair and Jamie apart? 20 years? My heart broke for the time they lost.

I made some of the same mistakes in earlier versions of HOT SHOT. I sent Gabe out on heroic deeds and left my heroine back in camp, anxious to write about it secondhand. Oh, no, no, no. That did not work. I revised so that Peyton, my heroine, witnessed Gabe’s actions firsthand. This helped her understand him better, helped her understand the very heroism she’s writing about. Separating them from the rest of the crew was an even better chance for their romance, for their sexual attraction, to blossom. The more time they spend on the page, the more I believed in their love. I knew they would get their happily-ever-after because they worked for it on almost every page.

What brings you back to romance novels? The happily-ever-after? The journey? Do you have to have romance in the books you read and the shows you watch?

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Leave a comment to enter to win a print copy of HOT SHOT. Entries accepted until midnight PST.

To read MJ’s bio and the back cover copy of HOT SHOT, please see yesterday’s post.

To learn more about MJ and her books, please visit her website.

MJ Fredrick Guest Blogging Tomorrow

Tomorrow, please welcome contemporary romance author MJ Fredrick to the blog. MJ’s blogging about why she loves romance and is giving away a copy of HOT SHOT, which recently released in print from Samhain Publishing.

Back cover copy for HOT SHOT:

Peyton Michaels expected her assignment to be simple—write an article about everyday heroes. Heroes like Hot Shot firefighter Gabe Cooper. She never expected to find herself running up a mountain, a wildfire nipping at her heels, her life in his hands.

And she never expected to be drawn to Gabe. After the loss of her husband in the line of duty, the last thing she wants is to fall in love with yet another man who routinely puts his life at risk.

Gabe has had enough of women who want to make him into someone he’s not. Women like his ex, who couldn’t handle the heat of his job. Like Peyton, who sees him as a hero when he’s just a man doing a job. Except time after time, the pesky reporter proves her mettle. And gets deeper under his skin.

But there’s an arsonist at work, and danger is closing in with the speed of a raging brush fire. Peyton and Gabe have to dig deep for what it takes to be a real hero—to find the courage to reach out and grab a forever kind of love. Before it’s too late.

About MJ:fredrick_pic

MJ has been writing forever. In elementary school, she wrote plays and pseudo-Trixie Belden mysteries. After fifth grade, she wrote her first romance, a Grease rip-off. She continued writing serialized stories throughout high school, then went to college and got married. After her son was in kindergarten, she started writing again and joined RWA. Four years later, she got serious and buckled down. Two years after that, she finalled in RWA’s Golden Heart in 2003, and the ball started rolling. Even that wasn’t the magic touch, and MJ finalled three more times before selling in 2007. After completing 20 manuscripts, her first two books were out within two weeks of each other, and both have firefighter heroes! WHERE THERE’S SMOKE is in print from The Wild Rose Press, and HOT SHOT, a romantic suspense, from Samhain Publishing has just been released in print. MJ also has a Wayback Texas story from The Wild Rose Press in ebook and an essay in IN THE HUNT, Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural, available March 2009. Her next book, BENEATH THE SURFACE, her 2007 Golden Heart finalist, will be coming from Samhain summer 2009. 

Visit MJ at mjfredrick.com and marywritesromance.blogspot.com.