Romance so hot...it melts your Heart

Romance isn’t a Day … It’s a Genre

Well, I don’t normally post two days in a row, but then I realized it’s Valentine’s Day… the most romantic day of the year and what kind of a romance writer would I be if I didn’t acknowledge this day for lovers?

When I decided to start a writing career I could have chosen a different direction… children’s books, science books, text books… any number of genres were open to me as long as I had the drive to write about them.

But I chose romance. Why? Because I’m a sucker for love and the happy ending. I enjoy nothing more than getting swept away as the hero and heroine find their way through a sticky maze of conflict to end up in each others’ arms and find that fate meant all along for them to end up together. *sigh*

If there’s a murder or two in the middle and some danger, well count me in! I bow down to Sandra Brown, who, in my humble opinion holds the crown for incredibly sensual, dangerous reads. Though Suzanne Brockmann has also gotten my attention with her group of lusty Seals. Both these ladies are talented beyond belief. (And there are so many more that are on my keeper shelf Larissa Ione, Jessica Andersen and Anne McCaffrey to name a few more.)

Reading a good romance takes me back to my own journey of love–the rush of adrenaline seeing Mr. Nina walk into a room and the anticipation of his kisses–the gentle touch of his hand on the small of my back and the way he whispers my name–the smell of his cologne and the taste of him as his lips brush mine. Oh, you gotta love being swept away by all that.

Is our life all candles and romance? Umm… no. It’s messy and difficult and sometimes an uphill battle, but we persevere because beneath all that we love each other heart and soul. I’ve been truly blessed finding a once in a life time love.

Tonight there will be no dozen roses, no box of chocolates, no diamond jewelry… and no children. Just me and my man and a quiet night with chinese take out, some soft music and… love.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. I hope you get to spend it with the people that make you happiest.

Thanks for Visiting

Thank you to everyone who stopped on the Just Romance Me Valentine’s Blog Hop and commented on my story. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

And without further adieu the winner of my three book Tilling Passions
sexy romantic suspense series is:
Heather

GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the NOOK TOUCH for the hop is:
Yadira

And the winner of Ripe and Ready and a $10 Amazon Gift card, chosen at random with random number generator.com, from all the commenters on my short story is:
Victoria from
Glen Rock, PA

Congratulations ladies! I hope you’ll all join in the fun on the next blog hop.

A Man’s Sunday 2/12

Last week for Six Sentence Sunday I shared with you the opening of HEALER’S GARDEN, my futuristic erotic romance which introduced you to the heroine. (You can check it out here.) This week I thought I’d share my hero Brenimyn’s opening scene.

Damn, he’d been treading water a hell of a long time while he waited for destiny to change the course of his life.

Brenimyn didn’t enjoy these monthly exhibitions in front of the new female arrivals any more than he liked copulating with Kylie. Though she’d never admit it, she detested his touch, but he didn’t care. It was less confusing without emotions getting all tangled in their peculiar relationship.

Since arriving at the Garden three years ago, Brenimyn had become accustomed to arrogant women who thought they were the only intelligent creatures walking this earth. Kylie was a prime example of that conceited attitude personified.

Also available from Amazon

Thank you so much for stopping over. I always appreciate your comments. Click HERE to check out other authors participating this week.

Hopping to Valentine’s Day

Welcome to the Just Romance Me Valentine’s Blog Hop!. Lots of authors offering lots of prizes. If you’ve stumbled here without jumping on the bus, I would suggest you start HERE. Anyone completing the whole tour has a chance to win a NOOK Touch E-Reader filled with books from participating authors and all kinds of prizes along the way!

As in hops in the past we were offered a word generator to help us write a Valentine’s romance story for our visitors. A roll of the dice and we’re given three characters, mine were a BANKER, A COWBOY, and A BASEBALL PLAYER. I need to work in the adjectives PICKY, FAMOUS and ANGRY. And the whole scene needs to take place in a TAXI CAB. Well, okay, here’s my Valentine’s story writtene especially for my visitors. Please enjoy …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The taxi driver set the gray-haired woman’s two oversized suitcases on the sidewalk of the Plaza hotel and handed the happy chihuahua’s leash to the doorman. She folded two bucks in his hand with a wink and a smile as if the five percent tip were an overpayment. He bent and kissed her on the cheek. “Happy Valentine’s Day Mrs. Bozeman. I hope you enjoy your second honeymoon with your beau.”

A sweet blush crawled up her cheeks. “Forty-seven years ago today Mr. Bozeman asked me to be his girl. Pinned me right there in the hallway before he went on to win the high school state basketball championship.”

He already knew that. “I suspect he’s thinking he won a whole lot more.” He bent and kissed her velvet cheek before climbing back into the taxi cab. Mikal rarely came to earth in human form, but today Cupid’s army worked special magic on lost souls and broken hearts. And every once in awhile they got to check on some of their most successful cases. 

“Mister, hey mister.” The young boy dressed in a cowboy outfit standing on the sidewalk and banging on his passenger window couldn’t have been more than eight or nine. “I need your help.”

He rolled down the window. “I’ve got someone to pick up, kid.”

“You can’t. I’ve got something important for you to do. Real important.” Determination furrowed his brow.

Mikal had a schedule and with only six more hours until the portal closed, he didn’t really have time for complications. He absently picked up the Starbucks cup, a double iced cinnamon dolce latte with whipped cream, his one vice whenever he had to hang out on earth. He shot the kid an indifferent look. “Where do you need to go?” Children were Gabriel’s problem, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t get this lost kid back to his parents. 

“You really drive this thing? I mean, I don’t mean to be picky or anything, but I woulda thought angels could fly or something.”

Mikal choked, whipped cream spraying on the steering wheel. “What did you say?”

He leaned into the car through the open window. “Listen, I saw your glow from upstairs. And all these people are going all gooey when they see you.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder as an angry couple stopped, looked at each other and apologized, falling into a hug and deep kiss. The kid was right. It was part of the magic he’d been gifted.

“So if you’re not an angel,” the boy said. “Then I’m expecting the Men in Black to show up any minute.”

No one but the dying and animals usually saw him. But this kid had certainly piqued his curiousity. “No aliens here. Get in.” He flipped the roof light off so people wouldn’t try to jump in with them. ”What do you need?” he asked as the boy climbed into the front seat. “Are you mooning over some girl and you want her to pay attention to you at recess?”

The kid rolled his eyes. “Think I’d bother you for something stupid like that? Sheesh, it’s my parents. My mom came here to talk to my dad. He’s a famous baseball player.” He shrugged. “She doesn’t know I know. I mean, he doesn’t live with us or anything and I’ve never met him, just what I see when we watch his games.”

“But she told you about him?’

“Nah, she told me my dad and her were divorced after she became a banker. That was awhile after I was born. But the way she said it, I never really believed her. I found some letters from him last year hidden in the back of her closet.”

“You shouldn’t be snooping in someone else’s stuff.” Mikal took a deep pull of his coffee.

“I wasn’t. Honest.” The boy studied him. “You don’t have any connection with Santa or anything do you?”

Mikal swiped his mouth with the back of his hand to hide his smile. “No, different cloud entirely.”

“K, well then the truth was I was looking for something.” He shrugged. “It’s not so much that I miss having a dad, but my mom, she’s so sad all the time.”

Mikal sensed there was something the boy wasn’t telling him, but he waited him out.

“I have cancer,” he said it so quietly as if the disease were his fault. Mikal could barely hear him over the rush of the traffic in the street. ”I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die and I don’t want my mom to be all alone. I went looking to see if I could find something. And I came across all these gooshy letters and stuff from a guy named Kurt. He never mentioned me. I’m thinking he doesn’t know he has a son.” He toyed with the zipper on his windbreaker. “Kurt Dittrich is my mother’s favorite Yankee. She cheers for him at every game.”

“I’m not sure how I can help.” Mikal worked miracles, but not in such a short time if they were in different cities.

“You can help by making sure they fall in love again. Dur!” He shook his hands in the air. “What’s your job anyway?”

Mikal couldn’t help but laugh. “To bring people together. But they’ve got to at least be in the same place.”

“Yeah, well my mom’s here and my dad’s on his way.”

“How do you know?”

“I wrote to Kurt Dittrich and told him I was sick and I wanted to meet him and I’d be here at the Plaza today. Then I asked mom to take me to a broadway show on Valentine’s. She thinks I’m down here talking to the doorman and getting a cab.” His small hand wrapped around Mikal’s forearm and he covered it with his own, healing flowing directly into the child. The boy looked at their joined hands and smiled. “You just gotta use your angel magic and make them fall in love. Please, you just gotta. It’s my only chance.” Tears welled in his eyes.

“Jon! Jonathon Leavy!” A pretty blond in jeans and peacoat hurried out of the hotel. “Have you seen a little boy about this tall?” she asked the doorman.

“There she is,” the kid said. “Help me, please. Don’t let her leave until he gets here. Break your engine or something.” He opened the door and hopped out. ”Please.” He waved his arm toward the door. “Mom, I’m right here.”

“Jon, you scared me right to–” She started toward them and barrelled into a man with a baseball cap and sunglasses, his head down. Their collision nearly knocked the woman over, but his strong arms wrapped around her waist and held her.

The man took off his glasses, his gaze going soft. “Kate? Kate Leavy?”

“Kurt Dittrich? It’s been … it’s been a really long time.”

“Yeah it has.” He brushed the hair from her face. “And you’ve grown even more beautiful.”

Even Jonathon could see the sappy way his mother looked at the man and he was pretty sure it had nothing to do with him being a famous baseball player. The angel had done his job. He turned to give him a thumbs up, but the taxi cab was gone. And he suspected … so was his cancer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***  THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED  ***

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you have a wonderfully romantic Valentine’s Day. And if you’ll leave a comment between now and 7 pm EST SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 and tell me something you find sappy and romantic about Valentine’s Day. I’ll choose one lucky commenter for a $10 Amazon gift card and print copy of Ripe and Ready, the erotic romance anthology that includes my novella Divine Deception.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your hop!

  

Is it Possible to Have TOO Much Sex?

Okay, I’m not talking personally … Mr. Nina would simply not be happy if I had that conversation in public … I’m talking in your reading material.

Okay, don’t laugh. I know I’m an erotic romance author. I know my characters have a whole LOT of sex, but when you pick up an erotic romance book the first word sort of cues you in as to how often the characters will be “doing it”. But what if you’re not reading an erotic romance? What if you’ve picked up the latest contemporary romantic suspense? Then how do you feel about it?

I’ve noticed in the last few books I’ve read that the hero and heroine, once they allowed themselves to do the horizontal mamba once … they just kept going at it. In between fighting the villain and discovering the mystery of who was trying to kill the heroine, they kept falling into bed. I actually found myself flipping pages to get back to the story. I just didn’t think the sex scenes added to the story. And these weren’t just a little kissing and grabbing and then fading to black, it was the whole shabang.

But ya know … hollywood is doing the same thing. There seems to be so much more titillation on television and in the movies. The actors must just have their body doubles on-call for every movie. Nakedness and sex seem to be expected in every blockbuster. So I’m just wondering if authors are writing the story as they feel it needs to be written or are publishers asking for more sensuality? Have readers come to expect more sex in their romances? Short of reading YA or Inspirational, should readers be ready for the sexier scenes in their romance stories?

How do you feel about it? As a writer are you happy about this apparent trend? As a reader how are you reacting to stories with more loving? Because you know me, I’m curious about stuff like this.

When Emotions Steamroll Professionalism

A very wise priest once told me “Emotions are never right or wrong … they just are”.

Ain’t that the truth? We have no control over how we feel about a situation. But we DO have control over how we behave in light of receiving bad news or discovering offensive information. Too many people forget to step back and reassess a situation and their own reaction before pushing forward and steamrolling over someone else’s feelings. There is no need to attack a person/people when in reality it is a situation that is really the root of the problem.

At the end of last week a decision was made by an RWA chapter that caused a firestorm of controversy. I was the unfortunate witness to the degradation of professionalism by writers who chose to make the discussion a personal crusade rather than a discussion about bringing about change. I’m not saying everyone mind you, but I was surprised at how many people lost their focus and allowed emotion to overrule their common sense and understanding of others’ feelings.

Am I saying that we should walk away from controversy? Hell no. I love a lively discussion (what others may consider an argument). I don’t shy from conflict … or stating my opinion. I honestly believe if more people spoke their mind there would be fewer people feeling like they are never understood. Nothing burns my butt more than people asking for ideas and I’m the only one to speak up and the group thinks they have to do something my way because no one else says anything. So no, this isn’t about sharing your opinion or ideas. This is about doing it constructively. When my emotions are tangled in a situation I know it’s important for me to step back and make sure what I am saying is adding something to the solution, not just fueling the controversy. Nothing ever is solved by people fanning an ember of discontent, it creates nothing but a conflagration of mean-spirited finger pointing.

And finger pointing never solved anything.

Fortunately, the RWA chapter in question has backpedalled and solved the problem for themselves. I’m just not sure how long we’ll feel the repercussions of the personal attacks by many who chose not to remain professional. This past weekend has certainly been a sad lesson in human behavior for me.

A Futuristic Six 2/5

Welcome once again to Six Sentence Sunday where I share with you six sentences from one of my books. This week’s selection is from the opening of Healer’s Garden, a full-length futuristic erotic romance novel.

In the time it had taken to do the retinal scan, Jahara Hriznek’s future had been stolen from her.

As she stood at the tall bank of windows staring at the distant mountains, Jahara knew nothing could change this new course of her life. She felt the hollow reality as obviously as the barren expanse of desert stretching between her and the horizon. There was nothing to breakup the monotony of the landscape. Nothing to take her mind off the inevitability of the days to come. Nothing to bring back the future she’d thought lay before her when she woke this morning.

This book is bargain priced at AMAZON

Click HERE to check out other authors participating this week.

Bodice Rippers … Seriously

This is one of my favortie posts from years past. Since I’m taking an unexpected trip home for family business, I don’t have time to come up with something original for my blog. I hope you’ll enjoy this post from a few years ago…

We’ve already established. I read ROMANCE. I write ROMANCE. I’m not ashamed. I don’t hide it and frankly I don’t care if other people think I’m some bimbo whose not capable of understanding a complex sentence or able to string more than three words together without giggling. What I choose for relaxing has no bearing on whether I can discuss the latest green technology or cook a seven course meal (which I can’t, but that’s not my point).

So the romance genre gets a bad rap. Who cares? Get over it.

There have been blog posts in the past where people have lumped the whole genre under “Bodice Rippers“. The outcry from romance authors was a firestorm of indignation. Comments posted on the blogs went viral. I couldn’t understand why it mattered. Granted, the term Bodice Ripper seems to originate from a 1980 New York Times article:

“Women too have their pornography: Harlequin romances, novels of ‘sweet savagery,’ – bodice-rippers.”

It no doubt was spurred on by images of covers like those above (which I love, thank you very much). It’s meant as a derogatory term. Yeah, so? Some people don’t like romance. Like this guy who thinks romance is disguising itself as thrillers, suspense and paranormals. Um, no buddy, romance stories ARE thrillers, suspense and paranormals. But you know it’s okay if he doesn’t like romance. I don’t like Dr. Pepper, rude people, documentaries about wars or men named Charlie (that last one I just made up). Sue me. Point is, Dr. Pepper commercials will never appeal to me no matter how much dancing, cute puppies or sexy men are involved. They aren’t going to get me to buy their product.

Not only do I write romance, but I go even deeper into the red-headed stepchild realm by daring to write smut porn erotica. And no matter how much someone might like romance stories (despite the fact that even mainstream is becoming hotter and hotter) there are some who wouldn’t pick up an erotic book if George Clooney said he’d read it to them. Frankly, I’d let George read me my grocery list … but I digress.

I’ve had people look down their nose at me and claim I write Smut. “That’s ROMANTIC smut actually.” See? I don’t care. When someone says they wouldn’t like my stories because they don’t read that. I smile and tell them “oh, but you’d like mine”. Okay, maybe not the erotica, but still, I’m proud of what I write. I’m happy to be part of the biggest market share of the publishing industry.

An English professor at the university I attended a few years ago said “Hemingway is way up here. We’re somewhere down here. Our goal is to improve in writing so we’re somewhere in the middle. That means we’re successful.” Ummm, excuse me? Hemingway died a lonely alcoholic at his own hand. Most people read his stuff in high school or college classes and never think about it beyond the test. That’s really not what I’m striving for. I want to entertain, to sweep readers away on a fantasy and if I can create memorable characters along the way that wiggle their way into the reader’s hearts … all the better. Yeah, I’m quite happy being part of the Bodice Ripper genre thank you very much.

Does *FREE* Cheapen the Value?

Yes I’m an author. I love writing books. It’s what I do. But as I’ve said over and over and over again, being a writer also means I am the publisher and the marketing department for many of my books.

It still eludes me exactly what makes a best seller in this market. It’s not only a great cover and catchy blurb. Not just wonderfully well-written story and great reviews. It’s not social media and guest blogs. You know how I know that? Because none of that is working for me. Been there. Done that. Have the bruises to prove it.

So I’m trying something new. I’m giving away one of books for FREE. That’s right, “BLIND HER WITH BLISS” is now free on Smashwords and All Romance Ebooks. And as soon as Barnes & Noble and Amazon catch up (translation: until they figure out I’ve got it for free somewhere else and price match) … it will be free there as well. How long will I keep it free? I’m not sure. What I do know is that many, many authors with free books are seeing them fly up the lists. No, I won’t be making money, but perhaps readers will find my book. And when they find the first book in the series I’m hoping it will lead them to DECEIVE HER WITH DESIRE and CHEAT HER WITH CHARM, the other two books in my sexy romantic suspense series. “Blind Her” will become a loss leader and hopefully making me money by being available for free.

Now there are A LOT of authors trying this strategy. The KDP Select Program through Amazon offers authors the ability to offer their books for free for 5 select days without jumping through hoops and trying to price match. The problem is the book can ONLY be available at Amazon for 90 days. Anyway, with all the books available for free, readers can’t possibly read everything they’re downloading onto their kindles and nooks. And some readers have come to believe that free=unedited crap.

I’m hearing more and more people who say they download free books only to get through a page or two, perhaps a chapter before discovering the book was never edited. And since more and more of these books are out on the market many people think it’s giving self-publishing a bad name. Or worse, that authors are selling their hardwork short and not giving it value.

Kristen Lamb wrote a very long blog post about the FREE! phenomenon. You can read the full article HERE. Go on, take a minute and check it out, I’ll wait…

So what do you think? She makes some valid points. But I don’t know if anything is going to change with the free phenomenon in the publishing world any time soon. This whole book selling thing is a business. That means owners (authors) need to find a market for their product (books). If this means passing out coupons for a free sample, then why not? I wouldn’t mind getting a free bottle of Lemon Fizzle Soda. I enjoy a lemon wedge in my cola, but I’m not sure if I’d like it flavored like that. But I’d be willing to try it especially if the company offered it for free. Who knows I might fall in love with it and go out and buy their cherry, vanilla and regular flavor Fizzle Soda because it was so good.

So that’s what I’m going to try. Just a chance for readers to try my books without investing a whole lot of money. Will it work? I don’t know. I’d like to think readers won’t turn their nose up at it just because it is free. It’s hard to know. But since this whole thing is one big experiment, I figure it can’t hurt.

In the meantime, I’m waiting quite impatiently for the proof copy of “Dangerous Affairs”. The print version of the three “Tilling Passions” books together under one cover. ====> I. CAN. NOT. WAIT!

 

Where’s Nina?

I’ve got a busy day scheduled and I hope you’ll join me.

First I’m hanging at I Write Hot chatting about “BLIND HER WITH BLISS”. (Though it’s not really considered erotic romance, it’s a little too steamy for their I Self-Pub.) This is a new site that is just getting up and running. I hope you’ll stop over and help me support them and their efforts to get the word out about erotic romance and self-published books.

I’m also spending the day at Coffee Time Romance Blog. I’ll be hanging out all day giving away books and goodies and having a generally wild party. I hope you’ll stop over and join me.

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