Yes, it’s that time again. The holidays are here (and my house is a mess–gah!).  But, as I’ve done for the last few years, I wanted to take a few moments and talk about holiday giving.

No, not giving to your kids or your partner, but giving to the strangers that you don’t know.  Times are tough right now and you may not have a lot of spare money to give to others, so I wanted to focus today on gifts that won’t actually cost you anything.

First up…baby, it’s cold outside! (Yes, it’s even cold way down here in Alabama.)  Do you have an old coat that you aren’t using any longer?  Please consider donating that coat.  So many organizations are running coat drives right now.  Heck, a McDonald’s close by even has a coat donation box set up! Just look around, and you’ll be able to find a charity or business that will gladly accept your coat.  And if you’d like, you can always donate that coat to the Salvation Army.  They will take it with a smile.

Second, speaking of the Salvation Army…if you’re like me and you need to clean your house for the holidays, then why not clean and organize at the same time? Those toys that your kids don’t use any longer, those clothes that are too small for them–why not donate those to the Salvation Army?

Third, do you have some extra canned goods in your pantry? Come on, we both know you aren’t really going to eat those peas.  Give a few cans to your local homeless shelter.  A few cans can really make a big difference.

Fourth…think of those close to you.  Sometimes, we don’t realize there are people who need us–people who could be right next door. Do you have an elderly neighbor who may be celebrating the holidays alone?  Why not bake her (or him) a batch of fresh cookies? Yes, even the baking-challenged (like myself!) can whip up something semi-edible.  Besides, here, it’s really more the thought that counts–um, though the taste is important, too.

And, finally…click to give.  Do you have five seconds to spare?  If so, then visit the Hunger Site.  Once click will provide 1.1 cups of food to those who need your help.

If you have ways to give that you’d like to share, please do! Happy holidays!

I’m guest posting at Amberkatze’s Book Blog!  Come on by to learn all about my writing life–and, of course, to win a prize!

Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased ETERNAL FLAME!  I hope you enjoy Zane’s story!

And if you haven’t purchased it, then I’ve got a new excerpt for you. 🙂  I’m in the author spotlight over at RT Book Reviews, and I’m sharing a new ETERNAL FLAME excerpt. I’m also talking about why I like monsters in my men.

One more bit of news…my editor told me that I’LL BE SLAYING YOU sold to Germany–yay!  Can’t wait to see Dee’s German cover.

I’m also working on some Christmas plans for the blog, so stay tuned.  There could be presents coming your way.

Today is the release day for my latest paranormal romance, ETERNAL FLAME. (Yay!!! Buy, read, give it as a gift to a friend you love dearly!)

Blurb:

No one that deadly should look that good. Hybrid demon Zane Wynter specializes in tracking the most lethal criminals, whether human or Other. But Jana Carter is nothing like his previous targets. She’s an Ignitor, able to conjure and control fire. She’s also sexy beyond belief—and used to playing dirty…

Jana knows she’s being set up. She even knows who’s responsible: Project Perseus, a secretive group that plans to rid the world of paranormals by any means necessary. From Louisiana’s sultry swamps to its desolate cemeteries, Jana and Zane must race to destroy the mastermind behind Perseus before their world goes up in flames—and with it, a desire that burns too hot to resist…

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You can read an excerpt here.  And, for viewing fun, here’s a trailer for ETERNAL FLAME:

And I’m out celebrating the release today–you can find me over at Bitten By Books starting at noon (Central time). I’ll be sharing a character interview with Zane at Bitten By Books–and there will be prizes! Yes, prizes! Like a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate. So come on by!

I’m also hanging out Among The Muses today (thanks to Tanya for the invite). I’m talking dark inspiration and giving one commenter an autographed cop of ETERNAL FLAME (or any Cynthia Eden book that you’d like).

Thanks so much for checking out my release post. Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Hey, everyone! Today, I’m turning my blog over to Zoe Winters. Have fun, Zoe!

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Somewhere along the way vampires evolved from Nosferatu to Ian Somerhalder. Yeah, I’m confused, too. But it’s a happy, drooling kind of confusion. Werewolves underwent the same transformation. Instead of paranoid guys with pentagrams on their hands that turned into big ugly beasts, they became hot, magnetic alpha males who more often turn into actual wolves when they shift.

Demons are now no different. My upcoming book, Save My Soul, features an incubus named Luc that has been trapped in a house by a 50-yr-old curse. The heroine comes back to the small town of Golatha Falls for her father’s funeral, to discover he’s left her everything. (Which is quite a lot as he’s the CEO of a very large company.) The first thing she buys? The gorgeous antebellum home she’s loved since childhood.

Since the house turns out to already be inhabited by a demon, well, wacky hijinks ensue.

When I started writing the book, my husband was out of town a lot. So I’d be writing, usually late at night, and then have to go sleep alone. Truthfully, in the beginning, Luc scared the crap out of me. I don’t know if it was the ick-factor of writing about demons, or the creep-out factor inherent in the fact that the house is based on a house in my town, and practically the whole plot fell into my head when I was driving by it one day. But either way… I had a hard time sleeping at first.

That was before I really got to know Luc. He loves to cook and watches the cooking channel nonstop. He seems to fancy himself the Emeril of the demon world. He’s also a crazy antiques-fiend. If you get Chinese food on one of his tables or hammer a nail into the wall, he completely flips out. Which is funny, since the only known way to break the curse and get him out of the house is to burn it down. Half a century trapped can make a demon truly neurotic.

Luc is definitely not a fluffy kitten. He’s got his darkness and a big dose of scary to go with it, but learning of his love of cooking and antiques softened him and made it much easier for me to sleep while writing the book.

Is he a care bear? Not exactly, though these are probably care bear qualities. When writing paranormal romance there is a very thin line to walk with heroes between evil, and wimpy care bear. I hope I’ve walked that line successfully.

I hope to release Save My Soul by Christmas. And no, I don’t even have the cover art to show you yet. So why am I already here going on about this if I have nothing new to give you?

I’m gearing up for the release of Save My Soul with a newsletter subscription drive through the end of this month.

The rules are simple. Send a blank email to newsletterdrive@gmail.com

You’ll be subscribed to my newsletter (which you can later unsub from if my writing isn’t right for you or you just don’t want the newsletter), get a free digital copy of Kept (where this series starts out), and be entered to win 10 paranormal romance books in paperback. The winner gets to choose the books!

You can also enter the secondary contest where I’ll be drawing 10 winners to receive a signed print copy of Blood Lust, which is an anthology of my three novellas: Kept, Claimed, and Mated, OR a signed print copy of Save My Soul when it comes out.

For full contest details and rules, please visit my blog: http://zoewinters.wordpress.com (Post stickied to the top)