Somehow I deleted Cynthia’s introduction when trying to update this section with the winner so I apologize!! 🙂

EDITED TO ADD: The winner (which I drew using random.org) is Michele!! Please contact me at katiereus (@) yahoo. com (no spaces or parenthesis). Congrats!!

Thanks so much to Cynthia for letting me blog with her today! The woman certainly knows how to throw a party 😉 I’m so excited for her release of Deadly Heat (which I’ve been impatiently waiting for after reading Deadly Fear)!

Today’s post is a little random but fun (I hope).

One of the most annoying things to me is when I get a completely ridiculous song stuck in my head. And I just keep humming or singing it all day or sometimes for weeks! My husband and I are always quoting Will Ferrell movies (I have a weird obsession with him) and if you’ve seen Blades of Glory you’ll know that Chaz (Ferrell’s character) is a ‘professional’ ice skater and is insistent that he and his partner going to skate to the song ‘My Humps’ by the Black Eyed Peas. That song is just so insane and makes no sense yet it crawls into your brain and sets up camp. Since my baby bump just popped (I’m pregnant with my first child, btw) my husband has been singing that song but replacing the words with ‘my bump, my bump, my lovely baby bump’. He changes the lyrics to a lot of songs and normally I think it’s hilarious but this time it’s driving me a little crazy because of the chosen song, yet I’m always humming it.

What does this have to do with writing or my recent release? Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to share some goodness about myself with you. So now you know I’m preggo and I love Will Ferrell (probably too much).

Writing is such a solitary profession so I love when wonderful authors like Cynthia let me hang out with them! This month I’m celebrating the release of my first book from Carina Press. This is the first release under my ‘Katie’ writing persona in two years so I’m very excited about it. It’s got danger and secrets (hence the title) and a very hot southern hero!

Dangerous Secrets Blurb:

Isabelle Ballantine has been fighting for independence since she was old enough to walk. Now that she’s finally out from under her father’s shadow, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. It’s tough living on her own, working in a bar and keeping her true identity a secret, but things start to look up when a sexy new stranger walks into her life. After working side by side for weeks, Izzy can’t figure out why he won’t make a move.

To cinch the deal of a lifetime, Adam Marcellus agrees to help Izzy’s eccentric father convince his daughter to move home. He’d assumed Izzy would be another spoiled rich princess, but he’s surprised to discover his feelings for her are stronger than anything he’s ever experienced. When a deranged stalker targets her, Adam finds himself fighting not only an unknown threat—but an unexpected attraction to the one woman he can’t have.

Thanks again to Cynthia for hosting me today! I love it when she has a blog party and since she’s been cool enough to host me, I want to offer a book from my back list to one commenter (check out my website for a complete list) who I’ll draw at random. Since this will be a digital giveaway the contest is open internationally (though void where prohibited). You have until tomorrow at noon (Eastern) to enter. I’ll announce the winner in the body of the post and in the comments section!

A little about me: I’ve been reading romance since I was a kid and the addiction stayed with me into adulthood. I write sexy paranormal romance and fast-paced romantic suspense. Dangerous Secrets is my first release from Carina Press (2/7/11) and in early 2012 my first book in a paranormal trilogy will release from Signet Eclipse (NAL/Penguin). To learn more about me please visit my website, my blog, or find me on twitter @katiereus.

First of all I want to thank Cynthia for letting me guest on her blog! Cynthia throws an awesome party.

Power of Attraction, book 1 in my Blackstone Haven series releases today. I’m here to share a little insight into my story with you.

There is a subtle rhythm that beats when you read. One you probably don’t even notice it.

From that first word of any book you read it pulls you in and takes you on a journey. Each step gives you various beat that resonate with you. That first blush of meeting and the little catch that you get when you read it. The foray of the characters as they do that dance of seduction which keeps your heart racing as you wonder when will they or will they at all. Then when they do you your pulse skyrockets with each kiss, caress and thrust as they come together. Then you go on the journey of their affair. The up rhythms of them getting to know each other after the sexual encounter. A laugh at their antics which makes your body move in time with them. That little sound you make as something they do pleases you. The humph as they act the fool. The sway as you enjoy this journey that makes you go up then down and all around. When that obstacle comes and your fist clenches while your heart wonders how can they fix this and the tears fall with the person most devastated after that moment. Then ultimately the triumph they get when they overcome it all to be together. Your soul rejoices and you love it. Once done you exhale and that dance is done at least until the next time.

All this is rhythms that comes from within. One that is individual as each of you. No two rhythms you feel are the same. Heck when you reread the book the rhythm changes. I love reading books and how it makes the rhythm of my soul move. And this is what I work for when I write. A rhythm that will resonate in a reader. Make them become part of the fabric of the dance I am creating in my story. Let me share with you the rhythms I feel when I write.

In writing Power of Attraction I felt that rhythm in each word. From the opening scene with Wesley McCarty my hero who fears what is happening to him. His not knowing and fear because of it makes me think of a pounding of drums driving him on. Peyton Blackstone my heroine has a feeling that makes her feel such joy and abandonment that she leaves her home and goes into the forest and dances under the stars. Her rhythm reminds me of a clarinet and sax being played in a duet each trying to get supremacy. But in the end they blend into a harmonious sound. When Wesley and Peyton met under those stars his drums meld with her clarinet and sax to create a sultry melody. Yet it is not to be and reality intrudes with a clash of cymbals taking them apart. Peyton clarinet and sax make sounds that will make you weep as she knows her life is about to change and she has no way of knowing in what way. She has to think of the legacy she must face. Wesley stands with his lone drum making a steady tap, tap as he wonders if he really losing his mind.

As the story progresses I felt the back beat of many rhythms that drives the story. Made it pulse in my soul as I put it on paper. It was a stupendous feeling. I’ve been called everything from writer, author, storyteller and all the in between. I am all those things and so much more. Of all the names I’m called I like to call myself … Rhythm Maker.

Here is a taste of my book.

Power of Attraction Mini Blurb – A woman whose destiny has been ordained from birth meets the man who has been prophesied for her–but there is more to him than meets the eye. With prophecies and legacies to fulfill, which way will she go: to a man who may be possibly her mate, or to a dark legacy that could take her life.

Excerpt for Power of Attraction:

Wesley was amused by the look of fury mixed with distress on Ian’s normally affable face. He turned, interested in seeing the person who caused such a reaction. Shocked emerald green eyes stared at him. His heart skipped a beat.

Wesley hungrily took in the woman from the forest. She was real. He wasn’t losing his mind. Unconsciously, he took a step towards her. She backed up a step.

Fury filled him. She had run from him once, and she wasn’t doing it again. With a determined stride, he closed the space between them and grabbed her arm. She tried to shrug him off. He changed his grip and yanked her against his body. A shudder racked him as their bodies touched. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla he had thought he imagined cloyed around them. He felt her shiver in reaction. Her eyes heated then went cool.

A click sounded behind him. Absently, he looked away from her compelling gaze. He stilled at the sight of the gun trained on him. The wrath in the other woman’s amber gaze let him know she was waiting for an excuse to blow him away. Her features, so much like those of the woman he held, told him they were somehow related.

The woman in his arms moved against him. The feel of her soft breasts against his chest drove all sane thought from his mind. He turned and jerked her up into his arms.

“Wrap your legs around me,” Wesley growled.

The woman’s eyes narrowed, but she clamped her legs around his waist.

“Don’t order me around.” Her husky voice stroked along his senses.

He put his face close to hers. “Don’t give me reason to.”

She jerked back. He clamped his hands on her ass to hold her against him. She stilled. Wesley gritted his teeth at the feel of her jean-clad mound against him. His mind flashed to the forest and their kiss. He saw the answering flare in her green gaze.

Copyright © Taige Crenshaw, 2011.
All Rights Reserved, Total E Bound.

Buy Here

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Taige Crenshaw is a multi-published author with books available at Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, Loose Id, and Total-E-Bound. Taige has been enthralled with the written word from time she picked up her first book. It wasn’t long before she started to make up her own tales of romance. With novels set in today, in alternate dimensions, or in the future she writes with adventure, fun sassy heroine’s, and sexy hero’s. Always hard at work creating new and exciting places Taige can be found curled up with a hot novel with exciting characters when she is not creating her own. Join her in the fun, frolic, interesting people and far reaches of the world in her novels. You can find out more about Taige at her website: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com  or blog: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog.

Update: And the winners are…

Congrats ladies! I will be getting with you in email soon to give you your prizes!

Zoe Winters, here.

The last time I was at Cindy’s blog, I talked a little about my then upcoming release, Save My Soul.

I had hoped to have the book out by Christmas, but things always take longer than I think they’re going to, so we’re about a month past that date. But it’s here now. 🙂

Cindy is coincidentally doing this Deadly Valentine event which made me think it was an appropriate thing to get in on since I wanted to talk about writing REALLY bad heroes.

I don’t know how many fans of Buffy are here, but I’m a big Buffy fan. In fact, I think a lot of paranormal romance authors started out as Buffy fans for some reason. I’d watch the show and think: “This is exactly how I think, I could have written this.” (Not that I think I’m as awesome as Joss Whedon.) One of the intriguing things about the show was that we were rooting for some really bad guys as romantic leads. First there was Angel, then there was Spike.

Both of them, being vampires, started evil, killing lots of people and having not an ounce of remorse for it. When Angel was cursed with his soul he felt guilty, but I don’t think Spike ever felt all that bad about the people he killed in his past. And why should he? Most people are meat-eaters, and we don’t mourn the cow and feel guilty every time we eat a cheeseburger.

But there is still this cognitive disconnect where we’re watching this stuff and we’re rooting for Spike or Angel and meanwhile they’ve spent over a hundred years each killing thousands of people. But we’re still wanting them to end up in bed with Buffy. Cause we’re crazy like that. Or because they are sexy beasts. One of those.

Save My Soul features an incubus who has been trapped in a house for fifty years. Before he met the witch who cursed him, he killed thousands of women over a 526-year time period. How do we forgive that and move past it and let him be a hero? Is it even possible with that kind of history? The fan response to Buffy makes me think, yes.

I think part of it is that he’s truly suffered for several decades being trapped in that house. He’s also had a very real change of heart with regards to the value of human life. When someone goes vegetarian, I don’t think the other vegetarians wag their fingers at them and say: “You evil former cow killer!” I think they’re just happy someone has become more sensitive to the suffering of other living souls. I hope readers feel the same way with regards to Luc.

I think another reason we can let Luc be a hero is that it’s not like he tortured and sliced and diced his prey. Every single one of those women “died happy” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Which doesn’t make it “moral”, but yeah. There are a lot worse ways to go out.

Luc represents the idea that you can start over and find redemption, which I think is also why we rooted for Angel, and later Spike on BtVS. And I hope it’s why readers will root for Luc.

This book has a lot of snark and humor in it, but it also has quite a bit of angst and drama. The book trailer (which I’m pimping everywhere) focuses on the latter:

Book Trailer: Save My Soul by: Zoe Winters from Zoe Winters on Vimeo.

Save My Soul is the second book in my preternaturals series, but it also stands alone. You won’t be the slightest bit lost if you read this one first. Here’s where you can find the buy-links for the digital book. (print available soon.)

I’m also giving away a signed print copy of Save My Soul to one reader. (U.S. only, please.) And I’ll give a digital copy away to one other reader (open internationally.) To enter, please leave a comment and let me know if you’re in the US or International.

Thanks for reading!

Update: The winner is…Missy V!

Today I’m interviewing multi-published author extraordinaire Denise Agnew.  Denise is a great lady who writes in a variety of romance sub-genres. Denise, thanks for participating in the interview!

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1. Why did you become a writer?

It’s simply in my blood and I’m compelled. I’ve been writing stories since I was fourteen.

2. Of all the books that you’ve written, which one was the hardest to write?  Why?

I think all my books are hard to write on some level. There will always be those times when I feel like I haven’t a clue what I’m doing and want to chuck it into the trashcan. The hardest books, though, are the ones where I’m deep into researching, and I’m more concerned with historical accuracy, etc. One of the most difficult I think was Meant To Be, because when I first wrote it close to fifteen years ago I was more concerned with conforming to category rules and I was writing it for a category line. I don’t do that anymore.  🙂

3. Now let’s flip it…was there one book that just poured out of you because the pages came so quickly?

No. I have spurts. In every book I will have these sections where the first run/draft is going so well and easily and then at some point, I’ll run into a rough patch that I have to find my way around.

4. What’s next for you?  Please share any projects that will be releasing soon.

The next story out for me that is already scheduled is the June 2011 release of BEFORE THE DAWN at Samhain Publishing. It’s a historical. HOT PURSUIT may also be out between now and then. It’s the last story in my Hot Zone military romance series at Samhain. In the meantime, I’m writing a trilogy that is definitely romance, but not like anything people have seen quite before.

5. What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

After you’ve listened to all the conventional advice, realize at some point it is your career and it’s got to feel right to you. Follow the rules to a point, but remember this is your career in the end and not anyone else’s.

6. Tell me about the darkest book you’ve written—why is it so dark?

The darkest book is actually coming up. I’m almost ready to start it. It’s set in 1918 and deals with a hero who has experienced shell shock/PTSD in World War I, and a nurse that’s also had her experiences seeing war in France. But they’re also in an asylum that has a haunted legacy. This is the second book in a series. It also deals with the influenza epidemic that occurred at that time and it’s dark because it was a particularly horrible time in our history that many people have completely forgotten about. Most people are totally unaware that it killed such huge numbers of people. I’d say second to that is Dark, Deadly, Love (Samhain) which is my tale set during the Jack The Ripper murders in 1888 London. I have more POVs in this book than I do in others, and the prostitutes who were murdered are a larger part of the story than people would normally expect in a romance. These books I’m describing are definitely romance…never fear. 🙂

7. Let’s lighten things up now…will you share your ideal Valentine’s Day?

A secluded resort cuddling with my hubby after a delicious gourmet dinner. There’s probably a bottle of champagne or wine in there somewhere.

Thanks, Denise!  Now…what’s *your* ideal Valentine’s Day?  Share and one commenter will win an e-copy of Denise’s book, FOR A ROMAN’S HEART (I’ll send it to you via Amazon.com so it will be the Kindle edition. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can use the Kindle for PC program–I’ve used that program so many times!)

Our WINNERS according to Random.org are:

1) The copy of Cynthia’s new release: DEADLY HEAT: #3, Theresa N.

2) The Dead Guy sticky notes: #8, Viki

Congratulations and thanks for playing everyone!

Hi, everyone! I am very excited to have debut Kensington Brava author Joan Swan as my guest today. Her upcoming Phoenix Rising series promises to be a perfect blend of the two genres I love the most: dark romantic suspense and sexy paranormal romance. Can’t wait to read them! Joan, thanks for blogging with me today!

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“I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.” ~Unknown

That quote is for Cynthia in relation to the tweet she posted yesterday about her son.  You’ll have to check your tweets if you don’t know what I’m talking about.  <VBG>

What do you think of when you hear Deadly Valentine? Cynthia’s topic had me envisioning complex posts of serial killers, stalkers or Valentine’s Day murders. Anyone else have that reaction?

As you can see…that didn’t quite work out. After searching and searching for an angle, I just couldn’t find any new, cool information to share with you in any unique way. And worse, the more I searched, the more I saw how Valentine’s Day was linked to Domestic Abuse. It seems to be the holiday of choice to gain followers in their fight against domestic and/or teen violence.

Don’t get me wrong — those are both issues worthy of exposure. My daughter experienced the darker side of a high school relationship that ended in a restraining order against the young man. Horrible, stressful, fearful situation for her and for us as a family.  But, I just haven’t been in the mood to get all dark and intimate with the serial killer psyche lately. Go figure.

So, this post is much lighter, yet still interesting–at least I hope you’ll find it so. You might even get a chuckle or two.

I’ve left out many, many tidbits of Valentine’s Day trivia.  Everyone who can add a trivia tidbit in the comments (hint–Google or something you already know) will be entered to win one of these two gifts:

1) A copy of Cynthia’s new release: DEADLY HEAT (either print or eReader)

2) The ceeeeutest little note pad I’ve ever seen: Dead Man Sticky Notes.

Valentine’s Day Trivia

• The condom company Durex reports that condom sales are 20-30% higher around Valentine’s Day
• On Valentine’s Day 2010, 39,897 people in Mexico City broke the record for the world’s largest group kiss.
• There is no one accepted explanation for the connection between St. Valentine and love.
• According to Welsh tradition, a child born on Valentine’s Day would have many lovers.
• The saying “wearing your heart on your sleeve” is from the Middle Ages. Boys at this time would draw names of girls to see who would be their “Valentine” and then wear the name pinned on their sleeve for a week.
• A kiss on Valentine’s Day is considered to bring good luck all year.
• Studies have shown that people are twice as likely to tilt their head to the right while kissing.
• Famous couples married on February 14th:  Elton John-Renate Blauel, Meg Ryan-Dennis Quaid, Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee and Sharon Stone-Phil Bronstein.
• Forty percent of the world’s almonds and 20% of the world’s peanuts are used by chocolate manufacturers for Valentine’s Day Candy.
• Men claim to prefer to received chocolates as a Valentine’s gift; women prefer dinner.
• Since the Aztec empire, chocolate has been considered an aphrodisiac used in the pursuit of love.
• Casanova, who enjoyed the title of “The World’s Greatest Lover,” ate chocolate to make him virile.
• There are towns in Texas & Nebraska called Valentine.
• There is a Love Valley, North Carolina, a Romeoville, Illinois & Loveland, Colorado.
• Each year 300,000 letters go through Loveland, Colorado, to get a special heart stamp cancellation for Valentine’s Day.
• In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.
• Venus is the Roman god of love and beauty.
• The red rose was the flower of Venus.
• Cupid is associated with Valentine’s Day because he is believed to be the son of Venus.
• Cupid is the Roman god of love. In Greek lore, Cupid is known as Eros.
• NECCO has been making heart-shaped valentine candies, with sweet sayings printed on them, since 1902.
• About eight billion candy hearts are made for Valentine’s Day each year.
• Nearly 10 new candy “conversation heart” sayings are introduced each year.
• Valentine candy “conversation hearts” have a shelf life of five years.
• In flower speak: Red means love, yellow means friendship, pink means friendship or sweetheart and lavender means love at first sight and enchantment.
• Red carnations mean admiration, white carnations mean pure love, red chrysanthemums mean love, forget-me-nots mean true love, primrose means young love, and larkspur means an open heart.

Share your Valentine’s Day trivia and WIN!!

*****

Joan Swan is a triple RWA® Golden Heart finalist, and a double Kiss of Death Daphne Du Maurier finalist. She writes sexy romantic suspense with a paranormal twist, and her first novel with Kensington Brava debuts April, 2012. Currently, she works as a sonographer at a one of the top ten medical facilities in the nation, and lives in magnificent wine country on the central coast of California with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not writing or working, Joan haunts the Twitterverse, runs her youngest daughter to the ranch to ride her horse, or texts her oldest daughter off at college.

You can find Joan here:
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