He’s Nekkid!

I mean, he’s really nekkid. This I did not expect. I’m not good at describing clothes, I think. But I like him, he’s very young, he is my hero, and I’m pleased. What do you think?

Did you know?

That I used to write under a different name?

Three Nights in Greece and Out of My League are the sole survivors. I love these two novellas!

A sexy LAPD detective helps heat up the Mayan Riviera and the nervous actress who hires him to be her acting partner. Lucy St. Johns wonders if Jack’s passion is real or an act? And Jack wants to know if the supermodel is simply out of his league? Amber Heat Wave Contest Winner 2005!

When Layla Swann signs onto a case to catch an antiquities thief in Greece, she has no idea that she’s in for the three nights of her life! Her new boss, sexy Irishman Kevin Conlin, may only need Layla to pose as his lover, but Layla has other ideas. Kevin Conlin can’t believe his poor choice of agents. Layla is everything he’s longed for in a woman, but she’s completely off limits. Three nights alone in a romantic setting isn’t helping either calm their intense desires. When they finally give in to their passion, a bullet cuts their romance short and their only chance for real happiness…

On Kick-Ass Heroines

I think we ask too much of romance heroines, I really do. I’ve followed a lot of reviews on Dear Author and similar sites, and one theme comes up a lot. Reviewers don’t much like it when heroines must be saved by the hero. Actually, they don’t seem to like it at all.

On the other hand, readers often say that what they look for in a man, and a hero, is a strong guy who will take care of them. Huh?

My husband complains about the real world equivalent of this all the time. Open doors? Or not. Pay the bill? Or not. Rescue you from the evil wizard, or let you fight your way out of the cave yourself. Okay, he hasn’t really faced that one.

I can’t stand romance heroines who don’t reflect anything close to reality. Hey, I live in New Jersey and spend a good amount of time in New York. I have a second degree black belt. Still, if I met up with a demon, I’d probably be a little frightened. I would want to call the cops, or the underworld equivalent of the cops. Kick-ass heroines who curse a lot and are always engaged in witty repartee with alpha heroes bore the hell out of me. Who do you know like that? It doesn’t ring true to me. Someone has to be a little beta for it to work. Preferably, vulernabilities all around, although I’m not looking for bleeding hearts.

Do you like kick-ass heroines? How would you define them? I really love Angelina as Lara Croft, but the men don’t stand up to her, and it doesn’t make for romance… What do you think?

How Soon is Now?

I’m not going to whine, I swear to you. I swear to myself. I’m journaling this to see if anyone who flits by here may identify with it.

How many times do you get to doubt yourself before you’re officially out of free passes? How often do you get to put off finishing a sequel because you’re afraid no one will like it? How much time are you allowed to spend wondering if you have any writing ability? What the hell will it take, or do these feelings ever go away?

Aspiring epublishing writer–pull up a chair. Unless you are one of those fearless know-it-alls, born on another star, composed of some miraculous DNA, you WILL face doubts. They can be summarized with my favorite childhood rhyme: no one loves me, everyone hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms.

So, did Ciar get a bad review? Nope. Did she not sell a book? No, she has two coming out at Samhain and one at EC pretty soon. Is it because she hasn’t broken in to NY publishing? No, she hasn’t really tried seriously.

See, I don’t think it’s about what happens to you. I think it’s that you hit stages, times when it’s time for a shift. I’m in a big one. I’m finishing up my final contracted work, Mayan Secrets. As I write the second half of that book, my mind is wandering down dangerous, dark paths. I’ve been here before, but the paths were simpler. Get published. Check. Switch companies. Check, check, double-check. Get something into print. Yeppers. Do it again. Check, check.

Now? A much bigger item on the list, one I’ve evidently written with magical ink. It appears, I cross it off, and it appears again. Write a non-romance. Or something that is romantic perhaps, but well, it’s not a romance. A fantasy. A big fat literary fantasy. How could I possibly think I’m capable of that? My inner Ciar, God bless her little snot-nosed soul, says so. At least, she knows I won’t crumble if it doesn’t work.

My question to you, readers and writers alike? Where are you? What’s next? And are you ready, should you actually succeed?

Review: One Night in Boston by Allie Boniface

One Night in Boston won my summer poll. Here’s part of the official blurb:
Can anything really change in 24 hours? Can everything?
Maggie Doyle is about to lose her home, her business, and her last grip on sanity unless she comes up with fifteen thousand dollars to pay off the bank. Her only option? Forget the pain of one life-altering night, find the stepbrother she hasn’t spoken to in years and ask him for help. Everything in Jack Major’s life is going according to plan. He’s rich, powerful, and about to marry Boston’s most successful attorney. There’s just one problem: he can’t seem to forget his first love, the one who left him in college after a whirlwind trip to Vegas with a secret she couldn’t trust him to keep.

It’s damned hard to review when you are also a writer. Really hard to put aside the “I wouldn’t have written it this way,” or “I really wish I could write like this.” Fortunately, I don’t write straight contemporary full length romances, so I had less of that going on this time. My real fear was that I wouldn’t like this book. I did. Here’s why I didn’t think I’d like it: the story is an old one, at least the basic idea. Woman is losing her home/business/inn/restaurant and the guy who wants to buy her out is the love interest. I know I’ve read at least ten books with this plot, but guess what? It usually works.

Second thing that troubled me: the hero and heroine don’t even meet for many, many pages. I usually hate that, and in truth, the first part of the book moved a little slowly for me. But by the time the characters met (and they did know one another in the past), I had a thorough understanding of their motivations, their backstories, and what they were up against in search of a Happy Ever After ending.

Ms. Boniface’s writing is very convincing. Once I got into this book, I really believed that Maggie Doyle was in pain, desperate to save what she’d scraped and scratched to build. I believed that Jack Major was a good guy caught in a world that didn’t quite suit him. I loved the character of Dillon, the “regular guy.”

This is a classic romance, in a sense one that could have been written anytime over the last several decades. But there’s an interesting twist. As much as this book is about loss, self-doubt, redemption, and finally, love, it is also about the definition of success. Maggie is a self-made businesswoman who is losing it all. Her stepbrother Dillon is a self-made businessman who has made it, but still has a hole in his heart. Jack, our hero, was born to wealth, but struggles to define himself in other ways. The way the three come together in forgiveness and a redefinition of family, trust, and belonging was masterful.

I judge a book partly by whether it resonates after I’ve finished reading it. My husband was all anxious for dinner, and I wanted a few moments to reflect on the book. I thought about it for a while. I had been drawn into Maggie’s world, and that says a lot.

One pet peeve: all the references to the Boston Red Sox. Don’t do that to a Yankees fan.

Best Ebook of the Summer! We Have a Winner

Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest! The winner is One Night in Boston, with an honorable mention going to Promise Me Forever. Again, I’ll buy and read the winner, and post a review here soon.

Allie Boniface, ONE NIGHT IN BOSTON, Samhain Publishing
Rebecca Goings, PROMISE ME FOREVER, Champagne Books

Drollerie Press Update!!!!

Please help spread the word. Any author who has submitted to Drollerie Press and has not heard back should resubmit! Deena had a computer glitch and lost submissions.

Dang, I’m a lone vampire

Everytime I take one of these tests, I end up an outsider. Am I trying to tell myself something? Dang.

You aren’t sure where you came from. Perhaps your sire did an embrace and run. Or maybe your sire was an outcast himself. Either way, your powers are unique and really don’t belong to any clan…or maybe a little from each. Because you of these circumstances, you aren’t really sure where you belong. You tend to wander and do a bit of soul searching in your eternal life. Maybe some day…you have a while after all. What Vampire Clan Do You Belong To?

New Release by My Pal Ann Lory!

Eternal Surrender, the third in Ann’s “Eternal” series is out! This one looks great, so check it out. And how about that cover? Love it.

When Alyssa meets Damian and realizes he’s vampire, she doesn’t hesitate attempting to put a stake through his heart. But after losing against his supernatural strength, she finds herself a guest in his home. Now she finds herself with a new dilemma: how the hell to resist him. He’s sinfully handsome and drives her mad with the urge to pummel him one minute and throw herself at him in the next, but she will remain strong. Vampires killed her family and she will not forget her vow to see them destroyed.

Damian was sent to kill Alyssa, by D’Angel, his maker, but after a glimpse and a taste of the young woman he cannot bring himself to end her life. Instead he brings her under his protection, whether she’s willing or not. If she were to face off against D’Angel as she intends, she’d be tortured in the worst ways the twisted D’Angel can think of.

Sparks fly with not only the wicked slash of words and flying fists, but with the heated passion the two try to deny each other. It’s only a matter of time before the walls start to tumble and they can no longer resist the urges for on another.

To keep her vow, Alyssa must face the truth: not all vampires are evil. She must put aside her hate and surrender to Damian, for all eternity.