New Reviews!

Taking You Home by Cooper Davis receives 5 Nymphs from Literary Nymphs! See the review here. Buy the book here!

Shelter From the Storm by Samantha Sommersby receives 4 Cherries from The Long and Short of It! See the review here. Buy the book here!

Playboy Prankster by Pamela Britton receives 5 Hearts from The Romance Studio! See the review here. Buy the book here!

Need You Now by S.L. Carpenter receives 4 Cherries from The Long and Short of It! See the review here. Buy the book here!

Collateral Damage by J.L. Saint receives 4.5 Nymphs from Literary Nymphs! See the review here. Buy the book here!

Noble Blood by Dana Marie Bell

Nobility has its privileges…and its price. Sometimes it just sucks.

The Gray Court, Book 2

For Lord Duncan Malmayne, it was love at first sight with his true bond, the lovely half-Sidhe, half-leprechaun Moira Dunne. Yet something is missing from his relationship with the fiery redhead, something that prevents him from completing the Claiming and making Moira his forever.

As problems multiply in what should be a magical, idyllic time, the depression weighing on Moira’s Sidhe heart signals a potentially devastating condition. Mate sickness. Her instinct tells her what’s missing: Jaden Blackthorn, Gray Court vampire, Duncan’s bond brother and closest friend—who tactfully withdrew from their lives after Duncan declared his love.

Jaden is both heartbroken and elated that the two people he loves most in the world are together. It’s best he cut off all contact to give them space to complete the Claiming. But trouble is brewing in the Malmayne clan, and when Jaden’s forced back into their lives by the Hob, their extremely rare tribond clicks with a reaction that’s swift, sensual and all-consuming.

But not everyone looks upon it as a blessing. In fact, the price of their love could be a potentially fatal shift of power…

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Product Warnings

This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, and M/M/F love scenes between a Sidhe lord, a vampire and a leprechaun. And no, that’s not the start of a dirty joke no matter what my Beta readers said.

 

Yes, you will be rejected.

One of the hardest things for me do to is reject my own authors. Authors I have contracted and worked with and have fallen in love with their voices and stories.  But the sad truth of it is, you can’t slam one out of the park every time. It just doesn’t happen. To anyone.

There aren’t always a lot of reasons for the rejection, either. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. Sometimes it’s as simple as “I didn’t love it enough”, or “I just didn’t connect with it enough”. How do you explain that to someone? How do you give them feedback on that? You really can’t. Unless I fall in love with a story, I won’t contract it. I’m not going to fall in love with every story I read, no matter who it’s by.

The majority of times I reject something submitted to me by an author I’ve worked with, it’s because I just didn’t LOVE it…but I can’t tell you why. Most of the time I can’t put my finger on why I don’t love it. There’s just something missing from it for me. As with all other editors, we’re only allowed a certain amount of slots a year/per month, which means those slots are very very precious to me. I can’t fill them with things I don’t absolutely fall head over heels in love with.

When your editor rejects you, it’s not personal. Please remember that. It’s one of those crappy parts of our job we hate. And trust me, we all anguish over it.

Oooh, Reviews

I love bragging on my authors and “my” books, so here’s your latest dose. =)

4 stars from Sensual Reads for Forbidden: The Temptation by Samantha Sommersby

4 Wine Glasses from IRead Romance for Going Down by Shelli Stevens

A “The Keeper Shelf” rating from IRead Romance for Bear Necessities by Dana Marie Bell

5 Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies for Somatesthesia by Ann Somerville

A great review from Romance Reviews Today for Dante I by S.J. Willing

Release Day!

Today is the release of one of “my books”, Lost and Found by Kelly Jamieson. The story line was so inconvetional, I knew I had to have it. Just one of the many reasons I love being in digital publishing – we can take so many more risks on what we buy. This one has already gotten a 4 out of 5 review from RT Reviews, too!

Trust me, you’re going to want to go pick this one up.

To find happiness, first you have to find yourself.

Krissa has always been the responsible one. Driven to fulfill her mother’s abandoned dreams, to make her husband Derek happy. She’s brought that single-minded determination to the one dream she has for herself—a child. Except she and Derek can’t conceive, and Derek refuses to consider using a stranger’s sperm. The result? Guilt that her desperation is causing their marital rift.

The last thing they need is a long-term houseguest, but Derek’s best friend Nate, a nomadic photographer recovering from a career-threatening eye disorder, has nowhere else to go.

Nate thought his friends’ home would be a temporary haven from the grief that has dogged his heels since his wife died. Instead he’s in the middle of a marriage in meltdown. Soon their friendship develops an underlying hum of forbidden sexual tension. When Krissa proposes a wild idea—that Nate be their sperm donor—Derek has an even wilder proposal: bypass the fertility clinic and accept Nate’s donation straight from the source.

At first, Krissa believes she’s on the fast track to having her dream. But it quickly becomes clear that when the heart gets involved—and secrets are revealed—the simplest of arrangements can become entangled beyond belief. Or repair…

Warning: This title contains a man who’s lost, the woman he finds, sizzling ménage sex, tender romantic sex, love lost and love found.

What I’m Reading

For pleasure, not for work. =)

Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli = I was in Barnes & Noble last week and my first stop is always the bargain books up front. I came across this bio of Elizabeth Taylor and picked it up. I’ve always thought that she was one of the most beautiful women to grace the earth with her presence, and I love reading biographies. Plus, when I was little and my grandpa and grandma gave me a bunch of old (and I mean old) books that were up in their attic, a picture of Elizabeth Taylor fell out of one of them. My grandpa had used it as a bookmark.=)

Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions by Joyce and River Higginbotham = I’ve been reading a lot on paganism and Celtic paganism lately. It’s always interested me, and I think it’s time for some sort of change in my life.

The Pact by Jodi Piccoult = My mom lent me this one after we talked about powerful writing. Jodi is definitely a powerful writing. I’ve never read this one, but I’ve heard the rape/child molestation scene in it is very powerful stuff that had my mom sick to her stomach and bawling. I haven’t reached that part yet, but if an author can do that to me (since my mom tends to be more emotional and “affected” than I), they have me hooked.

What are you reading?

I Updated!

Yes indeedy. I updated my “Books I’ve Edited” and “Coming Soon” pages. =)

On the Books I’ve Edited page, I took the thumbnail pics of the covers out. They’re too many of them now and the page is just going to get too big/long. So, if you click on the name/author of the book, it’ll take you to where you can look at the beautific covers our artists have created for your viewing pleasure!

Go forth, peruse, and buy!

Kindle Winner!!

First off, I want to thank everyone for participating. The amount of responses was overwhelming and it’s taken me hours upon hours of sitting on the couch and eating white chocolate covered Oreos to get them all logged in. No, really. It’s been some back breaking work here, people. =)

I hope everyone who participated got the chance to find a new author they’ll love. That is, after all, one of the biggest reasons for holding the contest.

And, since I know you’re all dying…the winner is…

Lesa Koscielski!!!!

I’ll be sending the Kindle off later this evening! Again, thank you to everyone who participated and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Kindle Contest Day 19 – Samantha Sommersby

Please welcome Samantha!

1. What is your favorite thing about the colder weather?

All the great food I get to cook. I live in southern California, so we don’t experience a drastic weather change. But in the summer I do a lot of grilling and cooking with fresh vegetables from the garden. In the winter I make more soups, stews, and roasts. Having grown up with cold New England winters that always makes me feel nostalgic.

2. What kind of books do you like to curl up with on a cold day?

Hot vampires and shape-shifters anyone? Seriously, my favorite thing to read is urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Although I also read a fair amount of thrillers and mysteries.

3. What is your favorite holiday food?

A pork stuffing that my Irish/Polish grandmother taught me how to make. I make it every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. Yum!

4. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Our annual Christmas Caroling party. For the past 16 years we’ve hosted a party before Christmas and it’s become a tradition that many of our friends and family members have come to enjoy. Folks arrive around 5:30-6:00 pm and we ask each of the guests to bring an appetizer to share. After an hour or two of cocktails and appetizers, we all go out into the neighborhood and sing our hearts out. We live in an area where there’s a combination of old residential homes and businesses. We’ve been doing it long enough we actually get asked by local business owners when we’ll be coming and some of them have hot chocolate (some have brandy) ready for our little group. After our trek everyone returns to our house for dessert, coffee, and more holiday cheer. We have a blast.

5. Be honest, how much do you decorate for the holidays?

The house gets decorated for the holidays the Thanksgiving weekend. We go to Mission Hills nursery to pick out our tree the day after Thanksgiving and while other folks brave the crowds at the mall, we play Christmas music and decorate the house. The tree goes up in the living room, lights go up on the outside of the house, we hang fresh garland and a wreath on the door, then more over our fireplace behind our stockings. I love the siding in the living room  in front of the fire at night and looking at the tree.

Scavenger Hunt Question:

Wesley Atherton, the hero from Samantha Sommmersby’s The Sacrifice is a…

a.      Sharp-shooting Navy Seal

b.      Knife-wielding shrink

c.       Spell-casting sorcerer

The answer can be found on Samantha’s website.

Click here to submit your answer.

Kindle Contest Day 18 – T.A. Chase

Please welcome T.A.!

1. What is your favorite thing about the colder weather?

Ha..you’re kidding, right?  I’m not a cold weather type person, but I guess if I were forced to answer, it would be, cuddling up with my SO under some blankets in front of a roaring fire watching movies.

2. What kind of books do you like to curl up with on a cold day?

Mysteries, Fantasies and those sub-genres in Romance

3. What is your favorite holiday food?

Hmmm….that’s a tough one, but I guess pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream.

4. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Gathering with the family on Thanksgiving for dinner and football.

5. Be honest, how much do you decorate for the holidays?

If I had a choice, I wouldn’t decorate at all. Not because I don’t like holiday decorations, but because the place I work at usually decorates at least two weeks before Thanksgiving and by the time I’m done with that, I really don’t want to do anything at home.

Scavenger Hunt Question:

What is the name of the story on T.A.’s blog right now?

The answer can be found on T.A.’s blog.

Click here to submit your answer.