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!

What would you like to know/learn/hear about?

2. Lady Gaga. I adore her, really, but last night’s performance was “eh” for me. And the subcutaneous implants….really? I’m not digging them. At first I wondered if they were real, or some sort of makeup thing, but then when they showed her in the audience with the black hat and strapless dress, it looked like there were some healing wounds on her shoulder/collarbone area. Oh Gaga, really?

3. I’m finishing up edits today on a super-awesome book by Shelli Stevens…Seducing Allie. Let me say this, you must buy it for the hero. Clint is…well, damn, he’s HAWT! Really super duper hot. I want one of him.

4. Today is Valentine’s Day. Yes, notice I didn’t even think about it until number 4. Just not my thing. It never really has been, actually. Maybe if I had some crazy awesome romantic thing happen to me on V-Day I’d think differently. But, nope. My crazy romantic stuff has been not-so-romantic sounding for most people, and it’s been really random. Which I think is best…when you don’t expect it. =)

5. I’m trying a new receipt for dinner for a turkey breast in the crockpot. It uses butter, white wine, salt and pepper and onions. I didn’t have any onions on hand so I used onion powder instead. Yeah, I cheat. And that’s cheating in a way I don’t really like to cheat in, but oh well. I wasn’t about to go to the store just to get an onion. That would require real clothes. And socks. And shoes…and, well, leaving the house. I’m just not up for that today. I’d rather sit on the couch and work in my comfy cozy PJs with my Notre Dame fleece blanket, and my cats. Oh, and the hubby. Can’t forget about him over there across the room. Yup, he works from home too.

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…

1. Get back into shape.

2. Swear less.

3. Go through the house and organize, dejunk, and declutter.

4. Force myself to get on more of a schedule.

5. Be faster at reading submissions.

6. Blog regularly!

What are some of yours?

5:20 AM = Wake up to go pee. Realize alarm is set for 7:47 AM and I still feel insanely tired.(I have a weird thing about setting alarms and will only set them on an end digit of 1, 3, 7, and 9). Reset alarm for 9:01 AM.

9:01 AM = Alarm goes off.

9:05 AM = Start coffee.

9:07 AM = Check e-mails to make sure nothing crazy urgent is in there.

9:15 AM = Drink coffee and make protein shake for breakfast.

9:16-9:45 AM = Exercise on bike while watching Sunday night’s Sister Wives on the DVR.

9:46 AM= Drink bottle of water.

9:47-10:00 AM = Shower and dress.

10:01 AM = Settle in to start work for the day.

10:30AM – 12:00 PM = Talk on the phone with the best boss in the word, Lindsey Faber.

12:01-12:05 PM = Make another protein shake and drink it.

12:06-1:15 PM = Answer e-mails, get caught up on the Twitter world, edit, read blogs, etc.

1:16 PM = Hubby complains that back is still hurting so I call to make him a doctor appt. for the afternoon.

1:17 PM = Head upstairs to put makeup on and attempt to look presentable.

1:25-2:00 PM = Edit.

2:01-3:30 PM = Take hubby to doctor, where I read submissions on my Sony Reader the entire time, then go to pick up all of his wonderful drugs.

3:31 PM = Arrive home and make some nachos for a snack before dinner.

3:33 PM = Hubby tells me that he forgot to tell me that we have dinner plans with a friend at 7:00. Great.

3:35 – 6:45 PM = Edit, answer e-mails, etc.

6:46 – 10:00 PM = Have dinner and drinks with friend.

10:01 PM = Arrive home and change into PJs.

10:02 – Midnight = Watch House and work on Content Editor Handbook.

12:01 AM = Go to sleep to read Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead.

And then, I wake up today to do it all again. Thank god, today I have NOTHING to do other than work. No dinner to go to, no hubby to take to the doctor…I don’t even have to change out of my PJs. Yeah, today is a MUCH better day. =)

So, hit me up with your ideas for a contest! Quickly! The sooner I get awesome ideas, the sooner I’ll pick on, and the sooner someone can win all these wonderful goodies!

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.

1. Foodie books a la Lousia Edwards. I love her “A Recipe for Love” books, and I’d love to see some contemporary foodie books. And when I saw foodie, I mean I want the details. I don’t want books that contain food. =P If you don’t know anything about being a chef, catering, how a restaurant runs, etc. then you probably shouldn’t even think about writing a book like this. =)

2. Harry Potter with a twist. I love the world Harry Potter is set in, I love the wizardry, I love the fantastical story/stories. I would LOVE to see something like this, only with adults instead, since Samhain is currently not accepting any YA materials. And when I say adult, it doesn’t mean add a bunch of sex scenes into it. No, that’s not want I want. Heck, there doesn’t have to be any sex in it at all, but it needs to have romance in it. Come on, you can do it.

3. Stories with a Pagan theme/character/s. No, not the Harry Potter type of magic. And really not “magic” as people think of it as all. I want to see people following real Pagan and Wiccan traditions. Blessed be. =)

4. The ’60s. I LOVE the 60s. Whenever someone asks me when I feel I should have lived, I always answer the 60s or the 20s.  Give me Timothy Leary and Haight Ashbury, Grateful Dead, Janis Jopin, The Doors and Jimi Hendrix. Give me Woodstock. Give me the protests. Give me free love.

5. The ’20s. I love the 20s. Prohibition and flappers and gangsters….love it. There is a Purdue Bar in my town called “Harry’s Chocolate Shop” that is just steeped in history. Back during Prohibition, they turned it into a chocolate shop, but there was a trap door in the floor that led to an underground speakeasy. That same trap door is still there in the middle of the floor, except now they use the area for a cooler and storage. All of Harry’s shirts that you can buy say “Go ugly early.” The majority of people who see the shirts or don’t know anything about Harry’s think it’s some sort of drinking slogan. Nope….it was the password to get into the speakeasy during Prohibition. =)

6. Civil War/Underground Railroad/interracial. Oooh, this could really be a good one if done right. Gimme history, give me some hot loving between two people who shouldn’t be together during that time frame. I want to see how love can cross all obstacles…slavery, racism, war. Be aware when you submit me something like this, I’m a Civil War buff. Hint, hint.

7. The ’50s. Ah, the days of Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best. Where men worked and women stayed home to take care of the kids, clean the house, cook, and have a cocktail tell ready for their master…I mean husband, when they got home from work. Just think of all the neat things you can do with this genre. =)

8. Post-Apocalyptic/Doomsday. Do I really need to explain this one? *smile*

9. Serial-Killers/Cults/Etc. Did anyone say Dexter? Yeah, that’s what I want, baby. Dexter with more romance. Don’t look at me crazy, it can be done.

Note: One thing about all of the “historical” stuff I’m looking for…do your research and know the time period. I want to read the book and be immersed in that time frame. I want really history in it. That’s extremely important.

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