Archive for January, 2009

25 things you may or may not know about me
(Or Dear God Why Are You Making Me Think? :-p)

Liz Andrews Tagged Me

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged (like I was by a friend), you are supposed to write a note with 25 (another friend sent one with 16) random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. My musical tastes vary from classical music to metal.

2. I ADORE penguins, I’d even get a tattoo of the Hoboken Penguin from 8 Ball Bunny.

3. I adore breakfast food. Pass the pancakes please. ?

4. I’m not a big fan of chick flicks. I prefer action movies as long as they’ve got plot and good action sequences.

5. I’m a shy person at first. Notice I used the words at first. LOL

6. I consider myself quirky, LOL.

7. I prefer writing at night rather than during the day.

8. Despite the movie Jaws making me terrified of swimming in the ocean, I watch Shark Week every year. LOL

9. I think the violin is the sexiest instrument.

10. My favorite ice cream flavor is cookies and cream.

11. I’m not much of a holiday person. I do like Halloween though. ?

12. My favorite paranormal creature is the Vampire. *Grin*

13. I love to play chess but I’m not very good. LOL
14. My favorite classic book is the Count of Monte Cristo.

15. I think intellect and passion are sexier than a car or money.

16. I love to cook but am too lazy. lol

17. I’m fascinated by the Food Network. lol

18. One of my favorite shows is Mythbusters.

19. I’m not a fan of diamonds.

20. I prefer silver to gold.

21. I was born in Hawaii. I’d love to go back one day.

22. I’m fascinated by Magick.

23. My favorite candy is chocolate covered pretzels.

24. I would love to travel, so many places I’d love to see.

25. I love to read but don’t have much time for. *pout*
Wow I actually came up with 25 things.

Hi everyone!

Sorry there have been no updates. I’ve been very busy and all over the place but I have a few bits of news. I just got the cover for my Snowfire: Party Favors done by the fabulous Renee George. *Grin* Check it out:

I can’t wait. This is a flash story with Nevada and Lucian from A Fling in Vampiropolis. *Grin* I adored revisiting these characters and giving them their own story.

Right now I’m working on Blood Claim: Bound and White Russian, after that it’s Ba’al and Bondage and Justice Unbound. So far with BC: Bound I’ve got it up to fifteen thousand words and there’s so much more to come. .

So how’s everyone’s New Year going? I hope well. I’m going to try and work on my Newsletter this weekend or at least try to, Thank You to Lisa Renee Jones for giving me some ideas. *Grin*

What else, oh, I have some new reviews one for Mudslide for Literary Nymphs:

http://literarynymphsreviewsonly.blogspot.com/2009/01/del-fantasma-mudslide.html

and the other for Tartan Interlude:

http://www.joyfullyreviewed.com/reviews/Dec08/tartaninterlude.SI.html

Okay, I’m off to go watch Wall-E. Have a Great Weekend everyone! Here’s a songs I’m loving at the moment:

and

Selena

Once again, thank you to Selena for inviting back to blog. I’m excited to be here, and to report that on the 20^th of Jan the first book in an all new series, Circle of Friends, was released at Samhain.

Only Tyler was a book that refused to be shoved into the bottom drawer. No matter how many problems I faced with it, the characters kept yelling at me to write and then rewrite the story. I couldn’t disappoint them.

It may have taken a year to complete, and then another year before it was published, but it was worth the wait. I adore this book and love all three of the main characters: Tyler, Katie and Steve.

Don’t be misled. This is not a ménage. It’s a classic love triangle. And all three characters are tortured by the decisions they inevitably have to make.

Could you do it? Could you choose between love and friendship?

ONLY TYLER

Circle of Friends – Book 1

Love…or friendship? Does she really have to choose?

Katelyn Rosewood is facing a moral dilemma, one that’s six-foot-two, sexy as sin-and her fiancé’s best friend. Katie spent a lot of time getting over Tyler Bonnard, but now that he’s back in Sydney, he’s turning her carefully reconstructed world upside down.

Her relationship with Steve Sommers may be short on heat and desire, but after Tyler left her two years before, she’ll take security and solid friendship over wild passion any day. Except Tyler seems to have a good-if outrageous-explanation for why he’s returned.

After a tragic family secret tore him out of Katie’s life, Tyler is glad to be back with his two best friends. But one thing is out of place: Katie’s in the wrong man’s arms. And if her reaction to his return is any indication, she’s not quite over him. Which could mean hope for Tyler, heartbreak for Steve…

And another devastating loss for Katie, who must choose between the man to whom she’s committed her future, and the man who still holds her heart.

Warning: Keep a tissue or two handy while reading this book. While it does contain a few steamy love scenes, the rest of the story might just make you cry.

Only Tyler,

An Excerpt

“Katie, my sweet.” Tyler draped an arm casually around her shoulders. “Steve over here insists he won the tennis match we played the month before I left. You and I both know he didn’t even win a game, never mind the match. Could you please set the record straight?”

His arm sat like a branding iron around her neck. A few years back she would have welcomed its heat, gloried in it. Now it felt awkward, sinful almost. Fire shot through her, singeing her skin, as flesh touched flesh.

“Tennis match?” she asked, trying desperately not to stammer. She shouldn’t be responding to him this way. Not now. Not after all this time, and especially not when she was engaged.

“Yeah, the one we played at the resort in Noosa. Remember?”

Her stomach lurched beneath her ribs. How could she forget? A month before Tyler left, the three of them had taken a week off work and gone away together. A farewell holiday, so to speak. A time that marked the end of her friendship with Tyler as she knew it, and the beginning of a whole new relationship.

“You talking about that farce of a game you played on the court next to the two hot women in bikinis?” she asked, coercing amusement into her tone. That match had been the turning point, and he knew it. Damn, why bring it up now?

She’d umpired the game. Watched every ball, every rally between the two men. Watched every step Tyler had taken, every forehand and backhand he’d belted across the net. Watched with a hunger that began as a craving for a taste of him and culminated in a burning need to make love to him. A fierce hunger that would not settle.

“There were half-naked women playing tennis? I don’t recall that.” Steve shut the fridge with a smile, and holding a carton of orange juice in his hand, used it to gesture at Tyler. “All I remember was nailing his ass to the floor with my killer serve.”

“Yeah, right,” Tyler scoffed. “The only thing you nailed that day was the babe in the black bikini.”

“Please, mate. You should have given your game the same amount of attention as you gave the bikini. Maybe that way you would at least have scored a point.”

Tyler grinned, and his arm tightened around her shoulders. “Oh I scored that day. Just ask your fiancée.”

Her jaw dropped open. He did not just say that.

Did he?

“And plenty of satisfaction I got from it too,” Tyler added.

A startled gasp escaped her chest. In front of Steve? He was joking about their sex games in front of her fiancé?

Tyler pressed his hip against her waist, sending surges of goose bumps scuttling up her side. “Didn’t I, Katie?”

With a single thrust of his hips, he buried himself inside her. Her inner walls contracted at the sheer pleasure of the tight fit, and then relaxed to take him deeper.

He growled. “If I didn’t feel this insane pressure to pull out and drive into you again, I’d say this was the most satisfying experience of my life.”

She turned her head and gaped at him. How dare he?

“Now don’t look at me like that,” he chastised. “You umpired the game. You know full well I beat him fair and square. You even laughed out loud when I did my victory dance.”

Laughed out loud? No, she’d groaned in mock horror as he’d strutted his stuff around the court. In true sports-hero style, he’d ripped off his shirt, fallen to his knees at the foot of her chair, held his hands up in triumph and howled as he leaned back until his head touched the ground.

Her groan had quickly changed to one of stifled desire as his chest glistened in the sunlight, the six-pack above his stomach displayed in sheer male arrogance. It was all she could do not to jump him then and there.

She’d waited a couple of hours until Steve had gone to sleep.

Only Tyler is available now at My Bookstore and More:

http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/only-tyler

To find out more about Steve’s Story, the sequel to Only Tyler, simply visit my website:

http://www.jessdee.com

or my blog:

http://jessdee.wordpress.com

Thank you again, Se, for having me over.

Hugs,

Jess

For the Love of Readers

If there is one thing that any writer loves, it’s her readers. Without readers, we’d be nothing.

Last summer I did a series of library talks, and during one of these I had the pleasure of meeting a super sweet, sixteen-year-old reader named Katy. She said she and her mother, Elizabeth, had read all my books and were huge fans. I liked her immediately. Katy is an aspiring author and illustrator, and even brought me the cutest laminated drawing of Maddie, the main character in my High Heels books! Isn’t she adorable?

Since then, I’ve seen a few more of Katy’s drawings, and she is incredibly talented! I’m seriously jealous, nothing I’ve ever drawn is half as cool as her stuff. Here’s a poster she did for a contest at the local library (She won!):

And here’s a drawing she did a couple weeks ago when she and her mom were forced to sleep in their car:

Yep, you read that right – Katy and her mom are homeless. They were evicted from their apartment just before Christmas and have been living in hotel rooms (when they’ve been lucky) or their car (when they’ve not been so lucky) since then. Katy has been blogging about life on the streets, and you can read all about how this incredibly sweet mother and daughter ended up in this situation here:

As Katy states on her blog, “Homelessness has many faces. And sometimes it happens to have a computer.” Both Katy and her mother seem to have very positive outlooks, but it’s clear they’re in some real trouble.

Which is where we come in. I’ve teamed up with Haven Rich at Romantic Inks to put together an auction to help get Katy and her mom back on their feet. We’ve got tons of great stuff up for bid including agent and published author manuscript critiques, website design services, tarot readings, artwork, jewelry, handmade quilts, collectibles, toys, gift baskets, and tons and tons of autographed books.

I’m personally auctioning off the chance to name a character in my next book, SCANDAL SHEET, after the person of the winner’s choice. And my fabulous editor, Leah Hultenschmidt at Dorchester Publishing, is auctioning a 1/2 hour phone call to pitch or ask her anything about publishing! How cool is that?!
The auction will run January 19-26th. To see all the items up for bid, just got to: www.romanticinks.com/auction

So, feel free to blog about the auction, tell your friends, spread the word, and come bid generously on a ton of really great stuff to help out two really wonderful people!

Gemma Halliday

Want to get know Rysen from Trapped a bit better? Here’s your chance as Alyssa Brooks gets Between the Sheets with him:

http://www.alyssabrooks.com/..slipbetweenthesheetswith_..SelenaIllyria.html

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=114015164&blogID=465243238

Selena

Hi Everyone!

I hope your 2009 is going well so far. I just turned in edits for Blood Claim: Prelude and With His Mind. *Grin* I just found out With His Mind will be out Feb. 20th*, I’m excited about that. I got to play in the Sci-Fi/Futuristic genre with that story. Right now I’m working on re tweaking White Russian. The story, I felt had been missing something, so I had a friend read it over and she told me what she thought. The pieces fell into place after that. Now I just have to re-work things, finish it and then turn it into my editor. That still leaves Justice Unbound (Vampriopolis 4) and Fallen Lover.

I also got a two story ideas for shorts for Tease. I blame Tilly for one of them. LOL. Which reminds me I still have to do the Tagged 16 Random Things about me list. I’ll get to that towmorrow. LOL. I swear, when I take a break from White Russian. *Grin* I also started Blood Claim: Bound, the next book in the BC series. I showed the beginning to my editor and she loved it. Whew. *Grin* So that’s another thing I have to pile on.

This week I plan on staying inside as temps around here about to hit single digits. Brrrrr. If you’ve been poking around the site and you’ve been here when it first started or a bit after that you’ll notice I’ve begun updating and changing pages, that will continue. I am thinking of a new look. Not sure. I’ve very inspired by Renee George’s Cover for Melanie Unmasked, but only in red, black and white colors maybe some silver. *Shrugs* I want to do character pages for the books just you get to know them a bit better. I already have page  in mind for Jessye from Blood Claim. Just have to do Rysen and Kit’s page first. LOL

I plan on putting up a new poll about genres you may be interested just to get feedback. I would really like to get into Cyber Punk and Sci-Fi a bit more. I’d also like to do stories that have their insipration rooted in Anime. Dawn Montgomery did a fantastic story about a Kitsune and I’d love to do something along those lines. Okay, enough of my ramblings. Here’s the song that I’m loving at the moment:

Garbage: Milk

It’s really inspiring me for White Russian.

Hugs All Around,

Selena

Thank You to Stella for letting me know. *Grin*

Best Vampire Romance Story

A Fling in Vampiropolis by Selena Illyria – Changeling Press

Best Shapeshifter Romance Story

Tartan Surprise by Selena Illyria – Changeling Press

I’m so excited. *Grin*

For the full list of Finalists you can go here:

http://fantasmawards.blogspot.com/2009/01/finalists-announced.html

Selena

I just found out Blood Claim: Prelude is due out February 10th. Squeeee! I’m doing edits for it right now.

Here is the song I’m listening to right now. Yeah, I do keep hitting repeat. In my defense the song is so romantic and passionate. *Swoon, Sigh, Grin*

Hi Everyone!

I just turned in my first round of edits for Pixie and finished up Catering to Hayley. *Grin* Now I get to work on tweaking Fallen Lover, then Justice Unbound and after that Her Chaos Dragon and then White Russian. I’m tired and we’re only in day 5 of the New Year.

Today starts the voting process for the LRC awards and Discovering Passion is up for Best Paranormal Book. Here’s the link to vote (You must be a member of the Group to Vote):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe/surveys?id=2140905

Also, here are some new covers I just got *grin*

Blood Claim: Prelude:

When You Wish Upon a Pixie: Induction:

Catering to Hayley:

I’ll be uploading the images into the image rotator and giving the books individual pages.

Hope you like them. Hugs All Around.

Selena

Blurb: Daisy Drake will do anything to help Lucian Beaumont restore his family’s lost fortune. Even if she has to masquerade as a French courtesan in order to fool him into accepting her help. But how far must she go to prove she’s Blanch La Tour, “woman of pleasure?” She’s about to find out.

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Vexing-Viscount-Leisure-Historical-Romance/dp/0843961341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230484073&sr=1-1

Excerpt: Vexing the Viscount

“Nanette will be bringing a bite of supper for us soon,” Daisy informed him. “I do hope you have an appetite.”

“That, mademoiselle, is not in doubt.”

Lucian’s rakish grin told her food was the last thing on his mind. She opened the deck of cards and executed a perfect shuffle. Holding the cards felt safe, as though the fifty-two thin pieces of paper were somehow shields.

“You would perhaps enjoy a game while we wait?” she asked.

“Only if it’s a game of chance,” he said.

“And what will you wager?” Daisy wondered. If his financial state was as bad as she thought, gambling was not the wisest course.

“Right now, you and I are partners in my search for the Roman treasure, split in half when we find it,” he said. “For each hand I lose, one percent more of the money we find will be yours.”

“Ah! And if I lose, that one percent shifts to you,” Daisy guessed.

“No.” A slow smile spread across his face. “I’ll take my winnings now in satin.”

“How do you mean?” she asked, thankful he couldn’t see her puzzled frown behind the half-mask.

Lucian reached forward and gave the top ribbon on her camisole a tug. The knot gave and her bodice sagged open enough to bare the meeting place of her breasts above her pounding heart.

“Do we have a wager?” he asked. “Or are you afraid you’ll lose?”

A true fille de joie wouldn’t be able to resist such a naughty game.

“Ah! Monsieur le Vicomte, either way, I win.” Daisy shuffled the cards with more bravado than she felt and dealt the hand.

She lost the first round and with resignation, started to untie the next ribbon.

“No, no,” he said. “Allow me.”

Very slowly, he pulled the end of the bow and Daisy felt her supportive camisole give a bit. More of her breasts spilled out. Still not as much as he’d already seen that first night at the masquerade, but enough that the heat of his gaze made her skin flush rosily.

And between her legs, her folds began to ache. She shifted on her seat, but nothing eased the throbbing.

Before he drew his hand back, he pushed the edges of the satin camisole aside, brushing her exposed skin with his fingertips as he did so. Now her nipples were scarcely covered. In fact, if the hard little points weren’t holding up the fabric, she’d be bared already.

Another lost hand, or even a deep breath, and . . .

“There,” he said. “Much better. No point in unfastening that contraption if the blasted thing stays in place.”

“We did not wager on touching. Merely on satin,” Daisy reminded him.

“Perhaps we should amend the wager then,” he said. “When I win, I may touch whatever I see.”

Lucian drew his knuckles softly over the swell of her breast. A jolt of heat lightning streaked to her belly and stayed to simmer in an ever tightening circle of warmth.

“Then we should adjust the wager the other way as well,” she said. “How shall you feel if I lay claim to your breeches buttons with each hand that falls my way?”

He chuckled. “Ah! Mademoiselle La Tour, either way, I win.”

***

Thanks for having me on your site, Selena! I’m thrilled to be able to offer a FREE copy of Vexing the Viscount to one of your readers who posts a comment or question. Be sure to check back tomorrow. I’ll post the name of the winner in the comments section.              Good luck!

Emily