Have you ever told a mistruth to a guy? I’m not talking about an all-out lie here. I’m talking about an innocent fib. You know, as sort of a…lark. I have, but hey, growing up in a small town, the entertainments available to teenage girls were as limited as the pool of available teenage boys. That never stopped my girlfriends and me. A good lark could fill an evening with fun and although our little escapades occasionally backfired, when they led to meeting new boys, well, those were sweet.

One of our most successful ploys to meet new guys was a road trip. We’d pile into a car and hit the road for neighboring towns. Scoping out the local cuties, when we found a group that included enough boys to go around, we’d stop and strike up a conversation…claiming we were lost. Of course we never were, but the gambit worked like a charm. The truth is, teenage boys are suckers for poor, helpless females. Our mothers would have been horrified if they’d ever discovered what we were up to, but keep in mind, the world was a different place back then. I mean, I never once owned a key to the door of our house because it was never locked and the local townsfolk tended to keep an eye on what the young people did. Our “we’re lost” trips were harmless fun and netted all of us a date or two over the years, and one husband.

Jane Whitmore, the heroine of my Christmas novella, A Case for Calamity, could have been in the car along with my friends and me. She and her best friend, Shae, have been known to enjoy a good lark, but when they agree to switch identities to foil Shae’s father in his latest matchmaking attempt, things go horribly wrong…and since I write romance, wonderfully and sensually right.

So, what about you? Have you and your friends ever perpetrated a harmless lark? If you have, was it a rounding success or an unmitigated disaster?

A Case for Calamity releases 11.10.14. Part of the Yellow Rose line, “Calamity” is book eight of the 12 Brides of Christmas novella series from The Wild Rose Press.

Buy links: Various formats @ The Wild Rose Press or Amazon

For Jane Whitmore, agreeing to switch identities with her best friend seems like innocent fun, but spending a romantic night in Paris with a man who doesn’t know her real name turns out to be a lark gone bad. When their one night of passion proves to have lasting results, tracking down Gabe Sutton and telling him he’s about to be the father of her child is just another calamity Jane would rather avoid. After years of avoiding long-term romantic entanglements, Gabe has found a woman he might just be able to build a life with, only to have her disappear. When he finally finds her, his belief in happily-ever-after staggers under the weight of deception, and looming fatherhood leaves him with two choices: fight her for custody of his future child or cling to the promise of true love.

Excerpt:

“He doesn’t even know my name. What am I supposed to do? Walk up to him and say, ‘Hi Gabe. I’m the chick who tricked you into believing I was Michael Austin’s daughter two months ago in Paris. Oh, and by the way, I’m having your baby?’”

“I was thinking more along the lines of, ‘Hi, Gabe. I’m the chick who snuck out of your hotel room in Paris before you could say Good morning, beautiful. By the way, I had a really good time—and six orgasms. Oh, and I’m having your baby. Want to get a pizza?’”

Jane laughed at Shae’s cheeky grin, then shoved her fingers through her hair. “Right. That’ll work.”

“I googled him. You’re right. He’s hawt! He left his number that morning in Paris.” She smiled slyly. “It’s in my phone. You should call him.”

Jane snorted. “I don’t think giving Gabe Sutton a booty call would be a good idea. Besides, I’m on a sabbatical from men.”

Shae waggled her brows. “What’s that old saying? When you fall off a horse, you need to climb right back on?”

Mac’s links:
TheWildRosePressAuthorPage
Amazon Author Page
mackenziecrowne.com
FaceBook Author Page
Twitter @maccrowne
Goodreads

Author bio:

Wife, mother and really young grandmother, Mackenzie Crowne lives with her high school sweet heart husband, a neurotic Pomeranian, and a blind cat. She calls Phoenix home because the southwest feeds her soul. Though her friends claim she’s a princess, she disagrees. After all, one can’t raise two rambunctious boys to wonderful men without getting a little dirt under their nails. A lover of the romance genre, her resolve to share her stories with others was sharpened by a bout with breast cancer. Today she is an award-winning, multi-published author and seven-year survivor, living the dream.

Her friends call her Mac. She hopes you will too.

It’s time that Jazz Fall gets the spotlight—she’s spent the last few years behind the red carpet at SNAP, the celebrity gossip magazine and I interviewed her recently.

You went to USC. How did you end up in celebrity journalism?

Hmmm, L.A. I majored in film and thought I’d work in the entertainment business. Assistant producer, something like that. When the AA job at SNAP came up, I grabbed it. It’s was a lot of secretarial duties, but I was meeting and working with celebrities and it was just so cool! When Maxie Gwenoch came in as Managing Editor for the SNAP magazine, and I was assigned to her…well, it was a crash course in management.

Is this how you thought your life would turn out?

What? Working at SNAP? Living in Kiev? Having a vampire lover? Probably “no” to all of them.

I loved working for SNAP. It was as close to a dream job as I could get and was a great start for a career. I found out early on that the SNAP empire was owned by a hugely old and ginormously wealthy vampire family. I didn’t ever think I’d be involved with any of them, except as an employee.

It sounds like you made changes. What changed your mind?

Meeting Nik.

Who’s that?

He’s the third-in-command of the Kandesky vampire family, he’s about 500 years old, he’s lived in Hungary most of his life, he handles all the family’s business for their armaments factories. His hair is tousled, streaky-blond, and he has these deep, deep brown eyes. He’s stunning. He’s polite. He’s protective. He works in the night with the bottom feeders of Eastern Europe, selling weapons. He’s overbearing and bossy, he’s sex on a stick and he’s my lover.

Overbearing and bossy?

I’m finally figuring out that he can’t help it. He’s from an age and a culture where roles for men and women were defined and stringent. He thinks I defy him and argue too much, I think he doesn’t even listen to me. We’re both kind of right.

I’m from L.A. Love the sun, the beach, the frantic pace of life. He’s a creature of the dark, hanging around with mobsters. We don’t have a lot in common…well, there’s the sex (she laughs). His other characteristics though…he’s incredibly bright, he’s funny and witty, he has a wonderful sense of style, he has oceans of money, he’s the sexiest and most male man I’ve ever known and—BIG PLUS—he loves me.

Where’s this headed?

I don’t know. It’ scary to think about giving up my world to live in his. I know that I need to be with him. I can change…although I don’t really want to…but he can’t. He’s a vampire. That defines his life.

Would you give up your career?

Not at all. I’m staying in Europe now, at Nik’s house in Kiev. I’m still working for SNAP, and working with Maxie. I was promoted to Managing Editor of the SNAP magazine. Since we cover the world of celebrities, I can work anywhere. I travel a lot, visiting our bureaus in Paris, London, Rio. It’s all good because I travel on a company plane. And the demons take care of things. No luggage, passport, time hassles. I just show up and we take off.

What’s the future look like?

I want to stay involved with SNAP, it’s exciting and so much fun to be on the leading edge of international celebrity gossip. And I love living in Europe, although I miss L.A. occasionally. I don’t know if I’ll stay in Europe, but what I do know is that my future will always be tied to Nik. Now I have to decide if I’ll follow him anywhere.

*~*~*~*~*

Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz and is a fifth generation Californian. She’s lived and worked all over the state, calling both Southern and Northern California home.  During her career in journalism—as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers—she won awards for producing investigative series.

She writes the Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries and the eight-book Kandesky Vampire Chronicles paranormal romance series. The third mystery, Delta for Death is scheduled for late 2014 and the ninth Kandesky Chronicles, SNAP: I, Vampire will be available in spring 2015.

Links:
www.michledrier.com
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00LDCXWRC
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/SNAP–All-That-Jazz?keyword=SNAP%3A+All+That+Jazz&store=ebook
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/snap-all-that-jazz

Last time we (we meaning Jen and Lisa, the authors who write together under the penname Ashleigh Raine) had the opportunity to guest blog here (thanks, Delilah!), we mentioned that our newest creation was going to be releasing soon. While we’ve been published authors since 2003, this is a new and special release for us. Something different. We always thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if one of our books became a movie or a TV show?” That thought has now become reality. We’ve spent the last two years writing and producing a romantic paranormal web series. We’re excited to announce that Necrolectric is finally here.

Necrolectric tells the story of a woman named Eve who is struggling with her mysterious need to constantly die and come back to life. She begins to unravel the truth of who she really is when she teams up with a young woman who relives others’ deaths (Z), a young man who talks to ghosts (Jax), a cursed immortal (Alaric) and his electrically charged brother (Cas) to solve a series of supernatural murders.

This series contains all the things we love to write about. Strong, sexy women. Hot alpha males with dark pasts. Magic. Paranormal abilities. Romance. Suspense. Mystery. Thrills. Love triangles. Twists and turns. A touch of humor. And lots and lots of emotion.

The first episode launched this week, on November 4. Episode 2 releases on Tuesday, November 11 and episode 3 releases on Tuesday, November 18. Then we’ll return with the final three episodes of the first season in 2015. And watch for the book version, Electric Rush, to release around the same time as the final half of the season.

Each episode is approximately 20 minutes. We hope those of you who love paranormal romance, and shows like Vampire Diaries, Lost Girl, Teen Wolf, Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow and other sexy paranormal offerings, will check out Necrolectric. Whether you’ve read all of our books, or never picked up anything by us, we hope you’ll give Necrolectric a try.

Be part of the electricity by following us on social media.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Necrolectric
Twitter: @necrolectric https://twitter.com/Necrolectric
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/NecrolectricSeries
Instagram: http://instagram.com/necrolectric
http://www.necrolectric.com/

I’m not feeling very clever today. My brain’s muzzy, my eyesight’s blurry… I’ve had the flu for the past few days—a real kicker since I had the flu shot this year. Then again, I’m really glad mine wasn’t as bad as my dd’s and she didn’t have the shot…

It’s amazing how much crap can pile up in your inbox or how far behind schedule you can fall in such a short time. I’m supposed to be doing NaNoWriMo this month, but have barely written a 1000 words. I have a ton of catch-up to do there. I set things on my desk until I deal with them, and right now, my stack’s so high it’s almost interfering with my view of the computer screen. And let’s not talk about housekeeping. Ugh. I think I need one more day in bed before I tackle everything.

So what’s your best recovery advice? And you can make ridiculous statements here to make me smile. All advice welcome!

Thank you so much for hosting me, DD!! Unless you tell me otherwise, I’ll just pick a winner from the commenters and save you the trouble. I hope all is going well with you and yours!! Hugs!!

Down and Dirty to Squeaky Clean

Life…it’s the opposite of neat. I mean from day one you need a bath. So, why not revel in the smut of life and I’m not just talking about reading deliciously naughty books.

My dad always said, “It’ll wash.” And he was always right. The fish guts, grass stains, mud, and muck all faded away with a good ole scrub. These days I love to get down and dirty (in a PG, I’m sharing with the world sort of way) cinching a saddle on an equine and riding for hours or an I’m sweating so much I can hardly feel my legs workout.

One of the best parts about getting dirty is getting clean. Pre-children I had all the time in the world for a nice scalding-hot soak. Now it’s all about the quick wash, but I haven’t scrimped on one thing. My soap is magical. It transports me to the most foot-loose and fancy-free time in my life…my honeymoon.

L’Occitane Shea Butter Verbena Soap rocks my socks clean off!! So much so that I actually wrote it into my first novel, Enemy Mine.

AND I’m giving one 12oz bar worth it’s weight in diamonds away on this blog!! Comment below and tell me, what is your favorite PG…PG-13 way to get dirty?

The Base Branch Series

Serve in the name of honor. Battle in the name of love.

Known by few as the Base Branch, the United Nations’ Special Operations Forces provide global defense against any who threaten the fragile balance of peace.

Book Links

Enemy Mine
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | B&N | AllRomance

Justice Mine
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | B&N | AllRomance

Stranger Mine
Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | B&N | All Romance

Megan was born and raised among the live oaks and shrimp boats of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where her enormous family still calls home. She attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received a bachelor’s degree in curriculum, instruction, and special education. For several years Megan worked as a teacher in Mississippi. She married and moved to South Carolina and began working for an international non-profit organization as an instructor and co-director.

In 2009 Megan fell in love with books. Until then, books had been a source for research or the topic of tests. But one day she read Mercy by Julie Garwood. And Oh Mercy, she was hooked!

Megan lives in Southern Arkansas where she pens heart pounding romantic thriller novels and window steaming erotic romance. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

It’s November and for many writers that means 30 Days and Nights of Literary Abandon in the form of National Novel Writing Month, more affectionately known as NaNoWriMo.

If you’re not familiar with the event, it probably sounds like a formal greeting from an alien, and sometimes it feels just as crazy! But it is a great motivator for writers to sit down and write the damn book! The goal is to write a 50,000 word first draft in one month. Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? Well, I’m here to tell you it is completely doable!

This is my 4^th year participating in NaNoWriMo and I’m writing my very first romantic suspense titled Broken Strings. Here’s the premise:

Best friends since college, witty and guarded Colleen Cooper and misguided playboy Jake Donovan have both sold out to propel Jake’s music career, but now they are trying to find success on their own terms. As a radio station DJ, Colleen has finally made a name for herself, but when Jake offers her the opportunity of a lifetime her own self-doubt and the anonymous threats she can’t escape have her second-guessing her qualifications and ability. Jake will do anything to prove to Colleen that he’s worth taking a chance on, but when the women around him start turning up dead, his reputation makes him the prime person of interest in the investigation, threatening his career and his future with Colleen.

This story has been in my head for a few years, but since I’ve never written a romantic suspense, I wasn’t sure where to start. Then I read some great advice in a blog post by Roxanne St. Claire which basically said, just write the story. So I am!

I’m more of a pantser than a plotter, which means I don’t outline the stories when I sit down to write them. Two years ago for NaNoWriMo I was preparing to write The Sound of Circumstance (which is due for release in the next couple months) and I wanted to be super-efficient and beat my previous year where I wrote 50K words in 20 days. So I sat down and plotted the book. I wrote each scene idea on a sticky note and moved things around on a poster board until it looked like I had a solid storyline. I entered it all into Scrivener and I was ready to write. November 1^st came and as soon as I started putting words down, my characters started doing unexpected things. Before I knew it, the story had made a sharp left when I had planned for it to go right. Bon Jovi would say “this left feels right”, and I take anything they say as gospel, so being the pantser I am, I abandoned the outline and went with it. In 12 days, I had achieved 50K words (yes, 12 days, that’s not a typo). It was crazy.

Needless to say, after that experience I chose not to outline last year’s NaNoWriMo book. I had major surgery mid-month, so that’s my excuse for taking the full 30 days to finish, but finish I did, making it my 3^rd consecutive year of winning NaNoWriMo.

Now here I am, writing a genre I’ve never written before and I’m a little nervous about it, so this year, I went back to the drawing board and plotted out the novel. Loosely, though, because I put a lot of trust in my characters and I know once I start writing, they are going to take me on a journey, not the other way around.

If you are a writer and participating in NaNoWriMo, I invite you to be one of my buddy’s (search for sawall) and I wish you the best of luck in writing with literary abandon!

If you’re a reader, I’d love to know what you think about writing a novel in 30 days!! And here’s a little treat, the opening lines of my 2014 NaNoWriMo novel Broken Strings:

“You have to stop pointing your gun at people.”

Colleen Cooper scowled at the detective now holding her Ruger.380. The purple semi-automatic pistol felt pretty badass when she fired it at an unwitting paper target at the range, but it looked so meager and girly in Detective Taggart’s manly hands.

Sighing, Colleen shook off the awareness coursing through her body. There was a time when that deep voice and the way he cocked his head to the right made her whole body quiver, but those days were long over. It was probably a good thing he was holding the gun now, otherwise she might be tempted to point it at him.

He gave her body a slow perusal and suddenly Colleen wished she wore something other than spandex when she went for her morning run. His condescending expression transformed into one of lust-filled approval. “You look good.”

“How’s your wife?” she asked, reminding him of the reason his bawdy opinion wasn’t welcome.

“Coll– ”

Her hand went up, stopping his plea. “Don’t Coll me, Devon. Am I under arrest or what?”

You can read a little bit more of this scene over at Peggy Jaeger’s blog on November 3^rd!

Big dreamer and certifiable overachiever Susan Ann Wall embraces life at full speed and volume. She’s a beer and tea snob, can be bribed with dark chocolate, and the #1 thing on her bucket list is to be the center of a Bon Jovi flash mob.

Susan is a multi-genre author of racy, rule-breaking romance, women’s fiction, and erotic fiction (her erotic titles are published as Ann Victor).  Her bragging rights include nine books in three different series,  three perfect children, and a happily ever after with her Hero Husband that started while serving in the U.S. Army and has spanned nearly two decades (which is crazy since she’s not a day over 29).

In her next life, Susan plans to be a 5 foot 10, size 8 rock star married to a chiropractor and will not be terrified of large bridges, spiders, or quiet people (shiver). She’s a member of NHRWA, RWA-WF, RomVets, NHWP, NEIW, and WREN.

Her latest releases include The Sound of Deception (4^th novel in her Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love contemporary romance series) and Quitting the Boss (3^rd novella in Ann Victor’s Behind Office Doors erotic series), available in paperback and all ebook formats.

Websites: www.susanannwall.com and www.annvictor.com
Facebook: Author Susan Ann Wall and Ann Victor Author
Twitter: @susanannwall and @annvictorauthor
www.goodreads.com/susanannwall

The Sound of Deception by Susan Ann Wall:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00OX2Y4L2/indie01-0029-20
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-sound-of-deception
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sound-of-deception-susan-ann-wall/1119915801?ean=2940150382350
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-sound-of-deception/id933567874?ls=1&mt=11
Google:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Susan_Ann_Wall_The_Sound_of_Deception?id=DcwUBQAAQBAJ

Quitting the Boss by Ann Victor:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00OYUMKFU/indie01-0029-04
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/quitting-the-boss-ann-victor/1120639606?ean=2940150439108
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/quitting-the-boss/id934039088?ls=1&mt=11
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/quitting-the-boss
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ann_Victor_Quitting_The_Boss?id=_E0VBQAAQBAJ