Thanks for joining me today. Recently, I changed the bio on my website (http://www.leighellwood.com):

I am Leigh Ellwood. I write smutty stories about people who like getting naked and having sex. Some have more sex than others, some have sex with people of the same gender, some have sex with more than one person, and still others have sex with toys and things that require the use of batteries. My stories range from a few thousand words to well past 70k. The book list link above breaks everything down for you – genre, length, and other attributes. My books are available at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo, and ARe. Really, just type my name in any bookstore site and something is bound to show up. I prefer ARe as a vendor because they rock, but feel free to buy my books anywhere you like.

I have won awards for writing, and I have received 5-star reviews. I have also received 1-star reviews and people have looked at me funny at cons and events. I enjoy reading, yoga, and rock music. I liked the 9th Doctor best. I don’t wear dresses. I won’t cut my hair or color it. I will not limit myself to one genre when it comes to writing. I write contemporary, paranormal, gay, lesbian, menage, geek, short, long, purposely funny and hilariously sad. If I never win a major award or make a list, I will live content in the fact that I have written something, and that’s the dream.

Many authors you read may specialize in a specific pairing or genre. I know authors who only write M/M or ménage, or only write paranormal or Regencies. If ever they decide to write outside the box, they’ll take on a second pen name. When I first published an erotic romance ten years ago, it never occurred to me to assign different names to different genres. I thought it would be easier to do everything as Leigh – one website, one Twitter, one blog to rule them all on release day. A decade later I look at my backlist and see the variety – gay erotic romance, lesbian romance, three and four-way sexy shorts, paranormal, contemporary, sci-fi… It’s like a game of Around the World where you drink every imported beer at the pub. I have something for everybody.

Sometimes I’ll wonder if I did myself a disservice by writing a bit of everything. Would I be a bigger success if I stuck to one pairing, one genre and kept at it? Maybe, maybe not. I do know I enjoy coming up with new stories, and if I had to use a pen name for every genre I’d go broke buying domains for each new site! Perhaps for now it’s best to stay the course. I find I write better when I write the stories I enjoy.

Speaking of, my latest release is an ARe Bestseller. Check out A DIFFERENT CLASS:

Release Date: May 9, 2014

ARe ~ Kindle ~ B&N ~ Decadent Publishing

FDR High Class of 2004 graduate, Glenn Carson contacts fellow alumni to get a list of who will be attending the upcoming festivities. One call to a disgruntled former student leaves him shaken—apparently, not everyone is looking forward to the reunion. Hoping to ease his frustration, he contacts the 1Night Stand service for a relaxing and passionate encounter.

Known as “Mumbles” to former classmates, Rod Maloney would prefer to focus on the present and his successful business. However, past tragedies continue to haunt him, so he requests Madame Eve find him a man to show him a hot time and help him forget his troubles.

Will their one night together lead to a reunion after all?

Typically, it’s the woman who jumps in with both feet to change her life, get a new job, even go back to school.   For The Bull Rider’s Keeper, I wanted to explore what happens when a bull rider decides to give up the ropes.

I’ve been where Jesse finds himself at the beginning of the book. I’d divorced my husband of eighteen years, our only son was leaving for college the next fall, and I was bored with my job.   I’d always been the good girl. After college, I accepted a full-time (secure) job with the state, one that allowed me to take care of my family when my husband decided not to work. I’d always wondered what if? Where would I have been if I’d stretched and went back east to attend college? Or hadn’t taken that summer job where I met husband number one?

The feeling of freedom to do anything was at once exhilarating and stifling.  What if I again, made the wrong choice? What if, like my ex told me often, no one would ever fall in love with me?  My confidence level was at an all-time low. So I took little risks.

Like taking off on a spring break to California to see my sister.

Or joining a dart team to learn to play.

I met new people, laughed, and for the first time in a long time, lived.  I was more than my job and my family.

Believe me, I made mistakes in those years. Some pretty big ones. My biggest downfall was trusting people who took advantage of that trust. But isn’t that part of life? To learn who you can trust?

Jesse’s learning those lessons in The Bull Rider’s Keeper. The biggest difference between our situations is he is more confident and has a strong family and friends support system. But I made it through, and, somehow, so will Jesse.

Have you ever taken a risk you regretted later?

Lynn

Buy Links:
Amazon | Nook

BIO:
Lynn Cahoon’s a multi-published author. An Idaho native, her stories focus around the depth and experience of small town life and love. Lynn’s published in Chicken Soup anthologies, explored controversial stories for the confessional magazines, short stories in Women’s World, and contemporary romantic fiction. Currently, she’s living in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. She lives with her husband and four fur babies.

Jesse Sullivan isn’t afraid of any thing, any man, or any bull. But when he decides to take a chance and carve out a life outside his rodeo career, he’s feeling like he’s walking on shaky ground. In typical Jesse style, he jumps at a chance to purchase Main Street Gallery, a Boise tradition in the art world.

Taylor DeMarco has two goals for the next year. Getting the gallery on sound financial ground to prove to her parents that she can keep her grandfather’s legacy alive is the first one. Moving out of the house and into her own condo by the Boise river, is the second. When she finds her folks are selling the gallery to Jesse, she vows to stop the sale, no hands barred.

When sparks fly between Jesse and Taylor, family gets in the way of reason, and they have to decide what is more important, their desires or keeping Main Street Gallery open and successful.

Excerpt:

Time waits for no man, and as usual, Jesse was late. Peeking in the doorway of the class that was supposed to start any minute, he breathed a sigh of relief. Professor DeMarco wasn’t there. He crossed to the next door that led to her office, knocked quickly, then burst in. “Professor DeMarco, I need to leave early today …” He stopped two steps into the room, glancing at the open door for the name plate. Right office, wrong woman. Instead of the elegant art instructor, a very curvy Venus stood in a black bra and lacy black panties, holding a privacy sheet out from her body like she didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Her eyes widened as she realized he was in the room. “Get out of here!” she shrieked. Then, realizing she still held the sheet at arm’s length, she grabbed it and pressed it against her body.

Jesse could have told her it was a lost cause. What he’d seen couldn’t be unseen and she would be haunting his dreams for a while. Instead, he cast his glance regretfully downward and turned around. “Sorry, I guess I should have waited in the hall.”

He was closing the door behind him when he heard her response.

“Neanderthal.”

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Thanks so much to everyone who ran out and bought Once is Never Enough! And special thanks to those brave and stalwart few who read it immediately. I really appreciate your comments back to me. If you have time, would you mind posting reviews on whatever site you bought the book? Other readers will want to know about your experience. Thanks, again!!

I spent the day putting together a couple of newsletters, including my own! I hadn’t issued one since October of last year! But it’s time to get into the monthly habit. If you’re not already signed up to receive my newsletter, now’s the time. I have a very nice prize I’m giving away to one lucky subscriber. Scroll down this page and look at the left hand column. See “Newsletter”? Enter your email address there and you’ll be subscribed. And if you’d like to read the newsletter I sent out yesterday and see a picture of the prize as well as read my news, just email me. I’ll send you one.

So, in yesterday’s newsletter, I asked readers to tell me what they wanted to see from me next. I asked:

“Do you still hunger for cowboy stories? Would you like to see more Lone Star Lovers or a new series? Have you been enjoying my Delta Heat series? Are you interested in more paranormal?  Do you prefer novellas or longer novels?”

The answers have been interesting. Most folks love the cowboys, the sexy BDSM stories, and paranormals. An equal small number of respondents aren’t that into cowboys or paranormals. Only a small handful weighed in on story length, preferring novels. Many said they were eager for the spinoff series to Delta Heat that will follow the boys in the firehouse—which is a good thing, since that’s what I’m starting on next!

Would you like to weigh in on what you’d like to see next? As I told my subscribers, I read your emails. I want to write what interests me, but you can influence my choices.

Again, thanks, for your support. You make it possible for me to do this writing gig full-time. I’m not rich, but I don’t have to worry about getting any part-time jobs, either. My job is writing stories readers want to read. The fact I can do it while I’m still wearing my pajamas, is just icing on the cake. 🙂

If you didn’t enter yesterday’s contest, there’s still time. I won’t close down that drawing until tomorrow!

With a very full and grateful heart, Delilah

I think I always knew I’d be a romance writer. I can remember thinking about it when I went to bed at night. For several years in my early teens I’d think up stories about dark prince heroes who were misunderstood by society, but who would and could be healed through the power of my love. I dreamt about being kidnapped in a coach as I was taken to my palace, held for ransom and then falling in love with my captor, and never wanting to leave him. I saw the face of a dark-haired man in my dreams, like it would become my future. And in a way, it did.

I don’t know if this is what every young girl dreams about, but I did. I was drawn by the power of love and how it made people become better people, how it transformed everyday existence into something miraculous.

Stories such as Beauty And The Beast and Phantom are filled with a similar sister fantasy. The power of love takes a hulking power dark individual and reveals in them their true higher self, the beauty of that special part of them that allows love to warm their doorway. Gives them the courage to act with integrity, to do the right thing in the end. The Beast allows Belle to go, and she decides she loves the strange creature who will sacrifice his own future to assure her of one. The Phantom, driven by his obsession with Christine, finds it in himself to free her when she confesses her true love for him.

In my Navy SEAL stories, I try to portray an elite warrior, trained to the highest of combat readiness, one of a handful who can pass the tests physically and mentally, who are driven to do what they do for the love of their country, the men they serve with, and the innocents they strive to protect. They are driven to do the right thing, even when it costs them their lives. Because they have that ethos, that love of life and the bond of brotherhood, anything is possible. The highest calling to them is that juice of life that makes them want to be the best of the best.

We get criticized often for our simplistic stories of love and the Happily Ever After we write. Almost like there is something more noble about writing “the way it is,” instead of writing about the fantasy of what could be. As romance readers, I know you would disagree with that. You’d probably smile and feel sorry for the person who said such folly.

But no one can dispute the facts that over 50% of all the books that are sold are romance novels. And far from being a fad, the trend is spreading throughout the globe. What a fantastic time to be a romance writer.

What about you? Do you believe in the transformative power of true love?

Sharon Hamilton
Life is one fool thing after another.
Love is two fool things after each other.
Author Page ** Sharon’s Blog ** Sharon’s Website ** Facebook**Twitter
Sharon’s Newsletter

My Royal Pride series is based in a small farming community in Pennsylvania. There are several factors that made me pick this setting for my books, but the main reason is that I love small towns. It’s much different living in one versus a city. I’ve lived in both and here are the top ten differences I’ve noticed.

In a small town…

1. There’s often only one diner, one drugstore and one fancy restaurant. (Fancy is defined as having a menu, whether it’s a paper or a laminated one.)
2. There are multiple bars, sometimes one on every street.
3. When you walk into any business, people welcome you be name.
4. Dating your best friend’s ex-girlfriend is common and acceptable. So is running into multiple exes in any given day.
5. The best person to ask for gossip is usually the mailman.
6. Discussions on everything from world peace to the local chili contest can be had at the local diner.
7. You don’t have to worry about getting locked out of your house. It’s rarely locked and if for some reason it is, your neighbor has a key.
8. People will notice a change in your routine immediately and question you about it.
9. If you get in trouble, everyone will find out and never let you forget it.
10. And finally…when you need help, there’s always somebody there to give it to you.

Favorite Obsession
Nancy Corrigan
Book 3, Royal Pride

Centuries after what should have been a blessing from a goddess, Mira has gone from the chosen daughter to a woman shamed. She’s found a tentative peace among her family and the females they’ve chosen to mate. And despite the potentially fatal consequences, Mira has found the one thing she never thought she’d have—love. Josh is the only male she’s ever wanted, desired and burned for, and he’s the only man she can never hope to keep.

One glance into Mira’s exotic feline eyes and Josh is lost. She’s everything he never knew he wanted and loving her becomes a passion he can’t deny. The obstacles keeping them apart seem insurmountable, but Josh knows he’s the man Mira needs. With every passionate encounter, every stolen touch, his certainty that he and Mira belong together grows. He’ll defy every shifter decree and fight to his dying breath to convince those around them of the truth—Mira belongs to him, mind, body and soul.

A Romantica® Paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Forbidden love…Undeniable passion.

Author Bio

Nancy Corrigan believes in unending love and epic tales with a paranormal flare. She enjoys transcending the boundaries of reality to take her readers on an erotic, emotional and romantic journey.

She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband and three children. When she’s not weaving sizzling fantasies, she works as a chemist in a pharmaceutical lab.

Purchase Links:
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Chico Burnside is one of the two heroes in my new release from Samhain, Hungry Heart. It’s my eighth novel set in Konigsburg, Texas, and Chico has shown up (or at least been mentioned) in five of the eight. He was always a secondary character, the bouncer at the Faro tavern, best friend of one of my heroes (Tom Ames in Brand New Me), part-time employer of one of my heroines (MG Carmody in Fearless Love) and all-around stand-up guy.

But I always wanted to do something else with Chico. He had so many possibilities. He was a Very Big Guy, to begin with, a type I’m partial to. He had a dry sense of humor, and he knew when to use his slightly terrifying presence for maximum effect. The more I played around with Chico as secondary character, the more I knew I wanted him to have his own book and his own heroine. But it took me a while to figure out who that heroine would be.

Readers made a few suggestions, but they were always along the line of the woman Chico dated in Brand New Me—tough girls who’d been around who seemed to be the type to show up with somebody like Chico, or somebody like the man Chico had seemed to be in the other books. But I knew there was more to him than that. And I wanted to give him a Significant Other who’d shake things up a bit.

Enter Andy Wells.

Andy is another recycled character since she showed up briefly in Long Time Gone. Andy’s an administrator with the Texas Department of Environmental Quality. I enjoyed the idea of a shy scientist and a bouncer, particularly a bouncer who had a lot of hidden talents and a large, curious family. Nobody in Konigsburg expects these two to be together, but they are. Andy has a little trouble dealing with that, but Chico knows he’s struck gold.

I loved dealing with Chico again, and I loved giving him someone who really appreciates him, which Andy definitely does. In fact, she becomes the only woman in history to refer to him as Hon, a fact that seals her status as his One True Love.

Here’s a bit of their first real date:

“We’re here,” she said.

He looked up. His truck was parked at the curb. Her porch light gleamed in the darkness. A couple dozen steps, and she’d be home. He pushed the front gate open, then followed her through.

Okay, you’ve got this. No problem. Except, of course, that he didn’t. He hadn’t felt this awkward since middle school.

She turned on the top step, looking down at him, or as down as she could look when they were basically nose to nose. “This is where I say I had a great time and thank you. Which is true. I did have a great time. And I do thank you. But it still sounds sort of weird to me.”

He frowned. “Why weird?”

She gave him a slightly rueful smile. “Because it’s such a routine thing to say. I feel like I should come up with something better.”

He shook his head. “I’ll take it.” His right hand moved to the back of her neck, almost without his thinking about it, and he drew her lips down to his.

Random thoughts drifted through his mind. She was so soft, so warm. How long had it been since he’d touched a woman like this? Kissed a woman when it wasn’t just a prelude to something else, when kissing was the main event?

He moved his hand up to the back of her head, let his fingers slide into her hair, trace the shape of her skull. He changed the angle of the kiss, brought his tongue to her mouth and tasted her.

Honey. Sweetness. A hint of fragrance. Gracious Lord above.

And here’s the blurb for Hungry Heart:

Peace, love, and barbecue—with a big order of sexy on the side.

Konigsburg, Texas, Book 8

Sous chef Darcy Cunningham is less than entranced with small-town Konigsburg’s obsession with barbecue. But her future career as a chef de cuisine requires expanding her culinary horizons, so she talks the Barbecue King, a.k.a. Harris Temple, into taking her on as his apprentice.

However, learning Harris’s professional secrets wasn’t supposed to include falling for his spicy blend of smoky sexiness and laid-back charm.

Chico Burnside specializes in flying under Konigsburg’s small-town radar, but lately life has been going a little too smoothly, even for him. Hoping to shake things up a bit, he talks Harris into teaming up for Konigsburg’s first barbecue cook-off. But once shy scientist Andy Wells catches his eye, Chico’s got more on his mind than brisket. Like enticing her out of her shell to show her just how tenderly a big guy can love.

As the competition ignites, so does the romance. Until a natural disaster threatens to derail Konigsburg’s dream team before the grills even get good and warmed up.

Warning: Contains hot sauce, hot sex, and a whole lot of smokin’ action.

Samhain Store | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

I’ve thought a lot about that as I’ve written my Cowboys of Chance Creek novels. First and foremost, I think it’s his pride in his work. We all know a lazy cowboy won’t remain a cowboy for long. Ranch work requires long hours and backbreaking labor in all kinds of weather. A cowboy can’t be a wimp and he can’t be a slacker, either. And a hardworking, honest man never goes out of style.

A cowboy’s rugged individualism adds to his draw. He can work with a crew to bring in the cattle or build a barn, but he’ll never be dictated to and he’ll never back down from his principles. A man with a mind of his own will always be sexy.

All that hard work develops muscles, and let’s face it—we love muscles. Cowboys don’t get those puffed up steroid-induced he-man muscles, either. They get the real deal: long, lean, rock-hard biceps that can help lift a hay bale or fix a fence, or pick you up and carry you to bed.

Last but not least, let’s not forget his sense of humor. It’s quiet, it’s dry, and it’s lurking when and where you least expect it. Getting a smile out of a cowboy is enough to set your heart a-flutter. But getting a full-on laugh out of one brings joy you can hold onto for a rainy day.

I love cowboys and I love writing about them. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about them just as much. Check out my Cowboys of Chance Creek series which starts with The Cowboy’s E-Mail Order Bride (Free!) and ends with my latest release—The Cowboy Rescues a Bride. Check out my follow-on series, The Heroes of Chance Creek, which begins with The Navy SEAL’s E-Mail Order Bride (available now in the SEALs of Summer Box set and available on May 20 as a stand-alone novel).