Update: The winner of the free ebook is Yolaine Clark!

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This is our last Snippet Saturday. 🙁 I’ve enjoyed being a part of this Saturday tradition. Be sure to click on the links at the bottom of this blog to find the other snippeteers.

I’ve chosen a snippet from my most recent releaser, Crescent Moon—a book I loved writing, and maybe you can see why! Enjoy!

If you post a comment today, you’ll be entered to win
a free download of any of my downloadable backlist books!

From ancient Egypt to present-day New Orleans, a woman of exceptional strength is called to protect against an unspeakable evil…and to experience an unforgettable seduction.

Khepri still isn’t used to being The God’s Wife. The daughter of a common farmer, she’s more comfortable being friends with servants than employing a whole team of them. Being the wife of Amun affords her luxuries she only dreamed of, but her dreams are not always a haven…they are also filled with demons. Lately she’s had doubts about the role she’s been thrust into. She’s had yearnings for another sort of life, one where she’s loved intimately, rather than only adored from afar.

When a powerful man lures her away from her temple, she’s thrilled at the chance for an adventure. Her adventure quickly becomes a nightmare when the handsome vizier mummifies her alive. Pure of heart and body, she’s the warrior he foresees will battle a demonic pharaoh if ever he awakens. Khepri’s sure he’s insane, until she awakens in a distant future. Alone and needing a guide in this strange and garish new world, she turns to the troubled man who set her free…

When New Orleans police detective Justin Henry Boucher is called to the Garden Museum to investigate stolen Egyptian artifacts, it’s not exactly the adrenaline rush he used to get working a homicide. But with a reprimand on his record and a sorrow he can’t shake, he will take what he can get – as long as he can keep his badge. What he doesn’t count on is having to keep his cool when he finds one of the priceless artifacts—a golden-skinned goddess wrapped in fabric like a mummy, left to die and needing his help. She’s a mystery he’s determined to unravel. She might also be the cure for his lonely heart.

After she’d soaked in a warm bath, Khepri couldn’t fight the weight of her fatigue. As she’d feared, the moment her eyes closed, her world tilted again.

With no time to cry out, no time to worry whether she’d ever see Justin again, Khepri felt as though she was being pulled by her feet, tumbling through an undulating tunnel, until she stopped so suddenly her head jerked back. Once her mind stopped whirling, she glanced around to find out where she’d landed this time.

Torchlight shimmered against gilt-painted walls. The dais beneath her was encrusted with a jeweled mosaic of a radiant sun resting in the bottom of a shallow barge as it floated across the sky. Her stomach lurched. Her heart thudded dully against her chest. She knew this place.

A hand reached down to pat her hair, and she noted quickly that she was seated on the floor, her legs folded and to the side. She wore no clothing beyond a slave’s crudely woven, white kilt, her breasts bared. Her hand was curled around the back of a man’s calf, and she knew that if she looked upward, whose face she’d see.

But she wasn’t ready to confront him. Not with the commotion surrounding them. Her companion sat on a throne-like chair, in a row of such chairs. All gleaming with more gilt paint and tiny, intricate inlaid mosaics, jewels sparkling. Before them stretched a long hall filled with frightening, half-human creatures lined up to watch a procession of humans as they were dragged in chains up the carpeted steps to where Anubis stood beside the Scale of Truth, the plates of his scale glinting gold where not covered in fresh blood.

Khepri’s stomach lurched. Her fingers tightened on her master’s calf. She didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want to watch. Read the rest of this entry »

Naughty Things Cowboys Do

 Howdy! In celebration of my latest release UNBROKEN, a hot new contemporary western ménage a trois, I’d like to share the top five naughty things cowboys do.

*clears throat* Okay, let’s see if I can think coherently.

1. Tip their hats and say “how’s it goin’ ma’am?” –just like the Jewel song Do You, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOVzkz9cLwI) these rugged shoot ‘em ups do that thing with their thumbs against the brims of their hats that make a woman’s knees turn to jelly .
2. Glare –Something about a piercing glare from beneath a hat brim sends out a warning to everyone in their vicinity. Although we ladies flock to that kind of alpha male, right?
3. Fistfight – who doesn’t love to watch a couple pissed-off cowboys taking a swing at each other? As one friend put it to me when I told him I was writing a fight scene between cowboys, “Go for the one-punch, Em. We cowboys do it right the first time!”
4. Hook their thumbs in their belt buckles – watching a man hook his thumb in that belt only draws attention to his hips swathed in denim, or denim with chaps. Who doesn’t want to ogle that?
5. Care for animals –Because their lives are spent around cattle and horses, they appreciate how to care for them. Does this mean they’re in tune with their softer sides? I’d like to think so. At least the cowboys in my story Outlaws of Love are!

What drives you crazy about a rough and tumble type? I’d love to hear from you. And please read on for an excerpt of my new release!

It’ll take more than rope to tie down the man they love.

Country Fever, Book 3

When Christian comes out of the bar to find a bat-wielding country girl beating the hell out of his best friend Tucker’s truck, he does the only thing he can—he flirts with her. Unfortunately, he knows her pain—he’s in love with Tucker too.

Claire plans to nurse her bruised heart alone, but inevitably Tucker draws her back in—along with Christian—and the three of them tumble headlong into delirious passion. Then she and Christian wake to find that Tucker has fled his horse ranch, leaving them to care for the animals and each other.

Still grieving the death of his fiancée, pressured to sign over mining rights to a coal company, Tucker is boots-deep in emotional turmoil. Running only sharpens his longing for what he truly wants—Christian and Claire in his bed, in the barn, and under the stars.

But roping themselves firmly inside the circle of love will take everything they have—bulldogged determination, flying fists and aching hearts.

Product Warnings: Wrangle one heartsick cowboy, and the man and woman who love him. Throw in weeks of working in close quarters, bales of pent-up lust, and feel the burn of prairie-fire-hot desire. Now just try to walk away with your heart unbranded.

EXCERPT–rated melting-hot ADULT

“That’s it, baby. Open to me. Let me make you cling to the ceiling while Christian watches you come apart.”

Claire pasted a hand over Tucker’s chest, absorbing the rumble of his words. She darted a glance at Christian to find his eyes hooded with longing, his hard jaw set and fists clenched as if struggling to keep from diving into the booth with them.

Tucker drove his finger deep into her pussy, plunging it in and out twice then smearing the juices over her distended button. Pleasure surged, rushed in her ears. He circled her clit once…twice.

Ground it against her body.

And she spasmed. Digging her fingers into Tucker’s nape, she drew his mouth to hers as her pussy contracted wildly.

All the time, she stared into Christian’s eyes.

Her head spun as she came back down to reality. Crash landed, actually, when the cook called her name from the back room.
Tucker pulled his hand free and his mouth free and slid out of the booth. “I’ll handle this, baby doll.”

A boneless lump still twitching with pleasure, Claire could do nothing more than watch her lover stride across the diner to intercept the cook.
Claire met Christian’s dark, excited gaze. “You’re beautiful, you know.”

Warmth shot to her heart, causing a blossom of sudden affection. She felt her smile spread. “So are you. So is he.” She jerked her jaw at the man that wicked up all of the life in the room.

Christian swung his gaze toward the cowboy who was persuading the cook to take over the operation of the whole diner tonight, since it was so slow.

“Yeah,” Christian said slowly, as if dumbstruck, “a man like that should have a warning label.”

Buy Unbroken: Samhain | Amazon | BN

Thanks for reading! I’m giving away 1 e-book to one lucky commenter! Winner’s choice from my backlist.

Em Petrova
~hardworking heroes–in bed and out~
www.empetrova.com

What are your plans? I hope they’re less stressful than my own!

If anyone is in Bismarck, Arkansas on Saturday, you should drop by. I’ll be setting up a booth at a craft fair to sell jewelry with my daughter, Kelly. Not that we’re anywhere near ready for it! I have stuff all over the place. I need to tag items. I don’t have any signage. Agh! This is not my area of expertise! Any advice, y’all?

The Business of Writing

First, I want to thank Delilah for having me here today. I’m very excited to chat with all of you.

I’m not sure if many of us start out writing thinking we were starting our own business, right? We started writing because we had a story to tell. Or the voices in our heads wouldn’t leave us alone. It was most likely an artist venture or a personal journey. Not a business decision.

Then, once we had that lovely little story in hand, we thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could get it published.” The thought is much easier than the action, but the action starts a chain reaction which leads to a lot of work we probably never expected.

Writing may be artistic, but you need an MBA to deal with the business of publishing. Whether you contract with a publishing house or self-publish, technically we are all self-employed. What does that mean? A lot of work, planning and thinking.

My question to you today is do you treat your writing like a business?

Huh? What? (I know that’s what went through many of your minds.)

Here are some things you should think about as a business owner of (Your Name Here) Publishing.

• Do you have a business plan with both short and long-term strategies? – Why do you need a business plan? It is your business/career map. It keeps you focused on your writing career goals and measures the success of your business. Most business fail because they never understood what success looks like. And success doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. Understand where you want to go and map out the direction to get you there.
• Show me your short and long-term marketing plan. – Most of the time this is a part of your business plan. I tend to keep one outside of my business plan because I look at my marketing plan more frequently than my business plan. You need to track how much money marketing activities are costing you and whether you’re getting a return on your investment. Do you know which activities actually translate to sales? Most writer would say no. Why? Because they never track and measure the outcomes of a marketing activity. If you advertise at a site, what do you get from it? If you get no return on your investment, don’t keep advertising. How do you measure? Document your sales prior to the marketing activity going live, then check it for the week after it ends. How many sales did you get? What was your profit? Now subtract the cost of running the promotion. Did it make or cost you money? If it cost you money, did you get something else in return? (i.e. additional followers) Yes. All these things go into planning your marketing. I tend to look at my marketing plan each quarter, adding new items or removing items which no longer work.
• Where do you want to spend your time? – This is something that is hard for me. We are writers. As writers, we need to do what? WRITE! So, don’t try to be an expert at everything or sometimes there is value in outsourcing. I found myself, especially since I self-pub some of my books, spending more time doing things like building/administering my website or trying to create banners or book covers. Those things are not my expertise, even if I could figure out how to do them. They also took way too much time away from my actual writing. Yes. We all want to save money, especially since there is very little aggregate profit in each book. But as authors our job is to write the best book we can and keep pumping them out for our fans. Spend your time and energy where it matters.

Those are a few activities which will help you with the business side of your writing. I’ve learn to appreciate having a strong business component in my day job to help manage my writing business. You don’t need a business degree to do this. Just a little common sense and awareness.

Upcoming Release in November 2013 – Book 3 in the Dueling with the Devil Series

Stolen Innocence Blurb:

They say ignorance is bliss, but when it comes to love and mating, Charity Lovell wished someone had schooled her on the ins and outs. She fell hard when she saw the beautiful face of the fair-haired demon as he lay broken in Lucifer’s dungeon. Her body ached for him. Her heart cried for him. This had to be her mate, right? Who else could make her trade her soul to the Devil to save someone she didn’t know? Someone should’ve told her love wasn’t quite as straight forward as that.

Damon lived an uncomplicated life, even as the alpha of the Lake Charles pack and the son of Lucifer. He should’ve taken a mate years ago, but held on to the hope of love. Only one female came close to making him believe he still had a chance for happiness. Yet, her heart belonged to someone else. Once again, the feeling is back, stronger than ever. And again, his female has pledged herself to another. Damn demons were ruining his love life. This time Damon plans to fight for what is his and win his rightful mate.

Author Bio:

Although Vivi Dumas grew up an Army brat, she calls Louisiana home, but have endured the hot summers and cold winters of Maryland for the last 16 years. She is a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University with an MBA in Finance and Marketing. Her analytical side has honed a career in the financial industry for almost twenty years. To balance her logical, numerical day job, she unleashes her creativity in her writing.

Vivi pens multicultural paranormal romance, mixing the two genres she loves. Her steamy paranormal romances indulge in worlds inhabited by demons, werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural beings. She has published works with Decadent Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and Breathless Press.

Website Address: www.vividumas.com
Twitter Address: https://twitter.com/vivi_dumas
Facebook Address: https://www.facebook.com/vividumasfanhub

The Hero Makes the Book

In my opinion the hero makes the book, maybe because I’m a chick (shrugs). I don’t think I’m alone when I say this, but when I read a story, I like to imagine myself in the heroine’s place and the hero is pining after me. Because of this, the hero has to be someone that I’m attracted too. Someone that I could see myself with given whatever situation the story is set in. It doesn’t matter, where the setting may be; outer space, a small town or a fictional city, I am there and he is all over me like white on rice.

This is the very reason that I like my hero’s to be strong willed, muscular and a little on the cocky side (snort). A little arrogance is always helpful. The more the female plays hard to get, the more he makes his intentions clear—he will have her and she can’t do a thing about it (shudders).

I’ve read stories where the hero is full of emotions and inner turmoil. Those stories really aren’t for me. A hero that cries at the drop of a hat or starts having all that chicky-inner dialogue “Does she like me?” and I put the book down. Now on the other hand if a hero can have the heroine wanting to drop her panties at the first hello, well, then we have a story worth reading.

In my science fiction series, Loving Dangerously, I created a race of humanoid aliens where the males are arrogant, cocky and used to getting what they want. They also have the warrior bodies to make any female melt—no matter how much she tries to resist (because as we all know, resistance is futile). I’m not saying my heroes are always perfect (what heroes are?), they are filled with imperfections and should learn to put their foot in their mouths sooner rather than later, in order to keep them from saying anything insensitive, but usually my heroines can forgive them (maybe because they’re drooling and going goo-goo-ga-ga over rippling muscles).

I love my heroes and hope you enjoy them too!

King Taio Xochis of Sonis ~ Taio is disgusted with the idea of owning a slave—until now. From the moment he sees her, he knows Eva is his for the taking. Torn between lust and duty, Taio knows nothing will stop him from protecting his little warrior.
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Dangerously-Mine-ebook/dp/B00AO5CWSY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355511533&sr=1-1&keywords=dangerously+mine

Captain Kane Epps ~ Kane Epps divides his life into two distinct parts—before the alien invasion and after. Before the invasion, he had a pregnant wife and a high-powered job. After the invasion, he’s left with only himself and his hatred for all things alien. He channels his bitterness by captaining a vessel of renegade humans—space pirates who don’t think twice about taking what they  need.
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Dangerously-Yours-Loving-ebook/dp/B00CZBHA4Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369491547&sr=1-2&keywords=dangerously+Yours

And coming October 9^th, Rasha, Captain of the Sonis Royal Guards ~ Rasha, Captain of the Sonis Royal Guard, is a warrior through and through. He’s huge, sinfully sexy and could have any woman on Sonis—but the woman he wants is Jess. He’s very much an alien and Jess knows she should hate him or at least be wary, but whenever he’s around, she loses control. She tells herself it’s only sex—amazing, mind-blowing sex like nothing else she’s ever experienced—but there’s something about Rasha that shakes her soul. The feel of his skin against hers, the look in his eyes as he touches her—they make her want to believe it’s possible to find love and begin again.
Buy link: http://www.ellorascave.com/dangerously-hers.html

About me:
A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.

Now available from Ellora’s Cave

You can find out what else I’m working on by visiting my website: http://www.amgriffinbooks.com

Like my FaceBook page for exclusive news and //www.amgriffinbooks.comfree books and swag giveaways! http://www.facebook.com/amgriffinbooks

Follow me on Twitter! @amgriffinbooks

Just a quick note. I’ve joining my Diamond State Romancce Author “sisters” in Hot Springs this weekend, where we rented a large house on the lake for a writing retrea! The house is comfy, there’s a dock off the back of the house–the lake’s right there. Why didn’t I bring my swimsuit? Oh yeah, the temps are in the 70’s today. 🙂

I hope to get many, many new pages written this weekend. Keeping this short. Have to write! ~DD

Remember this book?

Based on Cowboy Lust‘s success, Cleis Press asked me to put together another anthology of sexy cowboy love stories—Cowboy Heat! If you’re on Facebook and Twitter, you may already know the lineup of stories, but if you’re not, here it is!

Mrs. Morgan and the Marshal – Emma Jay
Remember – Mia Hopkins
Cowboy Downtime – Cheyenne Blue
Coming Home – Megan Mitcham
Her Captured Cowboy – Layla Chase
Back Stage Pass – Cynthia D’Alba
Unfinished Business – Cat Johnson
At the Mercy of the Cowboy – Amber Lin
Cowboy Adonis – Michael Bracken
Denim and Lace – Robie Madison
One Track Cowboy – Delilah Devlin
Skin Deep – Randi Alexander
Drop Two Tears in a Bucket – Shoshanna Evers
A Cowboy for Delilah – Sabrina York
Shall We Dance? – Myla Jackson

I’m excited about this book! As soon as I know when it will be released, I’ll be sure to let you know!

I’m busy this week writing a story about an ex-Marine who’s trying to save a woman who has been targeted by a drug cartel in Central America. It’s fun, a thrill ride, and verra, verra sexy! As soon as I post this blog, I’m diving back into the story, which I’ve entitled Dangerous Liaison!

So, here’s today’s question…

Say you won a contest and could choose any piece of jewelry you wanted,
regardless of cost, what would it be?