2020’s past the midway hump. Can you believe it? It feels like the first six months lasted a decade! Here’s hoping for a better rest of the year!

Weather permitting, we plan to light some fireworks in the front yard, and then sit outside to watch the neighbors’ fireworks from afar as well. With COVID spiking all over the country, please be safe. Please mask/socially distance/wash your hands, if you go out. We will get through this if we all work together to keep each other safe.

Before I run more contests here, we need to close out some older ones! So, look below for the links to the offers!

In the meantime, here’s a puzzle. Something to while away a little time. If you’re homebound for now, here’s my contribution to your mental health. 🙂 And for fun, tell me their story…

All these contests are still open! Enter while you can!

1. Fun things to do in COVID-Times…? (Contest) — This contest ends tomorrow! Win a FREE book!
2. Wishing happy thoughts for dads — and a Puzzle-Contest! — This contest ends tomorrow! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Another Rainy Day (Contest — 3 winners) — This contest ends tomorrow! Win a free short story!
4. FIRST RESPONSE releases next Tuesday! Read an excerpt! (Many CONTESTS!) — This contest ends tomorrow! Win an anthology!
5. Come Play the Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Desiree Holt: Happy Birthday to me! (Contest — 6 Winners!) — Win a box set of books or a single e-book download!

Psst! We’re beginning a fun thing over on Delilah’s Collections, which involves the authors of FIRST RESPONSE. I’m repeating the blog here, so you see what we’re up to, but the contest itself, and future “In One Picture” posts, will happen over there!

“Far from Over” by Reina Torres
They missed their chance at the academy, but after she rescues him from a pile of rubble, a fireman decides it’s time to make her burn for him

From “Far from Over”…

Smokin’ Joe’s Bar wasn’t his normal haunt. Center City was a few hundred feet smaller than Chicago, not that Chi-town let them forget the difference. Still, Center City was big enough to house a handful of bars frequented by firefighters, but beyond that, Joe’s was one of two bars owned and run by firefighters.

It had probably been a great place to get together a few years ago, but the decorations inside looked like they hadn’t changed much since the Marlboro man was big. And he was still hanging on one of the walls. Things were clean and well kept, just old. Just go to any bar that was packed on a night like this and you’d see why they were packed. Joe’s had just gotten stuck in the past, but he wasn’t there for the decorations of even the liquor. He was there for one reason, Gina Ferrer. She was bartender in Joe’s every night she wasn’t working at Station Five.

Just $0.99!!
Order your e-copy here:
Kindle | Nook | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play
Get your print copy!

Contest happening now over on the Collections site:

Is there a bar in a movie/TV series/or book that you wish you could visit?
Name it for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Just $0.99!!
Order your e-copy here:
Kindle | Nook | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play
Get your print copy!

We (all 15 authors!) are very proud of this edition! The stories are spicy and fun! We set the price low, not because we didn’t think people would be willing to pay a higher price, but because we want to share it with as many people as we can! So, get your copy! It costs less than a cup of coffee—even the straight, unflavored cup! Remember, I have a short story in this volume, too! One related to the Montana Bounty Hunters…

Also, please visit the Collections website for the next wee while. Starting tomorrow, the authors will be sharing photos that depict an aspect of their stories, plus, there will be more contests! 

And reviews are always much, much appreciated!

UPDATE: The winners of WET DREAMS AND FANTASIES are…Pansy Petal, Michelle, and Becky Ward! The winners of MOVING TARGET are…Nooklady, bn100, and flchen!
*~*~*

Happy Birthday to me! And a present for you!

Three people will win a digital copy of WEST DREAMS AND FANTASIES
Love Romances Café Best All Around Book of 2019

Three people will win a digital copy of MOVING TARGET

Leave a comment. I’ll pick the winners tomorrow!
You can find links to these books and more on my web site desireeholt.com

Yes, today is my birthday. I am 84 years young. And enjoyingevery day more. I am a mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother. And guess what? Still writing hot, incendiary romances and pulse-racing romantic suspense. And of course, enjoying every single minute of it.

My journey has been an interesting one. I always wanted to write but between raising three wonderful children and working a variety of jobs, the time just was not there. I finally retired at the end of 2000, but then we were all involved in our exciting move to Texas, building a new home and of course a new life. My late husband, however, was very encouraging and kept pushing me to sit down and write. So in 2005, I finally sat down and actually finished a book. A romantic suspense. TARGET. It’s been through many name changes and revisions but more about that later.

I’d probably still be wondering what to do next if not for SARA—San Antonio Romance Authors—and two women who have had and continue to have a wonderful influence in my life—Delilah Devlin and Elle James. With their guidance, I was able to figure out what the hell I was actually doing.

They were also the ones who told me when Ellora’s Cave had an open submission call, and that opened the door for what was to become an exciting career as an erotic romance author. It also led me to Totally Bound where I still continue to write. And out of that came—what else?— WET DREAMS AND FANTASIES, a box set of erotic fantasies to light up any woman’s dream!

Wet Dreams & Fantasies

AND JUST NAMED BEST ALL AROUND BOOK OF 2019 AT LOVE ROMANCES CAFÉ!

So, Happy Birthday to me! I am glad I am celebrating with all of of you.

Everyone has fantasies, right? The dreams we indulge when we’re alone in the dark. Those secret desires we only bring out when no one’s around. But what if you had a chance to make them come true? What if you had a chance to indulge your wildest, most erotic dreams? And what if, having realized one of them, you then realized there was a whole world out there where you could make all those erotic fantasies come true? For Lisa Graham, it became a journey through every fantasy she’d ever dreamed.

1 – Interlude
Rain-soaked Lisa Graham, unable to get a cab to stop for her, decided to wait out rush hour in a discreet little bar she’d never seen before. She hadn’t ever seen Mark, either, the man who invited her to share his private booth. Nor had she ever done the erotic things in public that Mark coaxed her into. Four drinks into the evening she was feeling totally wanton and completely dominated. And wondering exactly what would come next.

2 -Intermission
Lisa Graham’s erotic memories of Interlude prompted her to visit Danny’s Pub, its strange replacement, but five minutes into her first night there she got more than she bargained for.

Lisa Graham hugged to herself the memories of Interlude, the erotic pub that, it seemed, only appeared when it rained – and brought her unbelievable sex with the stranger, Mark. Scoping out Danny’s Pub, the bar that occupies the space when there’s no rain, she meets Jake, and falls into an erotic whirlpool that has a shocking surprise for her.

3. Game On
It was a picnic, but everyone was nude and Lisa Graham, was about to play the most erotic game of her life.

Brothers Mark and Jake had introduced Lisa Graham to more acts of eroticism than she’d ever fantasized about. Now they had invited her on a picnic, where everyone was nude, the main activity was a game of multiple partners, and she tumbled into new whirlpools of erotic sex. What would be next on the list?

Moving Target

And TARGET? It became MOVING TARGET and the first book in the romantic suspense series, GUARDIAN SECURITY.

They’re trying to kill her, and she doesn’t know why…

Kathryn Holt knows only that she has to get far away as fast as she can. In a frantic, cross-country odyssey, she transforms from pliable Kathryn to feisty, determined Kate Miller, staying one step ahead of the killers on her trail. Then Fate delivers her into the hands of a dark knight with a tortured past. The safety he offers is as tempting as he is.

After having his perfect life ripped apart, recluse Quinn sees protecting Kate as his chance for redemption. He never plans on wanting the guarded beauty, never mind falling for her. Denying the explosive chemistry between them is useless, and as danger closes in, he must fight to expose the killer or risk history repeating itself.

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Swear to God. I honestly thought I’d never make it to 21. I was that kind of kid. So, every year past that has been a gift. I’ve lived my life to the fullest, traveled, loved. In my 40s, I was fine with aging, because again, I didn’t expect to make it that far. Now, I’m 62. Today. I have come to a reckoning with my age and my expectations. I still have many things I want to accomplish. Now’s the time.

To, again, live my life to the fullest.

To do those things I’ve been promising myself I’d do.

Like learn to paint. Part of me has always wanted to, but my mother was a real artist. Her friends, too. I crafted because I can work my way through a stepped process and produce pretty things. Still, I held back.

This year, I decided to go for it. Learn. Practice. I may never be great at it, but that’s okay with me. Another check on the bucket list.

So, I’ve been experimenting with mediums: watercolor, pastels, and now acrylics. This is my third effort with acrylics, and I know I don’t know a thing about composition, still can’t draw anything that doesn’t look like a stick figure, but I can make something that makes me smile.

Here’s my challenge to you.
Go for it! Whatever it is.