Delilah, it’s a pleasure to visit your blog today. Thank you for the opportunity to tell readers about my newest release, A Kiss of Promise, and the new direction of my writing.

I am excited to announce that  A Kiss of Promise, a Blush historical romance, was released on April 3^rd as an ebook by Ellora’s Cave and is available at all ebook outlets.  Readers who enjoy historical romance with an edge of intrigue will enjoy A Kiss of Promise.  

 Settings: A change of direction

A Kiss of Promise is a real departure from my previous novels that are set in England during the Regency Period.  This new release shifts from the elegance of the English ballroom and its strict rules of conduct and decorum to the streets of Boston and into gambling halls and brothels.  Martin and Alaina take fear-filled and treacherous journeys before they can deal with their turbulent relationship.  No easy trip to a happy-ever after ending!

I truly enjoyed sending Martin and Alaina off on a voyage to America. I found that delving into the research of sailing ships and life in Boston in the early nineteenth century was not only exhilarating but led me into an even greater departure of settings with the manuscript I am presently working on that takes place in New England.

From the past to the present

Martin Blackstone and Alaina Craymore in A Kiss of Promise have a past history as children of the peerage. I first introduce the Blackstone brothers, York and Martin, in Regal Reward, my debut Regency. Martin and Alaina first meet under tragic circumstances in Regal Reward and their attraction to each other must take a back seat to Martin’s older brother York’s struggle to regain the titles lost to him when their father is falsely accused of treason.

In A Kiss of Promise, Martin is the main character. He is a man wounded by his past and who runs from it, choosing adventure in America over commitment.  Alaina leaves for America under duress. Alaina has been preparing to reenter English society after a family  scandal and a year of mourning.  Circumstances pull her back into her late father’s despicable past. A conniving scoundrel, Phillip Harrington, demands her cooperation to close a lucrative business deal her father left unfinished before his death.  She must present herself as his fiancée in Boston or see her brother, Richard, suffer dire consequences.  Only Martin who left her behind in England with only a kiss of promise can save her from ruin.  She may need his help to rescue her, but she doesn’t need to accept a proposal out of pity.

Answering readers’ requests

After Regal Reward was released, I began my second Regency, A Convenient Pretense, a joy to write because my heroine is a poetess and I had the opportunity to include original poetry. A Convenient Pretense was released in 2013.

Readers of Regal Reward wanted me to write a sequel after Martin, Alaina and her brother Richard became favorite characters.  A Kiss of Promise tells their stories.

In Regal Reward York Blackstone fights to reclaim his father’s title, his family’s honor, and win Marielle who has been claimed by the son of his father’s accuser.  Martin, his younger brother, has no claim to a title and must decide his own future. In A Kiss of Promise, he plans a new life in America free from commitment until Alaina appears and he’s forced to dig deeper into his motives for his escape.

A Kiss of Promise

Adventurer Martin Blackstone escapes the stuffy rituals of England to seek his destiny in America. He leaves Alaina Craymore behind, believing she is better off without him. Suffering under the scandalous circumstances surrounding her father’s death, only Alaina’s love for Martin and the memory of their one stolen kiss have kept Alaina steady. But she hasn’t heard from Martin in far too long and cannot wait forever in the hopes that he will return from America. Just as Alaina begins to recover, one of her father’s associates emerges from the shadows with a choice—she must pose as his fiancée in America or he’ll send her brother to prison on charges of forgery. Willing to endure ruin and an uncertain future, Alaina agrees—she can do no less for the brother who’s spent his entire life protecting her. Only the man who spurned her can save her from the black mailing scoundrel and a ruined reputation.

Martin hasn’t forgotten Alaina or the kiss they shared. When word of her sacrifice reaches him, he’ll move heaven and earth to find her and make her his, no matter the cost.

A Blush® historical romance from Ellora’s Cave

Biography

Elaine holds a BS in English Education from the University of CT and an MS in Educational Leadership from Central CT State University. When she’s not writing, she teaches public speaking part time at a local community college. She enjoys drawing, kayaking, traveling, and most of all, being with her husband Drew, her children and grandchildren. While her newest release, A Kiss of Promise, leads her characters from England to American shores, her present work, still in the manuscript stage, takes place in New England and deals with prejudice and its power over love. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, CT Romance Writers (CTRWA) and Charter Oak Romance writers (CORW). Elaine is available as a speech coach and presenter to help authors hone their public speaking skills.

Buy links:
A Kiss of Promise available at Ellora’s Cave:
http://www.ellorascave.com/a-kiss-of-promise.html

For your Kindle:
http://amzn.com/B00HQH99V6

For your Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/A-Kiss-of-Promise-Elaine-Violette

On her website:
www.elaineviolette.com

Visitors can follow Elaine on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elaineviolette/author and Twitter, https://twitter.com/elaine_violette.

Elaine’s other books mentioned above:
Regal Reward (print and ebook)
http://amzn.com/1419956256

A Convenient Pretense (ebook)
http://amzn.com/B00B3YV24A

I have been fascinated with the influence of birth order on personality for a long time. Probably ever since I met my husband. J

I’m the oldest of two girls. My husband is the youngest of seven—and six of those seven are boys, with his sister being the oldest.

I’m a decision maker.  I’m even what some people (my first grade teacher for instance) might call bossy.

My husband… isn’t. He goes with the flow.  The first three Thanksgivings we had with his family, I offered to bring something.  Something good to impress them right?  Something real.  But my husband was in charge of asking his sister what we should bring.

Dinner rolls. Brown and serve.

Yep. That’s what we brought. Because my husband just went along with whatever they said and his sister would never dream of having the baby actually do something.

New to the family I went along with it. For awhile.

But we’ve been together almost twenty years now. We no longer bring dinner rolls.

And my husband is no longer in charge of making family plans.

I love writing about families.  There’s just so much built in drama and emotion J Family always plays a role in my characters’ lives—for better or worse—but I’ve written a new series where the family is the core, driving force behind many of the attitudes and conflicts in the books.

Specifically, a group of siblings.  A boy and four girls. An older brother with four younger sisters.

Yep. FOUR. YOUNGER. SISTERS.

If you’re thinking “poor guy”… you’re right.  Conner Dixon has been tortured for four books by having to watch his sisters—who are more than just younger siblings, he’s raised these girls since their father died—fall in love.  And not just in love… in love with four of Conner’s best friends.

Yeah, poor guy.

Well, now it’s his turn.  And it was absolutely as entertaining to write his love story as I thought it would be.

As I’m finishing this series up, I have to admit that the sibling bond was even stronger and more a part of the books than I’d expected. Sometimes you can’t plan this stuff.  And when it happens naturally, it’s even more fun.

The birth order of the Dixon siblings is, oldest to youngest (and this is not the exact order of their booksJ)

Conner:  the protective big brother

Amanda: the oldest girl who tries to take care of her little sisters and protect her big brother

Emma: the wild child. The one who tests all the boundaries.

Isabelle: the side-kick. She’s right there with Emma getting into trouble and raising hell, but Emma’s the instigator.  Usually.

Olivia: the baby of the family. The sweet one. The optimist. The one who wants everyone to be happy.

Conner took this quiz and turned out as a typical first born.  How about you? 🙂

Birth Order Quiz

You can get to know Conner and his four feisty, fun sisters in the Counting in Love series!

She’s the One– Amanda Dixon

It Takes Two– Isabelle Dixon

Best of Three– Emma Dixon

Going for Four– Olivia Dixon

Up By Five– Conner Dixon

Up By Five

Releasing: April 8^th, 2014

He’s in the middle of the last thing he wanted… and the best thing to ever happen.

Ace paramedic Conner Dixon has sworn to never live with another woman after raising his four younger sisters. They have been giving him gray hair since they lost their father fifteen years ago. Now they’re all in love and Conner’s ready to retire—from worrying, fixing problems and cleaning up messes.

Of course, when his fellow paramedic, Gabrielle Evans, needs a place to stay after her apartment burns down, Conner can’t say no. But it’s no problem—Gabby’s just one of the guys.

Gabby’s penchant for poker and her ability to overhaul a transmission definitely make her different from Conner’s usual women. She also has no interest in getting involved with him. Conner’s crazy mix of family and friends is the last thing Gabby needs right now. She has her sights set on medical school in the fall and knows success depends on focus and commitment.

But within forty-eight hours of moving in, Gabby’s in the middle of a family crisis that could disprove all her I-don’t-need-anyone bluster and Conner’s in the middle of the last thing he wanted—a girl and all her stuff, all over his stuff. Still, the more she makes herself at home, the more he thinks that’s maybe exactly where her stuff should be. For good.

Warning: Contains a girl who thinks she wants to be just one of the guys, a guy who happily proves why that won’t work, and a very good reason to buy cinnamon roll icing-you know, other than for use on cinnamon rolls.

Tour Schedule:

4/1     I am, Indeed
Redheads Review it Better
4/2     Rage, Sex and Teddy Bears
4/4     Riverina Romantics
Delilah Devlin
4/7     S.J. Maylee
All I Want and More
4/9     Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories
All Things Romance
The Book Pushers
4/11   A Book Lovers Review
Ex Libris
4/15   Reading Between the Wines

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20526645-up-by-five

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Five-Counting-Love-Erin-Nicholas-ebook/dp/B00IYG08J0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395432920&sr=8-1&keywords=up+by+five

Author Bio:

I’ve been reading romance since my mom first let me into her book cupboard when I was about fourteen. LaVyrle Spencer, Julie Garwood, Debbie Macomber… they took my ‘happily ever after’ ideas from animated princesses to real people in the real world.

I’ve been writing romance almost as long. Many a family car trip was spent with my head bent over a spiral notebook in the back seat. I’ll confess that my very first attempts at fiction were fantasy and paranormals, influenced by my father’s love of the Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the original Alice in Wonderland. If Harry Potter had been around, I’m sure he would have been on the bedtime story shelf as well.

But it wasn’t long until I started writing about true love and that’s where I’ve been ever since.

I’m so thrilled to be able to share these stories with you! I hope that they make you smile, sigh, maybe even choke up a little. Most of all, I hope that they help you believe in magical things like first kisses, the spark of passion, and the power of true love.

Website: http://www.erinnicholas.com/
Blog: http://erinnicholas.blogspot.com/
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/ErinNicholasBooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErinNicholasAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErinNicholas
Nine Naughty Novelists Blog: http://ninenaughtynovelists.blogspot.com/
NNN Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the9NN

Giveaway:

Erin will be doing a few things. She is hosting a tour-wide giveaway of a $25 gift card with Amazon/Barnes & Noble. She also wants to have a giveaway of any one (1) of her backlist books at each tour stop. And as a thank you to all the bloggers participating, she will be giving away a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Bloggers have to post on their appointed day by 8 a.m. (PDT) in order to be entered. Please put the rafflecopter on your stop. For individual stop giveaways, please limit the time to 7 days.

Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rafflecopter Link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NmU0NzZhNDU2ZTQ4YWU2MGQwYTFjOGUzM2IzZjY4OjM2/

With my book coming out I started to Google “launch parties” and everything I found dealt with large venues that were rented and inviting the businesses in town with the town’s officials. It was all about sales and presence.

And that is not what I wanted. I didn’t want an “event”. I wanted a celebration with my close friends and family of what I had accomplished.

I took the concept of ”launch party” and I pulled it into an intimate setting and started planning what I saw as the perfect way to celebrate years of hard work.

Invitations were done word of mouth and by Facebook. Nothing fancy.

Food was planned; just a cake and ice cream with a variety of beverages. For the cake, it took three calls in town to find a baker who could make one with a photographic image on it instead of mere icing.

Suggested decorations for the venue:

* About six or eight small place cards set around the room with character facts. In my case “Jaime doesn’t like chocolate” (above) and “Stephen doesn’t listen to anything produced after 1979.”

* A playlist that represents your book playing softly in the background. For us, it was Stephen’s classic rock.

* Recipe cards might be featured. One recipe that works for him, one for her. I made the Sangria that Jaime loves and served it in cups the color that matched the cover of the book. Guests took the cards home.

* 8.5 X 11 covers of the book displayed in acrylic frames. Not only for this book, but others, if you have them. I put them around the room with a note on two: “Ask Me about My Next Book.” It was a great conversation starter.

* A couple of disposable cameras for guests to use to capture spontaneity.

* Balloon bouquets, steamers, silk rose petals here and there. Things that say “party”.

* Most important: Your new release displayed. Stacks standing next to one that stands alone and strong.  Keep a pen handy if someone wants a copy autographed. We sold ours at cost to our friends and family.

A Launch Party doesn’t have to be an official occasion to promote name and sales. Sometimes it can be a mere celebration of this wonderful thing you worked so hard to achieve. Let your family be there with you. Have your friends come and see why you were always so busy. And have fun. In the end, that’s all it is about sometimes!!

I’ve been a sport flirter since the first grade. I played first string in middle school and was a varsity flirter in high school and college. I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia for my tour in the Navy, and with a ratio of one hundred men for each woman in that town…well, you do the math. Talk about a kid in a candy store.

But wait. Why is the title about age if this blog is about acting confident, sensual, and flirty? Simple. Harry S. Truman may have been president when I was born and I may write about heroes and heroines who are younger than my children, but I’m not giving up flirting any time soon. I plan to be a force to be reckoned with when I check into my nursing home some day.

In French Women Don’t Get Fat, Mireille Guiliano has this to say about older women: “The French rightly acknowledge there is a particular mystique to une femme d’un certain age, an expression with layers of meaning, including respect but also worldliness and hits of seduction. In Europe men naturally find women of this age group desirable, even sexy, and are often caught turning to look at them.” Embrace it, ladies. Just because one has reached a certain age, doesn’t mean she can’t continue to let her confidence and sensuality shine through in a look or a smile—that might possibly be held a nanosecond too long. On purpose.

I’m a happily married woman of 37 years, so the kind of flirting I’m talking about is no longer wooing some guy into bed (unless it’s Mr. Ashby, who has no complaints about being married to a romance author.) It might be a little banter with a salesman at the hardware store. Or striking up a conversation with a handsome man while waiting for your train. Maybe sharing a laugh about something witnessed together in public. Perhaps a smile with your thank-you for a gentleman who has held the door for you. Instead of seduction, it’s more “Catch and Release.” You get the rush of catching the fish, but you’re not planning to take it home.

Sometimes it’s not appropriate to actively flirt, but that doesn’t stop me from checking out guys I might want to put in a book. As a romance author, I get to chalk it up as “research.” I write a Navy romance series called “Love in the Fleet.” Since I live near the Navy base about which I write, there’s plenty of research available. If I go to the base gym to work out around 0730 on Friday mornings, the crew of the USS Stud Muffin is there performing Command Physical Training. I get to watch the show—completely incognito in my old lady body—and they have no idea I’m taking mental notes. I mean, who knew a man’s pecs could behave that way when he’s doing pull-ups? Just because you’re on a diet, doesn’t mean you can’t look at the menu.

One day I was standing in line at the base post office, silently ogling the back of the flight-suit-clad pilot in front of me. I’m sorry, but there’s just something about a guy in a military flight suit. Not sure if all the pilots are sexy as hell or it’s just the addition of the flight suit—which is doubly sexy when they roll back their cuffs—as this pilot did. Now, flight suits have zippered pockets on the arms and legs to stow survival gear when flying. So this hot pilot goes to pay for his postage by unzipping his shoulder zipper and pulling out a credit card—which was pretty sexy in itself. But then he turned his head, smiled at me over his shoulder, and said, “You won’t tell anybody about my little secret hiding place, now will you?” I managed to smile back and say, “No,” which was difficult because I had already melted into a puddle of goo on the post office floor. Here’s how that experience played out in Book 2 in my series, Forget Me Not, about a playboy Navy pilot named Sky Crawford:

Sky flipped through his Rolodex of smiles, selecting just the right one because he would need the receptionist on his good side if he was going to get on any side of Dr. Untouchable. Usually chicks that didn’t fall for his I’m-the-bad-boy-of-your-dreams-honey smile succumbed to his aw-shucks-golly-gee-ma’am grin. Worked like a charm.

Certain he had Lillian’s attention, Sky unzipped a shoulder pocket in his flight suit and extracted his credit card. He glanced around dramatically, leaned over the desk, and said in a low voice, “You won’t tell anybody about my little secret hiding place, now will you, Lillian?” She took the card, her smile filling the room with sunshine. Too bad he wasn’t interested in the receptionist because it was clear he had her hook, line, and sinker.

Ladies, why do many of us read romance novels? Because we love that rush of new love, affection, and attention. Just because you may no longer be a teen, a twenty-something, a thirty-something, or even a forty-something, (and some of us will keep counting) age is just a number. Attitude is everything. Stand proud, embrace your sensuality, and let your beauty shine through—especially when there’s a hot guy around. Just don’t forget to throw the fish back if you’re not supposed to be taking home trophies.

Thanks for inviting me today, Delilah. I’d like to leave a question with your readers and an e-copy of Forget Me Not for one lucky commenter. Do you enjoy a bit of flattery and flirting now and then? (And if you’d like to stay in touch with the captain of the sport flirting team, Sky Crawford, feel free to LIKE his Facebook page: facebook.com/SkyCrawfordFanClub)

Blurb for FORGET ME NOT:

Suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome and survivor guilt, Navy helicopter pilot and renowned playboy, Brian “Skylark” Crawford, swears he’ll never marry, uncertain he deserves happiness—besides there are too many hot chicks to choose from. War widow and veterinarian, Daisy Schneider, swears to love only animals after her Marine pilot husband is killed in Afghanistan—but work fails to ease her loneliness or the guilt that she might have saved him. Between one matchmaking, rescue cat and a fiery battle with drug runners at sea, the fur flies as Sky and Daisy learn valuable lessons about life, love, and second chances.

Forget Me Not: http://alturl.com/wb6ru

AUTHOR BIO:

Heather Ashby is a Navy veteran who taught school and raised a family while accompanying her Navy husband around the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. In gratitude for her Army son’s safe return from Afghanistan and Iraq, she now writes military romance novels, donating half her royalties to causes that support wounded warriors and their families. Forgive & Forget, Book 1 in “Love in the Fleet,” was voted “Best of 2013” by Suspense Magazine. She lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida with her husband and two rescue cats.

www.heatherashby.com
Twitter: www.@HAshbyAuthor
facebook.com/HeatherAshbyAuthor?ref=hl

On May 6th, I have a full-length novel releasing with Grand Central’s Forever Yours line in both paperback and ebook. It’s just the sort of tale all those 50 Shades of Grey fans should love. It’s available for pre-order now!

The moment Tilly Floret sees the sleek Bentley driving down Main Street, she knows trouble has arrived in her sleepy little town. A mysterious job posting keeps appearing at the diner where she works and she can’t resist applying. No matter that the entire town of Bayou Vert is whispering about the wealthy, powerful man behind it all and his scandalous return home.  The moment his ice-blue eyes meet hers, he ignites an all-consuming desire she never imagined possible, one she can’t deny.

Ex-Navy Seal Boone Benoit never thought he’d set foot in Louisiana again.  As soon as Tilly starts her new job in his pleasure club, he senses a kindred soul. One who has carefully guarded secrets of her own—and a simmering hunger for the taboo rites of mastery and submission. The only difference is she doesn’t yet know it . . . Now as Boone tutors Tilly in the tantalizing world of leather and restraint, she will shed her every inhibition and surrender to him, body and soul.

Buy at Amazon |  Buy at Barnes & Noble 

The sound was faint and haunting, entering his dreams like a distant echo. A metallic tinkling drifting closer, coming and going, like tiny golden bells worn on a waving arm.

Boone Benoit awoke in a sweat. He lay still for a moment, searching the darkness around him, remembering the layout of the furniture in his bedroom, but finding no new shadows to cause alarm.

But he heard the tinkling in the distance and slipped out of bed. Opening the French doors that led onto the balcony, he stepped out into the humid night air and listened.

Nothing. He must have imagined the sound. Or maybe the gardeners had installed wind chimes, and they’d stirred in a breeze. Although, right this moment, the thick bayou air was perfectly still.

Another door opened farther down the balcony. From the corner of his eye, Boone saw his right-hand man, Sergei Gun, step outside.

“You okay, boss?”

“I’m fine, Serge. Just thought I heard something.”

“Want me to have the guards take a look around the grounds?”

He began to shake his head. His unease at being back was clearly playing with his head, and he wasn’t happy about it. He’d only been back a day, but in Bayou Vert, news traveled faster than CNN across backyard fences. For all he knew, someone might be there in the dark, staring down the barrel of a rifle. “Yeah, have them make a round. And find out if someone put up wind chimes.”

Serge’s head canted.

He probably wanted to ask why, but knew Boone well enough to refrain. Boone and those closest to him had secrets they all kept close to the chest. For good reason.

“What do you want them to do if they find chimes?”

“Shoot ’em,” Boone said with a grim smile.

Serge’s teeth gleamed in the shadows. “Get some sleep, boss.”

“You too.”

Boone stepped back inside and lay down on the bed, closing his eyes and trying to relax, but he strained to hear the telltale sound—golden bells on a bracelet, tinkling at the end of a pale arm.

Dragging in a deep breath, he wondered if he was ready for this. Ready to return to his childhood home. Ready to face his past and the terrible thing that had happened here.

Likely, the sound had been only a dream, dredged up by his own feelings of guilt. A blood-soaked memory. Boone acknowledged the guilt. Accepted it. But now was the time to face the part he’d played. Dead calm settled around him and he drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Read the rest of this entry »

J.D. Hart as Pirate!

I’m sure all of us have heard an audio book we could hardly wait to get, only to be disappointed with the narrator. Choosing the right one is so important. Although I think I just got lucky in choosing J.D. Hart to narrate my books, I went through a learning curve. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

1. As a reader, you know you can search Audible by narrator, right? That means, if you find a voice you love, you can go online and see all the other books he/she has narrated and listen to them as well. This is not something I knew when I first started out, nor did I know that loyal listeners would travel to one author from another when a good narrator is found.
2. As an author, chose a narrator with an already existing following of some kind. Perhaps this person is an actor with fans, or is involved in the music industry and has fans. Or chose a narrator who is willing to or knows how to promote you as the      author. Many will do this, but not all of them will. It is so helpful when your narrator can bring fans to your listening audience.
3. Make sure you take into account the number of characters, accents and special voices you will need for your books, and make sure your sample narration covers some of these. That way, you get an audition of the narrator’s true skills, not just a portion. If you are sensitive how women’s voices sound, for instance, with a male narrator, make sure they read a part where you have the H/H (two most important parts of the romance novel) speaking in dialogue. Or an action scene, or a little of both (a tip from Bella Andre). You’re going to have to get used to a stranger reading your sex scenes aloud. Get over it. You’ll pick yourself up off the floor and learn to actually like it. Honest.
4. Make sure you      allow proper time (usually 1.5 hours for every hour of narration) to properly proof, listen and assist the narrator in giving the kind of command performance you want.
5. Do you want one narrator or two? It can be difficult to edit if there are two parties, but some authors feel having two voices helps readers get a flavor of their story. In my case, I didn’t want that. I wanted the listener to fall in love with the voice I’d chosen, just as I had. I thought they’d be annoyed having to listen to anyone else’s.
6. You can ask      questions about timing and how the narrator handles edits. In this way, you will find out how easy he/she is to work with. Remember, this is an intimate partnership. If you haven’t done one before, you will be excited and nervous as heck when you hire your first and you hear your words translated into the spoken word. Almost like a first date. Your narrator will see the flaws in your story, your writing, errors in grammar and diction, as well as reveal very personal things about your story as he/she tells it—again, the narrator becomes a character in your book, and the reader/listener hears it through his/her interpretation.
7. Don’t be afraid to be frank if you don’t like some thing. Make sure you listen to chapters slowly at first to make sure you are on the same page about things. You don’t want to have to ask for several chapters of re-do. In the end, it is your story, and you are paying the bills, in most cases. You deserve to get what you want.
8. No matter how good a narrator is, some readers/listeners will not be comfortable with that voice. They may have read the character a different way. I have some people that won’t listen to an audio book because they want the experience of the character they created in their own mind.

WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK is that we aren’t duplicating the experience of reading, WE’RE ENHANCING it. It is a different art form. We’re deepening the experience for the reader/listener.

9. At Tucson Festival of Books earlier this month, I asked readers what they liked to use. Last year, people were split 50/50 over using an eReader and a paperback book. This year, I was told over and over again, “I use them all. I read on my smart phone, I read on my computer, on my tablet as well as the print book. If I like the book, I buy the print, eBook AND the Audio Book.

THIS FACT WAS HUGE FOR ME. If not than for any other reason, authors who are not doing audio books are missing the boat.

In short, I just plain lucked out. It could have been a horrible experience and I just jumped in. But I found the most kind and talented guy in the world to do my stories. I’ve learned to ask for what I need, which took some getting used to on my part. I’ve learned to trust him, to allow him to take the lead where he knows best, and to just shut up and let him work.

It has been one of the highlights of my career to get involved with the six audio books I’ve done with J.D. Hart. And the fact that they are selling well, is only testament to how good he is at what he does.

Here’s a little treat for you, a sample reading and a book trailer with his voice. Enjoy!! Leave a comment here and one lucky person will win an audio book of their choice from the six we have recorded. Tell me something you either like or don’t like about audio books, or reveal if you are an audio virgin. We’ll see if we can do something to take care of that right away.

Book Trailer, Cruisin For A SEAL.

Sample Narration, Honeymoon Bite (Marcus/Anne)

Books 1-4 of the SEAL Brotherhood are on Audible now. Books 1 & 2 of the Golden Vampires of Tuscany series also out on Audible.

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

NYT and USA/Today and top 100 Amazon bestselling author Sharon Hamilton’s award-winning Navy SEAL Brotherhood series have been fan favorites since they were first released. They’ve earned her the coveted Amazon author ranking of #1 in Romantic Suspense, Military Romance and Contemporary Romance, as well as Gothic Romance for her Vampires of Tuscany and guardian angels. Her characters follow a sometimes rocky road to redemption through passion and true love.

Her Golden Vampires of Tuscany are not like any vamps you’ve read about before, since they don’t go to ground and can walk around in the full light of the sun.

Her Guardian Angels struggle with the human charges they are sent to save, often escaping their vanilla world of Heaven for the brief human one. You won’t find any of these beings in any Sunday school class.

Bring on fantasy!

At a mystery writers’ conference last week (yep, I write those, too) I was talking to another author (male) and the subject of what women want came up.

Well, the subject was 50 Shades of Grey. When authors get together they always want to talk about books that sell millions of copies.

If we could figure out the formula, we’d sell millions, too!

The conversation went beyond book sales, though. The guy was truly wondering why millions of women bought and read the book.

“Do women want to be taken against their will? I thought that was rape,” he said.

Whew, this was way beyond my understanding of all women’s psychology and fantasies.

Fantasy is the key here, though. Many women have fantasies of having sex when they have some hesitation. But it’s the wooing, the convincing that matters. The woman’s pleasure is paramount in books like 50 Shades.

This book opened the floodgates for BDSM literature, as well as bringing erotica out of the shadows. And looking at the number of books and oceans of sales, women have wanted outlets for their fantasies for a long time.

I have an acquaintance who looks like someone’s grandmother. She should be rocking in a chair by the fire, knitting afghans and reading to her grandchildren. Instead, she writes erotica—pretty hot erotica—and I always wonder when I see her together with her husband of maybe fifty years.

When I read 50 Shades I was beginning to write The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles. I didn’t want my characters to go down the BDSM route, but I surely wanted my protagonist, Maxie Gwenoch, a regular woman, to have a complete fantasy. She was falling in love with a vampire. She loved his caring, his competency, his money, his lifestyle, his urbaneness.

And the fact that he was five hundred years old, had made love to countless women and knew his way around a woman’s body was a giant plus.

In SNAP: White Nights, the seventh book in The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, the relationship between Maxie and Jean-Louis deepens and a new romance between Nik and Jazz begins. Jazz now has Maxie’s previous job as Managing Editor of SNAP, and Nik is a four hundred year old vampire and a leader of the Kandesky family. Nik’s been with women over the past centuries and Maxie knows Jazz is in for a treat.

My conversation at the conference didn’t resolve anything and the guy went away still not knowing what women want. I couldn’t figure out how to tell him that sometimes we don’t want to be responsible, sometimes we want our partners to (gently) coerce us, sometimes we want romance and always we want foreplay.

A few hundred years of experience would help a fantasy, too.

*~*~*~*~*~*

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.

SNAP: White Nights  the seventh book of her paranormal romance series, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, was published March 20. She’s working on the eighth book in the series, SNAP: All That Jazz, scheduled for publication in late spring 2014.

She also writes the Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries, Edited for Death and Labeled for Death. A third book, Delta for Death, is coming in 2014.

SNAP: White Nights buy links:
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