Thank you Delilah for letting me guest blog today, because today’s a very special day for me. It’s Release Day for COLLECTOR’S ITEM, my new paranormal romance from The Wild Rose Press.

To find her missing aunt, a headstrong shapeshifter joins forces with a cynical Alpha to investigate an illegal hunt club, but when their plan backfires can she escape a trap of her own making?

To celebrate this special day, I’m sharing a little about the development of my shapeshifter story. Also, I’m inviting everyone to enter my COLLECTOR’S ITEM Release Week Contest, running now through May 23rd. See details below!

Paranormal stories are often about hiding the reality of being dual-natured from the rest of the world. I chose to have shapeshifters living openly in the population, but they haven’t been “out of the closet” for long. In my world, the emergence of shapeshifters was motivated by a threat to their survival–the Collectors. The Collectors is a secret society of human hunters. Their goal: to capture, hunt, and kill shapeshifters–the Ultimate Big Game. The Collectors have been so successful, shapeshifters are forced to seek legal rights and protections or become an “endangered species.”

When creating COLLECTOR’S ITEM, I decided that I wanted to use a feline shapeshifter instead of a werewolf. Nothing against werewolves, but I’ve always been a cat person. Also, by not choosing to do werewolves, my shapeshifters would not be tied to the moon’s cycles, giving them more autonomy. However, the biggest difference in my shapeshifters is that I gave the animal side of my shapeshifters their own names and distinct personalities.

The heroine, KT (Katarina Teresa) Marant, shares her consciousness with Andi (Andromeda). The hero, Peyton Allers shares his consciousness with Max (Maximilian). The animal personalities fulfill the role of “side-kick,” and provide a bit of comic relief as well.

The story of COLLECTOR’S ITEM begins when a member of KT Marant’s family disappears and KT Marant immediately suspects the Collectors. As the trained, but inexperienced Female Alpha of the Marant Clan, KT has the skills but lacks the knowledge to follow through on her suspicion. Enter Peyton Allers, an undercover Alliance Protector and Alpha in his own right.

EXCERPT:

Peyton Allers struggled to contain his temper as he faced the “princess” of the Marant clan, AKA Katarina Teresa Marant. Because a high-blood princess had slipped her leash and made herself a target for the Collectors, his cover and his operation were blown. No simple “chip & tip” would do for this Collector’s Item, damn it!

Added to the inevitable hysterics and demands for protection, he’d be elbow deep in politics. God, he hated politics. Bowing and scraping while maneuvering to find the best location to stick in the knife.

Not with this one, his jag, Max asserted.

The princess stood behind the couch, hands on hips, a tiny crease between her eyebrows while she looked from Massey on the rug to him and back. No hysterics in sight, Peyton noted with relief. Points for restraint.

Alpha, said Max.

Princess, Peyton countered. Even they had their moments of intelligence, but he knew better than to expect more.

To see how this all works out, I invite you to read COLLECTOR’S ITEM, now available from The Wild Rose Press.

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THE CONTEST: One lucky person will win a COLLECTOR’S ITEM mug filled with caffeine and chocolate! Rules are:

1. LIKE my Denise Golinowski/Author Page on Facebook = 1 Entry
2. TWEET about Collector’s Item using #collectorsitembook and @DGolinowski = 1 Entry
3. POST a comment here and mention that you’ve completed #1 & #2 = 1 Entry
4. WAIT – I’ll be drawing a lucky winner on May 23^rd and post the winner on my Denise Golinowski/Author Page
5. EXTRA CREDIT – LIKE FB page for COLLECTOR’s ITEM – Collector’s Item/Golinowski = 1 Entry

Easy Peasy you can have 4 entries in the drawing.

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ABOUT DENISE: Denise Golinowski has always been a writer. A hopeful romantic, she gravitated to fantasy and romance.  She is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America, Virginia Romance Writers, and James River Writers.  A native of Richmond, Virginia, Denise lives with her uber-supportive husband and one devoted lap kitty. She is currently working on a Contemporary Paranormal Romance involving another member of the Marant Clan—KT’s older brother, Peter Marant.  You can find her on facebook at Denise Golinowski/Author and at her blog, Golinowski’s Gambol.

Falling in Love with Characters

As a reader I often become emotionally involved in the story. I’ll learn to love and hate the characters and become attached to them. I miss them when I’m done and often count down the days until the next book in a series is released. So you might be able to imagine how much worse the hero worship gets when the characters are my own. I live with them, dream about them, and let them speak through me. Aside from feeling a bit narcissistic it can also be heartbreaking when they stop talking to me. I’m a pantser so my characters write my stories. Sometimes they go on and on. Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get to the end.

Whenever I have a new release I don’t read it right away. I, of course, read the book through during the final editing phase. However, when I’m sent the absolute final copies before the release date I put them into a file and ignore them for a while. Why? Well, I’m usually already onto another story and another set of characters. In essence, I’ve already fallen in love with someone else. I know I’m such a floozy. I do find myself going back months later to read my books and sometimes I’m surprised by them. I usually fall in love with my heroes all over again too.

In my series, Love Beyond Barriers, it was easy to fall in love with each one of the heroes. All of them share the traits of patience, honesty, and loyalty. All of them showed true concern for their heroine and the other people in their story they call friends. In the final installment, Too Much to Lose, Ben is unique. He’s a young, single personal trainer who has set his sights on his friend’s sister. Don’t worry, the friend doesn’t mind but the sister does. Shayla is from New York and just can’t see things working out between her and the insistent Texan. But of course love will find a way, especially with all the sparks flying between these two in the bedroom.

Too Much to Lose will be available on May 15^th!

Here’s a little taste:

Shayla loves her life in New York. She loves her job, her freedom and her friends. What she doesn’t love is going home to an empty bed every night. There’s definitely a solution for that in Texas…Ben. The only problem is she’s not certain she’s ready for another serious relationship.

Ben fell head over heels for Shayla almost from the moment they met and it was obvious the attraction was mutual. However, great sex is all she’s willing to give. She tests his patience at every turn and his endurance whenever they’re alone together. He doesn’t know what more to offer.

It might take a force of nature and the emotional past coming back to haunt her before Shayla realizes what they have is definitely Too Much to Lose.

A Romantica® erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Want more? You can find all of the books in the series here: http://www.ellorascave.com/too-much-to-lose.html

-Missy Jane

*Make reading a guilty pleasure…*

www.authormissyjane.com
www.msmissyjane.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/msmissyjane
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Missy-Jane/208776832491620

True love. That mythical unicorn of emotion many swear doesn’t exist. And the rest of us? Constantly seeking, reading, hoping, validating the notion that one day we will either find it, or have already found it. Not to mention the constant prayer that some skanky home wrecking little bitch doesn’t try to pry it out of your cold, moist and clammy grasp. *grins cheerfully*

I believe in true love. Trust me, it’s easier NOT to believe, then I can justify settling for less. For a while I did. Years ago, when I was with my first serious relationship I thought I found it. I realize now a large part of it was him being my first, and he saw me thru some crazy shit and didn’t leave, and I know I’m not easy. In fact…the phrase two nuts short of a fruitcake often float around, but I ain’t saying who it’s about. It could be me. Perhaps. *stares at nails*

Mayhaps not. ANYwho…When reality set in, it’s obvious I confused lust with love. Haven’t we all done that once or twice? Or a million times…*sighs* I got used to sleeping with the same guy every night, or, in the illustrious words of that finer than a motherfucker Morris Chestnut from one of my all-time favorite movies, ‘The Best Man’ the way my pussy curved to his dick pretty much had a bitch thirsty as hell, lol. Brother could lay pipe, I will not lie. But was I in love? Nah. I was deep in lust. Sad thing is, I truly believe he loved me and would have probably made a decent enough husband too, but…I also know now that wouldn’t have been fair. I would’ve ended up hurting him, because in the end, I knew deep down from the very beginning, in that place where only you and god know the truth (praise jeebus) I couldn’t stay for the long haul.

And ps? Just because someone has been there from the beginning, or like in my case, has seen you though some dark times does not guarantee happily ever after. It just doesn’t. Brutal but honest. I remember reading how Janet Jackson and her husband Rene Elizondo were married 11 years, together even longer. And now they aren’t. For some reason I never thought they would break up. They just always….WERE, you know? Now, she is happily married to who I am guessing she really hopes is her soul mate. Here’s hoping, J. *holds up glass*

In all that time though, I’m sure she didn’t expect that Rene only wanted her for her money and in the end that’s what their break-up came down to. Moo-lah he wanted from her and sued her for. Mind you, we as outsiders can only speculate, but you get my point. It makes me wonder now what his agenda was all along. I hear so many celebrities say, he or she knew me when I was broke and didn’t have shit but you know what? A smart person, hell even an idiot can spot someone who’s got that “it,” or will soon get it, you know what I mean?

So what do they do? They invest in that person and stand by them, and then later when someone says you’re out for cheese, BOO YAH. Pull out that ace, baby. I knew you when you ain’t had shit, I can’t possibly have hidden agenda, right? Because gold diggers, after all are only hookers and hoes from the ghetto and from trailer parks and whatever else represents low-income and lack of class. Gotta love them stereotypes, folks. O_o

Now I know it’s not always true. Everyone is not always out for material gain, and it doesn’t mean that’s what happened to Janet and Rene, or anyone else, but bottom line? They weren’t soul mates, that much is clear. Familiarity and history does not necessarily true love make. It matters, but it should NOT be the only thing that sustains you. As I recall, familiarity often breeds contempt, but that’s another blog, eh? lol.

True love does exist. You can realize it ten years after knowing someone, or, god forbid, ten seconds. I don’t advise the latter, lol, but just because it hasn’t happened to me, doesn’t mean I won’t believe that magic and fairies don’t exist.

In my novella series, Give & Receive, this is the theme I think that drives the story. Lena, Danny and Ty really are caught in spider’s web of emotion. Hurt, anger, love, betrayal, heat, lust and downright lunacy just to name a few. She has to determine what she truly feels for both of these men, and they for her. Is it love? Is it just lust? Is she going to choose one, or risk everything and try to have them both? She’s what my one friend Moni luv calls a greedy bitch, so we’ll see how this all pans out.

So here’s my question to you guys. What IS true love? How do you define it? Is there truly only “one” true love? To me, it’s many things. It’s unconditional love. Your soul mate. Accepting all facets of a person. The dark side of a person and the skeletons that help define who they are. An extension of you. The sick feeling in your tummy you get wondering at any given moment what they’re doing, who they’re doing it with, or if they’re thinking of you and feeling the same way. You’re always anxious to see them, because when they’re not there, a piece of you is missing. It’s living a little inside of their skin and breathing them in. It’s a perfect line of coke. It’s euphoria. Explosive. Volatile. Carnal bliss.

Love is pain. It hurts. God it hurts. Like a jagged knife that repeats its tear across your insides. Dante’s 9^th circle of hell. Anyone who tells you different is fucking lying their face off and you need to hit them in the eye with a bag of pork chops mixed with dirty, wet sweat socks. Repeatedly. And it’s important that they’re mixed up together. And dirty. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Seamlessly Weave in Backstory

When my book Surrender Love came out in 2009, I was already working on its sequel. Little did I know that life would conspire against me in radical ways. Four years later, I finally released Forbid My Heart: A Luc and Rah Story. I’m working on two more, and will likely go beyond that in the series. One of the problems with releasing a series is that readers either forget what happened in the previous books, or they never read them in the first place. It’s up to you to remind them or clue them in without dumping huge amounts of backstory.

How do you tell readers what happened in the past without what is known among writers as an “info dump”? One way is to sneak in details throughout the story.

In the sequel to Surrender Love, I was facing an additional drawback. This was more than a short story, but just shy of a novella. I didn’t have much wiggle room. I also had an alien to describe. Tall order. I handled the intro to Izzorah by writing the opening portion from Luc’s point of view.

He wakes, and finds Izzorah beside him in bed, staring at him. That could be unnerving, but Luc found it amusing. Here’s a snippet.

Luc Saint-Cyr woke to the feel of warm lips against his. His Kin lover stretched out alongside him, one arm across Luc’s chest. In the dim light, Izzorah Ceeow’s green eyes shimmered like a true cat’s, the slitted pupils wide. Luc had his full, masculine attention, and it showed in Rah’s forward-facing, pointed ears. Izzorah might have been an eager cat awaiting a favorite toy to power up. The playful image made Luc smile.

There are several writer’s tricks in play here. This is the opening paragraph of the book, so it uses the characters’ full names as a way to show who they are. It gives the setting: Luc wakes to the feel of warm lips and his lover stretched out beside him. We assume they’re in bed, which they are. We know Luc’s lover is a Kin, but we aren’t sure yet what that means. We find out in the next few sentences. Izzorah’s eyes shimmer like a true cat’s, and have slitted pupils. That gives us a bit more of a description, then we discover he’s called Rah, and he has pointed ears. Luc sees him as a cat who is awaiting a toy to power up, and thinks the image is a playful one. He relaxes. There is a great deal of detail in the 74 words included here.

I could have written it this way:

Luc Saint-Cyr woke up in his own bed, and found his alien lover beside him. Izzorah had the same kind of glow to his eyes that a cat did, and his slitted pupils were wide. He was paying attention to Luc as if he thought Luc was his private toy and could hardly wait to play. Luc smiled. Read the rest of this entry »

Women, Whiskey, and Horse Racing

As an author of mainly historical romance, I often rely on actual people, places, and events for the inspiration for my characters. In my latest release, Lover for Ransom, the Reconstruction Era South served as the backdrop for my setting, Byrne’s End, a fictitious horse farm in Thompson’s Station, Tennessee.

Most Civil War romances center around spoiled belles and cavalier soldiers who live on vast plantations, but although cotton was king in Alabama and Georgia, in reality, Tennessee, especially Middle Tennessee, was known for sour mash whiskey, tobacco farming—and horse breeding.

Prior to the Civil War, horse breeding farms and racetracks dotted the lush landscape of rolling green hills. Almost everyone with means raised horses for either transportation, farming, or sport. In the early 19^th century, Middle Tennessee (even more so than Kentucky) was the center of the horse breeding world.

Even personal disputes were often settled on the outcome of horse races and President Andrew Jackson was not immune. In 1806, he raced Truxton against Joseph Erwin’s Ploughboy and when a yet another difference of opinion ensued, so did a duel in which Erwin’s son-in-law, Charles Dickinson, was shot and killed by Jackson.

These frontier-era Tennesseans took their horseracing seriously.

One of Andrew Jackson’s good friends was a man named James Jackson (no relation) who was one of the founding fathers of my hometown, Florence, in North Alabama. Stories of James Jackson and his prized horses of the antebellum Forks of Cypress Plantation are legendary in my area. In fact, many of the winners of the Triple Crown series can trace their lineage back to James Jackson’s prized horse, Glencoe.

In Lover for Ransom, the hero, Ransom Byrne, is a former Confederate cavalry officer who was brought home to his family’s horse farm, Byrne’s End, to convalesce during an illness at the height of the War Between the States. While recovering, Ransom spreads sickness throughout his family and his teenaged sister is rendered blind as a result.

After the war, a guilt-ridden, Ransom resolves to hire a teacher from the famed Perkins School for the Blind to tutor his sister. Once Jenny had come to terms with her handicap, he’s vows to turn his back on horse breeding, leave Byrne’s End, and go West where he won’t be faced daily with the horrors his illness visited upon his beloved family.

When Yankee teacher, Cathleen Ryan, shows up with her suffragist ideas and plainspoken ways, Ransom is forced to keep a watchful eye on the unpredictable Northerner. In doing so, he rediscovers his zest for horse breeding, for life, and even for love.

And the story wouldn’t be complete without a couple of horsey secondary characters, one of which, tries to steal the show.

Excerpt ~

Their mirth didn’t appear to reach Cathleen, who kept turning anxiously toward the barn. She worried her bottom lip, a little habit Ransom had grown to appreciate.

His fingers itched to tear down that severe chignon and release her inky locks. Her gaze flicked to his. She drew in a quick breath and then looked away.

Charles emerged with String Bean. The gangly animal looked dumbfounded, but enthusiastic to finally be wearing a saddle. With his abundance of buck teeth and two overly large mulish ears, the horse reminded Ransom of one of the Bumpas brood that lived down toward Mt. Pleasant. None of the Bumpases were known for their looks—or their smarts. Neither was String Bean. But the animal was eager to please and had never bucked a rider.

Ransom glanced at Cathleen. There was always a first time for everything. Hopefully, today would not be one of those firsts for String Bean.

“Oh heavens!” Cathleen exclaimed. “He’s beastly!” Read the rest of this entry »

Hi, my name is Lavender Daye and I write BDSM.

Does it sound like I’m in one of those support groups where everyone shares?  Sometimes I feel like that when discussing my writing. Friends and relatives who aren’t readers give me raised brows and questioning looks.

But I’m tired of hiding what I write. I love my stories. To me, they’re modern fairy tales.

Picture this in your mind.

You are contentedly alone, fending for yourself in a job and a relationship with no spark. A man arrives in your life—a hot, handsome man with an attitude. He’s attracted to you and isn’t shy about explaining all the heated things he plans to do with you and to you.

Your face warms and somewhere lower, your body recognizes your soul mate, the man who will fulfill all your fantasies. No longer will you be required to make plans or decisions. Your personal Prince Charming will handle every detail of your life and satisfy all your needs while teaching you how to satisfy his. An erotic spanking here and there, handcuffs and a whip now and then, only make you crave more.

You allow him the pleasure of satisfying you in every way and he adores you.

Okay, so most women wouldn’t want to live in this lifestyle, but every now and then, it might be fun to completely turn over control to a trusted lover. The heroines in my books seem to enjoy it immensely and I enjoy writing the happily ever after. Really, now, shouldn’t every woman be the princess in her own fairy tale?

Find more about Lavender’s books at www.facebook.com/LavenderDaye or at http://www.bookstrand.com/lavender-daye