Okay so it looks like I fell off the planet. Promise - I'm still here. The last four years have been ... hard. There's no other word for it. Everything is fine. I'm fine, but I've been the caregiver of my mom who has Dementia. Between her needs, work, etc I seem to have lost control of my time. I am still writing and am trying hard to get back to my blog.

In case you weren't aware Phaze and HSWF which where under the Mundania Umbrella have closed. I was smart enough to get my titles back before all this happened. I'm happy to say the three books I sold to HSWF have been picked up by Melange Books and are available through their Satin Books imprint. I have even sold a new title to them called Magical Quest due out in 2022

I have also been lucky enough to find a publisher for my Vespian Way series. I'm now with Blushing Books under the name of Bethany Drake. I have five titles out with them right now and am close to submitting two more. There's Desire's Destiny, Desire's Duty and Desire's Promise. Then there is two in my werewolf series, Tears of the Queen and Legend of the Tears. I have just finished the rough draft of the third book in the series and have plans for a fourth one the moment I submit it.

I'll probably still be sporadic here on the blog. Unless I win the lottery and can hire someone to help me I can't avoid it, but know I'm still here still working hard in the background and am hoping to do better at keeping my blog alive.

Barb:)



Showing posts with label Ellora's Cave. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ellora's Cave. Show all posts

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Welcome My Latest Guest: Tina Donahue!

I want to welcome Tina Donahue. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

Hey all, I’m an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Kensington, Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing, Booktrope, Luminosity, Decadent, and indie. Yay! Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised my work, and trust me, I’m forever grateful for that. I’ve had my books reach finals in the EPIC competition, one title was named Book of the Year at a review site, and others have won awards in RWA-sponsored contests. I’m actually featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Talk about feeling like a freaking star. Before my writing career, I was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company. Outside of being an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, I’ve flown a single-engine plane (scary stuff), rewired an old house using an electricity for dummies book, and have been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally whenever I’m eating anything Mexican or Italian. Yeah, I like to eat (burp).

You can check me out here – yes, I am everywhere!  J


Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/1ChWFkO
My page at TRR: http://bit.ly/1vb7eEc
EC Author Page: http://bit.ly/1Dh9wor
Samhain Author Page: http://bit.ly/1Bvw6mL
Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: http://bit.ly/1ChWN3K
Romance Books 4 US: http://bit.ly/1JPtfeS


Tell us about your latest release.

Surrendering to the Beast is book two of my Taming the Beast series, erotic paranormal-romantic comedy about a makeover service for supernatural beings in New Orleans, run by a witch. Staff members include a reformed demon, a voodoo priestess, and a good fairy. Surrendering to the Beast is the good fairy’s story. Here’s the blurb:

When she’s good, she’s very good. But when he’s bad, she’s better.

Taming the Beast, Book 2

As a good fairy, Heather is empathetic and chaste to a fault. No bad language, no dirty thoughts, flirting and no sex. But when a satyr named Daemon steps up to her reception desk at From Crud to Stud, she finds herself on the fast track to exquisite corruption.

Daemon is the total bad-boy package with a kiss straight from the dark side. Though he’s here for a supernatural makeover, Heather can’t imagine why any red-blooded woman would want him to change.

A disciple of the god of wine, Daemon has had his share of good times. But sex has never been this good. Heather brings out a new side of him, a side that makes him want to protect as well as pillage.
But Daemon needs a little creative backup to help set his fairy’s naughtiness free. And that means bringing in Mistress Jin. Under the genie’s tutelage and Daemon’s shameless lust, Heather is about to learn what it means to let loose.

Warning: Not your typical bedtime story. May lead to indecent behavior, a taste for voyeurism, discipline, bondage, m/f, m/f/f and f/f action, which will result in screaming orgasms. Proceed with caution.





Now I have a few questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun things about us writers.

1.) Who is your favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie or TV show. And why?

The last villain in The Following (Kevin Bacon series – cancelled - bummer). Wow, he was one nasty dude. Killed his wife and would have offed his kids if given the chance. It was both creepy and fascinating to see him in action.

2.) Who is your favorite character out of your books? Why?

Impossible to say. I love them all. While I’m writing their stories, or rather listening to them tell me the stories and I’m writing them down, they seem more real to me than actual people. J

3.) What do genre do you write? What made you pick that one?

I write contemporary, historical, paranormal, SciFi, romantic comedy, erotic, suspense , ménage and a blending of many of these genres together. I write what appeals to me. Keeps things fresh.

4.) What are you working on now?

Book five of my Taming the Beast series. Books 3 and 4 will be out in 2016.

5.) What got you to start writing?

I’ve been writing since I was a kid. I wrote my first book when I was nine – Dimples the Adventurous Fleaand illustrated it. After making copies, I went around the neighborhood and sold the copies to my friends’ parents. My first book tour. I’ve always written. Just wanted to do it.

6.) Where do you get your ideas from?

Honestly, they just pop into my head. I could be watching a movie, reading a book, be in a market grocery shopping and suddenly I’ll get an idea.

7.) What would people who read your work be surprised to find out about you?

I’m basically a very shy person. You wouldn’t guess it from my kickass heroines and steamy plots.

8.) Do you have any special talents?

I can also draw, but I’ve never pursued it. I like writing better.

9.) What was the one piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck with you? Why?

Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Don’t give up. Common sense, mostly.

10.) If you could talk to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what would you talk about?

I’d love to talk to Stieg Larsson, author of the Millennium Trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl Who Played with Fire, Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest). I absolutely adored those books.

11.) What song would you say describes your life?

Katy Perry’s Roar

12.) If you could come back as any animal – what would it be?

 Bird. They seem so free.






Available for pre-order September 13
Ready to read October 13

Blurb:
When she’s good, she’s very good. But when he’s bad, she’s better.
Taming the Beast, Book 2
As a good fairy, Heather is empathetic and chaste to a fault. No bad language, no dirty thoughts, flirting and no sex. But when a satyr named Daemon steps up to her reception desk at From Crud to Stud, she finds herself on the fast track to exquisite corruption.
Daemon is the total bad-boy package with a kiss straight from the dark side. Though he’s here for a supernatural makeover, Heather can’t imagine why any red-blooded woman would want him to change.
A disciple of the god of wine, Daemon has had his share of good times. But sex has never been this good. Heather brings out a new side of him, a side that makes him want to protect as well as pillage.
But Daemon needs a little creative backup to help set his fairy’s naughtiness free. And that means bringing in Mistress Jin. Under the genie’s tutelage and Daemon’s shameless lust, Heather is about to learn what it means to let loose.



Warning: Not your typical bedtime story. May lead to indecent behavior, a taste for voyeurism, discipline, bondage, m/f, m/f/f and f/f action, which will result in screaming orgasms. Proceed with caution.


Excerpt:

Heather steeled herself to do battle with Satan. Cautiously, she faced her webcam and his image on her computer monitor. This evening, he’d assumed the form of a European playboy, a snifter of cognac held casually in one hand, dark hair slicked back, his blood-red ascot contrasting nicely with his white shirt and navy blazer.
He certainly knew how to dress.
Cara mia.” Heat smoldered in his voice and dark eyes. “What can I do to you?”
“For me,” she corrected gently, wondering when he’d ever get that right.
Grinning, he focused on her white peasant blouse and jutted nipples, her areolas tightened from the chilly weather, not him. Tonight was damp and cool thanks to a spring storm that continued to rage in the French Quarter. Lightning flashed and the office lights flickered.
Flames flared briefly in his pupils. “We’ll do many things to each other, no?”
Heather smiled politely, a knee-jerk reaction for a good fairy. Needing to get tough, she held up his overdue bill, hoping he’d look at it rather than her chest. Her hand shook so badly the paper rattled.
“How you tremble,” he cooed. “How pale you are. Allow me to put some color in your lovely cheeks. Heat that will last an eternity.”
Her skin got even clammier. “Please, just pay your account.” She waved the paper and talked fast before losing her nerve. “Your grandson failed to show for his last two appointments. I’m sure he had a good reason. Unfortunately, he didn’t call to cancel.” She offered an apologetic smile and pressed on. “Because you’re the cardholder, we had to charge you for the time. I’m so sorry, but it is the rule.”
One she was honor-bound to enforce as an employee of From Crud to Stud, a makeover service for supernatural beings. Howls from weres, hisses from vampires and obscenities from demons poured from the treatment rooms. Those poor souls were going through proverbial hell to suppress their beasts. They longed to date mortal women without freaking them out, while also winning their hearts the normal way. With real charm, not magic, with integrity and love, not lies and manipulation.
But these makeovers took the staff’s valuable time and clients needed to pay for the effort. Even Satan should understand that.
He gave her an indulgent smile. “What charges?”
Gasping, she dropped the flaming paper in her trashcan before it burnt her fingers.
“Later,” he said and killed the call.
Hurriedly, Heather put out the small blaze, chiding herself for letting the account get to this point. She should have been firm with Satan’s grandson when he signed up for the service. Determined to make up for being too nice, she brought up her bank account to pay the charges herself. She was about to transfer the funds when the lights flickered twice, thunder boomed and the front door flew open, banging against the wall.
She flinched.
A blast of dank air and rain blew inside, followed by a guy who looked to be thirty or so. He wore a black cowboy hat, snug navy tee, low-slung jeans and cowboy boots.
Once he shoved the door shut, he slumped against it, breathing hard.
Heather stood so quickly her chair rolled into the wall.
He didn’t notice. He’d closed his eyes and raised his face to the ceiling, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing with his hard swallow.
Alarmed yet intrigued, she regarded the short, dark hairs on his throat and took the rest of him in. His rain-dampened hair was the color of dark chocolate, thick and wavy, flowing to his broad shoulders. They heaved with his next ragged breath. Tall, possibly six-three, he was lean yet muscular. His wet tee clung to his well-defined pecs and abs, those bruising biceps. Stubble covered his strong jaw, upper lip and cheeks. His bronze skin spoke of days in the sun.
Even from where she stood, Heather smelled his scent. Clean and masculine, a woodsy, fresh fragrance along with something else…the unmistakable odor of liquor.
Uh-oh. It wasn’t often that mortals, drunk or otherwise, happened upon this place. When they did, Heather had ironclad rules to follow. First, buzz Constance, a voodoo priestess who could remove memories by laying her hands on someone’s head. Following that, Heather was supposed to buzz Becca, a half-mortal witch who owned this place.
Heather leaned over her desk to press the intercom button.
The guy turned to her, blinked slowly and stared.
Her hand stalled.
His eyes were amazing, the color of Lipton tea, ringed by long, sooty lashes, his attention riveted as he drank her in. Given his slow, sexy smile, Heather suspected he was undressing her with his eyes.
She swallowed and was about to press the button when he groaned suddenly and mournfully, the sound of someone in serious pain.

Heather paused and decided not to call for anyone just yet. “Are you all right?”


Please support my Thunderclap campaign: http://thndr.it/1NZSRHw


Buy Links:



About Me (You know you want to know!):

I’m an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Kensington, Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing, Booktrope, Luminosity, Decadent, and indie. Yay! Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised my work, and trust me, I’m forever grateful for that. I’ve had my books reach finals in the EPIC competition, one title was named Book of the Year at a review site, and others have won awards in RWA-sponsored contests. I’m actually featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Talk about feeling like a freaking star. Before my writing career, I was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company. Outside of being an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, I’ve flown a single-engine plane (scary stuff), rewired an old house using an electricity for dummies book, and have been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally whenever I’m eating anything Mexican or Italian. Yeah, I like to eat (burp).


 You can check me out here – yes, I am everywhere!  J

Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/1ChWFkO
My page at TRR: http://bit.ly/1vb7eEc
EC Author Page: http://bit.ly/1Dh9wor
Samhain Author Page: http://bit.ly/1Bvw6mL
Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: http://bit.ly/1ChWN3K


Romance Books 4 US: http://bit.ly/1JPtfeS





I’m offering one winner her (or his) choice of FIVE of my backlist ebooks – full-length, bestselling, award-winning, from this list (25 choices):

1. Adored – RWA award-winning; EPIC 2011 Finalist; 4 Stars RT
2. Deep, Dark, Delicious – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Holt Medallion Award of Merit
3. Lush Velvet Nights – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Golden Nib Award
4. In His Arms – SIX 5 Star Reviews; 4 Stars RT
5. Sensual Stranger – 2010 Book of the Year (erotic); 4 Stars RT
6. The Yearning – Top Ten Bestseller
7. Take Me Away – #1 Pick, Miz Love Loves Books
8. Unending Desire – Best Book Rating LASR
9. SiNN – Nominated for Book of the Week LASR
10. Sinfully Wicked – Magnificent – Romancing the Book
11.  Claiming Magique – Top Pick – NOR
12. Illicit Desire – Four Stars Romantic Times
13. Come Fill Me – Five Stars – Guilty Pleasures
14. Losing Control - Four and a Half Stars - Sensual Reads
15. Shameless Desire - Four and a Half Stars - The Jeep Diva
16. Illicit Intent – Four and a Half Stars – Sensual Reads
17. Deep Within Me – Four Stars – Romantic Times
18. Seven Sensuous Days – 4 Stars – Long & Short Reviews
19. Stolen Desire – 4 Stars – Romantic Times
20. Taking Eve – What to read after FSOG and Story of O
21. This Time When We Touch – Erotic Paranormal
22. Carnal Takeover – BDSM
23. Wicked Takeover – Erotic Contemporary

24. Intimate Details – Menage






Saturday, June 27, 2015

Meet my Latest Guest: Margaret L. Carter!

I want to welcome Margaret L. Carter. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

My fascination with vampires began when I read DRACULA at the age of twelve, and I started writing at age thirteen. From vampires and horror, I branched into reading all kinds of speculative fiction. Inevitably, I decided to major in English in hopes of getting paid for reading. I’m married to a retired Navy Captain, and in the course of our numerous moves, I earned degrees from the College of William and Mary, the University of Hawaii, and the University of California (Irvine). My dissertation, on the Gothic novel, included a chapter about DRACULA. I’ve had stories in various fantasy anthologies such as Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Sword and Sorceress” series. At book length, I was first published in literary criticism; after that, my first novels were SHADOW OF THE BEAST (from the viewpoint of a female werewolf coming to terms with her heritage) and DARK CHANGELING (from the viewpoint of a half-vampire coming to terms with his heritage—note the pattern?). My husband also writes fantasy. We’ve collaborated on a sword-and-sorcery trilogy, beginning with WILD SORCERESS, and a prequel, LEGACY OF MAGIC, was recently published. He’s the primary author on those books. We have four sons, eight grandchildren, and a couple of great-grandchildren, as well as two cats and a St. Bernard.

Tell us about your latest release.

In “Merry Twinness,” an erotic paranormal romance e-book short story with a Christmas setting, the heroine discovers that her lover has a secret he must reveal to her before he can formally propose marriage. It was inspired by the telepathic twin motif I’ve encountered in numerous SF stories.

http://www.ellorascave.com/merry-twinness.html

“Bear Hugs,” an erotic shapeshifter paranormal romance e-book novella, has just been re-released in the trade paperback URSA MAJOR, paired with Lena Loneson’s “Alpha Mountie.”

http://www.ellorascave.com/ursa-major.html

Now I have a few questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun things about us writers.

1.) Who is your favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie or TV show. And why?

Hannibal Lecter. He’s incisively intelligent and cultured as well as, in a sense, utterly alien to normal humanity. (The prequel, HANNIBAL RISING, loses that last quality.) It’s impressive how, even though he’s manipulating Clarice Starling for his own purposes, he also proves himself to be a brilliant psychiatrist, who helps her work through the traumas of her past even while he’s in a maximum security cell (and, later, in the psychodrama he sets up at the end of HANNIBAL).

2.) Who is your favorite character out of your books? Why?

Roger Darvell, protagonist of DARK CHANGELING and CHILD OF TWILIGHT. He’s the earliest fully developed vampire in my published works, so I have a special fondness for him. As a forty-year-old psychiatrist suffering from dark cravings and a very strange midlife crisis, he discovers he’s actually only half human, his mother having been a member of a naturally evolved vampire species. He embodies my favorite fictional theme, the character who discovers hidden truths about his own nature.

3.) What do genre do you write? What made you pick that one?

I started as a horror fan and writer, then expanded into fantasy. I’ve also published several books and articles about the supernatural in literature, mainly vampires. Now I write mostly paranormal romance. From the beginning of my interest in horror, what really fascinated me were relationships between human and nonhuman characters. I wanted to read fiction from the viewpoint of the “monster,” which was much harder to find in my early years. When paranormal romance became a separate market category, I recognized it as the genre I’d wanted to read and write all along. (In fact, the first complete story I ever wrote, as a teenager, involved love between a man and a ghost.)

4.) What are you working on now?

The next-generation sequel to FROM THE DARK PLACES, a horror novel with Lovecraftian elements and a romance subplot published by Amber Quill Press. I started planning the current novel-in-progress over thirty years ago, before I’d even completed the first book, but I never got around to writing that sequel until now. I decided it was about time. Oddly, I now have the opposite problem from the one I had when I first plotted this work. Back then, while writing the earliest draft of FROM THE DARK PLACES, which occurs at the same time it was originally written (the 1970s), I contemplated its sequel as a near-future story, set about twenty years after the first book. I had to imagine a plausible future that would eventually be made obsolete by real life, no matter how accurately I guessed what those two decades would be like. Now reality has overshot my sequel heroine’s twenty-first birthday by almost twenty years! So I decided to keep her the age she needs to be, yet set the story approximately in the present; a 1990s time frame would simply confuse readers. I’ll include a prefatory note stating that the time lapse has been fudged.

5.) What got you to start writing?

After reading DRACULA at the age of twelve and delving into all kinds of speculative fiction, I started writing at thirteen because the library didn’t have enough books of the kind I wanted to read, particularly horror. What I really wished for, as I mentioned above, were stories sympathetic to the “monsters.” I devoured all the ones I could find, but in the 1960s they didn’t have a thriving market the way they do now. An occasional gem buried in an anthology barely satisfied my longing. So I wrote my own.

6.) Where do you get your ideas from?

Mostly from other fiction that I admire. I yearn to create stories like the ones that especially enthrall me—but with my own slant.

7.) What would people who read your work be surprised to find out about you?

I worked for over twenty years as a legislative editor for the General Assembly of Maryland, proofreading material very different from horror and fantasy (although some ideas the legislators come up with can be rather horrifying).

8.) Do you have any special talents?

Aside from writing? Other than being a meticulous proofreader, the kind of person who can’t help wincing at all the errors in published works, I can’t say that I do.

9.) What was the one piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck with you? Why?

Not exactly advice, but support: When I had the privilege of briefly meeting Madeleine L’Engle, one of my idols, I told her I wanted to be a novelist. She said, “If you want to be a novelist, you are one.” The memory of that kind remark has encouraged me through the difficulties of pursuing publication.

10.) If you could talk to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what would you talk about?

C. S. Lewis, who’s near the top of my list of favorite authors of all time. I’d love to hear him read scenes from whatever he’d be working on now, if he were still writing. Maybe the story of what happened to Susan, left alone in our world after THE LAST BATTLE? Also, I’d like to ask his opinion of many changes that have occurred since his death in 1963, such as space travel (he was dubious about humanity’s spreading its corruption to other planets) and female clergy in the Anglican church (in his lifetime, he was against that).

11.) What song would you say describes your life?

“God Only Knows (What I’d Do Without You)” by the Beach Boys; it was released shortly before my husband and I got married, and it encapsulates my feelings about our relationship. If I hadn’t married a future naval officer, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today! I might have spent my whole life in or near the city of my birth. And without his encouragement, I probably wouldn’t have worked up to a PhD in English, in which case my writing career would have been very different if it existed at all.

12.) If you could come back as any animal – what would it be?

Cat. Domestic cats have it made. Nothing to do all day but eat, sleep, and be petted, and unlike dogs, they’re not expected to cater to human commands.

Website:
Explore love among the monsters at Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com
Facebook:




At midnight on Christmas Eve, Nicole goes home with her lover, Cal, to spend the night at his house. Knowing he plans to give her an engagement ring, she hopes to find out why he hasn’t previously invited her to stay at his place longer than one night at a stretch. Before proposing, he confesses the truth he’s been hiding—a secret that may destroy their relationship or transform it.

Excerpt from “Merry Twinness”:

“Time for the special gift.” He plucked a tiny box wrapped in red foil from under the tree. “Wait,” he repeated when she reached for it. “Before you open this and answer the question that goes with it, I have something important to tell you. Or more like show you.”

His hesitant tone and the apprehension in his eyes chilled her. “So you do have a dire secret?” She didn’t quite succeed in keeping her voice light.

“I hope you won’t think it’s too dire. But it will come as a shock.” He set the box on the couch and clasped both of her hands in his. “Please don’t freak out.”

Footsteps muffled by the carpet sounded in the adjacent dining room. The door leading to it opened. A man stepped through, took three paces toward the fireplace and halted. Nicole blinked up at him, at first too stunned to process what she saw.

Cal’s double.

Except that he wore a University of Maryland sweatshirt instead of a pullover sweater with a white shirt and Christmas necktie, he looked identical to her lover. No, not quite—the mane that grew to just below his ears was less tousled than Cal’s but a bit shaggier, as if overdue for a barber visit. The clothes and hair, though, didn’t negate her first impression. She couldn’t doubt his identity. 

She sprang to her feet. “You have a twin brother? And you never told me?”

“I don’t exactly have a twin. I am twins.”

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Meet My Latest Guest - Dena Garson!

I want to welcome Dena Garson. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

Hi, Barbara! Thanks for letting me drop in. I’m Dena - I’m a Process Improvement Consultant by day and an author by night. I write contemporary romance as well as paranormal and fantasy romance. In addition, I’m a mother of two boys who keep me on my toes - they play lots of sports and xbox every chance they get.

Tell us about your latest release.

Risky Business is a book I published with Ellora’s Cave a few years ago. But after getting the rights reverted back, I have re-released it with only a few minor tweeks (and a new cover). It’s a story about two co-workers who are drawn together during their company’s annual party because of a bet.

Now I have a few questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun things about us writers.

1.) Who is your favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie or TV show. And why?

Loki from the Marvel Universe. He’s one of my favorites because, like Snape from Harry Potter, you really can’t be sure if he’s a bad guy or a good guy. It keeps you guessing every time you see him.

2.) Who is your favorite character out of your books? Why?

I really enjoyed writing Katie from Ghostly Persuasion. The world building we did as a group (it’s a multi-author series) made writing the book fun. Katie just blossomed as I wrote the story.

3.) What do genre do you write? What made you pick that one?

Romance! I have several contemporaries, a couple paranormal and one fantasy. I just write the stories that pop in my head - it really isn’t a matter of choice. My only choice is which story I want to work on at the time.

4.) What are you working on now?

As soon as I finish edits to my newest contemporary and send it off to the publisher, I plan to finish working on a Native American/historical/paranormal story I started last year.

5.) What got you to start writing?

Actually, it was a conversation I had with my BFF. We both read a lot and exchange books. One day while we were talking about a book we had just read, she turned to me and said, “One of us should be writing this stuff.” I agreed so I began researching how to do it. I joined a local writing group, attended RWA National Conference where I could take a bunch of writing workshops and started putting words on paper. A few years later I published my first work with a local magazine. It was a couple more years before I published my first book with Ellora’s Cave.

6.) Where do you get your ideas from?

Ideas come from a variety of places - conversations with friends, scenes I witnessed while shopping, articles I read, or even lyrics from a song. It’s always the “what happened next” and “who are these people I’m seeing in my head” that drive the story.

7.) What would people who read your work be surprised to find out about you?

I’d like to think there was a lot because I’d hate to be normal! It’s usually the other way around though - people who know me are surprised to learn that I write sensual romance. It’s really kinda funny! But I suppose most people are surprised to learn that I’m a Rock Chick. I love rock and roll - the louder the better - everything from Five Finger Death Punch to Rob Zombie to the Rolling Stones.

8.) Do you have any special talents?

I do a variety of crafts but other than writing, my favorite pastime is making jewelry and other beaded pretties. I could play with my beads for hours.

9.) What was the one piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck with you? Why?

“Give yourself permission to write crap.” That was from Candice Havens. I am a bit of a perfectionist - I struggled with my writing in the beginning because I’d get caught up in finding the perfect word instead of getting the story down on paper. I got nowhere fast doing that! Candice’s advice helped me mute my inner editor until after I’d gotten the first draft done.

10.) If you could talk to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what would you talk about?

Cleopatra. I want to know what the real story is and see how she lived her life.

11.) What song would you say describes your life?

Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling (with Lzzy Hale). It’s a song about that feeling of being stuck and afraid of taking a chance but then you finally do. Love it!

12.) If you could come back as any animal – what would it be?

I’d like to be a bird. I think the sensation of flying - the soaring, the dipping and diving, the wind in your feathers - would be fabulous. And the views you could see from up there! Oh, how marvelous!



Here’s the burb for Risky Business:
Mia Sanford has admired Jake Hudson from afar ever since she transferred to Marketing. She might be comfortable tangling with the company playboy in meeting rooms, but not in private. Facts and figures she can handle, but that blue-eyed devil is out of her league.

Jake was impressed with Mia, the sexy analyst who provides his monthly Marketing data, the first day he met her. Not only is she smart and reliable, she has legs that have inspired a few sizzling hot workplace fantasies. However, her girl-next-door demeanor and the company’s no fraternization rules force Jake to keep things strictly professional.

When Mia becomes the target of an embarrassing betting pool at the annual office party, Jake alerts her to the danger. But since he never expressed an interest in her until now Mia isn’t certain if he’s really looking out for her, or just trying to win the pool himself. If she trusts him, it might place both her reputation and her heart on the line.

Excerpt for Risky Business:

Thankfully, Mandy’s smug grin was hidden behind her glass when Jake stepped up to their little group.

“Ladies.” Jake’s deep, smooth voice rippled through Mia. Her skin tingled and her hair stood on end, as if to beg for his attention. She shifted her stance to adjust for the moistness she felt gathering in her nether regions as soon as Mandy mentioned Jake’s name.

“Jake,” Mandy said politely.

“Are those stiff accountants you hang out with behaving over there?” Robin asked.

Jake chuckled and looked over his shoulder in the direction he had come from. “For now.” He stepped closer to their little group and whispered, “Don’t tell anyone, but that’s the real party crowd. They’re just waiting for Patterson to leave so they can bust out their moves.”

Almost as one, Robin and Mandy leaned to the right so they could look around Jake’s broad shoulders. Jake and Mia shared a grin. When Robin turned back, it was clear she wasn’t sure what to believe.

“Are you serious?” Robin asked Jake.

“Very. Give those guys a little beer and a few wild women and you’d better watch out.”

Robin was looking more interested by the second.

Mandy elbowed Robin. “What do you think about going and introducing ourselves to some of Jake’s friends?”

“Works for me,” Robin said with a grin.

“You two aren’t really going over there, are you?” Mia asked in disbelief.

“Sure.” “Why not?” they said at the same time.

Mia looked at Jake for help, but he simply pasted an innocent expression on his face. Mia shrugged and said, “Whatever. Have fun, I guess.”

“Thanks for the inside scoop, Jake,” Robin said with a wink.

“See you two kids later,” Mandy added with a lift of her glass.

“And off they go,” Mia mumbled as she watched her traitorous friends weave their way across the room, leaving her alone with Jake. She turned and looked up into his eyes. Even though the lights were too low to see the exact shade, she knew they were the color of well-worn denim. “I hope you’re aware of what you unleashed on your pals.”

She considered the man standing before her. He was tall with broad, strong-looking shoulders. She knew he played ball with some of the guys in the office because she’d often heard them talking about the games over coffee in the break room. The way his shirts fit indicated he worked out. Add that to his classic blond hair and blue eyes and he was definitely drool-worthy, as Mandy would say.

The biggest question in Mia’s mind was whether or not he would ever see her as anything but an analyst with more opinions than boobs. Thankfully she had the data to back those opinions up.

“They may thank me in the morning,” Jake said with a twinkle in his eye.

“They might,” she conceded.

He stepped closer to Mia. Close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body radiating to her already flushed skin.

“Besides,” he lowered his voice and held Mia’s gaze. “It served its purpose.”

“What purpose is that?”

“To get you to myself.”

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Saturday, September 6, 2014

Nancy Corrigan has a New Release! #RHACafe

Hunter Betrayed
Nancy Corrigan

Wild Hunt, Book 1

Tainted from birth, Harley lives a life cloaked in darkness and temptation. She resists the lure of her evil legacy by holding the memory of her ghostly savior close. Every night without him is agony. She fantasizes about him and yearns for his body, but he’s not the protector or lover she’s envisioned. He’s a Hunter bred to eliminate her kind. He’s also her only hope of salvation.
Calan, the leader of the Wild Hunt, was created to protect mankind from the Unseelie Court. For a millennium, he’s sacrificed to ensure the horrid creatures remain in the Underworld, but his strength wanes. He must rely on his enemy’s daughter to save him, but he doesn’t expect the intensity of their lust or love. Her touch calms his wild nature and ignites his carnal desires. He’ll risk all to save her, but doing so forces him to make the ultimate sacrifice, one that’ll damn him to suffer forever in his own living hell.



A Romantica® Paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Excerpt

“You.” She swallowed hard. “It’s you.”
“Yes. It is.” A long moment passed where they held each other’s gazes. Finally, he released a shaky breath she felt skim over her cheek. She pressed her palm to the sensitive skin to hold the warmth close. “You never returned to me.”
She’d tried. Raul had stopped her. She’d escaped a near rape at his hands by stabbing him but afterwards she hadn’t been quite…right. It was as if his touch had dirtied her.
She wrapped her arms tight around her chest and pushed the memory away. “I ran just like you told me to.”
“I also told you to come back. You promised you would.”
Guilt choked her for breaking her vow too. She looked away.  “Yes, I did.”
The feather light stroke of his fingertips along her cheek quickened her breaths. Her body reacted to the simple caress as if he’d touched her intimately. Her breasts pebbled and warmth pooled low.
“No matter. I’m glad you finally did. I need your help.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You remember all the knowledge I shared with you, correct?”
She remembered. He’d forced information into her brain she hadn’t known what to do with. Within one heartbeat and the next, she’d learned everything she’d needed to know about how to avoid falling victim to the redcaps and sluaghs. He’d also implanted a compulsion to have an obsidian blade made that had become her constant accessory. She never left the house without it. It was the only thing that could kill the fairies’ creatures.
She forced herself to nod. “Yeah, you saved my life.”
“I thank the gods for that, little female. I was right about you. You are the key.”
“The key to what?”
“You will be the one who will unlock me from my prison and allow the Wild Hunt to ride again.”



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Add to your Goodreads TBR list! Hunter Betrayed



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.

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