GUEST AUTHOR: Cynthia Sax

Cynthia has one of the biggest hearts I know. Combine that with a super savvy business sense and calming personality, and you've got the best partner in crime...ever!

I'm excited for her new book, Warlord Unarmed, and you can find it here!

I’m thrilled to be visiting J.K.’s online home today. Not only is J.K. a wonderful writer (I LOVE the Immortal series) but I also consider her to be a very good friend. She’s the type of awesome friend I wish for everyone, including my characters, to have.

Many of my characters have friends or, if they don’t have friends, they have concrete reasons why they’re solo. Maybe they move around a lot or they’re scared of being hurt or they have a dangerous secret a best friend would be certain to uncover.

Gale, the heroine of Warlord Unarmed, has a best friend – Zeta. She’ll do anything for her fellow bounty hunter, including fly across several universes when Zeta fails to check in.

One of my best friends, Gilly, did something similar (notice how the first names start with the same letter - grins). No, she didn’t fly across several universes… though that would have been super cool. Gilly’s friend in another city couldn’t find a babysitter for a special anniversary. Gilly drove almost six hours, babysat her friend’s kids for the night, and then drove almost six hours back (she had to work the next day). Yeah, she gets friend of the year for that!

Gilly’s friend truly appreciated and benefited from her efforts. Although Zeta was emotionally touched by Gale’s rescue attempt, she didn’t require the trek across the universes. She hadn’t the opportunity to contact Gale to tell her she was okay. Yeah, we all have friends like that also, don’t we? We love them but they do drive us a wee bit bonkers sometimes.

No one is perfect, not even our friends. I’m certainly not perfect. I was born with a memory glitch. I don’t remember names, dates, birthdays. I often don’t even remember my own birthday. My friends send me email reminders not only for their birthdays but for my birthday also. On the upside, if we get into an argument, I’m always the first person to apologize because I can’t remember why I’m supposed to be upset.

What is the craziest or nicest thing a friend has ever done for you?

***

Warlord Unarmed

Cynthia Sax

WARLORD UNARMED:

When Murad, a powerful and deadly Warlord, arrives to repair Gale’s beloved ship, she doesn’t like it one bit. She sees the danger lurking behind his wide, sexy smile and the temptation in his coarse touch. He stands too close. He smells too good. He muddles her mind with erotic thoughts no bounty hunter should ever entertain.

Murad is known for being lighthearted…until he meets Gale. He’s deadly serious about seducing his curvaceous bounty hunter. With one blast of her stun gun, she captures his attention, and starts his lust burning. To claim Gale for his mate, Murad will brave his cautious female’s itchy trigger finger, his overbearing older brother and Gale’s sense of duty.

Buy Links:

Ellora's Cave

Amazon

Cynthia Sax Website:  http://cynthiasax.com


JK Coi again...if you're interested, Cynthia was kind enough to interview me for her blog today! I'm visiting her here. 

MUST HAVE: Game On by Wylie Snow

So my super amazing talented friend has a book out! It's a witty and sweet and sexy contemporary romance called GAME ON!!  <---- get it now

Trust me! You can't go wrong with professional hockey player heroes!! 

 

Secrets, lies, lust ... whatever it takes to win.

Clara Bean, Europe's most respected restaurant critic, lands on American soil to do a promotional tour with a sports icon. But how will she keep her career-ending secret from her deliciously handsome new partner? She quickly learns that all games have rules, even falling in love.

Luc Bisquet can't seem to score any points with sassy, sexy Clara despite the palatable chemistry between them. But he's willing to endure as many penalties as it takes to crack her icy reserve, because winning is everything.

Game on!

And here's an excerpt:

Luc.

Leaning on the doorjamb of the bathroom—her bathroom—hooded eyes taking in every detail, sizzling her skin from hairline to toenails.

Clara clutched the top of the towel to ensure the tuck stayed…tucked. Perusal complete, his gaze finally settled on hers, the cerulean nearly obliterated by the black of his pupils. He looked predatory, dangerous, and very hungry.
Clara felt as though she’d been plunged back into the tub as heat radiated from her center, finding spots to swirl and pool, her cheeks, her breasts, her lady bits.

She grasped the overlapping slit in the towel and clumsily dropped her hairbrush in the process.
She looked down. The brush lay at his feet.
Did she dare?
She’d be kneeling in front of him. There was no way to retrieve it gracefully. If he were a gentleman, he would pick it up. She glanced back up, appealing to him with her expression.

His mouth twitched.
Bugger.

“Riley says we have issues to resolve,” he said.

“Uh-huh.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said and took a purposeful step over her brush until they were chest-to-chest.

“Uh-huh.”

Clara Elizabeth Bean, really? Is that all you’ve got? Say something! But she couldn’t because her mind had shut down while all bodily systems went into hyper drive. He was close, so close, and the hotel towel, no matter how splendid and fluffy, seemed insignificant and scrappy when it was all that was protecting her from him.

“So, I thought we should begin with the night we met,” he said.

“Uh-huh?” she squeaked. She didn’t dare tilt her head back to look up at him, so she stared at his neck. Smooth, corded, she could see his pulse twitch and wondered what it would feel like to plant a kiss there, wondered if she’d feel his heart beating beneath her lips.

“You’re telling me it was a misunderstanding, a breakdown of communications, correct?” Luc leaned forward, forcing her retreat.

“Uh-huh.”

“And you didn’t want me to leave that night.”

Another step—his forward, hers back, like a predatory dance.

“Uh, no.”

Two more steps, first hunter, then prey. Her heart tripped and stumbled.

“No what?” he growled.

She needed to put physical distance between them, now, or prepare to put her reservations aside, accept that what she fought against was too powerful to deny, rules be damned. She managed a small shuffle backward, an uncommitted attempt to flee, and found herself pressed against the glass dining table. Trapped.

“No, I didn’t want you to go.” Clara shook her head, causing droplets of water to rain onto her shoulders.

“And you say you did open the door, eventually?”

Luc reached up and brushed the water over the curve of her shoulder and down her arm. All except for one drop. Clara shivered as he chased a rogue bead that had spilled over the blade of her collarbone. Watched his long, masculine forefinger trail the droplet as it crept downward. The fine hairs on her body jumped to attention, leaving her skin pebbled and longing to be touched.

“Yes.” Her voice sounded small, all the air trapped in her chest, trapped beneath his hovering hand. She stood, mesmerized, and watched as the pad of his finger inched along toward the swell of her chest, leaving a line of fire in its wake.

The water drop was gone, absorbed by the towel, but he didn’t remove his hand. He ran his finger along the edge of the cloth, skimming her flesh. “And we would have had sex, correct?”

“Well I…I think…I guess—”

He tilted her chin so she had no choice but to look into his eyes. “Say yes, Clara.”

“Yes.” It was barely a whisper.

“Yes, what?” He slipped his hand into the gap at the side of her towel and placed a palm against the curve of her hip. Her skin smoldered under his touch, her nerves awakening, rocketing signals to every erogenous zone in her body.

“Yes,” she nodded.

He’d gone too far, pushed too hard. She couldn’t turn back now; it would kill her.

“Yes Luc, we would have had sex.” She held his gaze, direct, unabashed, offering both surrender and challenge. “We would have had great sex.”
 

Please Stand By

My apologies for not posting anything in a while! I've been deep in the writing cave...and I'm not done yet.

Be back soon!

GUEST AUTHOR: Aubrie Dionne

Why I Chose the Flute

Like Melody in Playing the Maestro, I used to pretend to play flute on my toothbrush as a kid. I’d hold it sideways, just like a flute, and blow on top of the brush. I believe the very first time I heard flute was the introduction to the movie The Last Unicorn.

You can see it on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIwtXkdWQ0o

I thought it was beautiful and mysterious. It was the perfect solo to set the mood for what was my favorite movie as a kid. (Although, I still don’t understand why she chose to change back to a unicorn in the end! I would have chosen love.) Anyways, I had a little cassette tape recorder, and I taped the solo, so I could play it again and again.

When the local band director came to my elementary school to demonstrate the instruments, my best friend decided she wanted to play flute, and for me that sealed the deal.  While she quit not long after, I kept with it, and it became my dream to be a professional flutist.

Flutes usually get to play the melody, and they’re not that heavy to hold- which is a big deal when you’re 5’2’’ with short arms and small fingers.  Also, I’ve always preferred silver to gold, so the look of the flute really caught my eye. Flute also get to play very fast because our technique is so light and our fingers so close together. Bassoon or tuba, on the other hand get stuck with whole notes more times than not!

How about you? Did you pick an instrument? Which instrument did you pick and why. If not, what instrument would you pick today?

 

Melody Mires has sworn off dating musicians, but when the sexy European conductor Wolf Braun takes over her struggling symphony, her hesitation almost flies out the window with the notes of her flute—until he opens his mouth. Wolf is arrogant, haughty, and seems to have a personal vendetta against Melody. Oh, and he’s her boss. If she wants to keep her job as principal flutist, she’ll have to impress Wolf while simultaneously keeping her undeniable attraction to herself.

Wolf came to America to get as far away from his past as possible, and to recover some of the swagger he had as one of the world’s best maestros. He never imagined being forced to reassess the entire orchestra’s talent—and potentially fire anyone who doesn’t make his cut. Dating the attractive flutist is out of the question, but as their feelings reach a fever pitch, can they risk both their careers for a chance at love?

About the Author: 

Aubrie grew up watching the original Star Wars movies over and over again until she could recite and reenact every single scene in her backyard. She also loved The Goonies, Star Trek the Next Generation-favorite character was Data by far-, and Indiana Jones. But, her all time favorite movie was The Last Unicorn. She still wonders why the unicorn decided to change back to a unicorn in the end.

Aubrie wrote in her junior high yearbook that she wanted to be "A concert flutist" when she grew up. When she made that happen, she decided one career was not enough and embarked as a fantasy, sci fi author. Two careers seems to keep her busy. For now.

Aubrie's writings have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. She recently signed her YA sci fi novel with Inkspell Publishing titled: Colonization: Paradise Reclaimed, which will release in October 2012. When she's not writing, Aubrie teaches flute and plays in orchestras. She's a big Star Trek TNG fan, as well as Star Wars and Serenity.

 Enter Aubrie's contest! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Release (Old Release): Immortal Kiss

I can't believe I forgot to post my new release when it came out earlier this week! Immortal Kiss is now available! Go forth and grab this new (old) book of mine. When it came out the first time, it was the recipient of many writing awards, and the reviews were awesome! For those who didn't get a chance to read it then, don't miss it now! LOL I'm glad I have this chance to bring it to you again :)

Some of the reviews:

 “Immortal Kiss is a realistic lover’s dance of longing and heartache; of hope and disappointment, and finally that of a sense of coming home to the other half of your soul.” Romance Roundtable

“A must read paranormal romance.” Bitten By Books 

 

Book 2 in the Immortals series.

It’s been two years since Baron’s initiation into the world of the Immortals, a task force who fight the demons hiding in the shadows of the human world. During those years, he’s been training hard and trying to forget. All in the name of setting aside his past to embrace the challenges of his new future…a future without Maxine Deveraux.

The last person Maxine wants to face is Baron Silver, the man her body and soul cry out for. But Baron’s brother is dying, and Maxine must honor his last wish.

A vendetta with a vampire doesn’t faze Baron…until the creature leaves Max on his doorstep, her beautiful body broken, her soul changed forever. Now Maxine must come to terms with her new dark nature—and if Baron wants to keep her, he’ll have to explain why he broke her heart.

Note: This book has been previously published elsewhere.

Mischief Managed!

I've been staying on track with my new year's resolution to tighten up my schedule and get my writing projects finished.

As of Thursday evening I finished my contemporary category romance. (And I love how it turned out.) YAY!

Today until Monday I'll be working on edits for the third Immortal book. (OMG Alric's story always kills me!)

And then it's back to finishing the second book in my YA series (written as Chloe Jacobs). I've got a really good third of it written already, so I'm hoping it won't take too much time to finish.

Then, finally, I'll be on to something ultra brand new! I'm really excited about the projects which are still in "idea stage" because they've been germinating in the noggin for a while now, and since they haven't faded away yet I think that's a good sign!

Take care!

Happy New Year!

2012 was hard to pin down. It had its good moments, but overall I'm not very sad to see it go.

On a personal level, it was pretty good. My family is healthy and happy, and we had some amazing adventures this year!

On the writing front, I have to admit it was tough. I was busy, but I also burned myself out a bit trying to keep too many balls in the air. 2013 is going to be just as busy, but I'm hopeful that if I stay on a reasonable schedule I'll be able to manage it all.

To make this schedule work, I'll have to be strict with my time and let the words come how they may. I'm okay with that, but I tend to overthink my manuscripts and agonize over each sentence and I can't afford to do that.

It might mean a lot more sessions with Write or Die! We'll see.

Happy New Year!
Here's to keeping track of our goals!

WARM BODIES

Everyone LOVES zombies, right?? LOL

Coming in January, 2013!!


He who makes wishes of the damned must accept the consequences of releasing them.

When Graham returns home from the war, he finds himself longing for something he no longer deserves—Anna, the love he left behind three years ago.

When a mysterious old woman begs him to retrieve her trinket—an old tinderbox—then disappears, he’s compelled to rub it and make a wish. He wishes to have Anna by his side…and she suddenly appears! They want the night to explore and pleasure each other.

But the tinderbox’s black magic is powerful and brings a price—a horde of walking corpses that will stop at nothing to sate their craving for flesh.

Wishes can’t drive the ravenous dead back into their graves. Graham and Anna only succeed in raising an army of zombies that will destroy everyone in their path—starting with the two of them?

Add to Wishlist

GUEST AUTHOR: Jenny Schwartz

Jenny!! I'm so glad Jenny Schwartz is here and talking about her new book, which is out now with Harlequin's new Australian imprint, Escape Publishing!

Hi, JK! Thanks for the chance to visit your blog. Now, I’ve chartered the Airbus and I want everyone to get on board. Forget snow and flu and miserable trips to malls crammed with Christmas shoppers. Here are your tickets to Australia, the sunshine country where Christmas is hot and the romance even hotter!

Australia is embarking on a romance revolution. New digital romance imprints are opening, intent on bringing Australian voices to the romance scene.  

Escape Publishing is Harlequin’s new Australian digital imprint and I have a short story just released with them. I know! A short story! Digital publishing is giving new life to shorter fiction. All the emotional punch of a full-length novel, but able to be devoured in a stolen hour.

Okay. So I lied about the Airbus. Sorry. On the plus side, you all in the northern hemisphere get to eat roasted chestnuts, and I love chestnuts. But if you are pining for sunshine, casual glamour and ROMANCE here’s your chance to win a copy of “Drawing Closer”. Just leave a comment on this blog to go in the draw.

Drawing Closer

Zoe Loyola has a secret. Just between her and her sketchbook, she loves sculptor Nick Gordon. Her drawings of him are hot and naked.

Nick has a secret, too. He’s being blackmailed. Protecting his family means ignoring his desire for Zoe.

But in the world of art, passion breaks every rule and secrets are made for sharing.

***

Jenny Schwartz is a West Australian author. Her high school yearbook predicted she’d be a writer – something about always having her nose in a book. When not living up to others’ expectations, she enjoys lazy days in the suburbs and is working on a collection of life-saving recipes, “Simple Meals for Forgetful Cooks”. 

You can catch up with Jenny at her website, on Twitter and Facebook .

THE WILD WONDERS OF WORLD-BUILDING

I love my antho sister, Stacy Gail, and I was soooo happy to hear that she was going to be a part of another fantastic Carina Press Anthology this year! I have to tell you, I think she took it as a dare that my story Far From Broken made her cry last year, so she was determined that I would be the one who cried after reading HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS....which I DID! SO FREAKIN' HARD.   

I'm happy to welcome her today, with her new antho-sisters, Anna Hackett and Sasha Summers! 

~JK Coi 

 

First off, thanks so much to JK Coi for hosting us. We—Anna Hackett, Sasha Summers and Stacy Gail—are so glad to be here!

In Carina Press’s sci-fi anthology, A GALACTIC HOLIDAY, some serious out-of-this-world imagination had to be engaged in order to create the distant world of Perma, the ice moon of Galileo and a futuristic Chicago cityscape.  From foods and traditions to sights, sounds and smells, these three worlds had to be alien and different enough to bring the reader along on a far-flung journey of wonder, and consistent enough that these imagined worlds could gain a foothold in the reader’s reality.

But how do you make an imagined world become real in a reader’s mind?

The three authors from A GALACTIC HOLIDAY put a vast amount of thought into how they built their sci-fi worlds, and each one went about it a little differently.  Come to find out, there’s no wrong way to build a world.

Anna:  When I started thinking about combining sci-fi with the holidays, I wanted to explore the winter holiday of Yule – so an ice planet came to mind. With science-fiction, you are always trying to balance the sci-fi elements with elements that are familiar to the reader. In WINTER FUSION, my heroine, Brinn is from the ice world of Perma. It has some technology but not too much as they are a developing world. There are plenty of familiar elements – people still cook their food, they sing, they go to work. But they also happen to have interstellar ships, cars with autopilot and nanocoatings that stop ice melting. But an important aspect we can all relate to is the Perman need to look after the environment of their planet.

My hero, Savan, on the other hand, is from a planet covered in a megacity. Rendar is an energy-dependent world -- everything is powered and people live for personal gratification and success. While this world is different from our own, I think their issues are ones we all worry about today – our reliance on energy, the increase in the “gadgets” in our lives, the fast pace of life.

What I love most about writing science-fiction romance is that even on amazing distant worlds with incredible high-tech gadgets, things that are important to us today—environment, energy, family and love—are still vital.

Sasha:  I just kind of dove in. I started in space, in Riley’s (the heroines) ship in GALILEO'S HOLIDAY. Space (‘the black’) is cold and sterile, metal and minimalist, and her ‘happy place’.  And since Riley was going to have to face all sorts of things outside of her comfort zone that meant Galileo’s Station had to be the exact opposite – low-tech and crowded. Once I had that figured out, I could focus on the gadgets – the tools, the shields that protect the Station from cryptids and raiders, the food (or lack of real food), the chutes, – even the plumbing. Basically, I let my imagination run wild – and had oodles of fun with it!

Stacy:  Whenever I write a futuristic romance, the first thing I do is make a list of ordinary events that everyone on the planet normally does…and then I try my best to re-imagine what those ordinary events might be like a century or two from now.  For instance: The brushing of teeth?  That would be replaced by a single swish of plaque-killing, tooth-brightening Denti-Wash. Five seconds and you’re done.

What about the daily hassle of popping contacts into poor blind peepers?  Forget it.  In my world the gene for bad eyesight is modified, so now virtually everyone has perfect vision.  And for those who want more-than-perfect vision (like me!), there would be expensive/black market optic prosthetics that would look just like the real deal.  (It’s not just pervy adolescent boys who want X-ray vision, you know. ;) )

But the most important—and potentially dangerous—facet of the future that I can truly see happening is the creation of human-like androids to do humankind’s menial tasks.  These robotic creations—these fake people—are the very elements that live in the heart of HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS.  It’s a fine line humanity treads when they make machines look like humans, and all too soon the question of what truly defines “life” arises.

These worlds are full of adventure, wonder and the enduring power of love.  The authors of A GALACTIC HOLIDAY hope that you’ll enjoy reading about them as much as they enjoyed creating them.

Take a moment to enter our fabulous giveaway! :)

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/070de90/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GALACTIC HOLIDAY – Carina Press | Amazon | B&N | All Romance

Anna Hackett – Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Stacy Gail – Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Sasha Summers – Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads