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Alpha Male Blog Hop

Thank you to Carrie Ann for hosting the Alpha Male Blog Hop!
Roar! This guy’s all “I get hot and powerful when I read books.”


Alpha males are wonderful — I’ve enjoyed reading their exploits in romantic suspense novels by Pamela Clare and Cindy Gerard.

But my ideal hero has a mix of Alpha AND Beta. He’s wounded, physically and/or emotionally, and therefore has a lot of depth. He’s intelligent and respectful of women. He’s clean-shaven, tall, and lean. And I don’t mind him in handcuffs (wait…the Hot in Handcuffs Giveaway just ended!) My ideal hero is not a bad boy, but a man who gets in trouble due to standing up for others.

When I was dating more, I sought a man who was athletic and could talk about his feelings.

And I wonder why I’m still single! *snorts*

Anyway, Carrie Ann offers some amazing GRAND PRIZES if you comment and leave your email address on the comment:

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
3rd Grand Prize: The following Swag Pack!


Wow! Thanks, Carrie Ann. Hop to all the blogs and enter 200+ times!

And I’m sweetening the pot by giving away two ebooks of my novels which feature sexy alpha/beta heroes: With Good Behavior (romantic suspense) and Streamline (YA swimming romance).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Look! The Next Best Thing!

Author Darcia Helle sure is creating a lot of work for me on the blog. 😉 First she tagged me for The Next Best Thing Blog Challenge. Then she tagged me AGAIN for the U Got the Look Blog Challenge.

Both challenges involve my work-in-progress On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3).

Author Gail Baugniet started The Next Best Thing HERE. The rules are:

Answer 10 questions about my current WIP (Work-In-Progress)

What is the working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I decided to follow Gail by posting my answer to one question a week, with the hope of finishing the manuscript in ten weeks.

Sadly the past two weeks have been epic FAIL for me and I’ve forgotten to post my answers among all the giveaways I’ve been hosting. (And another giveaway starts tomorrow–stay tuned).  So, I’m answering three questions today to catch up.

4) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Actor Wentworth Miller is my absolute celebrity crush–he’s an easy pick to play Grant Madsen. I can’t remember this actress’s name but I can totally see her as Sophie Taylor.

Thanks to Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews for framing these photos!

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Planning a wedding is never easy, especially when the Russian Mafia want you dead.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither–it will be published (I hope!) by Omnific Publishing, a small publisher I lurve.

And now onto U Got the Look!

The Look is a writing prompt, a game, another tagging event. This is how U Got “The Look” works: you take your current manuscript, search for the word “look”, and post the surrounding paragraphs. Lastly, you tag 5 blogging authors who you think will be a good choice for the game.

(I use the word “look” approximately 20,000 times in each manuscript so this should be no problem.)

Sophie looked into his worried blue eyes and reached for his hand. “Grant, I have absolutely no qualms about marrying you. I’d do it today if we could.”
“Then let’s just go to the courthouse right now.”
She grimaced. “You know I’d love that, but my dad would kill me. No, we’ll do it this summer, like we planned. We’ll do the big church wedding.” She turned back to the door.
He tugged at her hand, drawing her to face him again. “Sophie, talk to me.”
“It’s just…” She sighed. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Pastor Tom, and…do you know anyone whose marriage is actually happy, Grant? We love each other, but who’s to say we won’t turn out like our parents?”
He flinched. “There’s no way we could be as bad as my parents.”
“But they were in love once too, right? Your dad even sang to your mom at their wedding.”
“I guess you could say they were in love once, before my father showed his true colors.” His eyes darkened. “But Sophie, we’re different from them. I’m not an alcoholic, for one thing.”
Her lips curled into a faint smile. Their psychologist Hunter’s insistence that Grant was not his father had finally gotten through to him. “You’re not a child abuser either.”
“Though Ben sure tempts me sometimes.”
Sophie’s grin widened. Grant joking about the trials of helping to parent his nephew, instead of freezing up at the mere mention of child abuse, definitely indicated his progress in counseling.

 
And now I tag 5 author friends to get the “look”. No worries if you’ve already participated.

And finally, please join us on the Omnific Publishing Author, Author Blog Bounce! Instructions are HERE.

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Streamline Swims Around the Blogosphere

My YA swimming romance Streamline has been stroking through the blogosphere, visiting some lovely locations. Please stop by!

***Danya from A Tapestry of Words hosts PSYCHTEMBER, a celebration of YA novels featuring mental health issues. I love this idea and was thrilled to participate with a guest post about prescription drug abuse in teens HERE. Enter a giveaway for a Streamline ebook until 9/30/12!

Streamline‘s hero Leo learns the hard way about prescription drug abuse, and he also learns how to live a better life without oxycontin.

***YA author Cherie Colyer (check out her magical novel Embrace!) hosted me for a naughty excerpt from Streamline HERE.

***Congratulations to Adriana for winning an ebook of Streamline from Laurie’s BLOG, which featured an excerpt.

~~*~~

Now onto my current WIP On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3). For the blog challenge “The Next Best Thing”, here’s my question for the week:

What genre does your book fall under?

That’s an easy one: ROMANTIC SUSPENSE.

I did write a love scene this weekend *blushes* and I’m up to 75,000 words, about 3/4 done!

Authors, how are you progressing on your WIP?

Readers, how are you progressing on reading and reviewing?

~~*~~

Finally, I’m happy to announce my publisher’s FALL SALE!

Bad Behavior (The Conduct Series #2) joins With Good Behavior (The Conduct Series #1) on sale for $2.99.

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Genre Favorites Blogfest

That kooky author Alex Cavanaugh is at it again, hosting a fun blogfest HERE.

Genre Favorites Blogfest, September 17, 2012
One blogfest, four favorites!
List your favorite genre of:
Movie
Music
Books
And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories! 
Okay, here goes:
1) My favorite MOVIE genre is…

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Titanic is my favorite movie (quit laughing!) and here’s a deleted kissing scene from the epic ship flick:
I also love The Shawshank Redemption, Speed, Godfather II, Terminator II, American Beauty, Gladiator, Die Hard, Moonstruck, Working Girl, A Fish Called Wanda, Grand Canyon, Prince of Tides, Ordinary People, and so many more.

2) Favorite MUSIC genre:

MAINSTREAM ALTERNATIVE

Now that’s an oxymoron! What I mean is that I love music that’s “alternative” but not too far out there.

My favorite song is With or Without You by U2.

Gah. What a beautiful, sorrowful song. Other artists I love are The Fray, Jack Johnson, Colbie Callait, Indigo Girls, John Mayer, Adele, Snow Patrol, and The Script.

3) Now, BOOKS! My favorite genre is…

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

…which isn’t a surprise if you know what books I like to write. I adore author Pamela Clare, and I also enjoy fiction and YA contemporary.

4) Finally onto my GUILTY PLEASURE…

NEIL DIAMOND!

I love singing along to his songs, and there are SCADS of good ones like “Forever in Blue Jeans”:

Thank you Alex for this fun hop!

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The Next Best Thing and Author Blog Bounce

To continue on with The Next Best Thing Challenge, today I’m answering the following question about my work-in-progress On Best Behavior:

Where did the idea come from for the book?

On Best Behavior is the third and final novel of my romantic suspense The Conduct Series, so most of the book follows the natural progression of my hero and heroine Grant and Sophie.

But I often find inspiration in movies, and Donnie Brasco (with Johnny Depp, yummy) sparked the idea for the plot. Grant goes undercover to immerse himself in Mafia life, risking not only his life, but that of Sophie and his nephew Ben as well. Eek! I love messing with my characters.

I’ve set a goal to finish this novel by December but my progress last weekend wasn’t great. My kind father came up for a visit to drive me for a steroid injection in my back, and we spent time watching football (yay for Denver beating the Steelers–love to see Payton Manning back in there) instead of writing. Now my back feels great but I’m a bit behind, and I have to work this Saturday too, waah!

Onto the Author Blog Bounce by Omnific Publishing–see instructions, here and enter a giveaway for my novel Streamline. Authors and readers, join us!