Cover Goodness: ABOUT THAT NIGHT by Julie James

Kyle’s cover! It’s here, it’s here! Well, not the actual book but the cover is. 🙂 I’m a huge (HUGE) fan of Julie James and I have been nagging for this book since I finished A LOT LIKE LOVE, which featured Jordan, Kyle’s sister. I was ecstatic when I reached the end of Jordan’s book and saw the little box that said “Kyle’s story will be out in 2012.” I truly think I did a Happy Happy Joy Joy dance. It might have also not been pretty but who cares, right? So here we are. The COVER. One step closer to the release date which is April 3, 2012. Seems so far away but it’ll be here before I know it and then I get to dive into the yumminess that is Kyle Rhodes. Yippee!!

HE’S PLAYING GAMES.

Though Rylann Pierce tried to fight the sparks she felt for billionaire heir Kyle Rhodes the night they met, their sizzling chemistry was undeniable. But after being stood up on their first date, Rylann never expected to see him again. So when she finds herself face-to-face with Kyle in a courthouse nine years later, she’s stunned. More troubling to the beautiful assistant U.S. attorney is that she’s still wildly attracted to him.

BUT SHE’S MAKING THE RULES.

Just released from prison, Kyle Rhodes isn’t thrilled to be the star witness in a high-profile criminal case—but when Rylann comes knocking at his door, he finds she may be the one lawyer he can’t say no to. Still as gorgeous and sharp-tongued as ever, she lays down the law: she doesn’t mix business with pleasure. But Kyle won’t give up on something he wants—and what he wants is the one woman he’s never forgotten. . .

So tell me. Have you read A LOT LIKE LOVE? Are you as anxious as I am? If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?! Go! RUN, don’t walk and get your hands on a copy so you’ll be ready when April rolls around, K? You won’t be sorry, honest! 🙂

And, as an extra incentive that you must NOT miss Kyle’s story, here’s an excerpt I found at Julie’s website. Go read it! You know you want to! 🙂

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Redeeming a Hero by Cynthia Eden

Hunter…

When it comes to killing vampires, werewolf Cade Thain is the best slayer in the Northwest. So when a witch hires him to take out a pureblood vamp, the assassin thinks it will be just business as usual. One less vicious vamp on the streets…one more undead parasite gone from the earth. Then he meets her.

Protector…

Allison Gray isn’t the prey that Cade expects. Beautiful, innocent, she stirs a dark desire within him. Allison hasn’t transformed fully into a vampire, not yet, and it’s Cade’s job to make sure that she never does. Allison thinks that he’s at her side to keep her safe, but Cade is supposed to pick the right moment—and kill her.

Lover…

Killing Allison is soon the last thing that Cade plans. As she begins the transformation that will turn her into a vampire, her bloodlust and their desire merge in an explosion of need that neither can control. But Allison’s enemies are closing in, and the coming battle will take Cade and Allison beyond life, beyond love…and into a deadly darkness that waits to claim them both.

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Some heroes are bad (well, hopefully they are bad in a good way—like a sexy, bad boy way).  But these heroes have dark sides, and they may have done some very wicked things in their lives.  A hero who skirts the line between good and evil can have a sexy, tempting edge…but he can also be a little too dark.

The trick for writers?  Well, I think it is to redeeming a dangerous hero. To show that, sure, this guy isn’t perfect, and he never will be, but he’s also got some pretty good traits lurking under that bad exterior.

Cade Thain, the werewolf hero in my new digital release, BOUND IN DARKNESS (only. 99! Sorry, had to shout that) is one of these bad boy heroes.  This guy definitely isn’t a white knight; instead, he’s actually the assassin hired to kill my heroine.

But he doesn’t kill her, of course. There’d be no story then.

He does fall for her, and because of my heroine, Cade wants to be…better.  He knows what he is, and, for the lady he loves, he tries to be more.  That evolution isn’t easy for bad boy heroes. Most of them will never be redeemed 100%, and, quite honestly, I wouldn’t like for them to be.  I’m like Buffy—I like some monster in my romance men.  I want some of that dangerous edge to stay.

I also want to know I’m rooting for a guy who can show he’s brave and trustworthy.  A guy that I could fall in love with (and not just fear because of those wicked, but sexy, ways).

What about you?  Are you a fan of heroes with dark sides? Or do you prefer the white knights?  I’ll pick five commenters to win digital copies of BOUND IN DARKNESS.

Thanks for checking out my post, and thank you very much to Fatin for inviting me over!

Cynthia Eden

www.cynthiaeden.com

ANGEL OF DARKNESS—Available 11/29/11 from Kensington Brava

When angels fall, all hell breaks loose…

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Book Trailer: IF YOU HEAR HER by Shiloh Walker

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The Hunters: Declan & Tori by Shiloh Walker

This fall, Shiloh Walker will be reissuing her older Hunters books as the books slowly revert back to her. Book 1, THE HUNTERS: DECLAN & TORI is currently available at the low price of $2.99 at Amazon, BN & ARe. Pick up your copy if you haven’t started on this series yet. I’m loving the new cover! 🙂

Tori McAdams was a sensible woman. She didn’t believe in hocus-pocus, she didn’t believe in ghosts, and she definitely didn’t believe in vampires…not until the night she was attacked by one. Alone, starving and afraid, she doesn’t know what’s happening but at least she had somebody to turn to…

Declan Reilly was normally the last person she’d go to for help, but now he was the first on her list. He can help; she knows he can. She never could have planned on what happens next, though…the sexy detective is so much more than he appears.

Warning: This book contains violence, sex, more violence, a maniacal murderer, sex, more violence, and a menage or two thrown in for good measure. There are also sighs, happy endings, a romance, a hero, a heroine, and a little bit of falling in love.

**Please note this work has been previously published. While it’s been edited, no new material has been added.

Excerpt can be found here.

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Musing About Cowboys with Beth Williamson

Clio is not only the muse of history, she has virtually lived her life through books. When a lightning strike sends her through space and time, Clio finds herself in the Old West with no way of getting home and none of her powers. Relying on her book learning is not working out like she’d hoped.

Ace Nevada is an unwilling sheriff who has spent the last year trying to get out of town. When a crazy woman lands in the horse trough in front of a saloon, he finds himself strangely attracted to her. He can’t help himself from sampling her lips or her incredibly lush body.

Clio learns how to be human and Ace remembers what it is to be human. They are two halves of the same whole. Mates. When Clio’s powers return, will their love pass the test of time?

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Musing about cowboys

Today is release day for my novella, A COWBOY’S MUSE. It’s a mash-up book between cowboys, time travel and paranormal.

No, fer realz! *holds up hand* I swear, ’tis all of those at once.

Novellas are more difficult to write than full-length novels. You have a small amount of time to develop the characters, move the plot and make it all believable. It ain’t easy, but it is challenging.

A COWBOY’S MUSE wasn’t just a novella for me. It’s a dive into two different genres I don’t know and mixing it with a genre I know intimately. So how did I do it?

I focused on the characters and their relationship. Honestly that’s at the heart of every story, right? The plot weaves around the hero and heroine, not the other way around.

So how did I find time travel and paranormal? FUN! IMHO, there aren’t enough time travel romances. Lynn Kurland does a phenomenal job at them (love her!). And paranormal? Well, that was fun too – a Greek goddess who hasn’t experienced “real life” is a different yet amazingly entertaining heroine.

I have 7 excerpts up on my blog and 1 on my website – plenty to taste the humor, sexiness and the relationship that grows between Clio and Ace. Enjoy!

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Huge thanks to Beth for being our guest today. For more information of Beth and what’s coming up next for her, visit her website here. Follow her on Twitter here and check out her Facebook page here. Leave a comment for the chance to win a download of A COWBOY’S MUSE and a download of LUCILLE’S LAWMAN. Good Luck!

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Seduction of a Highland Lass by Maya Banks – Giveaway!

A warrior is caught between family loyalty and forbidden love in book two of Maya’s sensual new trilogy featuring three indomitable Highlanders.

Fiercely loyal to his elder brother, Alaric McCabe leads his clan in the fight for their birthright. Now, he is prepared to wed for duty, as well. But on his way to claim the hand of Rionna McDonald, daughter of a neighboring chieftain, he is ambushed and left for dead. Miraculously, his life is saved by the soft touch of a Highland angel, a courageous beauty who will put his fealty to his clan, his honor, and his deepest desires, to the test.

An outcast from her own clan, Keeley McDonald was betrayed by those she loved and trusted. When the wounded warrior falls from his horse, she is drawn to his strong, lean body. The wicked glint in his green eyes ignites a passion that will follow them back to Alaric’s keep, where their forbidden love draws them deeper into the pleasures of the flesh. But as conspiracy and danger circle closer, Alaric must make an impossible choice. Will he betray his blood ties for the woman he loves?

www.mayabanks.com

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Giveaway!

Three commenters will win a copy of SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND LASS by Maya Banks, Kindle edition ONLY. Good luck! 😀

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SECOND-GUESSING FATE by Claire Robyns

Can She Outwit Fate?

Gemma is on a collision course with heartbreak. At least, according to the fortune-teller her best friend drags her to see. Gemma doesn’t believe a word of it, but when other predictions start to come true, she begins to suspect that gorgeous, gray-eyed Nick is the man foretold to break her heart before she can find her soul mate. Too bad she’s never met a man she’s wanted more, because now she has to get him to dump her before she falls too hard.

Nick has plans of his own. He’s ready to settle down with Ms. Right, and everything points to the beautiful Gemma. He’s determined to prove to her that he’s the perfect boyfriend—even if she does seem to be trying her best to scare him off…

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I had more fun with this book than any other I’ve written. Perhaps because the plot was so outlandish to begin with, there was nothing holding me back. And Nick… he was such a darling right from the start, I knew he was committed right down to his toes no matter what Gemma got up to.

This is unusual for me in writing, but the idea for Second-Guessing Fate came partly from real-life experience. Years ago, a colleague (and friend) was seriously committed to her monthly fortune-telling appointments. She actually recorded the sessions so she could replay it and analyse it. I looked on from a distance, completely sceptical but constantly amused at how someone could allow their life to be dictated to by a stranger.

One day, and I’m still not sure how she managed this, she got me to agree to go with her. The thing is, no matter how sceptical I might be, after that everything took on a new meaning. That cute blond guy I met last night? Could he be the one the fortune-teller had mentioned? Should I take that new job? She did mention she’d seen lots of travel in my future… I like to think I didn’t make any decisions based on what that lady told me, but to this day I still think about the things she foretold and, when I’m bored, I fiddle with the pieces of the puzzle to see how they fit into my life nowadays – just for fun!

So, that’s what sparked Second-Guessing Fate. Gemma really doesn’t believe in all that mumbo jumbo nonsense, but the what-if plays on her subconscious. Then too many of those puzzle pieces start to fit and, before she knows it, she’s running around like a headless chicken in Madame Hooch’s game of fate.

If you’d like to read more, the first two chapters are up on my blog.

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Thanks to Claire for being our guest today. For more info on Claire and her books, check out her website/blog here and follow her on Twitter here and on Facebook here. Remember to leave a comment for the chance to win a download of SECOND-GUESSING FATE. Good Luck!

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Beth Williamson winner

Claudia McRay

wins a digital copy of LUCILLE’S LAWMAN and an eARC of A COWBOY’S MUSE by Beth Williamson

Congrats! To claim your prize, please email Fatin at mad @ romancereaderatheart.com (without the spaces) You have 48 hours to email before a new name is chosen.

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Feeling Wicked with Beth Williamson

More than the law will be tested when a marshal meets a feisty widow.

Sean Reilly had the bad luck to be assigned the blue marble – the “cursed” marble shunned by the four other marshals in the Arizona Territory. He’s sent to take care of a land dispute for a widow named Lucille Quinn. He has no idea just how his life will change because of the dang blue marble.

Lucille Quinn needs help to settle the matter of some missing cattle. The marshal that arrives is unexpected as he is good-looking – he’s also the man who left her five years earlier. Beneath the anger lies an attraction that never died, it simply smoldered until flaring back to life the moment she saw him.

The meeting is by pure chance, the result is pure magic.

 

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Let me just say that I don’t generally write short stories. I’ve written and published about half a dozen of them, most of them scorchingly hot. What can I say, when I write short, I write spicy. 🙂

LUCILLE’S LAWMAN is no exception. I had written another supa hawt short story a few years ago called MARIELLE’S MARSHAL. Funny, sexy story (even Mrs. Giggles liked it) about a school teacher and a marshal, a stagecoach robbery and some sexy romps in the Arizona territory desert.

When the time came to write my Wicked Read (see http://www.wickedreads.net), I had to write another supa hawt one. So what did I choose? Another lawman and kick-ass chick of course. 🙂

Thus was born LUCILLE’S LAWMAN. This also takes place in the 1850s Arizona Territory. Our intrepid lawman is Sean, the man who replaced Whit from Marielle’s story. Hee – oh I had fun with Sean. You see, Lucille, our kick-ass heroine, is a widow who protects what’s hers. What does she do the first time she sees Sean? Why she shoots at him. Ha!

I enjoy emotional and angsty stories very much but I love to write sexy and funny shorts. It’s like these shorts are play-doh and I craft the most hilarious, over-sexed critters I can imagine. Hee.

Of course, I also dive into the shallow end of characters, as you know with a short story you can’t be in the deep end of the pool. Yet I can’t just make shallow characters. That would be more difficult and the reader would be cheated. So I paddle around in that shallow end of the character until I find what makes them tick.

For Lucille, it’s her loneliness. For Sean, it’s his loneliness. Heeeey, good thing I decided to get them together. 🙂

There is always emotion in my books, but LUCILLE’S LAWMAN is also designed to make you smile and perhaps wiggle a bit in your chair. 😉

 

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A big thank you to Beth for joining with us today!

To find out more about Beth and all her books, please visit www.bethwilliamson.com. For a chance to win a digital copy of LUCILLE’S LAWMAN and an eARC of A COWBOY’S MUSE, just leave a comment below. Good luck! 😀

 

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Cover Goodness: SHE TEMPTS THE DUKE by Lorraine Heath

UPDATED WITH BLURB!

 

Release date is January 31, 2012. Haven’t found a blurb yet but will update when I do.

Three young heirs, imprisoned by an unscrupulous uncle, escaped—to the sea, to the streets, to faraway battle—awaiting the day when they would return to reclaim their birthright.

Sebastian Easton always vowed he would avenge his stolen youth and title. Now back in London, the rightful Duke of Keswick—returning from battle a wounded, hardened, changed man—cannot forget the brave girl who once rescued him and his brothers from certain death.

Lady Mary Wynne-Jones paid dearly for helping the imprisoned young Lords of Pembrook, and she remembers well the promise she made to Sebastian all those years ago: to meet him once more in the abbey ruins where they shared a bold, forbidden kiss. While Mary is betrothed now to another, a friendship forged with dark secrets cannot be ignored. Unexpected passion soon burns dangerously between them, tempting Sebastian to abandon his quest for retribution to fight for a love that could once again set him free.

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