Maya Banks Contest Time @ Twitter!

For those on Twitter, we’re currently having a contest to win a download of SOFTLY AT SUNRISE by Maya Banks. Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/mad4rombks (or just send me a tweet @mad4rombks) and answer the following question — Who is your favorite MB character? Use #MayaBanksRRaH with your reply. Contest will end on August 17th and 3 winners will be chosen to win a download, format is winner’s choice. 🙂 Good luck! Do not answer the question here, it must be on Twitter. 🙂

Rachel Kelly has traveled a long, hard road in her journey back to her husband, Ethan, and the Kelly family. Now, as she and Ethan are poised to move into their new home, safe behind the walls of the Kelly compound, Rachel wonders if she’ll finally be free of the ghosts that have haunted her for so long and if she’ll step into the sun after a past steeped in darkness.

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HelenKay Dimon – Guest Blog and Giveaway

HE GAVE NEW MEANING TO THE TERM DOUBLE AGENT

Returning from his latest Border Patrol assignment, Jeremy Hill seeks sanctuary in his twin brother’s home. The last thing he expects to find is an armed man already inside, or Meredith Samms, a gorgeous tenant caught in the cross fire. Then he discovers that the gunman’s attack is meant for his twin brother, who is nowhere in sight, and Jeremy must take matter into his own hands. Searching for his brother while trying to protect this girl next door, Jeremy finds himself caught up in the danger he’d become all too familiar with. in his world, everyone’s a target and anyone can be a suspect, so Jeremy has no room for emotions. But what Meredith stirs within him may complicate this unexpected mission to the point of no return…

~~~*~~~*~~~

Thank you for inviting me here today to talk about my newest release, COPY THAT, from Harlequin Intrigue.

People ask authors all the time where book ideas come from.  Honestly, coming up with the idea is the easy part.  Putting my butt in the chair and writing is the tough part. With this book I didn’t even need to come up with the idea.  My Intrigue editor, Denise Zaza, kind of did that for me in my newest release, COPY THAT.  This is how it came about…

About a year ago we were emailing back and forth about ideas for books for a new Intrigue contract. She said she’d love to see a new take on a mistaken identity story. I loved the idea and started thinking about a potential plot.  The next day I was just about to send her the idea when she called. She said she’d been thinking about the mistaken identity issue and would love it if I’d write a suspense centered on a hero who is a twin.  She even had a cover in her mind that would show the hero and his twin. The how, why, plot and characters were up to me.  All she asked was that the twins each get a romance in some way, even if I wanted to write two novellas and connected them in one book.

The idea of two romances, two suspense threads, two heroes and two heroines, all in 55,000 words, scared me a bit.  But it was a good challenge.  And, really, do you know how many ideas go through a writer’s head when the charge is – write twin heroes in a mistaken identity situation? Lots.  Really, lots.  The range of possibilities had me thinking and the idea of writing the book struck me as so much fun. Lucky for me, the writing did turn out to be fun.

Jeremy and Garrett Hill are protectors by nature.  They fall in love with women who don’t have gun-toting jobs – one is a kindergarten teacher and the other is a salesperson at a wedding dress store.  But the best part?  Figuring out when to have the main hero, Jeremy, use the line: “I’m not Garrett.” Once Jeremy utters the line the fun really starts.  I hope you think so, too.

And as for that other mistake identity idea, the one I was thinking about when my editor called?  It’s the plot for my November Intrigue, SWITCHED. 🙂

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To learn more about HelenKay and her backlist, visit www.helenkaydimon.com. And for a chance to win COPY THAT (digital or print) just leave a comment below. Good luck! 😀

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Heather Snow’s Blog Tour Continues

Where our Heroine recovers nicely…

 

Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk.

 

Hello! Heather Snow here and I am thrilled to be continuing my blog tour for Sweet Deception here at RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Talk. Thank you for having me back again! What I am doing for this tour is pulling back the curtain of Sweet Deception a bit, sharing a few of my favorite passages from the book each day while letting you in on the thoughts behind them. You can keep up with the stops (or go back and read ones you missed) either on my website (www.HeatherSnowBooks.com) or my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AuthorHeatherSnow).

 

Yesterday, we talked a bit about how Emma momentarily reeled at being faced with the one man she’d always loved after not seeing him for years and the realization that her feelings were not as buried as she’d thought. Yet, intrepid heroine that she is, she soldiers on…

 

“I’m certain Lord Scarsdale will agree that explanations can wait until after we find his missing upstairs maid.”

Crack!

The sharp, sizzling pop of lightning served as harsh punctuation to her pronouncement. A low rumble of thunder followed quickly behind. Emma glanced over her shoulder at the window in time to see the first fat drops of a summer storm splash against the panes. Fig! If Molly were outside and injured . . . Emma mentally kicked herself for the bit of time she’d squandered mooning like a schoolgirl over a man who obviously didn’t even remember her. She returned her eyes to the table and scanned the map again.

“My missing upstairs maid?” Derick repeated, sounding dubious.

“Yes.” Without raising her gaze to him, Emma held up a hand to forestall any more questions. She ran her finger over the map. If her calculations were correct, the only feasible place Molly could be that they hadn’t already searched was this area to the east of—

“Miss Wallingford,” Derick growled, in a voice that demanded her attention.

So he did remember her.

“As these are my resources you seem to be marshaling,” he said, “I expect an explanation.”

She looked up at him then, annoyed. Had he just referred to his staff, and some of hers for that matter, as his resources? Emma narrowed her eyes, considering the possible ramifications of ignoring him completely. She had more important things to do than appease his “lord of the manor” sensibilities, particularly when this lord hadn’t bothered to grace this manor with his presence in more than a dozen years.

 

I had a lot of fun creating strong characters who were great foils for one another. On any other mission, our aristocratic master of espionage is accustomed to being fawned over, or at the very least, obeyed. So of course his heroine would have to be a girl who ‘knew him when’. Emma cuts Derick very little slack, taking away his tried and true methods and making him work harder than he’s ever had to in order to achieve his goals. And, of course, pushing him to become the man only she could help him to become…

I hope you enjoy Derick and Emma’s journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please look out for SWEET DECEPTION, available now, wherever books are sold. I’ll be happy to give away a copy of my debut, SWEET ENEMY, the first book in this series. To enter, simply leave me a comment and answer the question: Do you enjoy books where the main characters already have a history? What are some of your favorites?

 

 

 

Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab.  She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat.  Find out more or connect with Heather at:

www.HeatherSnowBooks.com

Facebook www.facebook.com/AuthorHeatherSnow

Twitter www.twitter.com/HeatherSnowRW

 

 

SWEET DECEPTION Available NOW:

Rainy Day Books (my local indie)
Amazon (Kindle Edition)
Amazon (Mass Market Paperback)
Barnes and Noble
The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)

Books-A-Million
IndieBound
I-Books
Walmart

 

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Teaser Tuesday – Silver Mine by Vivian Arend

The Book

The Tease

Shelley turned away under the excuse of grabbing her instruments, but honestly she couldn’t bear to watch Chase strip off his shirt. The buttons had sounded loud in her ears, and the thought of having this delicious man half-naked in her office—oh boy.

She was a dirty pervert, the thoughts running through her brain.

The past three nights she’d been thinking about him and her lost opportunity at the party. Caroline had been kind and stopped teasing after only a couple more digs. Shelley had been the one to administer chastisement for the next while. She could have had a man in her bed, but instead she was making herself come in the middle of the night, waking up to feverish dreams, all of which involved Chase.

Now he was here and she had to touch him.

She was either being punished or rewarded, and she wasn’t sure which.

“I’m ready.”

Slow and steady, there was a teasing lilt to his voice, as if he knew she was hiding as she gathered tools. Shelley braced herself and lifted her chin as she turned back.

She should have grabbed a towel to catch her drool. My, oh my, he was a fine specimen. Sharply muscular, the combination of wolf and cat turning his leanness into hard lines. “You must have the most incredible metabolism,” she commented.

“Hard to take in too many calories, that’s for sure.”

Ripped. Strong. Shelley took his blood pressure and did all the routine checks as stoically as possible, but there was no way to stop him from scenting how turned on she was. His skin was hot under her fingers as she removed the blood pressure cuff from his biceps, and she fought to not linger as she held the stethoscope to his chest.

Sweet mercy, the hair on his chest was thicker than your average wolf—perhaps his cat nature coming to the fore. She imagined petting him, playing her fingertips through the soft curls. Working her way lower until—

It wasn’t professional of her to think that way. It wasn’t professional to be feeling any of the things she was feeling, but damn if she could stop herself.

She moved faster, rushing through the steps, trying to keep her focus on what she needed to do, which was not leaning over to lick him.

Not even once.

A strong grip wrapped around her wrist, trapping her in place.

“Shelley. Slow down. We should talk about this.”

“Talk about what?”

“This.”

He tugged her between his legs and lifted her chin as his lips covered hers.

It was oh, so wrong and oh, so right. Shelley let the stethoscope fall from her fingers and gave into the urge to press her fingers against his pelt and run her hands up his chest. He’d wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and controlled her, kissing her softly but insistently. His tongue stroking hers, lips teasing and demanding a response. They weren’t diminishing, they weren’t going away, the urges inside her.

But they also weren’t uncontrollable. It was lust, pure and simple, not a frantic mating urge, and that made her feel a little better. Maybe she’d kick her own ass in a few minutes, but for the next sixty seconds she was going to take this in and enjoy every second.

Hmm, she’d set the examination tables at the right height for her to check dogs, cats and other pets without having to stoop or lift up. That put his groin and hers nicely in line and as he kissed her—no, as she now kissed him, heat transferred between them in the most delightful way. He stroked her hair, his other hand slipping behind her back and pressing her against him. Her T-shirt could have evaporated for all the barrier it provided. Her nipples tightened, her sex ached for a touch. The only part of her body truly happy was her mouth because he tasted so. Damn. Good.

The Blurb

If a tree falls in the forest, duck…

Life in isolation is the safest place for Chase Johnson, a crossbreed who doesn’t know which form he’ll assume next—cougar or wolf. Once a year, his unelected position as spokesman for the Yukon outcasts forces him to visit civilization. This time he runs across someone unexpected. She’s not his mate, but she pushes all the right buttons.

It’s taken years for Shelley Bradley to gather the courage to return to her home pack. In spite of being the lowest of the low—a shifter who can’t shift—she’s determined to make a place for herself as the Whitehorse locals’ new vet-slash-doctor.

There’s definite electricity between her and Chase, but sex with fellow shifters and the inherent mind games got old a long time ago. Ignoring him seems best. When he shows up at her office with a wound that won’t heal, she’s stuck—yet drawn to solve this medical mystery.

As they journey deep into outcast territory in search of answers, their powerful sexual attraction crumbles her resistance. But time is of the essence. If a cure can’t be found before his human and cougar succumb to his injury, he—and others like him—will die.

Warning: Contains a silver-tongued, hairy-chested, lean-muscled Alpha who’s got what it takes to lead in the wilderness and in the bedroom. Yeah, I know…not really much of a deterrent, is it? Throw in continuing territorial wars and a domestic cat. Stir and enjoy the chaos.

Available September 11, 2012

www.vivianarend.com

Preorder:

Amazon

B&N

Samhain

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