Today
I'm so excited because it's the release of my new book, Teardrops Know My Name, and I’m touring and making stops at a couple of
spots. I’ll be giving away an Amazon
Gift card to one lucky winner while stopping here:
WNL Virtual Book Tours
I will also be featured
and interviewed today on my friend and fellow author Michele Kimbrough’s blog
today. Come stop by and join us. Check out some of her books while you’re
there:
https://kimbroughwriter.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/teardrops-know-my-name/
Friday, March 27, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Writing Tips
I was tagged yesterday on Facebook to write seven secrets of writing. I don't really have any writing secrets. I'm a work in progress, but here's some of what I've learned from the best with a few of my own:
1. Find a special
place or time to write that’s good for you.
2. Nothing is written
in stone. It will go through several
drafts until the finished product. The
first draft doesn’t have to be perfect.
You can change as much as you would like. Don’t be afraid to move things around, cut
out whole scenes or chapters if they don’t fit.
3. Don’t get stuck on
word count. Just write your story, no
matter how long or how short.
4. Read, read,
read. Read different genres. Read well
written books.
5. Write, write, write.
Write as much and as often as you can.
Even if it’s a word, a sentence or a paragraph. Writing is not a marathon, you can take your
time.
6. When editing your manuscript, print it and read it out
loud.
7. Lastly, remember
the reason you started writing in the first place.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Spotlight - Author LaQuette
Hanging with me again in the spotlight, Author La Quette. She's back with her new release, Divided Heart. I fell in love with book one, Heart of the Matter and can't wait to read Divided Heart.
Title: Divided Heart: Queens of Kings Book 2
Publisher: Hot Ink Press
Release Date: February 22, 2015
Buy link: Amazon
Author contact info:
Twitter @LaQuettelikes
Excerpt:
He was a tall man with
alabaster skin and midnight locks that fell beyond his shoulders and down his
back. He was dressed in a crisp grey business suit that made his crystal blue
eyes sparkle. He wore a knowing smile that said, “I know you know that I’m the
ish.” He was a cocky bastard, true, but she had firsthand knowledge of just how
amazing he really was. She also had firsthand knowledge that everything that
self-assured smile promised, he was more than capable of delivering. He sat on
her desk with his long legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the
ankles. Easy, calm, confident, and sexy as all hell.
“You know you’re
risking life and limb by sitting on my desk like you own it, right?” she asked
as she closed the door behind her. She looked around to make certain the blinds
on her office windows and doors were in a closed position, this was a moment
that was meant solely for the two of them.
“I may not own the
desk, but I own the woman that it belongs to…so I kinda do own it if you think
about it,” he said as the silky sureness of his voice traveled across the room
and pulled her to him.
Before she could say
just how it happened, she was standing in front of him between spread legs,
falling into the broad expanse of his chest. “You own me do you?” Her voice
hitched as she felt his fingers skate from her fingers to her arms causing her
skin to sizzle.
“I thought that’s what
these rings we wear meant? I own you, you own me? Was I wrong?” He leaned in
and placed a light kiss on her cheek, and just like any other time his skin met
hers, a sensual burn began to singe the area where his lips had rested for only
a brief second.
“Mmmm,” she moaned.
“You bet your pretty ass we belong to each other.” She wrapped her hand in his
long tresses and pulled him to her, letting her body sink into his and
searching for the connection only his kiss could bring. She found his warm,
soft lips and mewled into the decadence of the pleasure they ignited inside
her.
“God I wish we were
home instead of in my office.”
About Author:
A native of Brooklyn,
New York, LaQuette spends her time catering to her three distinct
personalities: Wife, Mother, and Educator. Writing--her escape from everyday
madness--has always been a friend and comforter. She loves writing and
devouring romance novels. Although she possesses a graduate degree in English
Lit, she'd forego Shakespeare any day to read something hot, lusty, and
romantic.
She loves hearing from
readers and discussing the crazy characters that are running around in her head
causing so much trouble. Contact her on Facebook, Twitter, her website, Amazon, and her
Facebook group, LaQuette's
Lounge.
Here are her other books:
Heart of the
Matter
Heart “Mac” MacKenzie
is a tough police lieutenant in the NYPD servicing the rough streets of
Brooklyn, New York. She’s a strong
leader who doesn’t mind getting in the trenches with the men and women she
leads at the seventy-fourth precinct. Her house, her people, and her
family—both blue and blood—are the only things that matter. She would live and die for the blue wall that
shields her from a traumatic past.
When her captain
assigns her a high-profile kidnapping case that she doesn’t want, and insists
she allows the missing girl’s irritatingly sexy uncle to tag along during the
investigation, her blood boils. Mac has
no choice but to do what she always does when things get out of control, lay
down the law—her law.
Kenneth Searlington is
a rich playboy from the Upper East Side of Manhattan. With stunning looks and an unlimited source
of wealth, he’s used to being the center of everyone’s attention, especially
the women that he comes in contact with in high society. His life is fun and
carefree until his niece, Merridith is kidnapped, and he’s forced to seek out
the help of his godfather an NYPD police captain, David Porter.
Afraid and frustrated,
Kenneth defers to his uncle’s expertise and his promise that he’s putting his
best cop on the case, Lieutenant MacKenzie.
When Kenneth discovers “Mac” is actually a sexy as sin lady cop with a
fiery temper to match, he decides mixing a little business with pleasure might
be just the thing he needs to distract him from long-standing family issues
that are trying to crawl their way back into the forefront of his life.
Each used to having
their own way, can these two work together long enough to bring an innocent
child home? Or will they settle their
differences and unyielding attraction in a more carnal way and get right down
to the heart of the matter?
Available on Amazon
My Beginning
Genesis Lawrence left
her home and family in Brooklyn, New York ten years ago and never looked back.
When you've spent your entire life protecting yourself from the ones that are
supposed to love you, running to the other side of the country seems like the
best idea ever. Emotionally bankrupt, she begins rebuilding her life after
failed familial connections and a broken marriage leave her too raw to ever
believe happiness exists for her. Work as a Physical Therapist in her rehab
clinic is all she knows and all she wants.
Drew Marrack has spent
the last year of his life trying to end the soul-searing pain of losing his
mother by any means necessary, even if that means ending him—literally. After a
tragic accident and a resulting disability that devastates the tattered
remnants of his world, only one name can give him a brand-new start: Genesis.
Pain, heartache,
secrets, and tragedy from the past bring them together, and then fight to tear
them apart. Is new love strong enough to give them the fresh beginning they
both need, or is this simply the beginning of their end?
Available on Amazon
Monday, February 16, 2015
Spotlight - Author Té Russ
It’s my pleasure to welcome back Author Té Russ to tell
us about her brand new release, Love After War. If you haven’t already purchased this fantastic
read from this amazing author, go get your copy now.
About
the book:
Connie
and Drew have been butting heads since they were teenagers. With Connie
refusing to talk about anything from their past, Drew has never figured out
what made them go from friends to enemies.
Drew
decides to finally get to the root of their lifelong feud when Connie ends up
in Texas for a remodeling project. When the truth comes out, it just might
bring out some feelings both of them have been refusing to acknowledge for over
a decade.
Excerpt:
“What are we
doing here Andrew?” Connie asked, annoyed.
“This is where we’re having lunch,”
he replied simply. “You still eat pizza don’t you?”
They were
standing in the waiting area of Uno Chicago Grill, simply known as Uno’s in the area.
It looked a lot
like a pizzeria they used to go to as kids in the summer in Galveston. She
wondered if he’d brought her here on purpose.
“Yes, I still eat
pizza but–”
“Great, here
comes the hostess to sit us.”
The lady barely
looked at Connie; she was so busy eyeballing Drew. And flirting just a tad too
much.
“Can I get you
anything to drink honey?” she cooed, while brushing her hand up and down his
shoulder.
“Constance?”
“What?” she
asked, tearing her glare away from the woman.
He tried to hide
the smirk on his face. “What would you like to drink?”
“Iced tea.
Sweet.”
“I’ll have the same
thing,” he said, never taking his eyes off of Connie. “Ice tea. Sweet.”
“I’m sure it’s not as sweet as
you.”
“I’m hardly sweet,”
he replied, causing the hostess to laugh a little too hysterically and all but
throw herself into Drew’s lap.
After she was
done fawning over him, she sauntered off, with an exaggerated sway of her hips.
Connie couldn’t wipe the scowl
off of her face and Drew was about to say something when Miss Laughs-a-lot
returned.
“Joss will be
your waitress today, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to
call.”
Connie watched as
the woman slipped a piece of paper down in front of him. She rolled her eyes as
the woman walked away.
“Unbelievable,”
Connie murmured.
“What is?”
“That... woman.
She was throwing herself all over you Andrew.”
He shrugged. “I
suppose she was a little flirty.”
Connie laughed. “A little flirty? Andrew please! She was two seconds away from
giving you a lap dance right in front of me. And she didn’t acknowledge me
once. It was as if I wasn’t even here. For
all she knew I could have been your date or girlfriend, but she didn’t care.”
“But you do?”
Drew asked, with a raised eyebrow.
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you’re not my
girlfriend. And technically this isn’t a date, just
lunch. So why do you care if some hostess flirts with me?”
“You are
completely incorrigible! It’s simply rude of
her to flirt with a man in front of lady company. And it’s just bad
customer service to ignore patrons. Besides that, I don’t care who flirts
with you or whom you flirt with.”
“Ah but that’s the thing! I
didn’t flirt with her. In fact, if I recall, I never took my eyes off
of you.”
Connie opened her
mouth to argue, but she couldn’t because he was
right. Drew seemed to have barely to noticed the hostess.
“Well–”
“If I didn’t know any
better, Barb, I’d say you were jealous.”
He watched as the
color rose up her neck and filled her cheeks. “Andrew McAllister, I am not
jealous of some floozy hitting on you!”
He chuckled, and
then said, “‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks!’”
She scoffed.
“Quoting Hamlet does not make you cute.”
“So what does
make me cute?” he asked, his voice filled with a hint of intrigue.
Connie threw a
napkin at him and he laughed out loud.
Joss, the
waitress, showed up then and took their food orders. She was clearly a young
girl, probably a college student and was completely enamored with Drew as well.
Thankfully, she wasn’t shameless like the hostess. The poor girl could barely speak. She
kept looking at Connie and stealing glances toward Drew, as if he were the sun
and just too bright to look at directly.
Drew ordered for
them remembering exactly how Connie liked her pizza.
Another thing
from their past, she’d thought. But she let it slide this time, because the poor girl
nearly knocked over their glasses of iced tea.
“I’m so sorry,” she
apologized to them both.
“It’s all right,” he
said to her.
Connie nodded.
“Don’t worry honey, no harm done.”
The girl scuffled
off to put in their orders and Connie couldn’t help but laugh.
“The great Andrew
McAllister, turning women all over the place into crazed fools.”
“Except you,” he
said sarcastically.
If only you knew, she thought.
“I’m not the only
one causing trouble in here,” he said, interrupting her thoughts.
“What in the
world are you talking about?”
“The man sitting
at the table behind you, at your five o’clock...”
Connie used the
excuse of tucking her hair behind her ear to glance over her shoulder and
caught a man averting his eyes from their direction.
“He’s been staring at
your legs, since you walked past him.”
“What? That’s ridicu–”
“The man at the
table behind me, at your two o’clock.. .”
He waited for her
to glance over his shoulder and then look back at him.
“Well,”
he said, slightly annoyed, “Let’s just say he’s been looking a
little bit North of your legs, South of your neck.”
She gasped at
what he was implying.
“How could you
know that?” she asked in a whisper, leaning closer toward him.
“Part of my job
is to make sure I know everything going on in my surroundings.”
“Well, I guess
you do your job pretty well.”
He shrugged. “I’m still alive.”
There was
something in the tone of his voice when he said those words. If she didn’t know any
better, she would have thought it sounded like remorse.
About the Author:
Connect with her here:
Monday, January 26, 2015
Spotlight - Author Michele Kimbrough
She's an author that I met on social media and we became fast friends. It is my pleasure to introduce Author Michele Kimbrough as the featured author in this week's Author Spotlight. Her new title, Dangerously In Love releases in February. She is also the author of Prudence and Wildflower.
I'd describe myself as a work in progress. Navigating through this adventure called life can be exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. I'm a Chicago native and I think coffee and red wine are the best discoveries of all times.
I write stories because I love they tell the messy truths that come with living life -- betrayals, lies, deceit, love, generosity, kindness, loss, ridicule, sorrow. My characters are flawed and encounter challenges that either grow them or destroy them.
Isn't that just how life is sometimes?
Contact Author Michele Kimbrough here:
michelekimbrough@outlook.com
Title: Dangerously In Love
Releases February 2015
Description:
During a sizzling-hot Chicago summer, landscaper and former attorney Hilton "Hill" Parker becomes dangerously involved with the sultry Caitlin Church, whose casual flirtation turns Hill's world upside down. But Hill has no idea the sea of trouble in which he is about to swim, and that certain events are already set in motion for him to take the dive. He soon learns that Caitlin is more cunning than anyone ever dreamed.
Buy Link for the other books Prudence and Wildflower:
About the author:
I'd describe myself as a work in progress. Navigating through this adventure called life can be exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. I'm a Chicago native and I think coffee and red wine are the best discoveries of all times.
I write stories because I love they tell the messy truths that come with living life -- betrayals, lies, deceit, love, generosity, kindness, loss, ridicule, sorrow. My characters are flawed and encounter challenges that either grow them or destroy them.
Isn't that just how life is sometimes?
Contact Author Michele Kimbrough here:
michelekimbrough@outlook.com
Monday, December 15, 2014
Spotlight - Author Té Russ
It is my pleasure to feature author Té Russ this week in the blog's spotlight. She has recently released another McAllister Family novel titled, Perfection. Here's an excerpt:
She dropped her head and her hair fell over her face. He placed a finger under her chin and pulled her gently towards him so she would look at him.
“I know it’s
hard to talk about,” he said tenderly, “but the fact that you’ve opened up to me is very humbling.”
“You’re very easy to talk to, a good listener,” she replied, staring into his eyes.
He moved his hand from her chin and ran it through her soft curls, then pulled her face close to his. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. He kissed her eyes, then her cheeks before moving his lips over hers.
It was meant to be a chaste kiss,
comforting.
But the minute their lips connected, something inside both of them exploded.
She let out a soft moan, opening her mouth under his, and his tongue swept into her mouth.
She tasted sweet, intoxicating. A decadent mixture of sweet tea and a flavor that was uniquely hers.
He felt her weave her arms around his neck and pull him closer, silently demanding more. And he gave it to her. He was useless to do anything else, but give her whatever she wanted.
Finally his mind told him to slow down. He knew if he didn’t soon, he’d be stripping her down, and carrying her to the bedroom. He couldn’t make love to her. Not right now. She’d just opened up an old wound and was vulnerable. He didn’t want to take advantage, and he didn’t want her to ever regret them making love. They were still taking things fairly slow, despite the fact that, comforting or not, this kiss had kicked things up a few notches. So he’d have to wait.
He slowly pulled his mouth away from hers, but he didn’t let her go.
“I should probably go,” he murmured, with his forehead pressed against hers.
He felt her nod.
“That might be best right now.”
“I still want to have that dinner with you soon.”
“Cassius, I don’t think–”
Before she could finish, he shut her up with another kiss. This one was greedy, hard and fast. He knew he shouldn’t have kissed her again so soon, but he didn’t want her to think, he just wanted her to feel.
He ended the kiss as quickly as it began, tearing his mouth away from hers.
She was breathing heavily, chest rising and falling rapidly.
“When and what time should I pick you
up?”
“Tomorrow. Seven p.m.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
He stood and headed for the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She dropped her head and her hair fell over her face. He placed a finger under her chin and pulled her gently towards him so she would look at him.
“You’re very easy to talk to, a good listener,” she replied, staring into his eyes.
He moved his hand from her chin and ran it through her soft curls, then pulled her face close to his. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. He kissed her eyes, then her cheeks before moving his lips over hers.
But the minute their lips connected, something inside both of them exploded.
She let out a soft moan, opening her mouth under his, and his tongue swept into her mouth.
She tasted sweet, intoxicating. A decadent mixture of sweet tea and a flavor that was uniquely hers.
He felt her weave her arms around his neck and pull him closer, silently demanding more. And he gave it to her. He was useless to do anything else, but give her whatever she wanted.
Finally his mind told him to slow down. He knew if he didn’t soon, he’d be stripping her down, and carrying her to the bedroom. He couldn’t make love to her. Not right now. She’d just opened up an old wound and was vulnerable. He didn’t want to take advantage, and he didn’t want her to ever regret them making love. They were still taking things fairly slow, despite the fact that, comforting or not, this kiss had kicked things up a few notches. So he’d have to wait.
He slowly pulled his mouth away from hers, but he didn’t let her go.
“I should probably go,” he murmured, with his forehead pressed against hers.
He felt her nod.
“That might be best right now.”
“I still want to have that dinner with you soon.”
“Cassius, I don’t think–”
Before she could finish, he shut her up with another kiss. This one was greedy, hard and fast. He knew he shouldn’t have kissed her again so soon, but he didn’t want her to think, he just wanted her to feel.
He ended the kiss as quickly as it began, tearing his mouth away from hers.
She was breathing heavily, chest rising and falling rapidly.
He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
He stood and headed for the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Title: Perfection
Released: November 28, 2014
About the book:
Cassius McAllister is preparing to open the first
resort for the family's chain of hotels and he is determined to make it the
best vacation spot in Jamaica, which means everything has to be perfect. While
searching for a head chef for the resorts main restaurant, he gets way more
than he bargained for in Jillian King. Not only is she just what he is looking
for in a chef, she may be something he didn't know he was looking for in a
woman....
Jillian is passionate about
food and cooking. Her dream of becoming a head chef comes true when she is
suggested to run Paragon at the Lillian Resort and Hotel. The location of the
resort is something out of a fantasy! And so her new boss, Cassius.
Both Cassius and Jillian are
focused on their careers, but eventually they find themselves not only heating
things up in the kitchen, but also heating up the Jamaican nights...
Available on Amazon: (click on link below)
Author Té Russ has another McAllister Family release coming soon!
Title: Love After War
Coming soon!
Connie and Drew have been butting heads since they were teenagers. With Connie refusing to talk about anything from their past, Drew has never figured out what made them go from friends to enemies.
Drew decides to finally get to the root of their lifelong feud when Connie ends up in Texas for a remodeling project. When the truth comes out, it just might bring out some feelings both of them have been refusing to acknowledge for over a decade.
Available for pre-order on Amazon:
About the Author:
Growing up an introvert, Té Russ found solace in literary arts at an early age.
She found reading to be a vehicle to broader horizons and writing a form of
self-expression. She began writing love stories in her adolescent years as a
way to expel her youthful thoughts of love into words. Since then she has gone
from writing stories and thoughts of love in journals to attending college for
journalism and falling in love, which has allowed those youthful words of love
to blossom into a series of stories in her romance novels. Though she has an
immense appreciation for the sheer smell that books collectively exert, she
also has found balance to her introverted nature with adrenaline inducing
activities. So if she does not have her nose pressed deeply into a book or her
pen ticking through a pad, you may also find this mother of three jumping out
of airplanes, cheering her husband on at the top of her lungs at MMA fights,
buzzing down the interstate on the back of motorcycles, or kayaking.
To keep up with her writings and other things going on
check out her pages:
Twitter: @TeRussNovels
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