Sara Daniel Romance Author: May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Friday Friends - Cover Reveal - Dragon's Breath by Kali Willows

COMING THIS FALL!

DRAGON’S BREATH

www.kaliwillows.com

Kali's Double Dragon Series continues to grow! Dragon's Breath, the third installment in the 1NS Double Dragon Series is coming this fall!

The 1Night Stand dating service is at it again! Madame Evangeline steps in to help the granddaughter of an old friend...

An immortal protector under a dark curse longs for the love of a single woman, and a dragoness desperate to find a mate that can withstand her fiery lineage, seek the help of Madame Eve through a 1 Night Stand. Their biggest challenge? Sunrise.

BLURB:
Eternal suffering is the fate dealt to Roark Blackwell. A fierce protector under a curse, he longs for a woman can never have. By day, a hideous stone creature, and by night, a flesh and blood immortal, starving for the touch of a single woman. After centuries of torment, he takes his destiny into his own hands and seeks the help of Madame Evangeline. For a single night, he wants to feed his carnal cravings, but what happens when morning comes?

Living dangerously comes second nature to Kaida Lee. Struggling with her dark sexual appetite, her fiery temper and her ancient lineage makes finding an ideal match impossible. A descendant of the dragon, she has a genetic burden that no mere mortal could withstand. Having two cousins succeed in romance with the aid of their friend Madame Eve, she seeks satisfaction through the services of 1 Night Stand.


For your chance to win a copy of Double Dragon Seduction and Dragon Temptation, enter the rafflecopter!!!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Tuesday Toolbox – Writing in Silence, to Music…or amid Mayhem


Let me preface this by saying 1) I’ve done all three and 2) there’s no right or wrong way. As long as you’re getting words on the page, you have a reason to celebrate. But if you find yourself frustrated, maybe changing things up with one of these methods will engage your muse and help the words come.

I started writing in the middle of chaos. I had young children. I was losing my mind. I needed to do something for me alone. Writing while they ran screaming through the room—bring it on. Scribbling a sex scene on the front steps while making sure no one ran from the yard into the street—oh yes. Squeezing in a few words while playing referee between squabbling siblings and fixing enough frozen pizzas to feed every kid in the neighborhood—yep.

Not an ideal situation, clearly. However, writing in the middle of a bunch of distractions can help to silence all the voices in your head that want to paralyze you with anxiety or tell you what you wrote isn’t good enough and needs to be revised. While you’re half focused on what’s going on around you, the story can flow out on a subconscious level.

Writing to music: Some authors create their own story-specific playlist. Some authors can only write to music without words. Some only can have music while writing but not while editing or vice versa. I made up playlists for Construction Beauty Queen and A Man Worth Fighting For. For a couple years, I started every writing session listening to Alan Jackson’s To Do What I Do. It’s still my author theme song. My husband works to music whenever he’s not in a meeting or on a call. If it’s too quiet, he can’t concentrate.

Over the past six months, I have discovered silence. I sit alone near a window where I can stare outside, and I write. My thoughts are completely in the story. When my husband’s speaker phone conference calls became too much of a distraction, I dug out the noise cancelling headphones we bought at a NASCAR race. Now when someone turns on the TV in the next room, I put the headphones on. They don’t give me complete silence, but they allow the other voices to be muffled enough that I am cocooned in my characters’ world and no longer feel forced to end my writing day when chaos threatens to take over.

Which writing atmosphere to do you prefer? Silence, music, mayhem or something completely different?

Friday, May 24, 2013

Friday Friends - Interview with Nancy DiMauro's Daphne from Apollo Rising

For today's Friday Friend, I'm interviewing the heroine of Nancy DiMauro's mythology-based romance novel Apollo Rising.

Thank you for coming to chat with us. Why do you think Nancy DiMauro choose you to represent her?
We had a bonding moment. She was driving to work in the sleet back in January and was thinking that it must suck to be a tree. Well, I’d been a tree for . . . far too long. I asked Apollo to have a Muse whisper in her ear. The rest you can say is mythology.

Tell us a little about yourself?
I’m a water and forest nymph. My parents were the Earth Mother and the river god, Peneas. I was an only child.

What do you wish people would know about you?
Even though nymphs have a reputation we’re not all like that. blushes Or at least I wasn’t. I’d decided to follow in Artemis’s footsteps and never take a husband. Much to my father’s chagrin, I dedicated myself to hunting. You would have thought he’d have been happy when I fell in love… looks away, but I guess you know that story.

Will we be seeing more of you or are you stepping out of the lime light?
I suspect you’ll see me again.

Do you feel you were portrayed fairly?
Mostly. I was pretty active before Cupid shot me with a golden arrow. I don’t think I turned into such a love-sick fool afterwards. But then, maybe I did.

Tell us about Apollo and what drew you to him?
Tell you the truth, I hated him at first. My friend, Clytie, had died because of him, and he never noticed her. I always feel a bit guilty that I fell in love with him in spite of what happened to her, and that he loved me back. I mean, why me and not her?

But that’s not what you asked. For all his pretty looks, there’s a wild heart beating in that broad chest of his. Just being around him warms me to my core. There’s the music. I could listen to him play, have listened to him play, for hours. And the rest blushes, well that’s private.

What’s your favorite sports team?
The Spartans. Not only were they fearsome on the battle field, you should have seen them wrestle.

What are your biggest turn off?
Being trapped in a tree for millennia. Do you know how tired your arms get when you have to hold them upright for that long?

What’s your perfect day and why?
Any day there’s a solar eclipse because I get to spent time with Apollo without his attention being fractured over thousands of aspects.

What your favorite Ice cream flavor, Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?
Chocolate. Definitely chocolate.

Why should the readers be interested in your story?
It’s really Apollo’s story more than mine. It’s a love story. Don’t you just adore love stories?

I’m going to steal what Apollo said in his interview since he did such a good job answering this question.

Like most of the Greek myths, Apollo Rising is about so much more than whether he can break the curse and restore me to my true form. It’s a story about accepting responsibility for our mistakes, and what we’re willing to sacrifice for love. Would you make a deal with Hades, the devil himself, if it was the only way to free your love even at the cost of everything else? That’s the choice Apollo has to make. I won’t tell you anything more about it so I don’t wreck the story.

What about the woman on the cover is that a fair representation of you?
She’s beautiful, but she’s not a laurel tree. Although I think Kelly Shorten did a fabulous job of portraying my spirit and the fact that, even while cursed, Apollo and I were linked. Trees need the sun to grow after all.

Thanks for joining us. I look forward to reading about your story.

To restore Daphne to her nymph form, Apollo must bargain with treacherous Hades, but Death may demand too high a price.

Amazon US BUY LINK
Amazon UK BUY LINK

Learn more about Nancy DiMauro and her impressive work on her website Falcons Fables and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Cover Reveal -- Irish Kisses by JoAnne Kenrick


Irish Kisses
Print edition
COMING THIS SUMMER!


The boys from Bell's Irish Pub have been delivering tasty treats to digital readers around the globe, and hitting bestseller lists at Amazon, All Romance, and Bookstrand. And now, they're coming to PRINT!

A collection of five romances set in Bell's Irish Pub, each with its own special tasty treat served by the staff of Bell's. The 1Night Stand dating service shakes and stirs things up for Bell's. When Madame Eve puts two people together for just one night, anything is possible…. Throw in sexy cocktails and to-die-for Irish hotties, and it's a recipe for sweet Irish kisses and perhaps even wedding Bell's.

SWEET IRISH KISS
Can he win her over with his secret weapon, a Sweet Irish Kiss, or is Rachel still too scared to love?

SHAMROCKED
Will his Irish charm and toys be enough to hold onto his leading lady, or will his heart be Shamrocked into next week?

THREESOME SWEETNESS
Is a dash of Threesome Sweetness the remedy each is looking for, or will the date leave a bitter aftertaste each will regret for the rest of their lives?

HOT WINTER KISS
Can she hack it in the real world of romance, or are life's complications and treacherous snowstorms best left to the pages of a book?

MARRY ME, I'M IRISH
Does she love him enough to leave the comforts of England? And is there something behind his sudden proposal?

Cover Artist: www.EstrellaCoverArt.com

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A Buck a Book WIN a Nook featuring Casea Major



Night with a Dom
Casea Major



Melody Manning’s workaholic ambition, coupled with a slave-driving former boss, has made her the youngest market analyst in her firm. It’s also killed her personal life, including losing her fiancé. When she receives a message from him on New Year’s Eve announcing his engagement to another woman, Mel loses it. Her new, more compassionate boss has the perfect solution for her—get laid. Good and laid.

At his suggestion, she signs up with the 1Night Stand service, listing her deepest sexual desires on the application.  A speedy response from Madame Eve has Melody on her way to Sonoma Valley wine country and a one-night stand with a mysterious Dom.

The sexy, masked Master promises to get to the bottom of her guilt and provide ultimate satisfaction under the safety of his stern hand. After an emotional night of submission and uninhibited passion, will her lover’s unmasking lead to the end of their encounter or give Mel another chance at love?

Excerpt:

Mel sucked in a breath, and opened the door. The darkened room flickered with the light of at least a dozen candles. She squinted as she walked in. The smell of incense and roses wafted in the air. Her sight adjusted, and the darker shadows of the space became visible. She scanned the scene.

In the middle of the room sat an oversized bed covered in black velvet and satin. Her arms and legs quivered. A roughly made wooden table stood with two straight-backed chairs in the corner, and a tray of appetizing food awaited.

She stood frozen, anticipating his appearance. Her heart thumped in her chest. Was he hiding? She began to turn—

“Do not turn around, Miss Manning.” His voice whispered against her ear.

She jumped at the husky sound, but didn’t try to move away.

He ran his hands across her shoulders and trailed his fingers down her bare arms. “Are you frightened, kitten?”

Her skin tingled at his simple, but intimate touch. The heat from his massive body radiated against her back though he never made contact with it. Although she couldn’t see him, his presence filled the room, and the walls seemed to shrink at his closeness. “I’m a little scared. I’ve never done anything like this before, but I guess you do—”

His finger glided up her shoulder to press against her lips and his whispered rebuke filled her ear. “Silence.”

Her eyes fluttered closed. Pleasure and fear mingled in her mind and over her skin. She wanted so bad to turn her head and look at him, but somehow she knew she shouldn't.

The spicy masculine scent of him filled the air, and his moist, heavy breath sent waves of heat down her neck. “During this portion of the evening you will only speak when asked a direct question, and you will address me as ‘Sir’. Understand?”

Concentrating on his words, she had to strain to hear him over her pounding heart but nodded. In the dim light of the candles, her chest rose and fell rapidly. Excitement and fear zinged to her extremities and every place in between.

“There’s nothing to be frightened of.”

He trailed his tongue from her earlobe down to her nape. She gasped and tensed her shoulders as he nipped and sucked the sensitive skin. Goosebumps covered her from head to toe. Her nipples hardened and throbbed. The mystery of him enticed her as much as his touch and scent.

He swept his hand slowly over her stomach. She melted back against him, the heat of his body wrapping around hers, instant, carnal and very real. Throbbing need pulsed between her legs, replacing the chill of fear.

“I’m going to remove your dress.”

“Okay.” The word whooshed from her. Dizziness caused her to sway. Is this really happening? His velvet baritone held a familiar lilt she couldn’t place, but surely if she’d heard that sexy sound before, she’d remember. Right now she was so aroused, it could be her high school boyfriend and she wouldn't know—or care.

“Okay, what?”

Her body tensed at his rebuke. “Okay, Sir.”

“You have enough discipline coming this evening for past transgressions, Miss Manning. Let’s not complicate matters by increasing their number. All right?”

“All right, Sir.” She sucked in a breath at the mention of punishment. What would he do to her? She had stipulated mild discipline, but what did that mean to him?

He moved his hands from her abs upward, smoothing his palms across her breasts, grazing her nipples with every finger as he passed over the fabric of her dress. A long, hot breath blew from her lips, and liquid desire gushed between her legs.

He trailed his fingers to her back and unzipped the dress, allowing it to fall to the floor with a whisper. The cool air of the room played across her bare skin. The vulnerability of her position built a pressure in her stomach not unlike the apprehension she suffered before her yearly employment evaluation.

Pulling her back against his bare chest, his arms slipped around her waist. His hands splayed across her flesh and grazed the lace of her bra. His touch scorched her skin and desire for more flooded her. She ran her hand over his forearms. The fine masculine hair stood at her touch, and he sighed into her ear.

Major Love ~~~ Major Romance
Prior to becoming a writer of romantic fiction, Casea Major worked in the legal field for a non-profit dispute resolution company for ten years.  She is now a full-time mom to three preschool children with whom she and her husband live happily...most of the time.  When she isn't chained to her laptop, she enjoys Cary Grant movies and crocheting.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Tuesday Toolbox - What Makes Cozy Mysteries So Popular?

Guest Post by Sam Cheever

What is it about cozy mysteries that makes them so much fun? To answer that question, I guess you need to start with the basic elements of a cozy. When one thinks of a cozy, one might think Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple or maybe Angela Lansbury’s character, Jessica Fletcher, of Murder She Writes fame. The traditional cozy is set in a specific, confined area, such as a bunch of people stranded in a remote location with a killer in their midst, a.k.a Clue (Best. Movie. Ever). Many contemporary cozies are in small town settings, with quirky characters and the challenges and opportunities inherent in small town living. A cozy generally revolves around a murder, but the murder is usually off screen and/or not overly violent.

Cozy mysteries feature amateur sleuths of all kinds. For example, some of the most popular contemporary cozy series feature flower shop owners, chefs, caterers, accountants, book store owners, writers, and dog trainers. These unlikely sleuths find themselves repeatedly embroiled in murder most foul and struggling to figure out whodunit. The mystery is made more interesting by the quirkiness of the people involved, their tendency to lie and cover, and the misconceptions that come from knowing someone for years. It’s a fun formula fraught with opportunities for both the reader and the sleuth to go awry and lose their way.

Which brings me to the reason I love a good cozy mystery. I love the challenge and journey of figuring out whodunit in a light, fun environment. No guts, no gore, no over-the-top sensuality. Just a big, fun puzzle.

My own cozy mystery series is centered on an antiques store owner and has an additional fun twist. Filled with lots of great, old things, Yesterday’s Antiques is a hotbed of paranormal activity, giving Yesterday Mysteries a paranormal edge. This aspect adds an extra element of fun to the already enjoyable mystery. Anna Yesterday is a kind, attractive young woman trying to make a living doing what she loves in a small town in Southern Indiana. When Anna opened Yesterday’s Antiques, she inherited two spirits, who are tied to objects that were once buried under the store.

Joss is a cowboy from pre-Civil war times, whose gun belt and holster were uncovered behind the store when Anna was having some improvements made. Joss is sexy, protective, and obviously in love with Anna, and she feels pretty much the same about him. The second specter, Bess was a saloon girl who sometimes cleaned the floors in the inn that was located where Yesterday’s now exists. She lived in the mid to late 1800s and Anna isn’t sure what her transference object is. Bess and Anna butt heads on a regular basis, mostly due to the fact that Bess is jealous of Anna’s relationship with Joss, but also because…well…Bess is kind of a crank. #:0)

To make things even more interesting, Anna has a sexy, flesh and blood assistant who’s an ex-cop to help her with her sleuthing. Her growing feelings for Pratt are confusing and cause no end of tension between the two men in her life. All in all, it’s a fun series with likeable characters and I’m really enjoying being on the creation side of the cozy mystery genre for a change! I hope you’ll check these books out.
~~*~~


Book 1: Yesterday MysteriesAntiques can be a dangerous business. Especially when you’re dealing with a desperate politician, a sexy ex-cop, and a couple of “spirited” companions.

Anna Yesterday owns Yesterday’s Antiques in small town USA. When she finds an old newspaper clipping lining the drawer of an antique dresser, she realizes she’s never heard the ugly story of rape and suicide detailed on the yellowed newsprint. So she starts to dig, and her sleuthing exposes an ugly cover-up that casts the residents of Crocker, Indiana into danger and intrigue, and leaves them with a corpse.

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~~*~~


Book 2: Yesterday's Mysteries - April 2013A deadly secret is tangled up in Yesterday’s Threads, and Anna is racing the clock to get it unraveled.

In 1859, Elisabeth Margaret Nelson traveled to Crocker, Indiana to meet her new husband and start a new life. Her family never saw her again. The story of her death and a heartbroken husband who grieves his entire life is a sad tale for sure. But is it true?

When Anna Yesterday receives some vintage dresses from the local museum, she’s excited about highlighting them at Crocker’s annual Apple Blossom Festival. But someone wants the dresses back, and they’ll apparently stop at nothing to get them—leaving a trail of murder and destruction in their wake.

As Anna and Pratt work to uncover the deadly intrigue behind the vintage dresses, interference of another kind is working its way to the surface. All too soon, Anna and Pratt find themselves neck deep in trouble from more than one dimension—and wondering which will get them first!

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Friday Friends - Real Place, Fake People by Holley Trent

Real Place, Fake People
by Holley Trent

Love by Premonition is a paranormal-themed book that I wanted to set in a realistic environment, so I constructed a world out of my ancestors’ stomping grounds. The rural setting and deep family roots of North Carolina’s Halifax County make the place ripe for some stranger-than-fiction scenarios. I like strange, so I ran with it! Now, just because a book is fiction (especially campy paranormal romance fiction) doesn’t mean the author didn’t do research. I’ve been studying Enfield’s families for more than a decade trying to unravel my family tree, so I know a bit about the history. Furthermore, I’m a North Carolinian so I know the culture.

Here are few “real” nuggets from the novel.

1 – Surnames. The names I gave my supporting characters are typical of Eastern North Carolina, and Halifax County specifically. The Silvers? Braswells? Bryants? The area is bursting with them. Although the characters aren’t modeled after any specific people, I felt like I couldn’t ignore those famous families. (And by famous, I mean “really freaking big.” If you have ancestry from that area that doesn’t overlap with one of those families, I’d be shocked. [For you genealogists stumbling onto this via Google, let’s chat, huh?])

2 – Overly dramatic locals. That’s not to say everyone in Halifax County are emotionally erratic, but in such a rural place that folks are just more comfortable putting their quirks on display. (You should see my private Facebook stream. Y’ALL. OMG. I see everything from weapon brandishing to communicated threats [e.g. “When you see my car in your yard tomorrow, come on outside and get your beat-down.”] on a daily basis.)

So, brazen tramp showing up at the mayor’s wake with a bogus will? Same audacious hussy being walloped in the street by mayor’s widow? Wish I could say I conjured that sub-plot out of thin air. (That particular subplot is actually a combination of my own family experience and, again, unbelievable Facebook shenanigans.)

3 – Rampant miscegenation. My protagonist—Marcia—explains some local history, including the ripe conditions in Enfield for creation of a tri-racial isolate. That’s a real thing. I swear. It’s a historically accurate inclusion, but the locals may not know it by that fancy phrase. They call that “skeletons in the closet.” More accurately, “skeletons in the family tree.”

4 – Hinky supernatural stuff. Hang with a born Southerner of a certain age long enough, and you’ll hear the stories. You may even start to witness some pretty wild stuff yourself. I have personally been anointed with holy oil (in my sleep) as a defense against demons. (Ahem.) So…Marcia’s grandma Sophia? I didn’t just conjure her from thin air.

Here's a brief intro of my just released novel for you;

The psychic didn't go looking for love, but she should have seen it coming.

Marcia Andrews is a freelance psychic consultant. Sick of living hand to mouth, she accepts a contract with Raleigh Police. A new gang called The Cardinals is terrorizing The Triangle, and Marcia gives the department an edge in tracking them. Help that she is, one cop isn’t so keen on her involvement, and makes sure she knows it.

Detective Nat McCoy would rather see Marcia in his bedroom than the bullpen. The gorgeous Scotsman isn’t the typical chauvinist pig, though. He’s keeping a secret that even the psychic doesn’t anticipate.

A close encounter with a Cardinal’s bullet knocks Marcia off her game when the police need her most. She loses hours to trances and ghosts haunt her sleep. She can hardly function, and everything she thought she knew about playboy McCoy suddenly seems questionable. McCoy thinks he knows the cure for what ails her—him. But can she trust him?

Love by Premonition is available for purchase now at the Musa store and also at third-party vendors such as Amazon.com and All Romance eBooks.

If you’d like to stay up to date on my progress with its spin-off, visit me on my blog or follow me on Twitter.

Holley Trent is the author of Executive Decision, Mrs. Roth’s Merry Christmas, and Her Resident Jester – all available now from Musa Publishing's Calliope Romance Line.

To see all of Holley Trent's Musa Publishing books, please click HERE.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Sinful Sirens Blog Hop Giveaway!

Haley is the most sinful siren I've written about to date. She's brazen. She knows what she wants sexually, and she's not afraid to demand it. But don't take my word for it. I'm offering her story FREE on Amazon for five days from May 16 through May 20, 2013.  Please be aware: Haley's Man is a steamy erotic romance with very explicit love scenes.

Everyone who downloads a copy and leaves a comment below telling me how you helped spread the word on Facebook and Twitter about the Haley's Man free promotion, I'll award one random winner a copy of Zane's Art, which was given 4 starts by Fern from Long and Short Reviews who had this to say: "With a smoking hot sex scene you might not want to share with your grandma..."

Now that's a Sinful Siren!



Free May 16, 2013 - May 20, 2013 only from Amazon

When Haley Miller posts on a sexual fantasies forum that she wants to have an orgasm while surrounded by her friends, one reply stands out. Intrigued and desperately aroused, Haley prepares for the orgasm of her dreams. But when she arrives at her friend’s house, she learns that the man of her dreams, Seth Gardner, is back in town. Now she must decide if she wants to go through with her plans for public pleasure or go after her dream date with Seth, or risk losing them both.


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Tuesday Toolbox – Going Free with Haley's Man

I’ve talked about the powerful promotional tool of giving away free books via blog hops and on Goodreads. I’ve also talked about the promotional tool of giving away free short storiesto allow readers to sample your work

For self-published authors, offering a book for free through one of the multiple e-reader platforms has the potential to get your book in the hands of more readers and create awareness of your author name than any of these other giveaways. Offering a book for free can be done in different ways. If the book is on Smashwords, you can generate a coupon code that customers can enter. Some authors, such as Marie Force, have had great success in making their book free on other platforms and getting Amazon to price match, effectively making it free on a near-permanent basis.

I’ve decided to offer my self-published book free by enrolling in Amazon’s KPD Select program. In exchange for giving Amazon exclusive distribution of my book for 90 days, I can do a five day free promotion. The thinking is that the more books I give away, more readers will discover me, love my writing and pay real money for my other books. The other hope is that the free book will sell at a higher rate after the promotion than it did before because it’s now been noticed and has a boost in ranking.

Some people have had phenomenal luck with this type of promotion. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them when I tried it with my children’s chapter books. So why am I trying it again? This time my book is situated in a genre (erotic romance) where readers are more accustomed to discovering new authors digitally. I have a big backlist of titles to capitalize on. I contacted nearly two dozen web and social media sites that alert their followers to free e-reads to enlist help in spreading the word. And finally, I have nothing to lose. If the promotion doesn’t work, I’m no worse off than I was before.

Haley’s Man will be free on Amazon for five days from May 16 through May 20, 2013. I’m asking for everyone who is willing (and comfortable with it) to download a copy and help me spread the word. Please be aware: This is a steamy erotic romance with very explicit love scenes.

I’ll report back in a future toolbox on the success of the promotion.


Contemporary Erotic Romance Novella
Free May 16, 2013 - May 20, 2013 only from Amazon

When Haley Miller posts on a sexual fantasies forum that she wants to have an orgasm while surrounded by her friends, one reply stands out. Intrigued and desperately aroused, Haley prepares for the orgasm of her dreams. But when she arrives at her friend’s house, she learns that the man of her dreams, Seth Gardner, is back in town. Now she must decide if she wants to go through with her plans for public pleasure or go after her dream date with Seth, or risk losing them both.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Embrace Your Steamy Side

I wrote the original version of Haley’s Man for a super-hot publishing line that subsequently quadrupled their word count requirements. The story developed into such a fun sexy fantasy that I couldn't bear to keep it hidden on my hard drive. This is the steamiest book I've ever written and will never receive my grandmother's prim-and-proper seal of approval. I'm okay with that. I enjoy writing the occasional erotic fantasy to compliment my less spicy romance novels. If you're looking for white-hot heat in your reading material and/or in the bedroom, Haley’s Man will deliver.

Haley’s Man will be free on Amazon for five days from May 16 through May 20, 2013. Download a copy and help me spread the word. Please be aware: This is a steamy erotic romance with very explicit love scenes.

by Sara Daniel
Contemporary Erotic Romance Novella
Free May 16, 2013 - May 20, 2013 only from Amazon

When Haley Miller posts on a sexual fantasies forum that she wants to have an orgasm while surrounded by her friends, one reply stands out. Intrigued and desperately aroused, Haley prepares for the orgasm of her dreams. But when she arrives at her friend’s house, she learns that the man of her dreams, Seth Gardner, is back in town. Now she must decide if she wants to go through with her plans for public pleasure or go after her dream date with Seth, or risk losing them both.


Bio: Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. On the personal side, Sara is a frazzled chauffeur, chef, personal assistant and slave to her children. She's crazy about country music and the drama of NASCAR. She has her own happily-ever-after romance with her hero husband. She is the author of nearly a dozen romance novels, novellas and short stories. For a complete list of titles, visit her website: www.SaraDaniel.com

Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday Friends - Marci Boudreaux serves Homemade Pancakes

by Marci Boudreaux

Widow Carrie Gable, the heroine in Unforgettable You, has taken over the role of caregiver for her ailing mother-in-law Doreen. Determined the keep the woman in her family home for as long as possible, Carrie has agreed to board several movie stars who are filming in her small town. Though resentful of the demands placed upon her, Carrie does her best to abide by the wishes of her guests, even when she finds them over the top.

When health conscious starlet Juliet Ramirez insists that her hostess stop tempting her with fried meat and eggs at breakfast, Carrie agrees but refuses to remove her signature pancakes off the menu because, as she insists, serving breakfast without pancakes goes against everything she’s ever learned about being a good hostess.

Carrie’s Best Ever Homemade Pancakes

Dry Ingredients:
2 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
5 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon

Liquid Ingredients:
2 ½ cups milk
2 ½ tsp. white vinegar
2 eggs
6 tbsp. melted butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Fresh fruit can be added if desired. Frozen fruit can change the texture of the batter, fresh is better.

Mix vinegar and milk together and set aside for five minutes to sour. (2 ½ C buttermilk can be used in place of soured milk.)

Whisk dry ingredients together into large bowl.

In separate bowl, mix eggs, soured milk, and vanilla. Slowly mix in cooled melted butter.

Add liquid mixture to dry mixture and whisk until combined. Fold in fruit if desired.

Pour ¼ cup portions onto hot griddle lightly coated with cooking spray. Flip with spatula once edges brown.

Serve hot with your favorite syrup.

Here's a little from Unforgettable You for your reading pleasure.

Is their love strong enough to survive their real lives?

Desperate to keep her ailing mother-in-law Doreen in the family home, Carrie Gable agrees to board a few of Hollywood’s elite actors. Despite her resentment of their demands, she can’t stop her attraction to actor Will Walker.

Will, out to save his failing career, agrees to a project that bores him. The more time he spends with his egotistical co-stars, the more drawn he is to their hostess. Long nights talking with Carrie make him realize he wants a simpler life, but his ties to L.A. refuse to let him go.

The temptation to regain stardom pulls Will in one direction while the obligation to family tugs Carrie in another. Against all odds, the couple struggles for a solution to save their new found happiness.

To read an excerpt from Unforgettable You, please click HERE.

Check out the trailer for Unforgettable You HERE.

Learn more about Marci Boudreaux on her website. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Tuesday Toolbox - Bad Words Your Mother Never Told You Not to Say


Did your mother ever threaten to wash your mouth out with soap for saying naughty words? I remember watching my brother get his mouth washed out with soap. The terrible, naughty word he dared to speak was…“shut up.”

You can make a safe assumption that I never heard the words most people consider bad enough to be offensive—well, until I started riding the school bus, but that’s another story! I certainly wouldn’t have said them. Imagine my surprise when I started getting edits that were color-coded with all the bad words I needed to take out, words that I used every day in front of my mother!

Actually. Just. That. Completely. Even.

Actually, when I’m just writing the draft, these are words that seem completely justified, even necessary. For the most part, however, my writing becomes stronger when I remove them.

Speaking of stronger, I needed to obliterate passive voice from my writing.

Seem/seemed. Feel/felt. Made/make. Thought. Believed. These are filtering words that I blogged about here. They need to go. http://saradanielromance.blogspot.com/2013/03/tuesday-toolbox-lose-filter.html

Was. This passive verb, along with his buddies had and could, takes over my drafts and leaves me with the unpleasant soap residue in my mouth. Here’s an example from my latest manuscript:

Draft: He was treating her with the same polite distance…
Revised: He spoke to her with the same polite distance…

The revised version not only shows the hero performing an action. It also gives the reader a more concrete impression of his previously vague treatment.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Eradicating overused words and passive sentence construction is something I struggle with during each book. But I now recognize my weakness words, and I use Microsoft Word to search for and highlight each one. I look forward to the day when I address them all before they reach my editor’s desk and I save myself from a thorough mouth-washing.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Reading Romances Challenge - May

May's theme was Summer Loving or Nurse Back to Health. I decided to read the second choice where the hero/heroine is injured near death and the other saves his/her life by nursing her back to health. Over the Edge by Mary Connealy is historical inspirational romance, in other words about as far from my normal reading material as possible while still belonging to the romance genre.

Seth Kincaid survived a fire in a cave, but he's never been the same. He was always a reckless youth, but now he's gone over the edge. He ran off to the Civil War and came back crazier than ever.

After the war, nearly dead from his injuries, it appears Seth got married. Oh, he's got a lot of excuses, but his wife isn't happy to find out Seth doesn't remember her. Callie has searched, prayed, and worried. Now she's come to the Kincaid family's ranch in Colorado to find her lost husband.

Callie isn't a long-suffering woman. Once she knows her husband is alive, she wants to kill him. She's not even close to forgiving him for abandoning her.

Then more trouble shows up in the form of a secret Seth's pa kept for years. The Kincaid brothers might lose their ranch if they can't sort things out. It's enough to drive a man insane--but somehow it's all making Seth see things more clearly. And now that he knows what he wants, no one better stand in his way.

This book would definitely qualify for an amnesia themed romance, which gave it a great hook: "Seth Kincaid remembers everything...except getting married!" The heroine is about the toughest frontier woman you can imagine, but after holding off outlaws who tried to rob the stagecoach she is riding in, she is near death and has to rely on the husband who married her, abandoned her, and can't remember her to nurse her back to health. So, it fits this month's theme too.

Trust me, it's a good thing for him that she's near death because otherwise she'd have shot him dead along with the outlaws! I really liked the spunky heroine, and the Kincaids have a good family saga going. The paternalistic, condescending attitude toward women grated on my nerves, which is probably why I don't normally read this genre.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Friday Friends - Holley Trent Talks Science and Fiction, but Not Combined

Science and Fiction, but Not Combined
by Holley Trent

Truth: a lot of what I know about the setting of my upcoming paranormal romance Love by Premonition—Enfield, North Carolina—is based on my own family tree research. I grew up a couple of counties east, but my maternal grandfather, Frank, was born in Halifax County and left as soon as he could.

I know that sounds bad, but he was a man with a Big-Fish-Small-Pond type of personality. He was also prone to telling tall tales, and I could never tell which of his stories were truth and which were fiction. He was particularly mystifying when it came to his ethnic background. Kinda like Marcia, my LbP heroine. But, unlike Gramps, Marcia is capable of itemizing her heritage. She had a little supernatural help at it. Gramps could only guess based on best available information.

Because miscegenation was illegal around the time Gramp’s grand- and great-grandparents were doing it, there’s very little legal evidence that can be used to establish several of his ancestors’ paternities. Death records may list a father, but depending on who provided the information, those reports may be false. Gramps may have been told the names of his mysterious grandfathers, but he likely didn’t know much about them.

And that’s how I came to setting a book in contemporary Enfield. The more I researched my holey family tree, the more befuddled and intrigued I became about the citizens. I’ve even toyed around with the idea of writing a historical romance set there, but I can’t come up with single darned plot that would have a happily-ever-after ending. (Maybe Gramp’s Enfield sentiments rub off on me in that way.)

My sister and I always thought it’d be a hoot to take one of those ancestry composition tests so we could have a better idea of which of Gramp’s “facts” were grounded in reality. I had forgotten all about that until I got a letter in the mail from the national blood marrow donor registry. In it, they told me I have an uncommon HLA type. (That happens when your components are like fruit punch—melded together and unidentifiable.) Means I’ll probably never be a marrow match for anyone.

Anyhow, that letter reminded me about that test and a couple of weeks ago I sent a spit sample to the lab. They’re gonna analyze my DNA and tell me what I am…more or less. There may be enough information there to separate Gramp’s facts from rumors, or the results may raise even more questions. I know where, more or less, my father’s parents came from, so any wildcards will come from Enfield Gramps.

I’m supposed to get results in 4-6 weeks—just in time for Love by Premonition’s debut. Marcia knows exactly what she is ’cause that’s the way I made her, but I’ve got to rely on science for the same info about myself.

It’ll be interesting to see how similar I am to a fictional character of my own creation.

Holley Trent is the author of Executive Decision, Mrs. Roth’s Merry Christmas, and Her Resident Jester – all available now from Calliope Romance. Marcia’s story Love by Premonition will be available May 3.

To see all of Holley Trent's Musa Publishing books, please click HERE.

If you want to learn the results of Holley’s 23 and Me test and how far off her guess they were, check her blog in late April or early May.