Add a little Razzmatazz to your Christmas!

This is it, peeps–the last of my backlist, RAZZMATAZZ, the last of my romances. As 2013 zooms toward its close, I have emptied out my vault and cleared the path for new books in 2014!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Meet Kennie Sue Ledbetter, spunky and street smart—

…as long as the streets are in Tahoka Springs, Texas.

Meet Alexander Carruthers III, who has never known anyone like Kennie Sue. But one look—one hunch—is all it takes for him to want to know her better.

When small town girl Kennie Sue Ledbetter wakes up in a Reno hotel between two guys in rumpled tuxedos, she thinks things can’t get any worse.

When she steps on the wedding bouquet and sees the ring on her finger, she knows things can’t get any worse.

But then she finds out she’s married to the guy who won her in a coin-toss in front of the wedding chapel, and ‘worse’ has a name and a face:

Alexander Carruthers, the gorgeous silver-tongued devil who believes in love at first sight, in fate, and in doing whatever it takes to keep her—

Even if that means following her back to Texas and letting all the good people in Tahoka Springs know what she did on her summer vacation.

He’s Lear jets and high society charity balls.

She’s Ford Pintos and rodeos.

She won’t fit into his world and he sure won’t fit into hers.

This spells disaster—calamitous, embarrassing, tempting-as-sin disaster….

But can it also spell love?

Did I mention that I loved this book? It was a RITA Finalist for Best Short Contemporary Romance, and was part of a new wave of humor in the romance genre.

So take a trip with me back to the late 1980s, check your skepticism at the door, and let Kennie Sue and Alex show you how it was, once upon a time…

When slot machines still had arms to pull, casinos still handed out free drinks, and the world was just discovering parachute pants.

[Okay let’s forget about parachute pants.]

[There are no parachute pants in this book.]

[Pinky-swear!]

I hope you enjoy the ride!

WWW Wednesday Sept. 25, 2013

WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.

 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

• What are you currently reading?

Right now, reading Matchbox Girls by Chrysoula Tzavelas. Freaky little girls (but totally adorable) and dogs, oh how I love dogs. This is an urban fantasy that rocks. I’m really enjoying it. Oh, the fantasy part? Demons, angels, complex world-building in a very real contemporary LA setting. If that sounds like your thing, go for it.

I’m also listening to Prince of Midnight, by Laura Kinsale, who has brought out all her backlist on audio recently and I am melting into them, one after the other.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I revisited a classic from Laura Kinsale, Flowers from the Storm, and for the occasion, I’m sharing its original cover. Laura fought for her vision–and her idea that romance readers didn’t want a gorgeous woman on the cover. They just wanted the guy. And boy, did they want the guy. This book had the first hero-only image, and came with lifesize images of Fabio holding out his hand to the reader.

But that’s not what made this book classic. It’s classic because of the depth of characterization, the unusual characters, the passion and the angst, and still remains on the top-five list of many readers and reviewers.

He’s a duke. He’s a mathematical genius. He can’t talk and he’s locked in a lunatic asylum. Only a modest Quaker girl can reach him, but when she helps him to escape, she’s swept into his glittering aristocratic world, her life torn apart by his desperate attempt to save himself.

But this time, instead of a reread, I listened to the new audiobook. Laura brought the same passion and insights to the project when she produced her own audiobooks and auditioned readers until she found the Perfect Voice. Again, she followed her instincts that a male reader was needed, and again, she was absolutely spot on. Nicholas Boulton does a remarkable job on all the voices, and brings the emotions to the story that made it so special to begin with. I can’t recommend either highly enough if you love historical romance.

 

• What do you think you’ll read next?

All this swashbuckling has gotten me in the mood to buckle my own swash so I’m doing research.

I’ve been waiting for this book, Writing Fight Scenes, ever since Marie Brennan announced its upcoming publication, and it’s available now!

In this guide, fantasy novelist Marie Brennan will show you how. Drawing on her experience with fencing, stage combat choreography, Okinawan martial arts, and above all writing, she lays out the components that turn the strikes into a compelling story.

Not the real cover, just a placeholder until the real one is created, and omg I can’t wait.

If you’re a writer, you may want this one, too.

And don’t forget to sign up for my new fantasy series updates. Won’t spam you, promise! But there will be free stuff there available nowhere else. Just sayin’.

What about you? What have you been reading lately? Put the link to your WWW Wednesday entry in comments, or just tell me!

And another 3-book deal!

You know how I’ve been about to burst with news and have been teasing the living daylights out of y’all?

Well, now the other shoe can FINALLY drop.

In addition to my 3-book deal with Story Spring Publishing, I can finally announce the books that Audible just picked up as part of a deal with Book View Café. In fact, I could have made the headline say, A 100+book deal, because that’s the size of the partial catalog Audible bought from us. Cool beans.

You know how I love my audiobooks. I’ve been an audible customer for ten freaking years and now something I never dreamed of is happening–my own books are going to be available. I don’t yet know who the readers are, but will post more news as it comes in. In the meantime, here we go!  Square CD-type covers for the audible releases. Which means I also have a brand new cover for Some Enchanted Season, thanks to Caleb Wolfson for mad photo-manip skillz and Mj Butler for his ever-elegant design work! [more on that later]!

Coming in audiobook soon!

Coming in audiobook soon!

Coming in audiobook soon!

I hope you are as proud of me as I am for keeping my lips zipped about this as long as I have, because it was hard.

And now, off to work on other exciting projects.

Which I can’t talk about yet.

Ooops.

 

Back again for Beguiled Again!

Yes, a new contest to give away a $20.00 Amazon Gift Certificate to one lucky Amazon reviewer!

Meet Cecil. Available at Amazon and Book View Cafe!

All you need to do to be eligible is post an honest review of Beguiled Again on Amazon and make sure I know who you are and how to let you know if you win. Easiest way to do that is to come back to this entry and leave a comment letting me know.

1. Post a review.

2. Leave a comment here and let me know how to contact you if you win [seriously, unless you know I know you, you must make sure I can contact you] when I draw a winner after midnight, September 2, Labor Day.

Remember, you don’t have to buy a book at Amazon to leave a review there. You can get DRM-free, epub or mobi downloads from my publisher, Book View Cafe.

It’s that easy.

Good luck!

Meet Cecilia [but watch your step] …

Once described as ‘if Erma Bombeck wrote a romance novel…’ Beguiled Again is now available on Amazon for Kindle and from Book View Cafe in formats for all reading devices.

Originally published by Silhouette Desire, this edition is updated.

Review copies available.

“This bountifully gifted author is sure to become an instant reader favorite, combining a lively humor, sensual fire and sensitive romance into top-notch entertainment!
Melinda Helfer, RT BOOK REVIEWS

Meet Cecilia. Coming to Amazon and Book View Cafe July 16, 2013!

Order

Jeff shook off Cecilia and her high school crush seventeen years ago, and he’s made an orderly, boring, safe, successful life for himself as an accountant. Just the way he wants things.

Chaos

Cecilia’s taste for driven, orderly men has left her divorced with three kids and two half-incomes. But nobody’s looking over her shoulder, criticizing her for being messy and disorganized. Life is never boring, is always filled with laughter and energy. Just the way she wants things.

Disaster

From the moment she sucks him into her sticky, single-mom universe, Jeff can’t keep it together anymore. Her checkbook is a nightmare, her oldest kid hates him, and she’s lush and messy, mouth-watering and independent and annoyingly unforgettable. And he can’t stay away.

Cecilia is a fighter. She doesn’t need Jeff turning up again, making her feel like she’s still fourteen years, treating her like she can’t manage her life without his assistance. Why, why, why does he keep trying to help? To make matters worse, Jeff is hotter than ever, and a single mom can’t afford a sex life.

Plus, his parrot hates her.

In this battle between order and chaos, between hostile kids and cranky parrots, between romance and responsibility, is heartbreak inevitable?

Or this time, can love win?

Oh, and while you’re at it, subscribe to the planetpooks newsletter for free stuff and book announcements!