Sinful Sirens Giveaway Hop 2013

My Prizes:

Prize #1: $35 Amazon Gift Card (US Only)

Prize #2: Silver Linings Playbook Blu-Ray or DVD! (US Only) 

 

If this is your first visit to my blog, WELCOME! If you are returning, it’s great to see you again! Many thanks to the hosts of this event, the wonderful ladies at Under the Covers and at Guilty Pleasures. 

 

   ~Blog Post~ 

Today I thought I'd chat a bit about one of my favorite movies, The Silver Linings Playbook. (The book is wonderful, too, by the way. Different in some ways, plot wise, but the movie remains true to the core of the story and the theme, which Matthew Quick, the author, states quite succinctly and beautifully early on in the book, by having the hero quote a line from the Great Gatsby: "I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor." By the way, even in the book, the main character does find his silver lining, so don't be afraid to read it... AFTER seeing the movie :D) 

I found the main character's goal of looking for the silver lining, even in the face of a life that's been completely ripped to shreds, so inspiring. In fact, he gets pretty worked up when he realizes all the books on his ex-wife's American Lit syllabus (she's a teacher), and that he has given himself the task of reading to impress her, have very dire and depressing endings.  And I have to say, I am not a huge fan of depressing endings in movies or in books, either. It's probably why I write romance (you're always guaranteed a happy ending of some sort!)

 

And, guess what? There just so happens to be a Sinful Siren, Tiffany, in the movie (and book) that ends up being Pat's Silver Lining. (But how she gets there is the meat of the story, and you'll just have to watch the movie or read the book, or both -- like I did -- to find out!)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Click the link to go back to the hop list

Website: Under the Covers

Caliente Blog Hop 2013

If this is your first visit to my blog, WELCOME! If you are returning, it’s great to see you again! Many thanks to the hosts of this event, the wonderful ladies at Four Seduced Muses

   ~Blog Post~

I sure love a good, scorching read, and today I thought I'd talk about a few books that I found satisfyingly romantic while still keeping the heat level pretty doggone high.

The first is Maya Banks' Seduction of a Highland Lass (those McCabe Highlander men o_O -- So hot!)

The second is Lynda Chance's The Sherriff and the Innocent Housekeeper. My oh my, Jake is one sexy alpha hero, and the chemistry between Becky and Jake is combustible.

The third is Kristal Baird's PA Exposé. Jake Stone is a true alpha and plays master to Cally's submissive. This one rates 300,000 Scoville units!

 

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My prize for the hop:

$35 B&N Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grand Prize: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Diamonds & Toads On Sale Now! Only .99 Cents!

Hi everyone!

For a short time, I've got my sexy, twisted, adult fairy tale on sale, so if you haven't had a chance to read it, why not drop a buck into Amazon's, B&N's, or All Romance eBooks' till and snuggle into your favorite reading corner with this highly amusing, very steamy fantasy romance?

Rites of Spring Blog Hop 2013!

If this is your first visit to my blog, WELCOME! If you are returning, it’s great to see you again!

Many thanks to the hosts of this event: Jessica E. Subject and Heather Long.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE --TWO-- RAFFLECOPTERS TO ENTER BELOW. One for the Grand Prize and One for MY raffle...

   ~Firsts Excerpt~

 This is from my contemporary romance novella, A Stranger's Kiss. The premise is that a recent widower and a recent dumpee meet in a bar and end up having a one night stand, little knowing that they will be meeting again as business associates the next day. This is the scene where they first kiss (on the page--the one night stand happens before the story begins) and make love (but that's not shown here). This is in the hero's point of view, btw:

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I want her. I want her, and Cindy’s dead. It’s not cheating. I’m single. She’s single. And the love thing? Well, that was probably just an aberration brought on by the emotional intensity of the moment. He peeked around the doorway of the kitchen to where she sat on the sofa. “I’ve put the potatoes in the oven to bake, it’ll be about an hour. Salad?”

She nodded, gave him a smile that pierced his heart. “Yes, please.”

He indicated the cd player with a cock of his head. “I’ve got a pretty good selection of music, if you want to put something on while I’m busy in here.”

“Okay,” she said and walked over to peruse the collection. He went back to preparing their meal. It wasn’t long before he heard the sweet, magical sounds of Claude Debussy’s La Mer wafting through the walls and swirling around him, like the sea the song’s title spoke of. The salad only took moments, since he used a bag of prewashed greens and added a tomato and cucumber to jazz it up a bit.

When he entered the living room again, she was seated on the sofa, with her head reclining on the top edge of the back cushion and her eyes closed. Clearly, she was as enthralled by Debussy as he was. In reverent silence, he took the several steps toward her and settled beside her. As her eyes opened, as her head came up, he took her into his embrace and kissed her. Not in the ravenous way his body screamed for him to do, but gently, giving her the chance to reject the surprise advance, if she so desired. 

Thankfully, and after only a slight hesitation, she didn’t. Instead, she melted into him, returning the kiss with a muted purr of enjoyment. He dragged his fingers into her hair and held her head steady as he deepened the kiss, suckling her lower lip, then sending his tongue into the wine-flavored recesses of her mouth. Their tongues mated and his clothes became too tight, too constricting. She must have read his mind, because her hands moved to his shirt front and ripped the buttons from their holes.

He broke the kiss and touched his forehead to hers as he worked at getting her blouse up and off her. “Oh my God, I’ve thought of little else but doing this exact thing again since the night we first met,” he said. His voice sounded strained to his own ears, out of breath.

She didn’t answer, she just pressed her opened mouth to his once more and ravaged it. Sexy. It wasn’t easy, but he managed to continue kissing her and stand up enough to drop his pants and drawers. As he lay down, half on top of her, he kicked them free. Luckily, his deck shoes went with them. The lace of her cranberry push-up bra abraded his chest as he reached down and pulled her shoes off her feet. Her breasts were driving him mad. Full and ripe, they cushioned him as he dove into her once more. Her slacks weren’t as easy to be done with, but somehow they managed it. Her bra and panties were next—flung across the room in the passion of the moment—until at last, and finally, they were bare as the day they were born.

 

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We have TWO grand prizes! You as a reader can go to EACH of the 75 participating blogs and press the green "enter" button on the Grand Prize rafflecopter to be entered AGAIN to win.

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: 

Kindle Fire

2nd Grand Prize:  

$50 Amazon.com Gift Certificate

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

  My prize for the hop:

$25 Amazon.com Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the link to go back to the hop list

Website: http://www.markofthestars.com/wp/?page_id=10037

 

Lucky In Love Blog Hop!

If this is your first visit to my blog, WELCOME! If you are returning, it’s great to see you again!

Many thanks to the host of this event: Carrie Ann Ryan.

   ~Blog Post~

I've always been a sucker for magic and fairies and possibilities (I'm sure those of you who have read my modern-day fairy tale, Diamonds and Toads see what I mean), so St. Paddy's day, with its traditions of 4-leaf clovers and leprechauns is right up my alley. 

In fact, when I heard the tale, as a kid, that pots of gold could be found at the end of rainbows, I spent quite a few 'Dora the Explorer' hours endeavoring to FIND said 'end of the rainbow' (even though the naysayers chimed in to say with much authority that it was actually IMPOSSIBLE to find the end of a rainbow). Still I tried. I had a lot of fun on my expeditions, too. Because I spent those hours thinking of the outcome (the pot of gold--and, if I was VERY lucky, the meeting of a real-life leprechaun, to boot), but also, I usually managed to find some interesting bugs and rocks and animal nests and other natural wonders on my quest.

So, for all of you who are like me, still a kid at heart, and still believing it's possible to find the end of a rainbow: Happy hunting and Ádh mór ort! 

For each petal on the shamrock this brings a wish your way. 

Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day.

~Irish Blessing

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We have TWO grand prizes! You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times! (The Swag Prize is NOT international).

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: 

A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

2nd Grand Prize: 

A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks,

50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens,

  coffee cozies, and more!

 

  My prize for the hop:

$25 Amazon.com Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the link to go back to the hop list

Website: http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

 

Heartbreaker Blog Hop 2013!

If this is your first visit to my blog, WELCOME! If you are returning, it’s great to see you again!

Many thanks to the host of this event: Carrie Ann Ryan.

   ~Blog Post~

Anyone who knows me well (like my husband, critique partner, and best friends), knows I have a huge and long-time crush on Keanu Reeves. He's been both a heartthrob and a heartbreaker on screen (and no doubt off as well *grin*) for a couple of decades now. So, today I thought I'd tell you about my most recent heartthrob/heartbreaker experience with the guy.

I love movies. As much as I love books, I love movies. I watch loads of feature films, indie films, and documentaries. So, when I recently saw Side by Side in my Amazon Prime queue, a documentary about the behind-the-scenes dual going on between 35mm film and digital, with Keanu Reeves as the interviewer, I knew I had to watch.

First of all, if you have any interest in the subject matter (which I do), this is an incredibly good documentary. Keanu Reeves interviews quite a large selection of my favorite directors: David Lynch, Martin Scorcese, George Lucas, Richard Linklater (just to name a few).  It also turned out to be an incredible follow-up to a documentary I watched the day before, Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies, which gave great detail into the birth of the 'flickers' and how the movie industry grew and changed once 35mm and cameras for that film improved (as well as how they learned to work around the limitations, but also made great innovations because of the limitations). Interestingly, the directors interviewed in Side by Side said similar things regarding their experiences in the different evolutions of digital film production.

ANYWAY, my heartthrob/heartbreaker moment in Side by Side came in a short, one or two minute, interchange between Keanu Reeves and a little boy. The dreamy, sweet look on the man's face, and that killer smile, while he was talking to the kid was just so sexy, so hot, so fall head-over-heels all over again for the guy, that it was a heart-melter for sure. Ya know? That's why he's a leading man. He does that to people. Not to everyone, but to enough of us (and that's all it takes!). I admit it, I hit the back button a couple of times on my remote, just to watch it again (I think I paused it too).

If anyone wants to watch an interview on YouTube that Keanu Reeves does about Side by Side, click here.

This book's mixed breed Chinese/Scottish Highlander hero is an homage to Keanu Reeves, and completely due to my crush on him:

Set in the turn of the 13th century Scottish Highlands. When widow and devoted mother to a five-year-old, Jesslyn MacCreary, discovers her brief encounter with her laird's long-lost brother has resulted in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, she is thrust into matrimony with its exotically handsome, angry, and seemingly unwilling, father.

Bao Xiong Maclean, by day, a contracted warrior for William, King of Scots, and by night, a lover for hire to the pampered ladies of the king's court, is fighting his attraction to the lovely flaxen-haired widow whose family is the reason he and his mother became slaves to the man who sired him: Jamison Maclean.

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We have THREE grand prizes! You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times! (The Swag Prize is NOT international).

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: 

A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: 

A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: 

A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks,

50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens,

  coffee cozies, and more!

 

  My prize for the hop:

$25 Amazon.com Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the link to go back to the hop list

Website: http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/