#WriteWed What to do next? & #HumpDay #ManWars

STRONGER THAN SIN Romantic SuspenseI have a dilemma. I just got the rights back to SINS OF THE FLESH and STRONGER THAN SIN.

For those of you who read the books, you may recall that these were more romantic suspense with paranormal elements than paranormal with romantic suspense.

Because they didn’t really fit into the paranormal genre, my editors asked me to ramp up that part of the story line and the Sin Hunters were born in THE LOST and THE CLAIMED.

Now here’s my dilemma: I was plotting out the next book in the series – THE SHATTERED. It was really leaning toward paranormal sci fi with the introduction of Hunters from an alternate universe.

Now that I have these rights back, I’ve been toying with the idea of directing the books and the Hunters back toward being more romantic suspense. My idea was to have humans discovering more about the Hunters and somehow posing a threat to the existence of the Hunter clans. I’d also still have to deal with Christopher’s psycho father, but that could be handled as part of the romantic suspense.

So what do you think? Alternate universe and heavy on the paranormal elements or romantic suspense with lighter paranormal elements.

This is your chance to decide how the series will continue and I’d love to have your thoughts on it!

While you’re pondering my dilemma, how about some #ManWars to help you past #Humpday. For those of you who don’t use Facebook, just leave a comment here for a chance to win the print copy of IMMORTAL TEMPTATION.

#TeaserTuesday Guest Blog with Jenn Nixon

I’m really happy to have with me today my friend and fellow author Jenn Nixon who is sharing a teaser from her book, LUCKY’S CHARM. Here’s a little bit about Jenn:

Jenn’s love of writing started the year she received her first diary and Nancy Drew novel. Throughout her teenage years, she kept a diary of her personal thoughts and feelings but graduated from Nancy Drew to other mystery suspense novels.

Jenn often adds a thriller and suspense element to anything she writes be it Romance, Science Fiction, or Fantasy. When not writing, she spends her time reading, observing pop culture, playing with her two dogs, and working on various charitable projects in her home state of New Jersey.

Blurb

LuckySale2aTo protect her family and find a killer, Felicia “Lucky” Fascino assumed her adoptive father’s identity and joined the network, an organization of moral assassins to finish the job he began. Eliminating the man responsible for murdering her mother has consumed her for the last five years. While keeping her Uncle Stephen and cousin Elizabeth at arm’s length, Lucky begins to feel the weight of her career choice and reclusive lifestyle. Then a chance encounter with an enigmatic hit man, during one of her jobs, turns into a provocative and dangerous affair. Distracted by the secret trysts with Kenji Zinn and mounting tension within her family, Lucky makes reckless mistakes that threaten her livelihood and almost claim her life.

Excerpt

Things get complicated for Lucky as her feelings for Kenji bubble to the surface.

“I’m not…good at this anymore.” Lucky puffed out a heavy breath and clutched the phone. “I can’t wrap my mind around it. I’ve really tried to forget you.”

“Why?”

“Because, I can’t want…this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Be with someone while doing what I do. Sharing my life… I haven’t for a long time. I don’t see how I can do it with—”

“Another killer?”

That stopped her cold. Lucky shut her eyes and banged her head against the wall. Not only was it the oddest conversation she’d ever have, it frightened her because he was dead on.

“Why add to the torment?” she snapped.

“Being with you was far from torture.” His reply was husky and saturated with innuendo. Lucky ignored the ripples of electricity on her skin.

“We’re not good people, Kenji. I’ve already accepted that, but I think you’ve still got blinders on.”

“No, I have a sense we are more alike than you realize. I know why you eliminated McKowen. He was a vile man.”

“Yeah… We might be the bad guys, but we’re never the villains.” Lucky softened her tone. “We’re not heroes either, just stuck in the middle somewhere.”

“This is what we do, not who we are. It does not change what happened between us. We should not ignore this.”

“I don’t know….” The contact with him did something to her, but finding the words to explain it seemed impossible. Lucky did want to see him again, though, not for all the right reasons.

“Where are you, right now?”

“Miami,” he said immediately. “Let me come to you, wherever you wish.”

“I….” The confusion twisted through her. He was determined without being forceful.

“The choice is yours. Call me after you complete your task,” he said without demand.

“Okay.”

To find out more about Jenn or purchase Lucky’s Charm:

Website: www.jennnixon.com
Facebook: facebook.com/JennNixonAuthor
Blog: www.jennafern.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/jennnixon
http://pinterest.com/jennnixon/

Lucky’s Charm:
Amazon Wild Child Publishing Barnes & Noble

#ManCandyMonday Sexy #Soccer Player #WorldCup

My sympathies to those in Latin America who were hoping for a win for Argentina. Congratulations to the German team for winning this year’s World Cup!

To the U.S. team, you rocked it!

As for soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it, there are some exciting moments, I must confess. My favorite ones?

When the players celebrate by taking off their shirts! LOL! So we end our World Cup fascination today with this sexy soccer player.
soccer player

#ThrowbackThursday Levittown & Mr. Softee

I grew up in Levittown, Long Island, the first planned suburb in America. Some will bad mouth it by saying it was bland, homogenous and sanitized, but to me it was heaven and the American Dream.

My family was able to buy a home and we had good public schools that prepared us for the future. We had friendly neighbors after some initial issues with being Cuban and all in all, things were wonderful.

The community had little village greens with community pools and we were just minutes away from Jones Beach. Summers were spent playing outdoors and going to the pool or beach. Summers were also spent waiting for the visit of Mr. Softee, today’s Throwback Thursday memory. Of course, that just made me remember that the Good Humor man would also visit on another day, but that’s for a future post. LOL!

My family wasn’t well off, after all, we were political refugees who’d been in America for less than nine years when my parents moved us to Levittown. How’d they do that? The old fashioned way: hard work.

But money was tight and it wasn’t unusual that dinner was fried eggs and rice and we ate cream cheese and jelly sandwiches for lunch. If we even ate lunch. I don’t really remember eating breakfast or lunch in the summer. We were too busy playing outside.

Anyway, having enough money for Mr. Softee was a big deal. A BIG DEAL. Back then, you could get an ice cream cone for about 15 cents, but I loved their sundaes, so I’d save up the 15 cents my grandfather would give us and wait until I had the 35 cents for a sundae!

My sister would always get the Brown Cow, an ice cream cone dipped into some kind of magic liquid that produced a hard shell on the cold ice cream. I sometimes opted for the Cherry Cow if I was really impatient.

After we bought our ice creams, we’d sit on the curb and talk as we ate our treats before heading off to play with our friends again.

Those were the good times and it’s nice to remember them on this Throwback Thursday.

Mister Softee Truck 1.JPG
“Mister Softee Truck 1” by Rjsswf8Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

#WriteWed Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss

shannaI think I’ve mentioned that I wanted to be a writer since writing my first book in the fifth grade. After that taste of story-telling, I keep on writing and of course, reading. I read anything I could, even the cereal box at the breakfast table. I was an avid reader and a lot of what I read was passed down to me by my mom.

Back then we didn’t have young adult books. We just kind of jumped into adult reading. So at an early age, I was reading the Brontes and then Taylor Caldwell and whatever else I could put my hands on.

But even then I gravitated toward stories with a strong romantic element, not knowing that I was meant to be a romance writer. In fact, it wasn’t until one summer that I realized that’s what I wanted to be.

Back then, department stores had book sections and since everyone at the store (B. Altman’s, now long gone sadly) knew that I liked to read, I was the natural summer fill-in for someone who was on medical leave.

My job was to recommend books, ring up the sales, and fill in stock when it emptied. There was this one dump, a bright orangey one, that was empty when I got there and people kept on coming in and asking for Shanna. I had no idea what it was and after some research, discovered that it was a novel that had been sitting on the NY Times bestseller list for a while.

When we finally got a shipment, I was kind of surprised by the cover. Orangey pink and with a couple in a passionate embrace, it wasn’t like what I’d seen before at home. I was kind of put off by it for a moment, but I had a job to do, so I filled the dump and within a couple of days, it was empty again.

This continued for the next week or so. Got a shipment and it sold out.

Well, I finally had to find out what the big to do was about and bought myself a copy with my store discount.

Wow. I could not put it down. Action. Adventure. Romance. More action. More adventure. Betrayal. More romance. Hot steamy romance.

Not only was I hooked on the story, but it occurred to me at that moment that this was the kind of story I wanted to write. This was just like the stories I’d had rattling around in my brain for so many years.

This was the book that made me realize I wanted to be a romance writer.

Thank you, Ms. Woodiwiss. I am eternally grateful for that and for one of my all time favorite books – The Wolf and the Dove.

If you’re a fan of historical romance and haven’t checked out these books, take a moment and do so. You’ll be glad you did.

#WriteWed What Inspires a Series?

Since I’m busing working on ONE SPECIAL NIGHT, the follow-up to JUST ONE NIGHT, you may wonder what inspires a series like the Take a Chance series.

For me, it’s the secondary characters. Oftentimes when I start, I don’t really know which of the secondary characters will call to me the most, but then BAM! 🙂 I fall in love with one of them and know that I have to explore their story.

That’s what happened with Tommy, Nickie’s brother and Jase’s best friend, from JUST ONE NIGHT.

I saw a really good guy who definitely needed to find the right woman. I knew from JUST ONE NIGHT that Tommy was honorable and lots of fun. I knew he would have what it would take to help someone heal their wounds and find happiness.

I’m almost done with ONE SPECIAL NIGHT and I hope you’ll fall in love with Tommy the way I did and the way the heroine, Navy Corpsman Jasmine Reyes, does by the end of the story! ONE SPECIAL NIGHT will be available in late July.

OneSpecialNight300

#TeaserTuesday Just One Night #Erotic Romance

Just One Night Erotic RomanceHappy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends. Happy July 1 to everyone else! It’s hard to believe it’s a new month already. It seems to me the summer is flying by and yet it only just got started.

Today I’ve got for you a teaser from Just One Night, my new release. I’m almost done with the next book in the series, One Special Night. That’s Tommy’s story and I’m really having a lot of fun writing it. One Special Night will be available in late July.

If you can’t see the excerpt of Just One Night just click here to read it!

Warning, this is for mature audiences only!

JUST ONE NIGHT, #NALit #Erotic #Romance novella by Caridad Pineiro