The Cowboy and the Rose Guest Blog with Tess Quinn

I’d like to welcome my dear friend and fellow author Tess Quinn! Tess (also writing as Nisha Sharma) is an award-winning author who was raised in the countryside of northeast, Pennsylvania. With very little to do in a town where the cow-human ratio was 2.5 to 1, Tess filled her spare time with eighties music, Bollywood movies, and a lot of reading. When she ran out of romances to read at her small town library, she started writing sequels to her favorites and she’s been writing ever since.

Tess is here to share her latest release with us and it’s a good one! Take a moment to read to check out this teaser and excerpt! For more information, you can visit Tess/Nisha at http://nisha-sharma.com/.

THE COWBOY AND THE ROSE

A bond from the past, desire steeped in magic, love forged in passion… Gabe Burdock has two weeks to bond his power with April Willow or lose his magic. As a witch, his control over the earth contributes to the success of his vineyard, and he’ll sacrifice anything to keep it…anything except his heart.To escape her abusive father’s control, April is ready to bond with Gabe, even if it means tying herself to a cowboy who claims he can’t love her. But when Gabe and April touch, their passion explodes, and their magical bond cannot be denied. Can they put aside their fears and risk everything for love? Or will two witches lose their chance at happiness?

EXCERPT

April tucked the blanket under her arms and cowered against the wall. Gabe was a man to be reckoned with. His green eyes were wild, the planes of his hard body highlighted in the dim light. He wore a small pair of boxers that left little to the imagination.
“April? What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” she stammered, confused by the overly concerned expression in his face. “I hate storms. The noise frightened me. I’m so sorry. I hate behaving so childishly.” She felt even more ridiculous for goggling at his incredibly bare chest. If she stopped shaking, she could count the definitions in his abs.

Gabe relaxed. “Are you okay now?”

All thoughts of the storm had slipped out of her mind the minute his beautiful body entered her room. “I’m fine,” she said with surprising control. “Thank you for coming.”

“No problem.” He turned to leave when the clock downstairs struck midnight. Her fingertips tingled and her skin flashed hot and cold. Even the storm quieted, as if waiting for the ominous music of time to finish its tune.

“It’s my birthday,” she whispered.

Gabe must have heard her because he whipped around. His face was so expressive. April could see the shock and panic written all over it. She knew he was afraid of the bonding ritual that he didn’t quite believe, and she was slightly amused as she watched the expressions play across his features.

“It’s okay,” she said, leaning back against the headboard. “I’ve read stories about bonding. They’re never clear about what happens directly after midnight.”

Paranormal Romance THE LOST

I’ve got a little teaser for you from the first book in my new paranormal romance series – The Sin Hunters from Forever Romance.

THE LOST will be out on July 26, 2011 and I can’t wait for the series to start. It’s a radically new concept: Energy gatherers who can become anything they want, suck energy from anything in nature – including humans – and use that energy was weapons in a variety of ways. Energy orbs, discharges to erase memories, you name it.

But amidst all that energy there is an even stronger force: Love. Adam Bruno and Bobbie Carrera are two unique and tortured individuals. Adam is emotionally wounded while Bobbie bears both the mental and physical scars of war. When they come together . . .

I hope you enjoy this little excerpt from THE LOST!

The LOST Paranormal Romance by Caridad Pineiro

Wicked Wednesday – When Jesse Meets Liliana

Jesse's Back on STRONGER THAN SIN Paranormal RomanceToday I am sharing with you…Jesse’s back! What a gorgeous back and shoulders!

Wait no excerpt? Okay, so I’m also sharing with you an excerpt from STRONGER THAN SIN. This excerpt is the first scene in the book where Jesse meets Liliana, but where you also find out that the two have crossed paths before and not necessarily in a nice way.

Hope you enjoy today’s wicked excerpt! If you cannot see the excerpt below, you can also click here or cut and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.scribd.com/full/44895991?access_key=key-1cp9uzv5yubl1fdl8u2s

Stronger Than Sin Jesse Meets Liliana Excerpt

Wicked Wednesday – THE LOST and some good news!

Today is a very exciting day! I’ve got some good news for all of you who like my Nocturne novels. Nocturne has just acquired three novellas from me for their BITES collections. Even more exciting, one of the stories will feature Diana Reyes and Ryder Latimer, two of my favorites. For those of you who have read FATE CALLS in HOLIDAY WITH A VAMPIRE and FURY CALLS, you may have a clue on what might be happening in this story.

Other good news in case you’ve missed it is that the SINS series will be expanding with the addition of the Hunters, a unique race locked in a life and death battle to survive. The first book in the SIN HUNTER series, THE LOST, will be available in August 2011 and will have some exciting new characters for you with wickedly interesting powers. (You’ll get to see just one of them in this little teaser I’m posting for you today!). You will see some familiar names, including another member of the Carrera family – Bobbie – a Marine who has been wounded in Iraq and has come home to heal both her physical and emotional wounds.

So without further ado, here’s a little wickedness from THE LOST.

The LOST Paranormal Suspense by Caridad Pineiro

Jason Statham and Special July Contests!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend! Today we’re having a belated Guilty Pleasure and some special July Contests!

So who is today’s Guilty Pleasure? What about a totally buff masculine man? What about a kick butt action hero?

We’re talking about Jason Statham who has played both the bad guy (Cellular with hottie Chris Evans), sidekick (The Italian Job) and the hero (the Transporter series). Buff and burly, he’s not a pretty boy, but he sure is hot!

Courtesy of Lionsgate - Transporter 3

Hope you enjoyed this belated Guilty Pleasure!

And as for contests. . .

We’re having not one, but two Jersey Shore Sin Hunter Summer Goody contests during the month of July!

Come down the shore with me for Christmas in July with my wonderful friends at Fresh Fiction.

From July 5 to July 26th you can enter the Jersey Shore SIN HUNTER Summer Goody contest to win a $25 B&N Gift Card, Autographed copy of SINS OF THE FLESH and SIN HUNTER Summer Goody bag which includes a STRONGER THAN SIN T-shirt & Tote bag, Jesse Bradford Rubber Football Ducky, Bath & Body Works Shower Gel, Mini-Beach Ball and Candy! Just click here for the contest or cut and paste this link in your browser: http://freshfiction.com/contest.php?id=2675

Join the fun at the Summer Beach Party with my amazing friends at Writerspace!

Register now for the July 18th event and a chance to win an assortment of prizes! If you’re lucky, you might win my prize which is:

Autographed ARC of STRONGER THAN SIN & SIN HUNTER Summer Goody bag which includes a STRONGER THAN SIN T-shirt & Tote bag, Jesse Bradford Rubber Football Ducky, Bath & Body Works Shower Gel, Mini-Beach Ball and Candy.

Click here to enter the 2010 Summer Beach Party Contest or cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.writerspace.com/beach/


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Are you Team Jacob or Team Edward?

An apology to all those on Team Edward, but as much as all of you know that I love vampires, I’ve got to get on the side of Team Jacob this morning! How can I not with the likes of Taylor Lautner playing the werewolf in the Bella-Edward-Jacob triangle?

You can grab this brooding Jacob wallpaper from over at the official NEW MOON Movie site (but be prepared to wait for the never-ending flash gadgets!)

And if that’s not enough eye-candy for you this Guilty Pleasures Monday, well then you can click here for more shots displaying Taylor’s rather sculpted physique!

If you’re in the mood to talk about vampires this morning, don’t forget to drop by and visit my Dark Side Demon Monday over at Danger Women Writing.

Happily Ever Afters

Photo Credit:  Microsoft Clip ArtAs a romance writer, even a paranormal romance writer, there is one thing that I cannot fail to do — deliver a Happily Ever After!

In books it’s easy to do if you set up the conflict correctly, know what issues need to be resolved and last, end the book while the couple are in the throes of that blissful true love moment.

In life, and in books, the Happily Ever After once that blissful moment is over is sometimes not so easy to maintain. It’s why I loved being able to revisit Diana and Ryder from DARKNESS CALLS in their second book – DEATH CALLS. It’s probably why I’ll write yet another story featuring them since readers understand that achieving that Happily Ever After can be difficult, but oh so joyous when it finally happens.

With the benefit of age and hopefully some wisdom, I look back at my marriage and realize that it hasn’t been easy staying married. There have been ups and down, most times caused by external pressures such as jobs, illnesses and deaths, but somehow through it all, we’ve not only persevered, we’ve stayed happy together.

Some might wonder how that’s possible. How do you slog through the rough times in life and still manage to keep alive the Happily Ever After?

I realized the other day that the answer was: Humor. Respect. Understanding.

Oh wait, that’s three answers, isn’t it! LOL!

But there it was, one way to Happily Ever After and not just in the books that I write, but in real life.

Find someone who can make you laugh and pick you up during the hard times. Someone who respects your opinions and your contributions to the relationship. Someone who understands your needs, both physical and mental. In reality, combine all those attributes and you will usually find Love and with Love comes the Happily Ever After.

How about you? For those of you who have been in long term relationships, what do you find keeps you going through good times and bad?