Choosing the Right Car

A car says a lot about you and as a writer, a car may say a lot about your characters. Or least it says a lot to me because I so love automobiles!

I’m hard at work on the next book in the SIN HUNTER series – THE LOST – which will be out in April 2011. I had a dilemma as I was selecting a car for the engimatic hero of the story – Adam Bruno – a self-made millionaire who appears to be a workaholic, especially to young Tony Carrera who is interning at Adam’s alternative energy company.

What car to choose? Expensive for sure. Adam is a man who enjoys the fruits of his labors. But I also wanted to select a car that said there was a playful side as well.

Hard choice so I began to think about the possibilities.

Since I’ve spent a lot of time wandering around Ocean Grove, New Jersey because it’s the setting for STRONGER THAN SIN and will also play a pivotal part in THE LOST, I pulled up some photos I had snapped at one of last year’s Ocean Grove car shows for inspiration.

If you cannot see the slide show below you can click here to see the Ocean Grove Car Show photos or cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066143&id=1130005412&l=dd7ee58972

After reviewing them, cruising the web and chatting with my good friend and fellow author Irene Peterson, I decided on the Bentley Continental GTC Speed. As Bentley says on their website, “Born of the same heart as the Continental GTC but with a different soul. Darker. Sportier. Tauter.”

In a way the same could be said of my hero – Adam Bruno. He definitely is a different soul and darker than Jesse Bradford, the charming and shining ex-football player who takes the lead in STRONGER THAN SIN. But for me the Continental GTC Speed, especially in Bentley’s Umbrian red just screams that there is a playful bad boy buried beneath the corporate pinstripes. What do you think?

Bentley Courtesy Bentley Motors

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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Special July 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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Teaser Tuesday and a Call for Help!

Today is a teaser Tuesday because I’m going to whet your apetites about some upcoming contests as well as ask you to help out with those contests.

But not in the way that you might think.

With two upcoming fall releases (AZTEC GOLD, a vampire novella, and STRONGER THAN SIN, the next book in the SIN HUNTERS paranormal romance series) I’m going to be running some special contests later in the year.

In fact, I’ve already been gathering up all kinds of fun prizes for you!

There will be a beautiful gold Aztec-style butterfly, a silver SONY PRS300SC E-Reader Pocket Edition, Gift cards, delicious Bath & Body Works goodies, t-shirts, hats and books. But I’d like to know from you what kinds of things you like to see in contests and whether you tweet them, share them on your Facebook and Myspace pages, list them on your sites, etc.

To thank you for the comments you post below, I will pick one of you to win a copy of SINS OF THE FLESH and a STRONGER THAN SIN t-shirt!

Just leave a comment by midnight EST Friday, June 18th for a chance to win those goodies.

Wicked Wednesday – Kaye Manro, a Guest Blog and Contest!

I am so excited to have my friend and fellow author Kaye Manro here to tell us a little about her latest release. Plus, we’ve got a contest for you since I’m also doing a guest blog over with my friend JoJo to help her celebrate her birthday! So, if you leave a comment at JoJo’s blog, you have a chance to win an ARC of STRONGER THAN SIN, my November release, a copy of SINS OF THE FLESH, the first book in the SINS series as well as a T-shirt! Double your chances to win by leaving a comment here and also, if you’re selected at JoJo’s site and leave a comment here, you will also win a copy of your choice of either FURY CALLS or SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS!

So without further ado, here’s my buddy Kaye!

*****

FORBIDDEN LOVE by Kaye ManroThanks to the lovely Caridad Pineiro for inviting me, a new author, as a guest on her blog today! I’m so excited to be here, and to share my short ebook, FORBIDDEN LOVE, which is not a paranormal, but a science fiction romance!

Readers may not know exactly how sci-fi relates to the romance genre. So let me show you. In the subgenre of science fiction romance, authors use technology and not magic. Rather than fantasy characters such as shape shifters, the characters are alien or human. The settings are anywhere, but it is common to see stories taking place on alien worlds or on advanced spaceships. For an author, this genre, called SFR can be very exciting and fun to explore. I have to say it was for me.

Forbidden Love released at Red Rose Publishing on May 13, and has consistently stayed on the bestseller lists. Here’s a little of what you’ll find in the story:

Forbidden Love is a futuristic sci-fi romance. There is space travel at FTL (faster than light). But there is also lots of sensual exploring between the hero T’Kon and the heroine Maya, who hail from different galaxies and evolutionary paths. Rules on T’Kon’s planet forbid interspecies mating. Yet when he crashes his spacecraft on Maya’s world close to her desert home, what else is he to do but let this audacious alien tend his injuries?

For those who are new to this exciting genre, I have included a Science Fiction Lexicon on my Website. You can find phrases that may be unfamiliar to you there. The terms relate directly to those used in Forbidden Love.

For example, FTL is the ability a spacecraft has to travel in deep space far exceeding the speed of light. While in FTL, your ship could essentially reach billions of miles per second or more.

Now back to Forbidden Love, which is first and foremost a romance even though the subplot is science fiction. Here’s an excerpt so you can get a feel for the Forbidden Love romantic elements:

…She was upon him so near he could feel her breath, sense her warmth. She reached out and ran a hand through the air, searching the length of him.

“Maya,” he blew her name on a sigh.

“Take me with you,” she implored, as tears filled her astounding tawny eyes. “I want to be with you, T’Kon.” She melded her body against his invisible one.

“You know nothing of me or my world.”

“Teach me, show me everything.”

He felt her heat burning inside him, yet the absurdity of her request burned brighter. “What you ask is not possible.”

“Will you please become visible so I can look at you?” She asked. “We need to talk about this before you go flying off into the universe.”

He unshielded his body so she could see him. “I cannot take you.”

“Why not? You can’t say it was coincidence that you happened to crash land in my back yard.”

No, an unfortunate accident. The truthful certainty traced across his mind. Yet his arms enclosed her and he lifted her up. Her legs straddled his waist, and he held her close against his body. A fit so right he could not deny it.

“I wish it were not so, but it is,” he whispered, breathing in her pungent scent. “You would not survive on my world.” He dropped his head to taste her lips before she had a chance to counter his words. “Just one last kiss.” Her mouth opened to allow his tongue entry and he explored the soft moistness, losing himself in her tang.

The stars help him. He did not want to leave her.

Without warning, a sudden and dangerous noise yanked T’Kon from his enamored stupor. He sensed peril approaching. In a rapid-fire move, he raised his palm. A copper arch flashed and shimmered before them revealing the entryway to his concealed spacecraft. He dragged her inside. Tapping a pad the opening closed leaving them hidden behind an undetectable shield.

* * ***

I hope you enjoy reading Forbidden love as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Kaye’s Bio: As a romance author, I lean toward the adventuresome in my writing. I love science fiction and all the enticing quantum theories surrounding it. Where characters rush through outer space at FTL, or teleport into another time, and even slipstream into an alternate reality. I like creating sizzling love scenes too with sexy heroes, and captivating heroines. It just seemed natural to combine all these elements together in my stories.

Kaye Manro

You can purchase FORBIDDEN LOVE by clicking here or visiting this page:
http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=772

For more information on Kaye, please visit her Website at http://www.sfr.kayemanro.com or Kaye’s blog at http://kayemanro.blogspot.com/.

Thanks so much!

Fun Friday – Arts, Crafts & News

This weekend will be hopping for me! First there is the Liberty States Fiction Writers Mayke It Happen get together! Can’t wait to go and hang out with all of my buds and talking about our writing projects.

I’ll be down the shore and hoping to see some sun! But just in case it’s rainy, I’m sharing a fun project with you from my friend Kathy Cano-Murilla, the Crafty Chica aka the Goddess of Glitter! As writers and readers, we always seem to have a vast collection of pens and I thought this crazy pencil cup would be fun to share with you!

If it is sunny, I hope to get some time in along the boardwalk, researching some more spots for . . .

BOOKS 3 and 4 IN THE SINS SERIES!


Yes, you heard it here first! I’ve accepted an offer from Grand Central Publishing for two more books in the SINS series. Not only that, you won’t have to wait that long to read about the continuing adventures of the Carrera clan as well as some new and very dangerous people that will enter their lives (can we say some non-human people with very unusual and deadly powers?)

As you know, STRONGER THAN SIN will be out in November 2010 and you’ll be able to read both Books 3 and 4 in 2011 if all goes as planned! I can’t wait to share these exciting paranormal romance stories with you and I know you’ll all like to see what’s up with Mick, Caterina and Liliana as well as find out more about the dark creatures who will threaten the Carrera clan. As for who will be the hero and heroine in book 3 — here’s a hint: You’ve read about them already in one of the SINS-related books/prequels and you’ll see more of them in STRONGER THAN SIN!

That’s all the beans I’m spilling for now! Hope you all have a great weekend!