So I'm gonna share this video with you! WARNING! Explicit.
But it has a great inspirational message. Don't let people discourage you! You can do anything!

Yay, we finally get Dylan's story!

We first met Dylan Schell in With Strings Attached, when he became the third in a sexy menage a trois with his best friend Matt, and Matt's friend with benefits, Corey. Dylan got kind of attached to Corey, but he was also struggling with some major issues in his pro surfing career. Since then, Dylan's been coping by doing a lot of partying - sex, drugs, rock and roll. Now, in Slammed, he's back in San Amaro, for a huge event in the Association of Surfing Professionals tour -- but he also has to take some business issues seriously, and he has to attend a wedding, and he's not too happy about all this responsible stuff. But Brooke helps him deal...

Great reviews so far for Slammed! I'm so thrilled.

Romance Junkies 4.5 BLUE RIBBONS "Get out your fans or put on the air conditioner and grab an ice cold drink since you'll be burning up as you read SLAMMED - a sweet but heat filled contemporary romance involving a professional surfer, the waves, the beaches, romance and love."

RT Book Reviews 4 STARS "Sparks fly right off the bat with PR wonk Brooke and pro surfer Dylan, and the will-they/won’t-they once they return to real life will keep readers guessing. . .This romance will have you dreaming of hot surfers and warm beaches as the weather cools."

And I really want to mention this review from the Risque Redhead Reads... I love the review overall, she really "got" the book. But a couple of things stand out for me.

"Brooke, let me tell you I loved being in this girl’s head and learning the cute and funny words she uses. She was a blast to read, there was not one thing I disliked about her. She was someone I could relate to from the first moment I met her. She was, for lack of a better description, a normal girl. Her family support is beautiful, her compassion for others is remarkable and her ability to love enormous. She is the perfect match in every way for Dylan and their chemistry is off the charts smokin’!"

One of my goals as a writer has been to write heroines that readers love. That hasn't always been the case, and I've been working on that for some time. I KNOW readers are harder on heroines than they are on heroes. But that's just a challenge to me, to write heroines who readers love. So a comment like that means SO much to me.


Also this:

"A side note if you will. Substance with sex. I have said this many times when it comes to books. I need a substance with my sex and with this series it is what you get. Now, I am a red blooded female and I love reading a good sex scene but with that you have to have a story or you lose me. There was never a point of getting lost here. There is no gratuitous sex that is thrown in there just to have a sex scene. Sex is important for relationships, for romantic relationships, it’s intimate, it is how we connect on the most basic level and sometimes it’s how relationships begin.  With Dylan and Brooke, as well as the rest of the residents in San Amaro, it was  as natural as the ocean creating a current or a wave."

This is something else that's important to me. I've had lots of feedback about my sex scenes -- I apparently do them pretty well. :-).  But it's important to me to have story, character, emotion, and to make the sex scenes meaningful...so this comment also means a lot to me.

I hope you love Dylan and Brooke too!

Amazon
Samhain Publishing
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Kobo

If you're in the Nashville area, I'm going to be there in October with fellow authors Erin Nicholas and PG Forte. We'd love to get together with any readers who can join us on Saturday October 19. (And hey - that's the day after my birthday, so you all can buy me birthday drinks! :-) ) We're thinking about meeting at the Cheesecake Factory, but stay tuned for confirmed details about time and location.

And while I'm updating you, I can let you know that Offside (October 1/13) is now available for pre-order:

So, after all the cover reveals, I thought I should post a quick update about what's coming up for me (and oh yeah, get my website updated!)

Coming next is Slammed (September 3). This is the third (and last) (for now!) book in the San Amaro Singles series. In Slammed we reconnect with Dylan Schell, pro surfer, who we met in With Strings Attached. Dylan's a sexy bad boy pro athlete with some tough stuff to overcome.

After that is Offside, which I don't have an exact release date for, but I hope will be out early October. This is the fifth book (and last) (sadly, for sure) of my Heller Brothers hockey series. Yes - it is Matt Heller's story. Matt's all grown up since the last time we met up with him and it's time for his HEA!

Rhythm of Three will be out October 29. This is a follow up story to Rule of Three (it's a novella) so we find out more about how Kassidy, Chris and Dag are dealing with the complications of their relationship.

And then in January, it's You Really Got Me, a BDSM/suspense romance set in California wine country, where a sexy police chief and a determined winery owner struggle with their feelings for each other while a missing persons case turns into a murder investigation.

Okay, with so many edits and new covers coming at me I know I'm going to screw something up and post the wrong cover or blurb somewhere!

Here's the latest - Rhythm of Three. This is a follow-up story to Rule of Three, and it will be out October 29/13!

Here it is! This is Book 5 in my Heller brothers hockey series - Matt Heller's story.

Thanks to the awesome Kim Killion for the cover design!

I know, right? What an award!
 

RULE OF THREE has been nominated in the OMFG Moment category - I'm so stoked! There is still time to go vote (only another day, I think, so go on over there) - thank you!

http://smbookobsessions.com/lady-boner-awards/

Here it is - the beautiful cover for You Really Got Me, which will be out in January 2014. The talented Angela Waters is the designer behind this gorgeous cover!

I'm doing a blog tour to celebrate the release of How to Love! Come check out these cool blogs and enter to win a $50 Amazon/B&N/Kobo gift card!

 

 

 

 

 

 

6/25/2013

My Fiction Nook

6/26/2013

Books-n-Kisses

AJ's Reading Nook

6/27/2013

Kinky Book Reviews

Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

6/28/2013

Cocktails and Books

Blackraven's Erotic Cafe

7/2/2013

Scorching Book Reviews

We Love Kink

7/3/2013

Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog

What's On the Bookshelf

7/5/2013

Hesperia Loves Books

Blackraven's Reviews

7/8/2013

Talk Supe

Lori's Book Blog

7/9/2013

Under the Covers

7/9/2013

The Risque Redhead Reads

How to Love is my first menage a trois romance since Rule of Three - which many of you may have picked up during the recent free promotion. I was thrilled with the response to Rule of Three! If you enjoyed it, you will probably like How to Love:

Relationship, no…but threesome, hell yes!
 
Ever since Jules’s new neighbor moved in, she’s been undressing him in her mind. Mike is the fresh inspiration she needs to make her erotic photography studio a success, if she can convince him and his equally buff roommate, Carlos, to strip for her lens. And maybe indulge in a little off-camera fun as well.

But Jules isn’t too worried. She doesn’t do relationships, but she loves men and sex—and in her experience, most men are okay with that.

Judging from the raw emotions leaping from the images in Jules’s gallery, Mike senses there’s a lot going on beneath her flirtatious, slightly cynical exterior. He and Carlos are happy in their committed relationship, but they’ve always felt there’s a piece missing. They want a woman. Jules could be that woman.

A threesome with two committed men? Sounds like an emotionally risk-free dream come true for Jules. But when they make it clear they want more, her deepest fears push to the surface, straining bonds forged in incredible heat to the breaking point…

Warning: The book features two hot men brave enough to climb cliffs, strip naked for erotic photographs, have sex in a portrait studio and on a cliff, and who have the courage to teach a commitment-phobic woman how to love.

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Samhain Publishing
Kobo

After the MMVA's last weekend, I paid more attention to the lyrics of this song, which I already liked. Now I LOVE! We all need an INNER NINJA!





Hey yo, I've been high and I've been real low
I've been beaten and broken but I healed though
So many ups and downs, roughed up and clowned
We all got problems, but we deal though
I'm tryin' to do better now, find my inner peace
Learn my art form, and find my inner Chi
When my backs on the wall, I don't freeze up
Nah, I find my inner strength and I re-up
Here we go, I know I've never been the smartest or wisest
But I realize what it takes
Never dwell in the dark cause the sun always rises
But gotta make it to the next day
It's a feeling that you get in your lungs when you run
Like you're runnin' outta air and your breath won't come
And you (uh) wheezin', gotta keep it movin'
Find that extra (uhn) and push your way through it

Nobody's gonna see me comin'
Nobody's gonna hear a sound
No matter how hard they tryin'
No stoppin' me since I've found
My inner ninja [4x]
 

ED SHEERAN

Can't get enough  - love this song. (The video's kind of dark, but the song is beautiful.)

I got a box of print books last week for HOT RIDE - yay! So I'm feeling generous and want to give some away. Go to my Facebook page and click on the Welcome tab (It's the STAR icon just under my banner) to find out how to enter to win a SIGNED copy. You do need to "like" my page to be able to see all the info on the Welcome tab. I will draw the winner Monday morning!

I'm loving Armin van Buuren right now...

RULE OF THREE is free right now!

Amazon
B&N
Samhain Publishing

 

If you haven't read it, now's a great chance to pick up for free. If you have read it, tell your friends!

Edited to add:

I've gotten quite a few emails from new readers who enjoyed Rule of Three and wonder what to read next. If you liked Rule of Three because it was M/M/F menage, you might also like:

One Wicked Night

And watch for How to Love, out June 25, 2013

Also 2 Hot 2 Handle is M/M/F menage- it is a shorter novella.

If you enjoy menage, I have other books that are M/F/M menage stories which do NOT end with an HEA for all three characters:

With Strings Attached

Lost and Found

 

Kansas City here I come!

I'll be at the RT Booklovers Convention from April 30 - May 4. If you're there, I would love to meet you! Here's where I'll be (other than wandering around lost and aimless):



WEDNESDAY:

SPECIALTY: PARSING THE SMEXY: EROTIC ROMANCE DEFINED

How do you define erotic romance? Is it all about the story, or all about the heat and kink? Is it just smut with an HFN? Should it be a subgenre at all? However you define erotic romance, even if it’s just “I know it when I see it,” join authors, reviewers and industry professionals in what's sure to be a lively, thought-provoking discussion of this hot topic.

1:15pm - 2:15pm
 Mezzanine Level
Room:  Van Horn B



READER: COVER MODEL KARAOKE

Come sing along to your favorite hits, with hunky cover models! Join the Smutketeers and the Nine Naughty Novelists, who will be your doo-wop back-up singers, for a fun-filled hour of musical mayhem. There will be gift bags, prizes — and we mentioned the hunky cover models, right?!

 3:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: Ballroom Level
Room: New York A


THURSDAY

SOCIAL EVENT: E-BOOK, INDIE PUBLISHER & GRAPHIC NOVEL EXPO

Come meet more than 300 authors whose books are available as e-books, self-published and independent press books. All e-books at this event will be available through All Romance E-Books (ARe).
This event is also open to the public. Tickets are $5.00 and you can purchase a ticket at the door the day of the event.

4:00pm - 6:00pm Location: Mezzanine Level
Room: Exhibit Hall A


SOCIAL EVENT: SAMHAIN’S SAFARI

Lions and tigers and shapeshifters... oh my! Enjoy jungle beats, tasty treats and gaming feats with the staff and authors at Samhain Publishing. This year we celebrate all things shapeshifter with food and drink, games, music and prizes including e-readers, Samhain store gift cards and plenty of books. Take a walk on the wild side with us!

6:15pm - 7:45pm
Location:  Lobby Level
Room: Gillham Hall A

PROMISE HARBOR BACHELORETTE PARTY

Join the authors of the Promise Harbor Wedding series who'll be there to play Dirty Minds and give away naughty prizes.

8:00pm - ?
"The Bar" (we hope there's only one)


SATURDAY:

SOCIAL EVENT: GIANT BOOK FAIR

Meet more than 400 authors who will autograph books, posters and bookmarks. Bring your “keepers” and have them signed!

The Saturday Giant Book Fair ticket is included in the full general convention registration fee.
This event is also open to the public and can be purchased as an individual ticket for just the Giant Book Fair. You can pre-order a book fair ticket here (Choose Day & Weekend Passes and Individual Tickets in the dropdown menu) or you can purchase a ticket at the door the day of the event. Pre-ordered tickets will be picked up at the hotel on the day of the Giant Book Fair.

You may bring in your books from home to get them autographed, however, they must be checked in and stamped (invisible ink so no damage to your books) before you enter the book fair. Also only two books from home per author are allowed.

PERK FOR FULL CONVENTION ATTENDEES:
Attendees signed up for the entire convention and who have a badge will be allowed to enter the Giant Book Fair 15 minutes earlier (at 10:45am) so they can beat the crowds of local fans waiting to get in to meet the authors.

11:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Mezzanine Level
Room:  Exhibit Hall A


FAN-TASTIC DAY: FAN-TASTIC DAY PARTY

Meet a revolving door of hundreds of authors as they make appearances every 30 minutes in this high-energy event. Be one of the first 500 to sign up and receive a goody bag filled with free books and promotional items. Choose “FAN-tastic Day Pass” when you register for a pass that includes the party, the goody bag (first 500 registrants), the workshops and the Giant Book Fair.

There will be 50+ door prizes, including e-readers, lap desks, books, gift certificates and more!

6:30pm - 7:45pm
Location:  Ballroom Level
Room:  Chicago, New York, San Francisco


Of course I'll be attending lots of OTHER social events but those are the places I know I'll be! Hope to see you there!

This is what I'm listening to over and over again today...   :-)

I announced here a while back that Rule of Three had been nominated at The Romance Reviews for  Best Erotic Romance, GLBT, Ménage or more, and hey, it won! Yay!

To celebrate, I'm going to give away a couple of signed PRINT copies. If you'd like to win, pop over to my Facebook page 
and check out the Welcome tab (you have to like my page to see it). I will be drawing the winners Saturday April 13.

Thanks to The Romance Reviews and all who voted!

Having characters that readers can relate to is important in a romance novel. We call them "sympathetic" characters. We want readers to feel what the characters are feeling and get inside their heads and their hearts.

A reader commented about my most recent release, Jilted, that she didn't like all the betrayals in the story. Part of the history for these characters is that Josh and Devon, my hero and heroine, had a past relationship that ended when they could not agree on something important to their future together. It was one of those situations that has no easy answer, but also no right or wrong. For them, at that time, things didn't work out and they went their separate ways.

The "betrayal" came when Josh, now living back in Promise Harbor, slipped into a relationship with long time family friend Allie, who is also Devon's best friend. Yeah — that would hurt, all right. There are rules about that kind of thing, right? You don’t EVER, EVER date your BFF’s ex. 

So what’s a girl to do if she cares about this guy and being with him is making both their families happy after a lot of unhappiness? Allie calls Devon to be up front with her and tell her about the relationship. And when Devon says, hey that’s fine, Josh and I broke up and we’re over...what’s a girl to do?

And what’s a guy to do in that same situation? Josh felt like he had no choice but to leave Boston and go home to Promise Harbor, and he had some pretty compelling reasons to do that. Unfortunately, he didn’t share all of them with Devon, and unfortunately Devon didn’t share some things with Josh, leaving him feeling as if he was the one being rejected.

We don’t know what kind of conversations Josh and Allie might have had about the situation they found themselves in when they started seeing each other. Maybe it was Josh who told Allie to call Devon. Maybe Josh was a clueless man and didn’t even imagine that Devon would care, since she dumped his ass. Maybe Josh and Allie made a HUGE, hurtful mistake by getting together...but stuff like that happens in life.

When characters make big, stupid mistakes, the challenge is to get readers to understand why they made those mistakes and then for the characters to gain some insight and realize what they’ve done and learn from their mistakes. It’s called a character arc and ultimately makes for a satisfying story if it’d done well. Not every reader will experience that character growth the same. Some may find themselves unable to forgive the characters for what they did, others will be able to.

Are there things you can’t forgive romance characters for doing?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget that Meg Benjamin, Sydney Somers, Erin Nicholas and I are on a tour over the next few weeks, talking about our Promise Harbor Wedding series, and we're doing a giveaway as part of it.

3/19 Under the Covers

3/19-23 Smutketeers

3/19 My Secret Romance

3/21 The Book Tart

3/25 Ms. Romantic Reads

3/29 - Delighted Reader 

4/3 Under the Covers

4/5 My Secret Romance

4/8  Ms. Romantic Reads

4/16 Under the Covers

4/17 - Delighted Reader

4/18 My Secret Romance

4/19 Ms. Romantic Reads

4/23 - Delight Reader

4/29 Ms. Romantic Reads

4/30 Delighted Reader

4/30 Under the Covers

5/2 My Secret Romance

5/5 Scorching Book Reviews