Friday, December 28, 2012

New Release! RIDE 'EM HARD - Book Three in The Buckle Bunnies Series!

I'm so excited to announce that RIDE 'EM HARD, the third book in The Buckle Bunnies Series is out!

Like the other books in the series, this story is a hot cowboy menage, only this time it's about two women sharing a hunky bull rider by the name of Clay Winters. One of the women is a barrel racer named Britt Miles. If you read the first book in the series, RIDE OF HER LIFE, then you'll probably remember Britt as Daisy's wild and crazy friend who hooked up with Clay at the Rodeo Finals in Vegas. They were both a little worse for wear after their respective competitions, so when Clay runs into Britt again in Austin, he's eager for a re-ride. Thing is, Britt's out for a girls' night on the town with Shawna Barton, her best friend whom she hasn't seen in ages, and she isn't about to ditch her. That's not a problem for Clay, who's only too happy to show both of them a good time. While Britt and Shawna are both game for a sexy threesome, neither of them expect to the night to go where it does!


RIDE 'EM HARD

This night is going to change the meaning of best friends forever!

When Shawna Barton's best friend and barrel racer Britt Miles comes to town, she can't wait to have a girls' night out. The two haven't seen each other in years and the usually shy, reserved Shawna loves hearing about her friend's exploits, especially her most recent sexual encounter with handsome bull rider Clay Winters.

Things take a sexy turn after they run into the man himself a little while later. When he asks them to go dancing, the two women can't refuse and before Shawna knows it, she forgets about her inhibitions and is out there bumping and grinding on the floor with Britt and Clay.

The night gets even more interesting when Clay suggests they take their little threesome back to his place for the kind of ride only a cowboy knows how to give a girl - or in this case, two of them!


Excerpt:

Kissing Clay just moments after his mouth had been on Britt’s allowed Shawna to pick up a decidedly feminine flavor that could only belong to her best friend. She was tasting Britt's kiss. It was kinky, not to mention arousing. But not in that I-want-to-have-sex-with-my-best-girlfriend kind of way. It was simply exciting to know that she and Britt were sharing something so completely personal—a man.

That perfectly wicked thought pushed any remaining nerves she might have out of the way. She and Britt were going to have sex with Clay—and it was going to be amazing.

Shawna deepened the kiss, moving her mouth all over Clay's and sucking on his tongue. He tasted better than Belgian chocolate.
Abruptly remembering she was supposed to be sharing, Shawna pulled away and used a finger on Clay's chin to turn him back toward Britt. Her friend didn't hesitate to claim the handsome bull rider’s mouth in a scorching kiss, and Shawna was once again gifted with the opportunity of watching two people put on a seriously sexy show.

Had she and Clay looked that hot when they kissed?

Shawna shifted a little to give Britt more room, pressing herself against Clay's left hip while Britt occupied his right. She placed one hand on Clay’s muscular shoulder and the other on Britt's back so that the three of them were in a tight, comfy triangle of intimacy.

Britt passed Clay off to her with a throaty laugh. “Is it just me, or is it getting warm in here?”

Clay gave Shawna's lips a quick nibble before answering. “If you're that warm, maybe you should do something about it.”

Britt gave Shawna a smile that was part daring, part questioning. Her hands drifted to the buttons of her western shirt. “Maybe I should. What do you think, Shawna?”

Shawna knew that was her friend’s way of asking if she still wanted to go through with this. She returned Britt’s smile. “I definitely think you should. I think I should, too.”

Britt’s smile broadened. “Yippie ki yay, girlfriend.”

Shawna stepped back, undoing the buttons on her shirt while Britt did the same to her own. Clay’s gaze swept back and forth between them like a predator eyeing his prey. Shawna almost laughed at the hungry expression on his face—the poor guy didn't know where to look.
Shawna untucked her shirt from her jeans and finished with the buttons, then gave Britt a few seconds to catch up. She wanted to see Clay's reaction when they both pulled their shirts off at the same time.

Britt finished undoing her buttons, but held her shirt closed as she quirked a smile in Clay’s direction. “You sure you don't mind if we get comfortable, do you?”

He made a sound that was half laugh, half groan. “Feel free.”

Shawna noticed his voice was a little tight. A quick glance at his crotch told her that wasn't the only thing strained. They were going to have to get those jeans off him soon or he'd start losing blood flow to his lower extremities.

Britt flashed her a big smile, and nodded slightly. As if they were synchronized strippers, she and Britt slid their shirts off their shoulders and let them drop to the floor.

And wouldn't you know it—they’d both worn the same pink, lacy bra. Clay definitely noticed.

“You two sure you didn't plan this?”

Britt laughed. “No, we didn't plan this. You're just one lucky cowboy, I guess.”

“Damn right about that.”

With a growl, he slowly moved a hand up each of their sides to trace his fingers around the cups of their bras. Even though he wasn't close to Shawna’s nipples, they stiffened, poking against the silky material of her bra. Clay shifted his hand, making little circles over the fabric-covered nipple with his thumb. She moaned, unable to help herself.

Britt laughed softly. “Looks like Shawna has some sensitive nipples—make sure you remember that, Clay.”

“Oh, I'll remember. Don't worry.” He applied a little more pressure with his thumb, eliciting another moan, deeper this time. “I wonder how much louder she'll moan when I suckle on them?”

“Why don't we find out,” Britt suggested.

Shawna's eyes popped open as she felt fingers working the clasp of her bra behind her back. How had Clay gotten his hand back there when he didn’t even seem to be reaching around her? As her bra slipped off her shoulders, she realized it was Britt who’d unsnapped the clasp.
Shawna resisted the urge to give into her shyness and cover her breasts as her bra fell away. Her nipples tightened almost painfully as Clay and Britt gazed at her. The appreciation in their eyes made her pussy gush with desire. She almost blushed at the thought of what they’d say when they pulled off her panties and discovered how wet she was.

Clay cupped her breasts, his thumbs and forefingers coming up to tweak her nipples. “You have beautiful breasts, Shawna.”

“Mmm,” she breathed. She probably should have thanked him, but it was difficult to talk with him doing what he was doing.

He squeezed a little harder and she gasped out loud. Clay chuckled. “Definitely sensitive. I'd love to suck on these beautiful nipples right now—you okay with that?”

Why the heck wouldn't she be? Shawna opened her mouth to say yes when she suddenly remembered Britt. She looked at her friend, hoping Britt wouldn’t think she was hogging Clay again, but Britt was biting her lip, her attention focused on what Clay was doing. She must have felt Shawna's eyes on her because she looked up quickly. Her face colored when she realized Shawna had caught her watching.

“Do you mind if Clay sucks on my nipples?” Britt had been letting her have most of the bull rider’s attention since it was her first time with him. She didn't want to take advantage of her best friend's hospitality. Shawna smiled. “I promise not to tire out his mouth too much.”

Britt laughed. “I happen to know for a fact that Clay's mouth can go all night, so have at it.”

Shawna turned back to Clay. “I guess you have your answer, cowboy. Do your best.”

She expected him to bend his head and gently take a nipple in his lips, but apparently that wasn't Clay's style.

Instead, he took her shoulders firmly in his hands and backed her up until she was pressed against the wall. Then he captured both her wrists in one of his big hands and pinned them above her head.

Okay, that was…different. But definitely arousing.

Giving her a lazy smile, Clay slowly cupped her breast, lifting it up as he leaned forward to wrap his lips around the very tip of her nipple.

“Oh, God,” she breathed.

Britt had been right—Clay's mouth was divine.

As he suckled forcefully on her achingly stiff nipple, nipping with his teeth and laving with his tongue, she writhed uncontrollably. Now she knew why Clay had pinned her hands to the wall—to keep her from getting away. Not that she wanted to get away, of course.

Clay released that nipple and moved smoothly to her other breast, giving equal attention to that one as his hand continued to sweetly torture the now very sensitized tip of the breast he’d just teased.
Britt came over to lean against the wall beside her, watching with obvious interest as Clay ravaged her nipples and breasts. She leaned close to Shawna's ear.

“Was I right?” she whispered. “That mouth of his is pure magic, isn't it?”

“Mm-hmm.” She cooed as Clay flicked the tip of her nipple with his tongue, then drew it into his mouth again. “I could let him do this all night.”

Clay held her pinned to the wall for so long while he suckled first one breast, then the other, that Shawna thought he might do just that. The hands holding her wrists weren't just controlling her now—they were holding her up. Her knees had turned to Jello.

By the time Clay finally lifted his head to look at her with those sinfully sexy, dark eyes of his, he had to slip an arm around her to help her keep her feet. Good heavens, she was panting like she'd just run a race.

Shawna tipped her head back against the wall and regarded him from under her lashes. “That was amazing.”

Clay gave her a wicked grin. “That was just foreplay. Wait til I get you completely naked. Then comes the amazing part.”


Buy it at Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/Ride-Hard-Buckle-Bunnies-ebook/dp/B00AP5YOK2/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355757688&sr=1-3&keywords=Paige+Tyler+Ride#_

Buy it at All Romance eBooks!
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ride039emhardthebucklebunniesseries-1026067-144.html

Buy it at Barnes & Noble!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ride-em-hard-paige-tyler/1113982005?ean=2940016093895


Happy Reading!


*hugs*
Paige

Sexy Romantic Fiction!

http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com
http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Fifty Shades of “A Naughty Christmas Carol” or How I turned Scrooge into a Sexy Alpha Male



I’ve always loved the Dickens’ classic about Scrooge and his scratchy quill pen.

But what if Scrooge worked on Wall Street and used a smart phone instead?

Sounds good, I thought, and set my fingers to tapping on my keyboard. I knew the story by heart, even the dialogue with Scrooge complaining about giving his clerk the day off on Christmas and sending the poor to workhouses. 

But we live in a techie world with faxes, GPS, and Twitter. I had to update the story. And don’t forget, I wanted my Scrooge to be a sexy hunk. So I let my imagination run wild.

Here, let me show you:

Imagine you’re rushing around doing last minute Christmas shopping and you run smack into the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen. Tall, broad shoulders, muscular chest filling out a well-cut $5,000 suit. Silky pin-striped tie, platinum cuff links. His deep blue eyes casting bold glances your way that your mama would never approve of. But you do.

He looks you over like he wants to strip off your clothes and bend you over his knee and spank you.

Oh, my.

“Do you work around here?” you ask casually, loving the way he smells when he leans over to see if you’re okay. You nearly faint when you get a whiff of his aristocratic masculine scent. Sweet tobacco, musk. Cinnamon? Who cares? He smells divine.

“I work on Wall street,” he says, smiling.

A banker, nice.

It’s hard to get a taxi this time of day, he says, so he’ll send you home in his limo.

You can’t believe your luck. Is he one of those sexy billionaires you’ve been reading about?

You bet. You’re hooked. A Christmas present in your silk stocking and it’s only Christmas Eve.

He gives you his business card and invites you to have holiday brunch with him in his penthouse.

You’re beside yourself with glee as you rub your thighs together, lovely contractions making you hum a jingly tune.

Then you read his card:
Ebenezer Scrooge.

No, no, no

I hit the Delete button.

It ain’t gonna work.

No matter how handsome, how sexy, how rich, who’s going to fall in love with a guy named Ebenezer? Dickens’ curmudgeon with his ill-fitting suit and stovepipe hat isn’t exactly cover model material. No way would you want him swinging his cane over your butt.

Therein lies the rub: How was I going to make my Scrooge sexy?

And stay true to the Dickens’ classic?

A timeless story of the hero seeing the error of his ways.

That’s what we love about the story, watching him change. I wanted to take that idea a step further and write about an alpha male gone wrong who finds his way home through the love of a beautiful woman.

First, Scrooge needed a new name.

Nick Radnor.

“Nick had a cast iron stomach and tight abs. He was tall, handsome and could wheel and deal with the best of them. Talk on his cell to his bankers with one hand and find his way under the elastic band on his secretary’s black silk panties with the other.”

I had to make the other characters sexy as well. What if his faithful clerk, Mr. Cratchit, was a gorgeous blonde secretary named Jinger?

Standing in the doorway, the six-foot tall blonde wore red high heels, a black garter belt and black stockings with a red-and-white striped candy cane strapped to her thigh. She wore nothing else but a leather collar around her neck studded with rhinestones and jingle bells.”

I decided my modern Scrooge would also have a beautiful fiancée named Monique:

“Monique Ashford had the face of an angel and the figure of a model. Came from an old Newport family…Her pink babydoll top barely concealed her full breasts and her tight white panties pinched the crack of her ass…”

Nick frequents Mamie’s, a gentleman’s club in the financial district. Since I write erotic romance, I made it a BDSM club:

She [Mamie] first strapped on her plastic stilettos and diamond choker back in the Reagan years when she opened up shop in the Silk Stocking district in a swank six-room apartment once owned by a famous madam during the Depression. Business was good and her “private parties” soon began to draw customers from Wall Street…She schooled her girls in the art of the tease as well as how to walk, talk and bend over with grace.”

Marley the Ghost became Nick’s business partner, Charlie Harris, who died in the arms of a beautiful woman at Mamie’s.

A jovial but debauched son of a gun who played the game hard and liked his women rough.”

And we can’t forget the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future: three sexy female spirits with great bods and killer wardrobes. Not to mention magical powers.

Once I had my cast of characters (yes, I have a Tiny Tim character, too), now what?

I wanted to stay true to the Dickens’ classic, so I opened the story on Christmas Eve in Nick’s office. It’s late and Nick is working overtime when Jinger reminds him it’s time for holiday sex. No romance, just sex. And no promotion for Jinger either, Nick says. Not this year.

Nick sounds like a heartless one-percenter, doesn’t he? Just like Scrooge. I had to find out why Nick is so cold-hearted. It goes back to Christmas Eve when he was a kid and his corporate raider father gave him coal in his stocking every year. That’s why Nick hates Christmas.

Now we’re getting somewhere. We also meet Nick as a young man and discover that he wasn’t always a greedy businessman.

He’s cold and heartless now and he’s about to find out where that path is taking him when he convinces Mamie to open up her club for him late on Christmas Eve.

The old gal adores Nick, and not just his generous tips. Mamie sees something in him that no one else does: he’s a lost little boy. She also knows that Nick is still grieving over the sudden death of his business partner last Christmas Eve, Charlie.

When Charlie’s ghost shows up after a night of wild drinking and whipping, we’re off and running. The three ghosts make their appearance just like in the classic story. Three sexy babes who take Nick on a whirlwind tour of his past, present, and future with each episode tied to his beautiful fiancée, Monique.

Monique is the anchor in my story. She never stops believing in her man, no matter what. It is through her eyes that we fall in love with Nick, all the while hoping that he wakes up before it’s too late and he loses everything.

Including her.

“A Naughty Christmas Carol” was a blast for me to write. And yes, it has a happy ending. It’s an erotic and sexy 50 Shades of Grey Scrooge with three sexy female ghosts trying to save the soul of a Wall Street trader on this naughty Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Check out my Naughty Christmas Carol book video and a naughty excerpt on my website at:

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Happy Holidays

from my house to yours!

(No this isn't really my house. LOL. It's a photo set from Greenfield Village/Henry Ford Museum at their Holiday Nights event. The costumes, though, are really ours.)

Whatever holiday you celebrate this season, may it be merry and bright. If you're in the mood to curl up with a holiday romance this season, I have a few you may want to check out.

For a steamy but not erotic contemporary romance, my very first published book is still available. The Cowboy's Christmas Bride, from Wild Rose Press.

If you like your romance a little sexier and more magical, check out Yuletide Enchantment at Ellora's Cave.

And if you want to really heat up the holidays, I might suggest the Mistletoe Magic anthology (or ebook series) by myself, Desiree Holt and Regina Carlysle.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Looking for some Sexy Christmas Romances to read?!

Looking for Some Sexy Christmas Romances?!  Well, I have a couple!  One is hot and erotic, the other is sweet and sexy!  Hope you'll check them out!


SEXY SECRET SANTA

I love writing holiday theme stories, especially Christmas ones, so when I came up with the idea for a story about a hero and heroine who get locked in their office building for the night, I thought why not have them end up there because they sneaked off during the office Christmas party for a little nookie and some sexy spanking?!


She's going to get exactly what she wants for Christmas!
 
Hollie Kerr has lusted after hot architectural engineer Dirk Fraser ever since they started working together, so she’s thrilled to discover he’s her Secret Santa at the office Christmas party. What she doesn’t know is that her friend has led him to believe Hollie prefers a good spanking over a boring, old present any day.

Though Hollie is surprised when Dirk put her over his knee, she can’t pass up the opportunity to get spanked by a hunky guy like him. Her upturned bottom isn’t the only thing that gets hot, however, and soon they’re having sex right there in the office. By the time they come up for air, the party has wrapped up, their coworkers have left and the building is locked up tight.

What’s a girl supposed to do when she’s trapped all night in the office with a gorgeous guy? Have sex in all the places she’s ever fantasized about, of course!


Read an Excerpt!
http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com/BooksSexySecretSanta.html


Buy it Online!
http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com/BooksSexySecretSanta.html



SANTA'S WAYWARD ELF!

I love writing holiday romances, especially Christmas-themed ones, but when my hubby (who is also my writing partner!) suggested we write a story about one of Santa's Elves, I was like, "You're kidding, right?" Silly of me, actually. I mean, we pulled off a zombie romance in DEAD SEXY, which turned out to be an EPIC Award Finalist, by the way. Hubby still had to do some convincing, but he did it, and as we outlined the story, I completely fell in love with the heroine Sosie, a guileless elf who doesn't fit in up at the North Pole and ends up stranded in NYC on Christmas Eve where she meets and falls head over heels for a hunky cop. I think you'll fall in love with her, too!

Happy Reading!




Being one of Santa’s elves isn’t all sugar plums and candy canes.

At least not for Sosie. Taller than the other elves, she’s always had a problem fitting in at the North Pole, so when the transport sled she’s on breaks down in New York City on Christmas Eve, she can’t resist slipping away to explore the world of the “big people.” While she’s having fun, the transport sled takes off, leaving the naïve elf stranded.

Fortunately, handsome police detective Derek Clayton comes to her rescue, offering to let her stay at his apartment. Having heard horror stories about the big people, Sosie is both surprised and relieved to meet such a kind, sweet man. Not to mention one so gorgeous and well-built.

Even though Sosie expects the North Pole to send out a search party any day, she finds herself falling for Derek. She desperately wants to tell him she’s an elf, but knows he’ll never believe her. When the lies and omissions start to pile up, Derek can draw only one conclusion—Sosie is working for the mob boss he’s been after for years.

Just when things seem like they can’t get any worse, the chief of elfin security shows up to drag Sosie back to the North Pole. How is a runaway elf supposed to overcome a determined security elf, dangerous mobsters and a suspicious boyfriend all while keeping her pointed ears a secret?


Read an Excerpt!
http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com/BooksSantasWaywardElf.html

Buy it Online!
http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com/BooksSantasWaywardElf.html



Happy Reading and Merry Christmas!


*hugs*
Paige

Sexy Romantic Fiction!

http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com
http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Christmas A-List!

I love the holidays. Love ‘em! And it’s not just the gifts, music and food…well, c’mon, they are a huge part of the equation but not all. I love the beauty of the decorations—all the lights make the world look like a beautiful, mystical fairy land. Then there’s the good cheer…except for the cashiers at Wal-Mart who give you the evil eye and Judas kiss when you come in shopping on Christmas Eve at 4 p.m. Not…that I…do it… Ahem. But for a little over a month, people are kinder, happier and more giving. It’s a time for family traditions, new and old. Sigh. I love it… So here are some other Christmas favorites! Do you recognize some?

 Favorite Christmas movie: All time favorite is “A Christmas Story”. Deck the halls with boughs of holly! Frah-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah! But my recent favorite is “A Princess for Christmas”. I mean, what’s better than a handsome honest-to-God prince falling in love with a commoner from Buffalo, NY, a castle, a crotchety old duke and precocious kids who melt his heart? And throw in the snobby fiancée who is shown for the witch she is by the sheer shining goodness of the beautiful would-be princess? Yeah, love that movie. Go, Hallmark! 

Favorite Christmas meal to prepare: Stuffed pork chops. Of course since I am domestically-challenged, it also my favorite meal for Thanksgiving, Easter and Father’s Day…

 Favorite Christmas song: It’s a toss-up between the Jackson 5’s “The Christmas Song” and Bing Crosby and David Bowie’s “The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth”. Classics!! Never fails to have me singing and in the Christmas spirit!
 

Favorite Christmas memory: I remember on Christmas Eve my sister and I would pile our stuffed animals and dolls around us in bed while we waited for Santa Claus. But first we would bake cookies, watch “A Christmas Carol” and write our letters to Santa.

Favorite “A Christmas Carol”: This is a hard one! I love just about every version of “A Christmas Carol” there is—from black-and-white, to musicals to “A Diva’s Christmas” with Vanessa Williams! But my favorite is the 1951 adaptation with Alastair Sim. He was one of the best Scrooges! Cold, miserly and full of contempt. But when he changed…I believed his joy in Christmas! Plus this version followed the book more closely than others! It is the best!
 
 
Favorite Christmas decoration: Hands down my Christmas village! I’ve been collecting the pieces for seven or eight years and it’s huge now! I look at it and imagine living in a place like it one day…
 
Christmas village
 
So those are my Christmas favorites!! What are yours? Share!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Holiday Traditions and well, SEX

By: Casey Crow

 Today I decided to pull out my debut, Can't Fake This, since it's the perfect HOT read for Christmas!
 
 
A divorcee ready to reenter the dating world, Anna Ryan is determined to be the best “product on the market,” which requires a lot more experience so she propositions sexy police officer Chase Harris to teach her how to make hot, passionate love as opposed to just having sex. He takes it a step further, instructing each lesson based on The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Anna and Chase know what will keep them busy for the Twelve Days of Christmas. What about you? Do you have any special holiday traditions for you or your family? What's your favorite? I love the craziness of Christmas Eve at my dad's with all the grandkids tearing into to gifts all at once. I also love the excitement of my children when they wake me up at six a.m. on Christmas morning, and I won't let them go downstairs until I can get down there with camera in hand.

 I'd love to hear your thoughts. Merry Christmas!

 Buy Kindle version on Amazon

Buy all versions at Loose, Id.



Can’t Fake This Excerpt

Follow on Twitter caseyecrow and Facebook Casey Crow

 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Christmas Holiday Shopping Deals at Mamie's Gentlemen's Club



Mamie’s has the best girls in town ready to fulfill a gentleman’s every desire…


As I check out all the Holiday shopping deals online and at the mall, I’m wondering what my sexy Scrooge hero, Nick Radnor from A Naughty Christmas Carolis doing this holiday season to fill his Christmas stocking.

You can bet Mr. One-Percenter is not fighting the crowds at Walmart or Best Buy.

No, no. Not this hunky Wall Street stock trader who thinks nothing of dropping $5,000 for a suit or a measly $3,000 for a bottle of champagne.

I imagine Nick is at MAMIE’S, his Gentlemen’s Club, checking out the girls for his, um, favorite pastime…BDSM.

Wouldn’t it be fun if the girls at Mamie’s ran Holiday Sales?

I think so. So here you go. MAMIE’S Christmas Deals just for you Nick Radnors out there looking for personalized Holiday BDSM treats:

Two pairs of girls wearing Christmas stockings and nothing else for the price of one.

Half off on caning.

Private “Strip-Mas” show at Midnight for early shoppers only.

Sexy Christmas suckers wearing cherry-flavored lipstick giving blow jobs at 75 percent off.

And here is my favorite:

Christmas comes but once a year, but at Mamie’s, we guarantee you’ll come more than once, then come again!

Happy Holidays and have a Cruel Yule!!

Jina

Check out "A Naughty Christmas Carol" Buy Links for all e-readers at my website: www.JinaBacarr.com 
Christmas Novella at $2.99 Amazon, B&N, ARe, Kobo, iTunes, Sony, Diesel

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Arrr! or not?

At a critique group meeting last night one of the guys questioned the bit where my werewolf hero gets a little fangy at the scent of his (potential future) mate. This got me thinking about romance heroes in general. We don't always want the same things in our fiction that we want in real life, do we? Pirates, for instance, are popular in fiction. In reality? They probably weren't exactly nice guys. They'd be away from home most of the time. And honestly how often did they bathe? Ick. Same goes for cowboys. They might be perfect gentlemen, but notice how in fiction none of them ever chew tobacco or smell like horse poo? And then there's the idea of the "big bad alpha hero." In real life, would you want to live with someone who had to be right every single time? Who made every decision? I don't think so.

And you know what? I think that's all right. Even the most realistic of contemporary romances is, in a sense, a fantasy. Throwing in werewolves and vampires and more Regency noblemen than would actually fit in London only makes it a little more obvious. All fiction is essentially fantasy, in that some hardworking author sat down and made it up. And she made it up to entertain readers, by taking them away from their own problems for a few hours. That's why I write, anyway.

So give me nice alpha heroes and non-smelly pirates. It's all right by me. Yes, a touch of reality can be funny or poignant, so add them in when it works, but don't try too hard. It's okay to enjoy the fantasy.

What do you think? Is there a romance hero you love? Can't stand? Something you'd like to see more of, or less? I'd love to know what you think.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Cold Winter Nights

There's something appealing about a cold winter night, a dark, desolate cabin with a wood stove or fireplace to keep the chill out of the air.

Living in a subtropical climate all my adult life, I sometimes forget that this is actually a reality for a lot of people. And it's not all that romantic when that's your day-to-day life.

Until you throw in the desperate need to share body heat, the smell of wood smoke and silence of a snow-covered landscape.

What if you add the desperation of a fugitive on the run? A last-ditch effort to prove her innocence. Let's paint the rest of the picture with a hot-as-sin lawman keeping a prisoner in his charge safe...and warm...and close.

I have one (and only one) book with a snowbound scenario. The idea for Game of Smoke and Mirrors came to me a couple years ago when I was watching the news about a blizzard in the northeastern US a couple years ago. I'm sure those affected by the storm found nothing romantic about the situation, but being a romance writer, that's my job. I suppose we romanticize a lot of situations that others wouldn't!

What about you? Do you find the romance in otherwise not-so-nice situations? Do tell...


Sunday, December 2, 2012

A day late and a dollar short...again! Argh!

I'm a full time writer with limited obligations outside the home...so why is it I still can't seem to get everything done? I missed my blog here yesterday, and, Internet wide, I only blog two or three times a month.*Head desk*

Right now, my roomba is vacuuming the living room. That should free me up to do even more. I require a certain word count to make sure I'm doing "my job." (1,000 words per day Mon through Fri) and yet this weekend, I'm playing catch-up. Yes, I'm working on Sat and Sun this week. I haven't opened my WIP yet and it's already 10:20. What kind of employer would put up with that kind of slackerish behavior? I should fire myself!



WTF, Ash? Ohhhhh, yeah. It's the holidays.

I have very few people to shop for since my in-laws decided to go all Secret Santa. You'd think that would free up even more time, but noooo... I see a small bubble of time and decided, "I'll make gifts for my entire street team!" In other words, I bring this shit on myself. *sigh*

Blogging is no different. I hear people both praise and curse blogs. I have a love-hate relationship with them too. On the one hand, it's nice to be able to get an entire thought out there without worrying about somebody interrupting to say, "Oh, hey...that reminds me. Would you consider..." Ack! I probably will consider whatever the request, and there goes more me time.

Now, it's twitter. (Ash crosses arms and pouts.) I have a big, fat new series release in April, so I need to build my Twitter followers NOW. I was recently told what I needed to do and I've been doing it. What a pain. I'm probably not doing it right. What else is new? Ahhhh, yes. Jenni.

My new assistant Jenni was hired to help me with this madness. I hope I don't overwhelm her like I must have done with my old assistant. Now I only hear from Shelly when it's to "like" the posts where I dump another assignment on poor Jenni. I picture her spitting raspberries on her monitor and gleefully chanting, "Neener, neener, neener..."

So, okay. I struck my keyboard for a few minutes and have some words to post on the blog. They're not pretty or particularly coherent, but Hell, what do you want from me? I'm completely at my wit's end. Reminding me, I'd better get into that WIP while I'm still feeling snarky, so I can let my characters blow off steam for me.

I'm excusing everyone from leaving comments today. This is probably happening to you too. Just take a deep breath and send a kind thought in my direction.