A Hilarious Wedding Romance Release!

You are cordially invited to the event of the season, the release of THIS WEDDING IS DOOMED, a continuity by Stephanie Draven, Jeannie Lin, Shawntelle Madison, and Amanda Berry. In these stories of matrimonial madness, unexpected couples find their happily ever after at a wedding that’s counting down to disaster…

Amazon: http://smarturl.it/doomed.amz

Barnes and Noble: http://smarturl.it/doomed.bn

Kobo: http://smarturl.it/doomed.kobo

Apple: http://smarturl.it/doomed.itunes

And now, for an excerpt from Stephanie Draven’s SEX, LIES AND KARMIC CATASTROPHES!

“I’ll tell you what I really think,” Blake said, tilting his head in a way that made the dark aura of mistrust around him evaporate into bright pink passion. “I really think you should let me kiss you.”

He leaned in, his handsome face coming closer and closer, until she was warmed by his minty breath. His arms wrapped around her and an instant later, she felt the familiar rush of warmth on her skin that left her helpless to do anything but yield to his mouth as it brushed against hers.

It was a soft, tender, kiss, the golden whiskers of his close-trimmed goatee tickling her face. Then the kiss deepened, charged with a giddy sexual energy that emboldened Penny to kiss back.

This kiss was nothing like the sweet kisses back in high school. This was a grown-up kiss, so intense it left her a little breathless, and sent her heart beating so fast she thought it might explode. It must have exploded, because she heard the sound. A dozen little pops that ended in a ka-boom!

Startled, Penny leapt to her feet, chilled by the cool air in the space between their bodies. “What was that?”

“Jumpy much?” he asked, touching the corner of his lip as if savoring the lingering taste of their kiss. “It sounded like champagne corks,” he said, rising to stalk toward her, his eyes still bright with lust. “It’s a wedding. This is a celebration, Penny.”

Yes, it was. He’d kissed her. He’d just kissed her. And she’d kissed him back. After all these years, they were kissing again, and it made her want to clink a crystal glass in a celebratory toast or spin around on her toes. But then she remembered that they were at someone else’s wedding…where she was the other woman.

“As best man, shouldn’t you, I dunno, be making sure everything’s okay?”

“No can do,” he said, with mock gravity.

“Why not?” He looked down at himself, to where his vest cut snugly over his dress shirt. “My bow tie is all undone and I don’t know how to tie it. Can’t let the guests see me looking slovenly.”

“C’mere,” she said with a nervous laugh, sliding her hands up to his collar and taking the ends of the black tie in hand. “I know what to do with it.”

“Oh, me too,” he said, suddenly tugging the satin free of her fingertips.

With a quick grab, Blake brought her hands together and wound the tie around her wrists—a deft move that both mesmerized her and stole her breath away.

Titillated, teased, and a tiny bit terrified, Penny asked, “What are you doing?”

“Trussing you up,” Blake said, tugging her bound hands over his neck, trapping himself in her embrace. “You don’t think I’m gonna let you get away from me as easily as I did back in high school, do you?”

Trivia & Wisdom from #RWA13

Conferences are both great and frustrating...because quite often three terrific panels occur at the same time. There's no way to soak in everything. So here's a list of things I learned at #RWA13, from trivial tidbits to seriously worthwhile wisdom:

Always ask for a room on a low floor. The elevator wait time disappears, and it won't kill you to walk a flight of stairs. Especially if you skip your planned gym time twice for a friend who really needs to talk.
 
Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Despite the misleading fun of long sessions at the bar every night, this is a business conference. Every interaction, no matter how small in a bathroom or elevator or luckily ending up next to them at lunch, is a potential job interview. You are selling yourself and your professionalism along with your book.

If your publisher is awesome and puts your book cover on an elevator wrap (even if your room is on the 1st floor!) you will find an excuse to walk past said elevator multiple times a day.

Does your chapter want to release an anthology as a fundraiser? If you license the rights through a publisher, your royalties are passive income and not taxed. If you self-pub it, you must pay taxes.

The annual Harlequin party at RWA is the stuff of legend. I've heard of people who wanted to contract with them just to get INTO the party. Well, all I'll say is that the hype - 100% correct. They had chefs hand-frosting cupcakes with a toppings bar. Amazing.


If your publisher asks you to participate in a spotlight, find out what time it is before agreeing. I kid. In actually, being a featured author in the Carina spotlight was one of the best things I did all week. At least half a dozen people stopped me throughout the conference to say how helpful my comments were. And that is what this conference is about: sharing your knowledge, and paying it forward.

Liliana Hart is amazing. Her success, and work ethic, are remarkable. If you are at all interested in ever self-publishing (or being a hybrid author, which was the newest, hottest trend this year), go see her speak. Or Bella Andre. Both will blow you away.

You will go home with many, many books. I was much more selective this year, and only came home with 38. Have stuffed all but four onto my bookshelves. Good thing we're moving so I have an excuse to buy another one!

Good newsletter tidbit - try to keep them under 600 words. Short and snappy, with only five sentence paragraphs, holds attention better.

There is apparently a huge problem with rabies in raccoons all along the Appalachians (learned that at the fascinating workshop by the CDC's Elite Disease Detective Corps).

Don't miss a single opportunity to brand yourself and your books (as illustrated by the awesome author of 1920s erotica, Stephanie Draven). Knowing your brand and sticking to it can make a huge difference.

Be sure to accept any and every offer from your publisher that could equal exposure. You can nap when you get home. Complain about the bags under your eyes (like I did, when I found out the interview I agreed to oh-so-happily would be videotaped), but suck it up and do it, because opportunities don't always repeat. Do everything. Talk to everyone.

Although the food may be questionable (I was served an identically sauced chicken breast three days in a row), go to the keynote luncheons. Go to the RITA awards. You will hear profoundly moving speeches that will motivate you for months to come. Kristan Higgins made me laugh uproariously, weep three separate times, and made me feel so unbelievably proud to share my gifts as a romance writer with the world.

Take lots of pictures. Because you and your chaptermates (waves wildly at MRW peeps) will never look so fabulous as at RWA.

Could I Be The Next Big Thing?

Everybody wants their fifteen minutes of fame. Writers want theirs every single time they've got a book release. So with book 2 in my Aisle Bound series releasing on March 11, I'm really hoping I could become The Next Big thing. Can't do it alone, though. We authors all help each other promote because we so deeply care about supporting each other, and the wonderful world of books. So thanks to Misty Waters for thinking of me for this blog hop! Now, onto my questions:

1. What is your working title of your next book (or story)?

The title is A Fine Romance, which also happens to be the name of the romance store featured in the story. So glad my publisher let me keep it!

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

When I lived in Chicago and saw the vibrant downtown neighborhoods open with every sort of retail day and night, I got the idea for a romance store. I was a wedding planner at the time, and thought it would be terrific to have a place people could duck into to grab a picnic basket full of treats, a card, and a heart shaped blanket to turn a ho-hum Wednesday into a special date night. Creating the store in my book required a lot less start-up capital than creating it for real.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary romance, with a strong bent toward romantic comedy.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

How did you know that I can't start writing until I've got physical models? My hero Sam is the darkly brooding and gorgeous Dylan McDermott, who I've lusted after ever since I saw his sexy chest in The Practice. My heroine Mira is based on Olivia Wilde.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Will she turn her back on a life of wealth for a sexy chocolatier – when she doesn’t even like chocolate? 

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

This book was part of a 6 book deal I executed with Carina Press prior to signing with my wonderful agent, Nephele Tempest of The Knight Agency.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

See the above question - when I signed that deal, I only had one completed book, and went into massive panic mode about the contracted deadlines looming in front of me. This book was nothing more than a one sentence idea at the time. So I gave myself five months to write it, but finished in a little less than four.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It has the humor of Victoria Dahl, the Chicago setting of Julie James, and the overall feel of Christie Ridgway and Louisa Edwards. I think. Or, those are just authors in my genre that I'd be thrilled to be mentioned in the same sentence as.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Um, the aforementioned contract? No, the honest answer is that I am a sucker for romance. I'll do anything to squeeze a little more of it out into the world, because I honestly believe it makes life better.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Mouth-watering descriptions of bakery treats and gourmet chocolate truffles. The feel of a whirlwind vacation to Chicago. A group of friends that make you laugh and want to join their tight circle. Oh, and truly awesome (if I do say so myself) sex with drizzled chocolate sauce.....
 

Here's the part where I tag five other talented, awesome authors who might just be The Next Big Thing:

Joya Fields writes edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense and spooky, sexy contemporar romances with a ghost-ly twist. Hereafter, the 2nd in her Hauntings at Inner Harbor series, recently released, and is a must-read!  Follow her on Twitter @JoyaFields

Amanda Usen (oh yes, another author in my genre I'd love to be compared to!) writes fabulously sexy foodie romances. You might as well scoop up both Luscious and Scrumptious at the same time, because I guarantee you'll want to read them both.  Follow her on Tiwtter @AmandaUsen

Stephanie Draven (hang on, I have to fan myself just thinking about this book) just released her 1920s erotica collection It Stings So Sweet. Seriously, the hottest book I've read in years. You'll want to download immediately to your e-reader, AND buy the paperback to keep next to your bed. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieDraven

Kimberly Kincaid's novella  Love on the Line releases next month. It puts a whole different meaning on 'heat in the kitchen', and I can't wait to read it! Follow her on Twitter @KimberlyKincaid

Natalie Damschroder is a fellow Carina Press author who writes strong heroines with even stronger heroes in her romantic adventures. If you need a little adrenaline surge to get you through these long, last days of winter, check out Behind the Scenes. Follow her on Twitter @NJDamschroder