Monday, July 31st, 2017
Archive for July, 2017
Monday, July 31st, 2017
I can’t believe another month has flown by! The first week of July was so totally fun and refreshing! I spent it at a retreat with some author friends of mine, and while my page count wasn’t huge, it was worth it just to be with other authors who “get” how strange this calling is. 🙂
I’m ending the month feeling odd. I’m tiring fast. My head feels heavy. My thoughts are hard to corral. I’m sure it’s the stupid heat. As much as I love the summer because I love to swim, I’m ready for cooler weather. I’m housebound for most of the day because I just melt when I step outside.
Anyways, I just wanted to jump onto my blog to remind you about the stories I’ve released this month—two brand new, two refurbished treasures, plus a collection I’m proud to be a part of.
The refurbs of Lone Star Lovers will end in August. No new stories have been written, but then again, that depends on what you might like to see me do next. Are you ready for more lusty, sharing Texas men? I’m thinking about writing a story about step-siblings inside a ranching family, finally taking the plunge. What do you think? Or how about a crossover between my Uncharted SEALs and Lone Stars, with a SEAL who returns, knowing his former lover is married to his best friend… Let me know!
New in July!
Happy Ever After for a SEAL and a bounty hunter requires true dedication…A former military dog handler, now Montana bounty hunter, Jamie Burke’s still trying to adjust to life with a live-in boyfriend. With a testy personality, Jamie’s circle of friends is very small, and includes one very loyal canine best friend. Which is how she likes it. She also likes uncomplicated, but her feelings for her boyfriend, Sky Reynolds, are anything but simple.
With ex-SEAL Sky away on a weeks-long mission, she jumps at the chance to work with the Charter Group again, happy to do anything to keep her too busy to worry about him. She heads to Mexico with her dog Tessa to be part of a team working to discover the whereabouts of a cache of weapons stolen from the Army. She’s thrilled when Sky meets her at the airport.
However, Sky’s not happy Jamie’s in the middle of this op. Having nearly lost her months before, he’s going to stick close. Not a tough job it turns out, since they’re staking out a beachside mansion from the mansion next door. Things heat up as they reconnect, but Jamie and Sky both worry about their future, until a cartel arms dealer arrives and bigger worries mount…
* * * * *
Sometimes a cowboy needs a little help—or three brothers—to snare a wife…
Sam Logan’s boys have a bad rep in Two Mule, Texas. Most of it earned. When it becomes clear his foster sons won’t settle down without a nudge from him, he issues his challenge. Find a wife…
The oldest, Johnny, already had his eye on Mean Ellie Harker. Sam’s challenge just gave him the gumption to ask her out. However, before he makes his move, the twins kidnap Ellie from under his nose. Now, he has to compete with three brothers for the woman he wants.
Ellie thought her prospects were drying up until Johnny Logan finally untangled his tongue and asked her out. When his brothers kidnap her and take her to the ranch, she’s furious…then intrigued by the thought of four men bent on showing her what being their’s would be like.
* * * * *
In On Fire, today’s top erotic romance authors don’t skimp on love or lust–they are entwined in tales that will make pulses pound and hearts race. Bestselling editor Rachel Kramer Bussel takes us inside the passions of couples who go above and beyond in their pursuit of sexual and romantic satisfaction, exploring the racy to the outrageous during their many arousing adventures. You’ll treasure the sex toy exploration in “Every Second of It,” find paranormal pleasure in “Masquerade,” and be transported to “A Place As Beautiful As This.” You’ll go “Beyond the Blindfold,” find out what lurks in the “Art of Darkness,” and delight in discovering “The Sweetest Thing.” These steamy stories by Kristina Wright, Delilah Devlin, Giselle Renarde, Kay Jaybee, Victoria Blisse, Jade A. Waters and others are perfect intimate reads to enjoy with your lover or for your own pleasure.
* * * * *
Sophie Keaton’s love life is a disaster. Too busy with her art gallery and weekends spent with the Army National Guard, she rarely has time for a date. Her orderly existence takes a twist when her Army National Guard unit gets a new Company Commander, Captain Gage Jenkins, who dislikes the idea of women in the Army, particularly her, and proceeds to make her weekend drill miserable. To bolster her self-esteem, Sophie finally takes her love life in hand and goes out on a date. Unfortunately, her date ends up in the emergency room with an allergic reaction to her cat. Her mooch of a brother, Bryce, feels sorry for her and offers to take her out to pick the “perfect man”. When she finds Mr. Perfect, she spends a passionate night with him, but awakens to discover that Mr. Perfect is none other than her new commanding officer!
As a member of the Texas Billionaire’s club, Gage has watched every one of his college buddies tie the knot. Although he’d met every challenge the group set in the early days, he resisted the last one—finding the perfect wife. Now, with his hands full expanding his construction business and whipping his new Army Guard command into shape, he has plenty of excuses to avoid that particular commitment. However, when he moves next door to one very attractive, very sexy woman, he finds himself deliciously distracted. When he discovers that woman is the same klutzy lieutenant he’s been dogging from day one, he’s not angry. He’s amused. And intrigued.
When the pair are challenged by their warring pets and matchmaking sergeants, the rules of Love and War get complicated…
* * * * *
Two bad boy cowboys need a little tutoring to learn how to love…
Fathers know to keep their daughters close whenever Sam Logan’s twin sons come to town. Those two hell-raisers have a bad rep in Two Mule, Texas. All of it earned. When it becomes clear his youngest sons won’t settle down without another nudge, Sam reissues his challenge. Find a wife…
There’s only been one woman who could hold their attention for more than one night, but she’s been out of reach. Their former teacher’s a little too worried about a pesky morals clause to let them close. But they’re older now and ready to prove to her that sometimes rules are meant to be broken…
Molly Pritchet thinks her path is predetermined: to always be a child’s teacher, never a mother or a wife. Until the two boys who tempted her way back when crash back into her life. Overwhelmed by yearnings she’s long suppressed, she’s swept along on a tide of forbidden desires.
Coming in August!
I have four releases planned for August, but I’m still waiting on the cover for one, so for now, feast your eyes on these three! If you’ve been waiting on a glimpse of the other polyamorous relationships in Two Mule, there’s a sweet scene at the end of Family Values… You can click on Reined In and Family Values and pre-order those two. I’m not done writing With His SEAL Team, Part 5 just yet. But hint: Mom and Dad are coming for a visit!
Sunday, July 30th, 2017
We’ve all heard at least part of the famous quote by John Donne, a English clergyman and poet who lived from 1573-1631.
“No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
My drakons tend to want to be islands onto themselves. Ezra, the hero of Drakon’s Plunder, even owns a private island where he lives by himself. Being an introvert, I get that. I’m often happier by myself reading, writing, walking, and doing whatever it is a do in the run of a day. But even being an introvert, I know it’s impossible to live in the world without ties. We all have family or friends we’re close too. Maybe not many, but there are those people who have a profound affect on our lives every day.
Sometimes the people who touch our lives aren’t those we’ve actually met. The words of an author can move or inspire us. A painter or artist can create a work that makes us feel some deep emotion or even question the world we live in. An actor or actress on television or the big screen may bring to life a story that stirs us in some unfathomable way. Or perhaps we hear a news account or witness a world event that forever changes us.
The point is, all of us are in this journey called life together. And even a reclusive drakon had ties to the world. (And since he’s been around for about 4000 years, maybe he even met John Donne.)
Drakon’s Plunder
Blood of the Drakon, Book 3
Life is not going well for archaeologist Sam Bellamy. She’s stuck in the middle of the ocean on a salvage boat with people who want her dead. It wasn’t her gift for being able to sense objects of power that got her here, rather her need to make a secret society called the Knights of the Dragon pay for killing her mentor. Sam doesn’t believe in dragons, but the Knights do, and if she can get one of the sacred artifacts they’re searching for away from them, she’ll consider it payback.
Ezra Easton is content to run his marine salvage company and live alone on his private island. He may be a four-thousand-year-old water drakon, but he’s civilized enough to know just because he pulls an injured woman from the ocean, doesn’t mean he gets to keep her…
When she wakes up, she has a few tall tales to share, and it seems the Knights are after her. But this drakon won’t give up his treasure.
BUY LINKS:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072KF3JVT
Entangled: https://entangledpublishing.com/drakon-s-plunder.html
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drakons-plunder-nj-walters/1126552516?ean=9781640631724
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/drakons-plunder/id1247580768
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/drakon-s-plunder
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072KF3JVT
About the Author
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
Visit me at:
Website: https://www.njwalters.com
Blog: https://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/awakeningdesires/info
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters
Saturday, July 29th, 2017
In Two Mule, Texas there’s something in the water. When men desire the same woman, they don’t fight each other for the right to be hers. They share.
My latest “new” release is Two Wild for Teacher, the sixth book in a series about this odd little town. I love this story, not just because this continues the story of the Logan brothers, who are sexy as hell, but because of their daddy, Sam, who’s missing the love of his life…
I promise, there will be smiles, sighs, and maybe a tear at the end!
Two Wild is the 6th book in the series, but the only story you have to read before this one is Four-Gone Conclusion, because that’s where I introduced the Logan boys and their father Sam.
If you’re curious about the rest, just click on the covers!
Contest
For a chance to win one of the stories in the array of 6 stories above (not Two Wild!), answer me this:
What one feature (eyes, butt, hair, etc.) draws your eye first when you’re meeting someone you think you might consider as a romantic partner?
Two Wild For Teacher
Two bad boy cowboys need a little tutoring to learn how to love…
Fathers know to keep their daughters close whenever Sam Logan’s twin sons come to town. Those two hell-raisers have a bad rep in Two Mule, Texas. All of it earned. When it becomes clear his youngest sons won’t settle down without another nudge, Sam reissues his challenge. Find a wife…
There’s only been one woman who could hold their attention for more than one night, but she’s been out of reach. Their former teacher’s a little too worried about a pesky morals clause to let them close. But they’re older now and ready to prove to her that sometimes rules are meant to be broken…
Molly Pritchet thinks her path is predetermined: to always be a child’s teacher, never a mother or a wife. Until the two boys who tempted her way back when crash back into her life. Overwhelmed by yearnings she’s long suppressed, she’s swept along on a tide of forbidden desires.
Excerpt from Two Wild for Teacher…
Sam Logan couldn’t sleep. He had one last chore to take care of. One he’d been putting off. No time like now to get ’er done.
He walked softly on bare feet down the long hallway, past the master bedroom he’d given up when Johnny married Ellie and moved both his new wife and his brother Killian into the large room to share it. He shook his head, a glimmer of a smile tugging at his mouth. Sounds that hadn’t been heard in this old house in over three long years echoed up and down the hallway.
Sexy sounds—happy sighs and laughter, slick slaps, an occasional yelp from Ellie. He could only imagine what his two oldest boys were doing to the girl. But they all seemed happy with the arrangement, and both men were gaga for Mean Ellie Harker. Who would have thought one simple pronouncement would produce such lightning-fast results?
It’s time you boys found yerselves a wife.
That’s all it had taken. Sam had disappeared for a long weekend to attend a cattle auction and give them time to think about what he’d said about what was missing from all their lives, only to return and find all four men looking as though they’d been wrung through a wringer and put up wet.
His sons hadn’t told him everything, but he’d heard the rumors—from Ole Win at the diner, who’d witnessed how the oldest two had swarmed Ellie like bees around a hive, and then from Wade Luckadoo, whose daughter had witnessed Ellie’s kidnapping by the twins but for some inexplicable reason hadn’t called the sheriff.
So, they hadn’t wooed Ellie in a traditional way. Didn’t much matter to Sam. A pretty woman stood in the kitchen every morning, a happy smile on her face, and all the boys had perked up, falling over themselves to please her.
These days, meals were an event. Ellie had been running the town’s only diner and knew how to cook a mean chili, sear steaks to perfection, and bake glorious pies.
The pies had become a bit of a joke in the house over the last month. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday, July 28th, 2017
After publishing six books in the Perfectly Series, my next goal was to be part of a boxed set. In May 2017, I joined the Tropical Tryst Boxed Set managed by Nicole Morgan of Romance Collections. Boxed sets can have different goals like exposure to new readers or aiming to make a best-sellers list, but what I’ve enjoyed most about being in a boxed set with 24 other authors is learning about different marketing strategies.
What’s cool is that each author seems to have a “go-to” method to promote. One author posts to 25 different Facebook groups twice a week, another writes tweets and Facebook posts. Some of the authors have made cool graphics and videos incorporating all the covers in the set. Other authors have made HeadTalker campaigns, which are group tweets and FB posts. Someone started a Tropical Tryst Instagram account, someone set up a newsletter swap, and someone else organized Tropical Tryst swag giveaways. I planned a mini blog hop, and we’ll be guests on over thirty different websites including USA Today HEA – all for free (that’s my specialty :D). I love sharing marketing and promotion efforts with other authors. Writing is usually pretty solitary but being in a boxed set creates a really fun camaraderie.
The Tropical Tryst Boxed Set features 25 brand new sexy romances set in hot and tropical settings. Escape with us for only 99 cents. It’s available for pre-order now and will be released Aug. 1. Can’t wait to share Perfectly Skeptical, a Perfectly Series novella, with you!
About Perfectly Skeptical (Perfectly Series novella)
Dr. Brianna Scott looked forward to sleeping away her staycation, until a windfall meant an upgrade to palm trees, an ocean view . . . and the sexy Dr. Matt Gaelen. She’ll have fun, but can a holiday fling really turn into a soul mate for life? Doubtful.
Matt has no radar for sniffing out gold-diggers and protecting his heart. Except Brianna is more turned off than turned on by his wealth. What are his chances of getting her to overlook it? Dubious at best.
Improbable and iffy – the typical path to love.
Buy links:
Amazon:
Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tropical-tryst-nicole-morgan/1126270355?ean=9781508076988
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/tropical-tryst
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Nicole_Morgan_Tropical_Tryst?id=kOO4DgAAQBAJ
Where to find the author…
Linda loves to connect with readers ~
Website:
https://www.lindaoconnor.net
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LindaOConnorAuthor
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/LindaOConnor98
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Linda-OConnor/e/B00S7CNLEA
Blog:
https://www.lindaoconnor.net/news-muse-and-interviews/
Visit www.tropicaltryst.com for special pre-order giveaways and join the Tropical Tryst Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TropicalTryst/) for updates and a chance to win Tropical Tryst swag!
Thursday, July 27th, 2017
“Old roads, old dogs, old folks and old ways still have a lot to offer in this sped up world we live in.”
I grew up in rural Maine so I learned some of the old ways of survival. Our food consisted of what my father trapped, shot or caught fishing. I can still smell the rabbit stew brook trout and fiddleheads. My mother canned vegetables from our garden, and we stored cabbage, carrots, potatoes and turnip in the root cellar. By today’s standards this was considered hard living.
My thoughts often wander back to the colonial days. Women worked from dawn to dusk cooking outdoors in the summer, hauling water and toiling over chores. Today, if we want a candle we drive to the store and buy one where we can choose from numerous scents. There are thin ones, fat ones, small ones and giant ones. Have you ever wondered what it was like in the 1700’s when candles had to be made from scratch? They weren’t used for decorative reasons or to set a mood in the home. It was the main source of light.
The majority of colonial people made candles from tallow (animal fat). These tapers didn’t burn well and emitted an offensive odor. Only the wealthy could afford beeswax, which was rolled to make sweet smelling candles.
Another type of candle was made from bayberries. These berries have a waxy texture. The berries were boiled down and the wax was skimmed from the top. Many pounds of bayberries were needed to make these candles.
I researched candle making in the colonial times for my time travel story, The Enchanted Inn. My heroine from present times traveled back to 1778 where she found huge surprises and hard times! To celebrate the re-republication of this story with Entangled Publishing, I am giving away a bayberry candle made from natural ingredients.
To enter the contest, please sign up for my newsletter at https://pamchampagne.us16.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=deb383ea22963fda6536b61e9&id=92609443e1.
The Enchanted Inn
Their love is timeless…
When snow forces Gina to stop and spend the night at the Enchanted Inn, she’s less than happy to find her ex-fiancé there, too. But she can be civil for one night, especially after the innkeeper gives them a bottle of homemade wine to share. A few glasses of that wine sends Luke and Gina back to 1778, where Luke seems to think he’s someone called John—a man who knows more about life in colonial times than he should.
Gina may be able to deal with the hardships her new reality throws at her, but she doesn’t give up hope of finding a way home. And when she does find a way, she’s determined to take John with her—whether he wants to go or not.
The book will be released on August 21 by Entangled Publishing and will be ready for pre-order by August 1 for only $.99. Find the buy link at https://entangledpublishing.com/books.html or on my website at www.pamchampagne.net.
Wednesday, July 26th, 2017
Ready for another full-size novel? Something with plenty of sexy Texans, humor, emotion, humor—yeah, we’re baaaack!
My sister, Elle James, and I are back with the last installment of the Texas Billionaires Club! This one features another sinfully sexy, rich Texan, who meets Ms. Right, who just so happens to live next door.
Is your reading slate set for the coming weekend now? Have fun!
Love & War
Sophie Keaton’s love life is a disaster. Too busy with her art gallery and weekends spent with the Army National Guard, she rarely has time for a date. Her orderly existence takes a twist when her Army National Guard unit gets a new Company Commander, Captain Gage Jenkins, who dislikes the idea of women in the Army, particularly her, and proceeds to make her weekend drill miserable. To bolster her self-esteem, Sophie finally takes her love life in hand and goes out on a date. Unfortunately, her date ends up in the emergency room with an allergic reaction to her cat. Her mooch of a brother, Bryce, feels sorry for her and offers to take her out to pick the “perfect man”. When she finds Mr. Perfect, she spends a passionate night with him, but awakens to discover that Mr. Perfect is none other than her new commanding officer!
As a member of the Texas Billionaire’s club, Gage has watched every one of his college buddies tie the knot. Although he’d met every challenge the group set in the early days, he resisted the last one—finding the perfect wife. Now, with his hands full expanding his construction business and whipping his new Army Guard command into shape, he has plenty of excuses to avoid that particular commitment. However, when he moves next door to one very attractive, very sexy woman, he finds himself deliciously distracted. When he discovers that woman is the same klutzy lieutenant he’s been dogging from day one, he’s not angry. He’s amused. And intrigued.
When the pair are challenged by their warring pets and matchmaking sergeants, the rules of Love and War get complicated…
