UPDATE: The winners are…Bridget and Ellen Wulf!
*~*~*

Tonight, I’ll be leading a Gelli plate class for my local art guild. It’s going to be some messy fun! We’ll create papers we can repurpose to make many cool things. I’ll show them the gift tags I made from papers I painted.

We’re all creative people—creative in many different and beautiful ways. I’d love a chance to showcase what you do!

So, my challenge to you is to send me a picture of something you made. It could be a piece of art, an apron you sewed, a lovely dish you cooked for your family—the possibilities are endless!

Send me a picture of what you’ve made, and I’ll post a blog next week highlighting your “art.” Send the picture to me no later than this coming Sunday for me to post next week! Then I’ll choose a winner at random to receive something I made: a bookmark, a postcard, a couple of these tags, perhaps? Your choice! Send your pictures to me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com then comment below to tell me what you’re going to share, because I’d love everyone to read your comments! In fact, I’ll choose a winner from among the commenters to receive their choice of a download of one of my books, so there’s a second prize to be won!

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
*~*~*

Hello, Delilah, and thank you for inviting me here today!  Another month…another anthology!  I have to admit, this one had me stumped. I was terrible at real-life dating. I couldn’t fathom fake dating.  Of course, I knew I was going to write a gay romance for this anthology, but that was as far as I got.  I did what I do a lot these days – I turned to my good author friend who is also a plot whisperer.  I whispered gay romance, fake dating, and 15k into her ear.  And, like magic, she came up with something.  Now, we worked on this plot together, but I think it’s something a little special.

We started with Horatio – the buttoned-up executive who is extremely successful – just not in the love department.  His second in command is a great executive – whose husband loves to organize company functions.  Before the Valentine’s event, she commands Horatio to ‘find a date’ so that there’s an even number at the party.  She’s aware her boss is gay, so that’s not an issue.

About this time, Horatio’s nephew – who has been living with him – announces that he’s marrying an older woman and moving in with her and her three kids.  Horatio’s stunned.  First, because he didn’t know his nephew was dating.  Second, because the woman is as old as the nephew’s mom and her eldest son is just a few years younger than the man his mom is about to marry.  Finally, a little discombobulated because, to help him out, Horatio’s nephew asks him to take in that younger son as a roommate.

Horatio loves his nephew and wants only the best for him.  He’s housed the young man through his entire education.  If taking in a stranger would help his upcoming marriage, then, of course, Horatio will do it.

Cue Dade.  Sweet, loveable Dade.  The twenty-something guy who’s trying to break into the film business.  He moves in and…Horatio’s life changes forever.  Well, we’ll start with Horatio asking Dade to accompany him to the Valentine’s Day dinner as a date.  Here’s where my readers will find plenty of cameos from characters across a number of my pennames and series because…well, frankly, because I can.

In the end, age doesn’t matter.  Because when two people are meant to be together, even the fake can become real.  I think plot whisperer and I got this one right.  Even my editor remarked on how much the story stuck with her.

So I’ve joined together with a pile of other authors to offer this great anthology at a low price.  It’s also on Kindle Unlimited and only available for a short time.

Thanks, Delilah, for hosting me.  I would love to give one of your commenters a $5 Amazon gift card.  Have you ever been on a fake date?  Or known someone who has?  I attended prom with a friend as his date.  Kind of awkward when he asked me if I’d let him kiss me – I was dating someone else at the time.  The guy I was with turned out to be a weasel and I often wondered what would have happened if the date had been real…  Anyway!  Make a comment and random number generator might pick you!

Fake It ‘Til We Make It

Want to make your ex jealous? Do you have to attend an event? Need to stop your family matchmaking? Whatever the reason, a fake relationship may be for you! But what happens when what started out as fake starts feeling way too real? You were faking it, but is it time to make it real?

Find out in this spicy collection containing exciting stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by The New Romance Café. Faking it has never felt so real.

Authors:
DL Gallie
Chelle Pimblott
Kathleen Ryder
Annee Jones
Keighley Bradford
Harper Michaels
Tracy Brody
Lily Kindall
CM Peters
Ebony Snow
Jo Bradley
Jamie Sands
Serafina Jax
Sofia Aves
K McEvern Lestrade
Gabbi Grey
Denise T Ford

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/TNRC2024FakeItTilWeMakeIt
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3M6HBFH
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/141388348-fake-it-til-we-make-it

About “Acting the Part” by Gabbi Grey inside Fake It ‘Til We Make It…

Horatio

My persuasive nephew convinces me to let his friend, Dade, move into my condo. Somehow I end up telling my coworkers that the young man’s my boyfriend, and I invite him to the Valentine’s Charity dinner. It’s all supposed to be a fake, but he’s not like anyone I’ve ever met, and the more time we spend together, the less I want this charade to end.

Dade

I’m busting my butt trying to land an acting gig, and my buddy offers me a room in his uncle’s luxurious condo. All I have to do is keep the old guy company. Only, the guy’s not that old. I’m happy to pretend to be his boyfriend for one event, but with every passing hour, I’m less and less eager to pull the plug on this act. Can we take fake to real, or will the magic end when the night’s over?

This is a 15k fake relationship, gay romance novella with a successful entrepreneur, an out-of-work actor, and a night to remember.

About Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

It’s heeerre!

If you’ve enjoyed my bounty hunters so far, you’ll love Malcolm and Darleen’s story! This is a transition book as well. There are hints aplenty of where the hunters are going next and who’s going to be front and center in the next series. So, if you’re eager to start the new series, you’ll need to read this one! I’m excited for you and me. There are many more adventures to come.

For now, Malcolm is available at Amazon in both eBook and print. If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can get the book for FREE! Happy reading! ~DD

Malcolm

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: DEAD HORSE, MT
Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

Two fiercely independent bounty hunters must fight their attraction while learning to trust each other as they work together to bring in a dangerous skip.

Former SEAL Malcolm Winslow was looking for a change. He’s been bounty hunting on his own since leaving the teams and has missed the camaraderie of fellow warriors, so he accepts a job with the Montana Bounty Hunters. His first hunt takes a turn when the MBH team discovers that another lone hunter has found their target first. Not wanting to infringe, they stand by just in case their competition needs help.

Darleen Crockett has things well in hand. Sure, she’s alone, without a weapon (because where would she hide it in her skimpy outfit?), and the skip she’s determined to take down is one mean MF, but Darleen likes to ride that dangerous edge between victory and disaster. She’s an admitted adrenaline junkie.

When her skip attacks, she has things well in hand but is suddenly rescued by a rugged, tattooed man who makes her heart pitter-patter. What’s up with that? She’s quickly recruited by Malcolm’s agency and finds herself on the biggest hunt of her career. Denying her attraction to her temporary new partner isn’t possible when they spend so many hours alone, but what she doesn’t expect is finding something more with the equally footloose and independent Malcolm. Things get thorny between them when Malcolm can’t seem to get past the fact she’s a woman to trust that she can handle herself.

When the agency prepares to track an old adversary preparing to flee justice, Malcolm and Darleen are quickly folded into the team heading to Lander, Wyoming, to find their dangerous skip.

Order your eBook now!
Also available in print!
Read an excerpt!

 

UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
*~*~*

Tonight, just after midnight, my latest Dead Horse, Montana, story releases! I can’t believe I’ve reached story #10! I’m thinking about what I want to do next, and yes, there will be a new group, along with some familiar faces who will be there initially to help set up the West Yellowstone office, and then off I’ll go again. Yellowstone will be my third bounty hunter series.

Just as a reminder of what you may have missed in this series, here’s the list…

Every MBH: Dead Horse, MT

Book #1
A former SEAL and MMA fighter, and now newly minted bounty hunter, has to hunt down his first skip…his ex-wife!
Read more about Cage!
***

Book #2
An ex-Delta Force soldier, now Montana Bounty Hunter, finds himself slipping naturally into protector-mode when a small-town dessert chef is threatened by mysterious attacks.
Read more about Preacher!
***

Book #3
This former SEAL thought BUD/S training was the challenge of a lifetime until he faced his biggest challenge, teaching a woman who’d never learned trust to trust in them…
Read more about Hardman!
***

Book #4
The happily single owner of the only liquor store in Dead Horse, MT needs the biggest, baddest man around, and a certain former Green Beret seems made to order…
Read more about Chase!
***

Book #5
A lonely, bounty-hunting cowboy looking for one last great adventure may have found it in a girl with serious curves…
Read more about Cowboy!
***

Book #6
An ex-SEAL sniper, who has spent his life experiencing everything from a distance, finds his self-imposed solitude challenged by the one woman in the world who might have been made just for him.
Read more about Eli!
***

Book #7
An ex-Special Forces bounty hunter has to find a way to repair his friendship with the agency’s prickly tech guru while not falling in love with her…
Read more about Gabriel!
***

Book #8
An ex-Special Forces bounty hunter, who likes working alone, accepts the challenge of teaching a feisty young woman how to hunt…
Read more about Mica!
***

Book #9
The games begin when a bounty hunter, who likes working alone, clashes with a cable TV showrunner who’s determined to make him a part of her show…
Read more about Jackson!
***

Book #10
Two fiercely independent bounty hunters, newly hired by the Montana Bounty Hunters, must learn to trust each other’s abilities as they work together to bring in a dangerous skip.
Read more about Malcolm!

Contest

For a chance to win your choice of one of the stories listed above, let me know whether you’d like to see one more MBH: Dead Horse, MT, story. If so, should it be a Christmas story, including all our hunters? Or should it be an entirely new hunter’s story?

Last week…

• I finished writing, formatted, and uploaded Malcolm to KDP! Yippee! Can’t wait for you to read it!
• I worked on two editing projects for two other authors. I’m not nearly done with either!
• I only read a handful of the stories submitted for my next anthology, Secret Identities.

This next week looks insane for work and play!

• Malcolm releases on Tuesday! I have to promo it—ads, blog, newsletter. That’s all work you don’t see!
• I must write the opening chapters of my next book, What Happens in Bozeman…  
• I need to complete two editing jobs!
• I’d like to read another five to ten stories for my next anthology, Secret Identities.

That’s enough, right? Ha! I also have Art Guild responsibilities, like getting the word out about our membership drive, the drop-off for a special exhibit we’re sponsoring at the center, and I have a class to teach on working with Gelli plates on Thursday! So, yes, I have a crazy-busy week ahead of me.

Open Contests

1. Happy Groundhog Day! (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Tell me what’s happening here… — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. My Perfect Day (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
4. Word Search: Random Malcolm Things & an Excerpt! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Send a Card to a Friend Day! (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win a hand painted card!
6. Flashback: Bad Moon Rising (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Coming Next Tuesday — Pre-order Malcolm Now! (Contest & Excerpt) — Win an Amazon gift card!
8. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Getting ready for Valentine’s Day! — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Dana Zamora!
*~*~*

My daughter said the 10-year-old has a “dinner date” with the boy who’s her Valentine this year. Of course, both moms are taking the kids. I think it’s so funny. And the kid is so cute. They’re both GT nerds, and his glasses and thin frame with her towering height are going to be so CUTE in pictures. They decided on a meal since the kids aren’t allowed to exchange gifts at school. What’s up with that!? What happened to those little cards everyone exchanged that you spent a Sunday cutting up and addressing? I’d come home with a bag full of them. Oh, the days.

Anyway, we’re running up on Valentine’s Day, so I thought a puzzle to commemorate the holiday would be fun.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle (it is really pretty!), then tell me what you’ll be doing on Valentine’s Day. If you don’t have someone to give you a Valentine’s Day gift, what can you do to treat yourself? You deserve a heart!

And just a reminder…this book is coming out the day before Valentine’s Day. What better way to celebrate love than read a sexy book?

Get Malcolm!

UPDATE: The winner is…Katherine Horvath!
*~*~*

I hate running up to a deadline and losing sleep over whether I’ll get to “The End” of a book on time, but it happens more often than I’d like. I finished yesterday! Not today, so I actually had a day to spare. That’s only because I looked at today’s forecast and saw a bunch of rain and thunderstorms heading our way, and I was worried about there being a power outage in the middle of my run to the finish line! There’s nothing like adrenaline to fuel the race to the finish. 🙂

Anyway, I made it. The book is locked in. If you pre-order the bitch, er, book, you’ll have it sometime late Monday night.

I love my bounty hunters in Dead Horse, Montana. I’m not sure, but Malcolm may be the last unless I miss my cast of characters so much that I have to revisit them. That could definitely happen. For sure, we’ll see them now and then popping in to help out at the new MBH office in West Yellowstone. I like my MONTANA bounty hunters but after Yellowstone…? I may have to rebrand and set up an office in Wyoming or Texas or somewhere else I can build myself a crazy little town like Dead Horse. It’s been a ride. The one bright spot is that I do have my We Are Dead Horse, MT series to satisfy my need to see more of Nadine (my crotchety waitress in the Dead Man Walk-in Diner).

You can “meet” the hero, Malcolm, here.  It’s a fun excerpt at the opening of the story. Below, I’ve included an excerpt that showcases my heroine, who’s also a bounty hunter. The book talks about the new office in Yellowstone that they’re getting ready to open. You also get hints about who might be hired to join them. Their first hire is someone who’s appeared in a couple of the Dead Horse stories.

Malcolm

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: DEAD HORSE, MT
Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

Two fiercely independent bounty hunters, newly hired by the Montana Bounty Hunters, must learn to trust each other’s abilities as they work together to bring in a dangerous skip.

Former SEAL Malcolm Winslow was looking for a change. He’s been bounty hunting on his own since leaving the teams and has missed the camaraderie of fellow warriors, so he accepts a job with the Montana Bounty Hunters. His first hunt takes a turn when the MBH team discovers that another lone hunter has found their target first. Not wanting to infringe, they stand by just in case their competition needs help.

Darleen Crockett has things well in hand. Sure, she’s alone, without a weapon (because where would she hide it in her skimpy outfit?), and the skip she’s determined to take down is one mean MF, but Darleen likes to ride that dangerous edge between victory and disaster. She’s an admitted adrenaline junkie.

When her skip attacks, she has things well in hand but is suddenly rescued by a rugged, tattooed man who makes her heart pitter-patter. What’s up with that? She’s quickly recruited by Malcolm’s agency and finds herself on the biggest hunt of her career. Denying her attraction to her temporary new partner isn’t possible when they spend so many hours alone, but what she doesn’t expect is finding something more with the equally footloose and independent Malcolm. Things get thorny between them when Malcolm can’t seem to get past the fact she’s a woman to trust that she can handle herself.

When the agency prepares to track an old adversary preparing to flee justice, Malcolm and Darleen are quickly folded into the team heading to Lander, Wyoming, to find their dangerous skip.

Pre-order your copy here!

 

Excerpt from Malcolm…

Our heroine, Darleen, is inside an isolated cabin with her target, his girlfriend, and the skip’s best friend, waiting for the right moment to take Cameron Kitchens into custody. She saw someone peek into the window and suspects another hunter is trying to scoop (steal) her skip…

“Where you goin’?” Cam growled.

“Too much beer,” she said, rubbing her belly. “Thought I’d use your bathroom.”

He grunted but sat back in his chair, his glare moving to Paulie.

She crossed the kitchen to the bedroom and beyond it to the bathroom. Once inside, she turned on the faucet to mask the sound of her sliding up the small window. Then she climbed on the toilet and went headfirst out of the window, breaking her fall with her hands. When she stood and shook leaves from her hair, she found herself staring into the dark, curious eyes of none other than Chase Kudrow. She’d have known him anywhere because she’d laughed herself silly at his and Cowboy’s antics whenever she’d had time to catch their cable TV show.

She groaned softly as he raised a single eyebrow.

“Our little hunter snuck out the window,” he whispered, no doubt signaling to the bearded man she’d seen in the window.

She leaned close to speak into his earpiece. “I snuck out because some knucklehead let himself be seen. I came out here to tell you guys to back off.”

Chase chuckled softly. “We’re just here in case you need us. Cameron Kitchens has a short temper and hard fists.”

“You think I can’t handle him?”

Chase looked her up and down. “Just where are you hiding your piece, sweetheart?”

“I’m heading to my car to get it now,” she said. “I’ll stash it close by.”

Chase bent, pushed up the leg of his jeans, then slid a small handgun from a holster he had strapped to his ankle. “You don’t have time now. How long do you think you have before he gets curious about why it’s taking you so long to pee?” Chase froze, tilted his head, and his eyes narrowed. “Malcolm says Kitchens just headed to the bedroom. You’re about to be busted.” His eyebrows rose. “You want our help?”

She grimaced. “Have your Malcolm go through the front door after you boost me back inside.”

He gave her a nod. “You hear that, Malcolm?” he said as he bent and cupped his hands together. When she stepped onto his laced fingers, he lifted her easily to the windowsill, and she climbed back inside, turned off the water, and stuffed the gun into the waistband of her shorts at her back.

When she swung open the door, Cam rushed her, one hand going to her throat and the other gripping her hip. “Why the hell are you really here?”

She wrinkled her nose and stretched her neck. “Let go, and I’ll tell you, asshole.”

Beyond the bathroom, a loud crash sounded from the living room, and heavy footsteps thudded inside. The cavalry had arrived, and none too soon. Still, she wasn’t going to let them get her skip. She might have to share the bounty, but Cameron Kitchens was hers.

With his hand tightening on her throat, her vision was narrowing. She reached behind her for the weapon tucked into her waistband, then shoved the nozzle against his side.

He froze for a moment, and his eyes narrowed to terrifying slits like he was pondering whether he could outlast her or whether she’d have the guts to pull the trigger.

But the pounding through the living room was getting louder and closer. He snarled, released her throat and hip, and raised his hands a second before a large, bearded man, Malcolm, she assumed, threw an arm around his neck and torso and dragged him into the bedroom.

She tried to tell him she already had it handled, but her throat wasn’t cooperating. She couldn’t get out more than a croak. So, she waved her handgun, or rather Chase’s, just so he’d know she hadn’t been defenseless.

Malcolm shook his head and took Cameron to the ground with a heavy whomp that shook the floorboards. Then he drove a fist into the man’s side. “You don’t choke ladies.”

“She ain’t a fucking lady,” Cam said, his voice tight and little breathless.

Darleen had to admit that seeing the big guy with his knee on Cameron’s ass after he’d flipped him to get his wrists into cuffs was a satisfying sight.

Contest

Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card. Let me know if you’ve read any of my Montana Bounty Hunter stories, and whether you’d like to read more stories set in West Yellowstone, Montana!