Hello Readers!

Thanks so much to Delilah for hosting me. I love dropping by her blog and chatting it up with the readers here! I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been so wrapped up in watching the Olympics that I’ve let so many things sort of sneak up on me. The laundry—that might be the worst one yet. I’m pretty sure it’s about to grow legs and attack me… If I don’t show up to chat in the comments, send help. I’ve probably been drug off under the bed by a ferocious pair of yoga pants.

Sometimes the best things in life happen when we aren’t paying attention or looking for them. This last week I got some good news I wasn’t expecting. I met my boyfriend when I’d just decided to remain single. I got the phone call of a lifetime when I was looking for a reason to procrastinate. All sorts of things happen when you just don’t think anything of note is going to crop up in the next couple of days.

I think my favorite stories of how my friends have met their significant others go much the same way. They were out for groceries for a girl’s weekend and bumped buggies with this cute, geeky guy. They were focused on getting this great part in a community play and wound up practicing their lines to the man they’d marry. They were broken down on the side of the road and a really cute girl stopped in her pick-up truck and jack. Yes, all of those are real life stories. And I love them for their quirkiness, the uniqueness of how unexpected they are.

Sometimes it’s a little hard for me to decide how to—ah—encourage my hero and heroines into meeting. I don’t want things to be unbelievable, but the stories of happenstance are just the ones that tug at my heart.

I love books with meet cutes that make me laugh. I think Victoria Dahl takes the cake with that one. If you haven’t read her books, I highly suggest them. I really dig the powerful, immediate connection Nalini Singh’s changelings have. Then there are the instances where the characters lay eyes on each other and someone’s man/lady bits start doing funny things. I’m a fan of the show, Millionaire Matchmaker, and she calls that reaction your “picker”.

Some people have a pretty accurate picker, and some people just pick the wrong. That’s where a lot of the bad boy tropes come in. A girl just has to pick the one bad guy out of the bunch… until the bad guy she picks turns out to be a good one in disguise. I’ve never had a particularly good picker myself, so I empathize with my fellow poor-pickers. I like to chalk it up to interesting life experiences to fuel writing.

I’m giving away a copy of my latest release, Picture Her Bound, to someone who can either a) recommend a book with a really great meet-cute or b) share a story about how they met a significant other.

I’ll share my story first!

Christmas 2012 I was bound and determined to stay single. I went to a Christmas party where my friends wanted to introduce me to a couple single guy friends. I thanked them, but I was both newly out of a relationship and healing from surgery, so really uninterested. They made the introductions anyways. I shook my current boyfriend’s hand, said hello and walked away as fast as I could. I knew he was trouble—and I was right. But I kind of like his trouble, so we get along just fine.

Picture Her Bound, Bayou Bound 1

Officer Odalia Foucheaux is a desperate woman. Incriminating photographs of her after-hours job as a fetish model have been stolen, and she’s willing to break rules to get them back. Standing in her way? The very dominant bounty hunter Jacques Savoy.

Jacques has been watching out for Officer Foucheaux. He wants her safe from harm as much as he desires her body, her soul—and her submission. Odalia’s in trouble and struggling to walk the line of the law. His solution? Work together to find out who stole her pictures, what the thief wants and how to stop him. And if they find a pleasure unlike any other along the way, well, laissez les bons temps rouler.

Let the good times roll. Read the rest of this entry »

Olympic Obsessed

Hello, my name is Sharon Cullen and I am addicted to the Olympics.

Summer, winter, it doesn’t matter to me. I love everything about it from the pageantry of the opening ceremony, to the bittersweet closing ceremony. You’ll find me attached to the TV during the whole thing.

My youngest daughter, who isn’t as Olympic obsessed as her older sister or me, asked me why I love the Olympics so much. I thought about that for a minute then realized its because I love seeing the athletes realize their dream. I love seeing their stunned excitement when they win a medal. I’m so proud for them and of them.

I love seeing their excitement, their anticipation, the stars in their eyes. These athletes are kids. Some of them the same age as my kids. How utterly cool is that, to be on the world stage due to your hard work and dedication?

The stories about the athletes are also one of my favorite things. They are poignant and inspiring. It makes me want to go workout at the gym. LOL. Or at the very least to get my butt off the couch and do something that makes a difference.

My favorite event is probably the downhill and followed in no certain order by snowboarding, moguls, luge and bobsled.

So, do you watch the Olympics? If so, what are your favorite events?

About Sharon:

Sharon Cullen is the author of the historical romance, The Notorious Lady Anne, Loving the Earl and Pleasing the Pirate. She’s also published in romantic suspense, paranormal romance and contemporary romance.

Her other job descriptions include chauffer, laundress, cook and mediator to her three very busy kids, her husband and two dogs. She lives in southwest Ohio with her brood although her dream is to someday retire to St. Maarten and live on the beach.

If you’d like to find out more about Sharon and her books, you can visit her website. She’s addicted to social networking so you can find her on Facebook and Twitter. Friend her! Like her! Follow her! She’d love to hang out with you and talk about her passion—books.

Two hearts are wrenched between love and duty in Sharon Cullen’s tale of a ruthless pirate and the Scottish lass who fills him with desire for something greater than plunder.

With her clan’s crops burned and their property confiscated, Mairi McFadden is desperate to free her brother from imprisonment so that he can take his rightful place as chief. Her only hope is the fierce English pirate Phin Lockwood, but the buccaneer laughs at her meager funds. His roving eyes, however, tell Mairi there’s something else he’ll take in exchange for her brother’s rescue. Though she burns with hatred for the English, she’ll do anything to save her clan.

The crown has made it clear that Phin has two choices: bring in a certain Scottish traitor or hang. And he’s not about to let a tiny, whiskey-eyed woman get in his way, even if she is pointing a gun at him. When Phin learns that Mairi’s brother is the very man he seeks, he’s more than willing to use the lass as bait. But as the moment of capture draws near, Phin is surprised by his feelings for the courageous beauty who has him considering risking his life—for someone besides himself.

Buy Links:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Random House

Where to find Sharon:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sharon-Cullen-Author/243329341691
Twitter – https://twitter.com/SharonCullen
Website – https://sharoncullen.net/

The Rebel, The Soldier, and The Investigative Reporter…

No, they don’t walk into a bar. Wait… Do they? No. I don’t think they do. Sorry. I digress. The rebel, the soldier, or the investigative reporter, which would you fall for? Rebels are sexy because they’re standing up for a cause. They’re willing to fight the status quo to bring about change. The solider is a natural protector. They put their lives on the line every day to protect our freedoms. And the investigative reporter is determined to learn the truth. They feel the need to shine a light on the dark areas that both groups want to keep hidden. So which is it?

That’s where I was when I started writing Hostile Intent. The heroine is a soldier. She’s a fighter pilot who has complete faith in her military and her missions. But she’s been in a long-term, not-quite-but-almost relationship with Michael, the investigative reporter of this equation. It was a relationship built on a mutually beneficial exchange of information. Through the years, however, it’s grown into something she’s not ready to deal with. And when an under-cover rebel, Sans, gets thrown into the mix the unlikely tri has to chart their own course.

So would you choose? Why not come check out Hostile Intent and fall for all three?

Universal Defiance, Book Four

A few hours of passionate, meaningless sex is all Renee needs to take the edge off before her next reconnaissance mission. And the dangerously handsome stranger she meets on the space station docks is more than happy to give it to her.

But her quickie turns out to be a Coalition soldier who’s been ordered to kidnap her. Adam has no idea how tempting his new mission will be or how quickly his intended victim will work her way under his skin. And when someone tries to kill her, he must decide where his loyalties lie.

If they’re going to survive, they’ll need help from Renee’s longtime lover. As an investigative reporter, Michael has the contacts and access to information they need. He also has a raw sexual chemistry with women and men alike, and Adam can’t resist.

Inside Scoop: This ménage features some scorching male-male action.

A Romantica® sci-fi erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Want to know more? You can read an excerpt on the Ellora’s Cave website, or  download a sample on the Amazon page.

Hi Delilah! I want to ask you and your readers–Are you a fan of the Fated Mates trope?

Mostly, I am.

I adored, adored, adored the book The Time Traveler’s Wife, and while not strictly a “fated mates” story, the way Henry and Claire’s lives crisscrossed in time gave it that feel. It’s not a romance novel, but it is one of the most romantic books I’ve ever read.

One of my all-time favorite paranormal romances, with one of most memorable openings, is A Hunger Like No Other, the first book in Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series.  In the first scene, the werewolf hero, who has been chained up and burning in a magical fire for something like two hundred years, smells his mate above ground on the streets of Paris and finally finds the strength to break free.  There are a lot of great, fun, sexy moments in that book—an ideal fated mates story, in my mind.

Obviously, the rules of paranormal worlds vary a lot, and they change the dynamic of the fated mates trope quite a bit. Do you they only ever get one mate? How do characters physically react to meeting their mate?  Can a person find happiness apart from the mate?  Only reproduce with their mate?

These can be some of my favorite romances, or some of my least favorite.  Sometimes the rules of the world constrain the romantic relationship in my mind—this happens sometimes in sequels, when the world was built around the first book and the subsequent conflicts fall short.

In a way, a fated mates story grants the characters the same knowledge every romance reader already assumes: these characters MUST end up together.  Sometimes this works brilliantly, as the characters rail against their fate or one determines to sway or seduce the other.

The fated mates trope does go well with another of my favorites, enemies to lovers.  Cole as lots of these in the Immortals After Dark series. And my new release, Blood Reunited (Book Three in the Blood Vine series) is also one of these stories.

I honestly didn’t understand romance tropes well enough to know what I was doing when I first conceived of the premise of this book years ago, though now I see I stumbled upon a great set-up.  I had invented a brash ancient female vampire as a secondary character, and also made one of my vampire patriarch’s sons a vampire halfling without entirely figuring how one becomes a halfling.  All I knew was he was old and he drank bourbon, not blood.

Holy cow.  This parenthetical note turned out to be a whole paragraph: (I expect half of the writers reading this blog will have a heart attack to hear me say I write this haphazardly, and the other half will nod knowingly and feel solidarity.  It works for me. I write myself into a puzzle, or a corner, and storytelling my way out of it is the source of a lot of my creativity.  I don’t think I could publish a serial like Suzanne has, because my writing style requires a lot of mid-story revisions.)

In the epilogue of Blood Vine, when my brash vampire-ess sent a message to the Kastel Estate Winery, Bel was less than pleased to hear from her.  I didn’t know why, so I had to investigate, and what I learned made me cackle with the kind of sadistic glee only authors feel toward their characters (you know, that peculiarly loving kind of sadism, because WE know what’s best for them).

Vampire biologist Bel had been investigating the mystery of his existence for his whole life. Vampires can’t have babies, so how the hell was he conceived?  The answer lies in an ancient and secret method which Uta helped his mother undertake.  What Uta did not know was that her help would cause a blood bond between she and the baby, making them mates, fated to love one another without any choice in the matter.

Uta feels guilty, Bel feels trapped.  Deeper than that, they love each other in every cell.  He is stubborn, brooding, and determined to use his scientific expertise to free them from the bond, once he’s saved all the vampires from wasting disease.  She is stubborn too, and her brashness covers an Atlas-like sense of responsibility for all that’s wrong with the world. And truly, I’ve never had more fun writing than with this story of these enemies and fated mates wading through the secrets of their past and working together to save the vampire world.

Blood Reunited: Book Three in the Blood Vine Series.

Brooding vampire halfling and biologist Bel Maras is determined to create a cure for the wasting disease that plagues his vampire family. His work becomes essential as the Hunters intensify their global and bloody campaign. When Bel’s cure fails, only his ancient and estranged godmother Uta Ilirije can help. But seeing the ice-cold Uta reveals something shocking–she is his bonded mate. Read the rest of this entry »

If you follow my FB posts, you know I’m buried in commitments. Too many books due. Which leaves me little time to play or chat. That doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention to what you’re talking about. Here’s another chance to let your online friends (and me!) know how your mind works…

If an anonymous benefactor gave you $500 and told you it was yours, so long
as you told no one else you had it, and that you had to spend it in a day,
or even a single purchase, FOR YOURSELF, what would you buy?
It’s blow money. And yours. And you can’t put it against a bill…

The winner of the free download of one of the prequel books to REINED IN is…
Nancy Davidson! Congrats, Nancy!

* * * * *

I know you’re ready for more dirty shenanigans from my boys in Texas! You have just one more week to wait! Next Tuesday, Reined In, the latest of my Lone Star Lovers books is ready for pre-order now.

Pre-order at Amazon
Pre-order at Samhain

But wait, you want to know what the story’s about first. Now, I could give you the full blurb—it’s fun—but you just want a nutshell version, right? How ’bout this?

Daddy’s little girl is back at the ranch, bound and determined to get exactly what she wants. And she wants two cowboys. She’s spoiled like that. 🙂

Stormy’s a bitch, but I love that about her. Willful, needy, and vulnerable where her heart’s concerned. Once the boys get past her prickly hide, there’s a woman bursting to love them.

If you post a comment today, you’ll be entered to win a free copy
of any of my Lone Star Lovers stories!

Here’s a naughty excerpt…

Stormy was nervous. Her body began to shiver. But she lay still, letting Joe look his fill. Cam still knelt beside her, with his fists curling, like he wanted to touch her but wouldn’t. Not until Joe said so.

She’d always known Joe would take the lead. He’d been the first to touch her, turning her over his knee when she’d been a brat. She’d fought him, sure, cussing and scratching, but once his palm had landed the first strike, she’d arched like a cat, her body on fire.

Cam had given her tenderness, and she’d dreamed of that first kiss, but she needed more. Needed someone stronger, more stubborn than she was. Meaner, even.

Not that she feared Joe. He was firm. Stood up to her sass. Didn’t give her an inch of room to defy him.

No one had ever done that. And she knew, deep inside, she needed a man who’d take her in hand to bring out the woman in her. Cam would be the strong chest she nuzzled against, but Joe…ah, Joe knew her. The real her, which was why when she did horrible things to him, like grinding her heel on his hand, he didn’t just walk away. He’d seen her challenge for what is was. A plea.

For his mercies. For his strong, hard hands. She quivered on the bed, letting him stretch out the moment until her nervousness caused her belly to quiver and her arousal grew so strong it wet the covers beneath her.

Her gaze ate him up as he sauntered toward the bed. He sat on the edge and glanced sideways at her. Then he patted his thigh. Read the rest of this entry »

There are times that, for no good reason, I decide to write a little story. It niggles and picks away at my brain until finally I just write it down and get it out. I thought that while I was visiting today I would share my latest little story with you.

****

It’s not every year that your boyfriend picks you up in front of your house in a horse drawn carriage. I nearly fell over. I was expecting nothing more than a dinner and a little late night romance to fill the rest of the evening. But we rode cuddled together. The snow was lightly falling and I was glad we had a blanket to cuddle under.

We headed to a very nice restaurant. I ordered a tender filet mignon lightly seasoned with salt and pepper accompanied by a colorful medley of mixed vegetables. Even though he loves seafood my boyfriend decided that he would be kind enough to sustain tonight. He knew that I didn’t care for the smell and even kissing him after would cause my allergies to flare.

For some reason he started acting a little ‘squirrelly’, which wasn’t totally off for him, but he normally didn’t act like this in public. His hands were nervously wringing and he kept looking over his shoulder. He caught the eye of the piano player and they both nodded, I was just a tad confused. But when our song started playing I knew something was up. I turned back to my boyfriend and smiled.

The next thing I knew he was down on one knee. “The first time I looked at you from across the crowded classroom, I knew I was in love. You had your hair held back with a pen, and you were scribbling notes in your notebook. I knew right then that you were the girl I was going to marry. So baby, please make my dreams and wishes come true and be my wife.”

Tears streamed down my face and I choked back a sob. “Of course I’ll marry you you fool. Now get up and kiss me,” and boy did he ever. We didn’t even hear the patron’s light applause as we kissed. After time started again, he and I sat down and the waiter brought over a molten chocolate cake, the cake of love, because I LOVE chocolate.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do to beat that Valentine’s Day gift this year; I think I might get him a t-shirt. I’ll never match that.

****

OK, I know it’s a little corny, but I couldn’t help it. If you’d be interested in reading something of mine that has a little more spice in it than that, today is your lucky day. If you stop by my publisher, you can get your very own copy of my book Forgiveness for FREE! What a great Valentine’s Day present to me that they gave me the opportunity to share my story with you. (https://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=products_all&filter_author=136)

Here’s a brief excerpt for your reading pleasure…

It seemed more and more lately that no matter how hard she tried, he looked right through her. It was infuriating and heart breaking. She’d had enough heartbreak during the past year to last her a lifetime. Her mother had been sick battling cancer all last year. Unfortunately she’d lost the battle. She’d made sure to pass on information to Mary while on her deathbed though.

Something Mary had never seen coming. She was adopted. Her world felt as if she had lost all control.

The adoption information that her mother had left with her will quickly found its way into the trash. Why would she want to find someone who didn’t want her? She had enough instances of that in her own home. She did wonder, after a year, if she had reacted too rashly. You never know when you’ll need family, and if she met her biological mother maybe she could figure out who she was, inside and out.

Mary plopped herself on the bed and let out a huge rush of air. There was no way Joe hadn’t noticed her outfit. She had bought it specifically for their ten-year anniversary night.

She remembered how she had anxiously awaited this evening and decided that she would make it perfect no matter how she was feeling. Every year on this day, they left the house at four twenty five and drove to the lake where he had romantically declared his undying love and proposed to her. He always hired a horse drawn carriage. The prancing steed would take them from the lake to a lovely candlelit dinner for two. After having one too many glasses of wine and a wonderful meal, they would enjoy a leisurely stroll to the theater. Wicked was currently playing on Broadway, and she couldn’t wait to hear the music that made her soul dance and her heart soar. Re-reading the book several times had her excited, and she knew the night would be perfect.

Then reality reared its ugly head.

Carefully she unlaced her corset and tossed the silky white thong in the corner; it still held the dampness from her unquenched desire.

“I can’t believe I wasted my time and effort on this. Sometimes my husband is such a jerk.” When she took a look around it dawned on her that she was talking to herself. Another deep breath and swish of hair and she mused, “I guess it’s okay to talk to myself as long as I don’t answer back, huh CC?”

She slipped her silk robe on quickly and snatched the cat from his slumberous repose. He squirmed to free himself but Mary kissed his little nose first. “Don’t be like your daddy, at least notice I’m here.” She placed the cat gently on the bed and started her morning ritual. Getting ready for work was the last thing she was interested in.

****

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