Hello, I’m Roxanne D. Howard, and I write erotic contemporary and paranormal romance novels. Today I’d like to discuss the power of dreams in our writing.

I know several authors who keep a dream journal in their nightstand, and jot down the dreams they remember upon waking. Paul McCartney once said in an interview that he dreamt the song, Yesterday. He composed the melody in a dream, and upon waking, he played it on the piano. He had to shop it around to friends and family because he believed it was a song from his past or childhood, but as it turned out, it was completely inspirational.

Dreams have the power to inspire us and lay the cornerstones of what can be come worlds in which our characters live. Since humankind has existed, we’ve studied dreams and tried to make sense of them. Sigmund Freud believed that nothing we do occurs by chance, and that every action and thought is motivated by our unconscious. He believed that our urges and desires that don’t fit into societal norms are repressed into our dreams, and that’s how they are released.

So how do we write our dreams? There are times when we wake up that we hardly remember what we dreamt about, which is why it’s important to keep a writing journal, or a memo app on our phones handy. The littlest line or recollected visual description can make the biggest difference.

Let’s talk about writing space. In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King likened writing to a wakeful, dreamlike state. “Your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream… the space can be humble, and it really needs only one thing: A door you are willing to shut.” As a mom to two rambunctious girls, I can testify that this is nigh to impossible at times when you’re running the kids from school to ballet class, unless you have a lot of time on your hands. What I’ve learned to do is create my own four walls and pseudo room when I open my laptop.

While ideally you can be more creative in a quiet, isolated environment, it is possible to write while the kids are going to town on the playground at McDonald’s or having fun in the bouncy houses at the fun center. If you can create those mental four walls when you have a moment to spare, you can transpose your dreams into a story.

While I’d love to be able to say I had an erotic dream like the ones Lark has in At the Heart of the Stone which inspired the story, Lark just walked as a fully formed character into my mind with a story to tell, and I went from there. However, a lot of lines I get for my novels do come from my dreams, and I’ve learned not to ignore them as they come along.

What interesting dreams have you had which have inspired you?

At the Heart of the Stone

Dreams are the perfect shelter for our fantasies, safe havens to step inside without changing our daily lives. For Lark Braithwaite, all that is about to change. During the last six months, Lark has dreamt of a mysterious Irish lover who knows what she wants and gives her exactly what she needs. In her waking life in busy London, things aren’t as ideal, as her long-term relationship with Charles, her controlling fiancé, has hit a dry spell.

When Lark is called home to Oregon for her father’s funeral right in the middle of a high-stakes corporate merger, she heads back to face the demons from her past. What she doesn’t expect is to meet her dream lover in the flesh. Niall O’Hagan steps straight out of her fantasies and right into her life, and the powerful connection they share rocks her foundation. Although she’s dealing with the bitterness of being betrayed by Charles and his jealousy, Niall soon stirs Lark’s awareness of the superficiality of her existence and reawakens not only her sexuality, but her soul.

At the Heart of the Stone Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Google Play| iTunes | Kobo | Loose Id

Excerpt:

How did he get here? He was only her dream lover.

Or was he?

Confused beyond all comprehension, Lark didn’t have any time to contemplate what was really going on. His lips delivered a breath-stealing, soul-shattering kiss, and then they were all over each other. This, ah, this she knew. Lark hooked her ankle over his and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to rid him of his jacket and draw him closer. She clenched her hand in his hair as he devoured her mouth. He tasted the same as her dream lover, and she put her tongue in his mouth to savor more of that tangy sweetness.

They were both making noises they never had in her dreams, little breathy gasps and blasts of air as their mouths met and separated as they sought new angles and depths to their passion.

He made a disgruntled sound as he tried to get more comfortable in the cradle of her hips over the hindrance of clothes, and she realized she really wasn’t dreaming anymore. He nibbled on her lower lip as she opened her mouth to tell him to stop, but then she was carried away in the undercurrent of his large, warm hands, which were caressing the skin of her stomach beneath her hoodie and T-shirt. She continued to accept his kisses but pawed down her still zipped-up sweat jacket. Okay, so she was still clothed. He was rock hard against her, and he ground his hips into her, a disbelieving grunt escaping his lips. Lark rolled her eyes back, shivering at the jolt that went through her.

“Wh— Mmm. Whoa. Stop!” She finally managed to say against his mouth. She furrowed her eyebrows and scrutinized him as he breathed in and out, bracing himself on the weight of his hands above her, his bright green eyes bearing into hers. His face was the face of her dreams—the sensual, bowed lips and cleft chin, the built body, and the thick hair. His hair… She blinked. It was cut at the nape and styled for a day at work. She glanced down at what he was wearing.

“Um, why are you wearing a suit and tie this time?” she asked, squinting against the sunlight. Please, God, let this be a dream. He moved his head, putting her in shade.

“This time?” He lifted an eyebrow, perplexed. “You’ll have to forgive me, lass, but I’ve no idea what the devil you’re talking about.” He maneuvered himself off her and sat upright at the end of the swing.

She tucked her feet against her and sat up, unable to do anything more than blink at him in utter disbelief.

“I was coming up to knock on the door when I saw you lying here, and given how you were tossing and the noises you were making, it looked like maybe you were having some sort of a seizure.”

He seemed contrite, and he turned his head as he licked his lips, full and abused from her kisses. Something close to mortification bloomed inside her.

“Erm, you…begged me to kiss you, and then you yanked me down. One thing led to another and, well, that was pretty much the way of it. I am only human, though I know that’s no excuse.” He swallowed and stared at her, his Adam’s apple moving in his throat. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have gone down when you pulled me, but it was strange—like you knew me or something.”

Lark leaned forward and rubbed her eyes. This couldn’t be real. She was hallucinating. She had to be. When she opened her eyes she’d see a man in his fifties with a receding hairline, glasses, and a beer gut. She reopened her eyes, and there he was: The full package. In the flesh. There was an air of intelligence in the way his eyes scrutinized her. She sat up and planted her feet on the porch, then put a hand to her head. The vertigo from earlier returned. “No, I’m sorry. I was dreaming…”

“Excuse me for saying so, but it must’ve been one hell of a dream.”

Lark nodded and tried not to black out as a wave of dizziness came over her.

“You look like you’re dehydrated. Hold on.”

The lilt of his familiar Irish accent soothed her like warm milk. He stood and walked over to a black laptop case propped near the front door that had several thick manila folders sticking out of its open center, one of which she could see said BRAITHWAITE in large, capital letters on an index label. He crouched down and unzipped the front pocket, extracting an unopened plastic water bottle.

“Here,” he said, unscrewing it and holding it out to her.

“Thanks.” She accepted the bottle and took a long sip of the cool water. It almost instantly revived her. She wiped a little water off the corner of her mouth with the top of her knuckle as he watched her. She offered it back to him, but he shook his head and reclaimed his seat next to her.

“Keep it. Drink.”

“Thank you.” She closed her eyes and took several large gulps, the cool liquid a balm to her throat.

“My name’s Niall O’Hagan.”

His voice was deep and pleasant. It sounded different, lighter than the sultry bedroom voice she was used to from her dreams.

“I’m the Braithwaites’ attorney.”

Lark paused in midsip and lowered the bottle in her hands. “You—no.” She laughed, glancing at him.

His mouth lifted at the corners, as if it were dawning on him he was the butt of a joke he wasn’t aware of. “I…what?”

Oh, the irony of dreaming about her father’s lawyer this whole time. Oh my God. She started giggling. This was it; she was officially losing it. She got up and walked over to the top step of the porch, put a hand over her face, and plunked herself down. “I am so messed up.”

A sudden, unwanted flash of Gemma saying “darlin’” to Charles yesterday surfaced, and tears stung her eyes. She went silent and willed them not to fall. It was no use.

After a moment, Niall sat down on the step beside her. “I’d offer you a drink, but I quit ten years ago.”

Lark laughed, despite the tears. “An Irish attorney who doesn’t like Guinness is like an Englishman who doesn’t like fish and chips or something.”

“I know; shameful,” he said with mock contrition. “Don’t hold it against me. I’m doing the world a favor. Trust me. I was a horrible drunk. Seriously, though, are you okay, miss?”

Lark scoffed and gesticulated with her hands to the sky. “It’s Lark. And what a loaded question of the day.” She couldn’t look at him, not after what happened. She clenched the edge of the step on either side of her and stared out at the trees.

“Well, considering we’ve already gone to second base, we might as well be open with each other. Forgive me if I’m candid, but it seems you were having an alleged, eh, intense dream, and you woke up and believed I was him. Is that right?”

Horror dawned on her at what she’d done, and her jaw dropped. “No!” Yes. She glanced at him, and his knowing expression said he knew that was exactly what happened.

“I see,” he said, his tone careful but persistent. “Then why did you kiss me like that?”

“I-I don’t have to answer that.” She lifted her chin with defiance.

He scooted closer to her. “No, you don’t. But I wish you would.”

She scratched her head in frustration and jumped up, moving toward the door.

“I’m sorry to embarrass you,” he said, and she paused with her hand halfway to the doorbell. “I’m decent. I would never— I never meant to take advantage of you at all, please know that. When you kissed me like that, so familiar, I…”

It occurred to her Niall was being a lot more of a gentleman about the whole thing than most men would be, given how horrid the situation was. And she, meanwhile, was being a total bitch. And the poor guy had no clue as to why.

He met her in two quick strides, and his proximity alarmed her. They’d never both been standing in any of her dreams. He was at least a few inches over six feet, well built with wide shoulders and a lithe, muscular frame to complement the height.

He assessed her as well, and his eyes widened with realization. “Wait. Lark? Rick’s daughter? But you’re so little,” he said, surprised. “From the pictures, I assumed you’d be, erm—”

“Fatter?” she asked, glad she was at least back on sure ground. She could always toss jokes around about her heavy days. “It’s okay. You can go ahead and say it. I’ve lost a lot of weight.”

Niall put a hand to the back of his neck. His eyebrows rose. “I think ‘a lot’ is an understatement. Good on you! My mam struggled with her weight too; I know from growing up with her how hard it is to lose it. Well, you look amazing. Wow.”

He rolled his eyes at himself and glanced away. The bizarreness of seeing him act misplaced and common, and not at all like a sex panther, was messing with her.

“I’m sorry.” He laughed. “I sound like an idiot. Listen, I hope you don’t think I’m some leering wanker. This is…awkward.”

“You can say that again,” she murmured with a small smile, wondering what he would say if she told him she’d been having erotic dreams of him every night for the last six months. It was bad enough she’d just made out with the guy.

She held out her hand but didn’t make eye contact. “So listen, how about we forget it ever happened, okay? I’m Lark Braithwaite. I flew in a couple of days ago from London.”

He took her hand and closed his long fingers over hers. “Niall O’Hagan. Pleasure.” He stepped a little closer. “And I’m all for a clean slate, but forgetting’s not on my agenda, lass. I’m taking that one to the grave. Hands down the best snog I’ve ever had in my life. Client’s daughter or no, you can’t take it back.”

About the Author

Roxanne D. Howard is a U.S. Army veteran who has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English. She loves to read poetry, classical literature, and Stephen King. Also, she is an avid Star Wars fan, musical theater nut, and marine biology geek. Roxanne resides in the western U.S., and when she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and children. Roxanne loves to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.

Books by This Author:

With Boroughs Publishing Group:
Sonnet Coupled

With Loose Id Publishing, LLC.:
At the Heart of the Stone
Chicks Dig the Accent
The Costa Mesa Series
Costa Mesa 1: Batten Down the Hatches
Costa Mesa 2: Toe the Line
Costa Mesa 3: Overboard

Social Media Links:

Website: www.roxannedhoward.com
Newsletter: https://roxannedhoward.com/subscribe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoxanneDHoward
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoxanneDHowardAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roxanned.howard/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15019190.Roxanne_D_Howard

I have always enjoyed watching cooking shows.  As a teenager, I never missed an episode of Julia Child’s show, The French Chef. What a hoot she was. I doubt I ever made any of her dishes, but I certainly admired her attitude. Cooking should be fun.

Nowadays, my favorite is Pioneer Woman.  Although I’ve never been on a ranch in my life, I often steal ideas from her. (Sorry, Ree.) For me, they are just a starting point. Depending on what ingredients I have on hand, I tweak things to suit myself. I rarely make a recipe as written. Fortunately for me, my dear husband is willing to eat my experiments.

I guess it was inevitable for me to blend cooking and writing. I began by editing a cookbook. It was a collection put together by the members of the Insurance Women of Pittsburgh as a fund raiser and cleverly titled Premium Recipes.

Then for a few years I entered recipe contests. I even snagged a couple small prizes—an apron, a cutting board. The best prize I won, however, was a trip to New York City to take a class at the Institute of Culinary Education. The contest, sponsored by French’s, entailed creating a sandwich using one of their products. This was when American Idol was first on the air, so I devised a sandwich and called it the Simon Cowell. The ingredients included roast beef as rare as musical talent, as I recall.

Isabella Ramos, the heroine in my third Calusa Town Tale Island Dream, has long wanted to open her own restaurant. That is something I’d never do myself. It involves a lot of hard work and a fair amount of risk, as Izzy soon finds out. I’ll confine my culinary activities to my own kitchen, but it’s fun to experience Izzy’s adventures in cooking vicariously.

Visit me at RusticatingintheTropics.com or FrancesOThomas.com.

Island Dream

Romance with a side of comedy

Zumba teacher Isabella Ramos moved from Miami to the quirky small town of Calusa to open a restaurant. Luc Girard arrives on the Florida island to become a painter, or so he says. The attraction is instant. But the secret he’s keeping threatens to deflate their relationship like a fallen soufflé. It takes the right mixture of ingredients for dreams to come true.

Island Dream is available on Amazon in paperback at https://amzn.to/2xFM6sj or on Kindle at  https://amzn.to/2iBtGWG.

Excerpt:

One step closer to her dream.

Isabella Ramos drove her refurbished van across the drawbridge and towards her home in Calusa.  After catering a breakfast at a golf club on the mainland, she had already dropped off the two women she hired for larger jobs like this one. She yawned and let go of the steering wheel long enough to rub her eyes.  It was only noon, but she had risen early to prepare three varieties of Cuban pastries along with the hot items she had served.

The society women who belonged to the club had oohed and aahed over her food, and many had taken her business card, promising to call her for future high-profile events around town. The manager of the club was a valuable contact too. Isabella was certain he had a vast network that she hoped to tap into when she finally opened her restaurant.

Isabella had loved to bake from the first moment she stood on a chair before her abuela’s kitchen counter back in Miami and wielded a miniature rolling pin. As she got older, and taller, she learned how to prepare the Cuban dishes that made her grandma’s home the place to be when mealtime rolled around. The seed of the dream to open her own restaurant was born.

Up ahead, she spotted a man standing on a ladder next to a utility pole.  She didn’t recognize him, and he wasn’t dressed in an official uniform of any kind.  She didn’t see a truck, only a rusty bicycle that lay flat on the adjoining bike path. Who was he? Was he up to some mischief?

But what if he was in trouble? Before she could stop to think twice, she pulled the van over to the side of the road and got out.

The man shaded his eyes against the Florida sun as Izzy approached. The light glinted off his brown hair, gathered in an untidy man bun. A beard obscured the bottom half of his face making his expression unreadable.

“Can I help you?” he called.

He spoke with an intriguing accent. French?

“Oh, no,” Izzy said. “I wondered if you needed help.”

“You mean you wondered what I am doing,” the man replied. He gestured to several open cans at the foot of the ladder, half hidden in the weeds. “I am painting.”

“Painting on that pole? Why?”

He chuckled. “Because it is there. Is that not what people say when they climb Mount Everest? Simply because it is there.”

UPDATE: The winners are…Brenda Gremli, Charlene Michael, and Jackie Wisherd!

* * * * *

It’s 6:27 a.m. The latest I’ve slept in all week. I’ve had a ton of books to edit—for other people—over the course of the past two to three weeks. I feel like my body is solidifying into this humpbacked, gnarled-fingered gargoyle, perpetually bent toward a computer screen. But one last manuscript to finish polishing, and then I can get back to my own imperfectly-written masterpieces.

Yeah, it’s way to early to be thinking in words longer than one or two syllables. I’ll stop. Now.

So…. You know I have a new release this week, right? A sexy menage with cowboys. Can’t get any more decadent (Oops! Three syllables) than that! Anyways, (Ugh! Did it again!) Family Values is out there, ready for your enjoyment (Ack! I give up!).

Well, it being a long weekend holiday (urg!) for some folks, I’ll remind you that I had several (ridiculously many) stories arrive in August…

Psst! If you have read some of these, do me a favor and post a review!

Toodles! (Yes, too much Mickey Mouse Fun House!) Have a great weekend!

What you might have missed in August…

Reined In

Released August 10!

Who says a cowgirl can’t have it all?

Stormy is a rancher’s daughter through and through, and although she went away to college, her soul is firmly rooted in home ground–and the cowboys she grew up tormenting. When she hears her father might be selling the ranch, she packs her bags and high tails it for home, terrified she might never get another chance to lasso the heart of one of her cowboys before the hands scatter to the four winds.

For Cam and Joe, foreman and wrangler on the ranch, Stormy was a pain in the seat of their Wranglers. But when she roars back onto the ranch, the spoiled brat they remember emerges from the cloud of dust in skin-tight jeans and spike heels and all grown up.

It only takes a hot second to figure out she’s hell-bent on seduction. But if she thinks they’re going to make it easy for her to pick which cowboy she wants most, she’s sadly mistaken. And who says she has to choose one?

Get your copy here!

*~*~*~*~*

Long Howl Good Night

Released August 15th!

Werewolf Aila Mack is ready to get her groove on during a full moon. Because she prefers to keep her liaisons strictly about the sex, she’s a part-time were-hooker. She’s had a taste of were-domination, but now prefers to be in charge of her own destiny.

Brothers Kynan and Jack Parker are on a mission. When their Dark Mountain clan finds an agency dealing in female werewolves, they aren’t happy learning that women are selling their bodies to satisfy their monthly howl. However, they have to take action once they discover there’s a fertile female in the agency’s stable. Their species is in dire need of breedable females.

Kynan and Jack are given the job of bringing home their mate, but they quickly discover there’s more going on beneath the surface than simply a stubborn female who refuses to be collared. Aila’s tempted like never before, as the brothers, one gentle and one fiercely intense, peel away the hard shell surrounding her Wolfen heart.

Get your copy here!

*~*~*~*~*

The Entire Delta Blue series!

Released August 21! Click on covers!

*~*~*~*~*

Everything, so far, in the Delta Heat series!

Released August 21! Click on Covers!

*~*~*~*~*

Handy Men

Released August 24!

Two very handy men mend a divorcée’s broken heart…

Rather than cry over spilt milk, a newly divorced woman throws caution to the wind and decides to seduce her neighbor’s handsome handyman.

Jeff isn’t stupid–Pamela tossed those screws into her sink to get his attention! The fact she’s beautiful and vulnerable convinces him she needs “special” attention. When he has her hot and horny, he surprises her with his partner Casey and a threesome.

What starts for Pamela as a wild, no-holds-barred fling quickly gets stickier as the guys push for something lasting.

Get your copy here!

*~*~*~*~*

Family Values

Released August 31!

Three brothers in love with the same woman make a pact….

Angelina Flores lived a perfect ranch-kid childhood, complete with three princes on horseback who treated their housekeeper’s daughter like a princess. At age eighteen, the fairytale came crashing down when she realized she had to choose between Brand, Nate, and Eli McAffee. And when she did choose one–she lost all three.

She’s older now. Wiser, thanks to her college education and a few years’ distance. A distance she’d planned to maintain…until her mother begs her to fill in at the ranch while she takes care of a sick relative.

The minute her boots hit the front porch, the memories come flooding back, right along with the hunger. It’s tough to put the past behind her when temptation is so close. Especially since the brothers seem bound and determined to woo her. Separately. Together. Whatever it takes to keep her right where she belongs–in their arms.

Get your copy here!

*~*~*~*~*

Contest! 3 Winners!

So, you have plenty to read over the long weekend, right? Something for just about anyone who likes a sexy read!  Winners’ choices of any story in the Lone Star Lovers series, the Night Fall series,  or the Planet Desire series! To win, all you have to do is tell me this…

What are you reading this weekend?

When I consider writing a new romance series, I first look at what will make the stories different. What kernel of an idea sets it apart from other stories? I realized I wanted a series about how important women are to women. No matter how much we might enjoy the men in our lives. Women connect to other women in a unique way. Maybe, because we think alike or can share emotions men can’t understand, but women need women.

So then I asked, what type of situation would force four women together emotionally?

Okay, four women all lose their husbands at one time in a car accident. These women are connected only by their husbands’ jobs. They know each other, but are not what you’d call close—until their husbands are killed. This forever alters their world. Each has their unique problem.

Jen Larson is a realtor, who has for years lived as a married single. Her husband, Craig was her college sweetheart. She believes they had a good life, but less than a year after losing him, she’s ready to start dating again. This throws her relationship with the other executives’ wives into a tailspin. They don’t understand how she can do this, which makes for the first book in the series, The Marketing Exec’s Widow.

The truly fun part about a series like this is no one book is about only one woman. Each plays a part in the other book. Their stories continue and you learn more about what each woman is facing in her life. The happy-ever-after continues, and the reader learns how these women have grown to depend on each other.

In the second book, IT Exec’s Baby, the reader already knows from the first book that Brie Sullivan is pregnant. She has had the baby and is facing the challenges of dealing with a newborn as well as postpartum depression.  She also has two other children she’s trying to raise alone. Life for her is not going well, and she’s searching for answers. During one of her more trying moments, she believes she has the answer and asks Jason Clark to marry her. He’s the son of one of the other executives’ wives, Marianne Clark. This is the beginning of their journey to finding happiness.

Book three, CFO’s Affair is about Sylvia Donovan. The reader finds outs in book one that Sylvia’s husband, Bob asked her for a divorce on the morning he left on the business trip in which he died. Sylvia is going through a difficult time with her daughter having just left for college. She’s suffering from empty nest syndrome. She needs a diversion from her loneliness and decides to help at the company where her husband once worked. This sets her on the trail of finding answers as to why her husband asked for a divorce. She discovers her husband had an affair, and his son is in an abusive situation. This rocks her world and forces her to make some very hard decision about not only her future, but also the future of her husband’s son.

The last book in the series, CFO’s Widow has not been released. Still working on this one, Marianne Clark is the oldest of the four women. She loved her husband and has done her best to deal with the massive hole his death has caused in her life. She is ready to give love a chance when she discovers a lump in her breast. Faced with her mortality, she has to make the hard decision of letting a man into her life or building a wall around herself. Shouldn’t she know the outcome before allowing a man she cares about into her life?

All of these books deal with major women issues. They show not only what women can endure during different phases of their lives, but how the relationship with not only men, but also women, help them deal with the problems they face.

Here are the blurbs for all the books…

Available at
Amazon | Smashwords |  B&N  | Kobo | Apple 

Marketing Exec’s Widow

Needing to revive her life and jump start her heart, Jennifer Larson is facing the biggest challenge of her life, moving into an unplanned future. While the rest of   the Executives Wives’ Club continues to mourn their husbands, Jen is tempted into the future by a sexy chiropractor, Hagan Chaney.

But does he really love her or is he only after her money?

On sale for .99cents

IT Exec’s Baby

Brie Sullivan has a new baby girl and there are a million things to do, but Brie doesn’t have the energy to keep up. Why? She’s still grieving for her husband and suffering from baby blues, but she won’t let that stop her. She’s come up with the answer–find a new husband to be the father of her kids.

Jason Clark has been doing everything he can to help Brie. He loves her but can he accept her proposal of marriage knowing she’s not thinking clearly about the future?

CFO’s Affair

Sylvia Donovan is emotionally wounded from the unexpected death of her husband and still haunted by their last conversation: his request for a divorce and his confession of love for another woman. Her husband gone, her only daughter off to college, Sylvia faces the challenges of learning to live alone and move on with her life.

Vince Wilshire, enchanted with Sylvia, is more than willing to do what it takes to capture the heart of the hurting and untrusting Sylvia.
Can he help her forget the past and make her believe in love again?

CEO’s Widow

After surviving the grief from her husband’s death, Marianne Clark has built a new life with the help of the other Executive Wives. She plans to enjoy grandchildren and friends until her doctor tells her he found a lump in her breast. Her world turned upside down. She re-evaluates her priorities and decides she will grab hold of life with both hands.

Knox Turner lost his first wife to cancer. He’s determined not to let Marianne face this challenge alone.

Can this couple face the trials ahead and build a future together?

Read the 1^st chapter on my website www.tinagayle.com

FREE READ!

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About the Author

Tina Gayle grew up a dreamer and loved to escape into the world of books.

After years of working in the business world doing a variety of jobs, she decided to try her hand at writing in hopes of incorporate the joy of being a mother into her books.

Currently working on a series about four executive wives, she is excited about combining elements of women fiction with the passion of romance. The first three books have been released and the last one is coming out in 2015.

Married twenty-five years, she and her husband love to travel and play golf.  She can’t wait for Mike to retire so they can do more of both.

Read the first chapter of any of her books by visiting her website.

Find Tina Gayle everywhere

Home – www.tinagayle.net
Blog – www.tinagayle.blogspot.com
Twitter – https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorTinaGayle
Goodread – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1641826.Tina_Gayle
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Tina-Gayle/214633841921560?ref=hl
Google + – https://plus.google.com
Linkin – https://www.linkedin.com/pub/tina-gayle/11/689/759

Thanks to Delilah for having me as a guest on her lively blog! I love reading and writing and talking about books—all kind of books. Books have always been one of my great passions. My mother swears that her labor with me was so long and difficult because I was born holding a tablet in one hand and a crayon in the other and wouldn’t let go. I was ready to write. (My mother was prone to tall Texas tales, too, so I get it honestly.)

Many, many moons ago when I was a fledgling author with a couple of romance novels published and was cavorting with a group of romance writers at a conference in Houston, someone in our bunch of six or eight suggested that we go out for drinks that evening. One adventurous soul suggested that a visit to a local club that featured male dancers would be the perfect venue. So we went.

…The place was dim, very dim, and packed with screaming women; the music was so loud that I felt it vibrate under my feet, and spotlights illuminated several small stages. Each stage featured a costumed hunk gyrating and flirting with the women going wild at his feet. We found seats, ordered drinks, and watched the show. As an astute observer of human behavior, I began to laugh at the antics of the women there. (The only men I saw were employees.) Most of the gals waving bills and making suggestive comments to the dancers were twice the age of the guys—or had at least a few years on them.

Several of the well-muscled strippers looked about the same age as students in the college psychology classes I taught—and about the same age as my son. Good grief!

What if I had walked in and found my kid on one of those stages? What if . . .

And the premise for a book was born that night.

THE RIGHT MOVES became one of my all-time favorite romantic comedies, one of thirteen that I wrote for Bantam Loveswept. And it had one of the worst covers ever. It was so bad that the publisher sent two dozen roses to me—and fired the artist. When the rights of my backlist reverted to me, I revised and updated the story and published it as an ebook—with a beautiful new cover that I love. (It’s great to have a creative director in the family.) Check it out on Amazon.

THE RIGHT MOVES by JAN HUDSON

Chris Ponder was a tough little cookie, tough enough to drive a tow truck in Houston on the weekends to help support herself and her 18 year old stepson. But the young widow was in for some surprises when she stopped to tow Nick Russo’s car and found herself waiting in a club filled with screaming women and scantily clad young men dancing for them. And holy g-string! Who was that tall kid she spotted on the stage swiveling his hips in a little-bitty Viking getup?

What was the impeccably dressed Nick Russo, multimillionaire businessman, doing in such a sleazy place? And why did her insides turn to tapioca when he gave her the once over with his bedroom eyes? He was way out of her league, and she’d been badly burned by a charming rascal before. Uh-uh. No way was she getting involved with him. But when he seduced her on a quiet night with his own dance just for her. . .

https://janhudson.com/

The Interview

Q:   What’s your story/back story? Why would someone come up with a story about YOU?

KJ: I guess the reason people would want to interview me is because of the unique way I met Sean Wesley. His manager pulled strings to get him into treatment at the Danville, Illinois, VA because he was having trouble staying clean after he ODed during a recording session. I was there to address my food addiction.  I weighed three-hundred pounds when we met. Who’d ever expect a rock star like Sean to fall for someone that fat?

Q:   Can you tell us about your hero?

KJ: Sean’s tall, and drop-dead handsome with black hair and incredible blue eyes. He’s one of the lead singers of The Haystack, and I was in love with his music long before I met him. He’s kind, and intelligent, and incredibly brave. Can you imagine a pianist making a comeback after losing a hand?

Q:   What problems do you have to face and overcome in your life?

KJ: Having been morbidly obese most of my adult life was a pretty big one, pun not intended.

Q:   Do you expect your hero to help or is he the problem?

KJ: Sean and I support each other.  We have different addictions, so we’re not binge buddies.  Although, he says he was a fat kid and he has to watch his food, so I guess I’m a good influence on him.

Q:   Where do you live?

KJ: My apartment’s in Rantoul, Illinois.  It’s about 125 miles south of Chicago, ten miles north of Champaign, and forty-five miles northeast of Danville.  I was raised in Chicago, but rents are less down here and I’m close to my daughters.

Q:   During what time period does your story take place?

KJ: You would call our romance a contemporary one.

Q:   How are you coping with the conflict in your life?

KJ: Aside from having had a heart attack recently, I’m doing okay. I’ve lost about a hundred pounds so far and I’m still losing. I work out along with Sean when he does his physical therapy, and I’m healthier than I’ve been in over twenty years. My kids aren’t embarrassed to be seen with me anymore. 

Q:   Those’re all the questions we have for you. Thank you for speaking to us.

KJ: You’re welcome.  I really think Sean is much more interesting than I am.  After all—he’s the rock star.

THE THIN PERSON INSIDE

Kristen Jensen, a Navy veteran, tips the scale at a crippling three hundred pounds. In desperation she asks her VA therapist if she can go into addictions treatment with the guys where she meets Sean. With black hair, blue eyes, and a perfect body she figures the reason he’s speaking to her is that she’s the only other person in the room.

The Haystack told their lead singer, Sean Wesley, to get clean or get out. But none of the big-name clinics worked. Sean’s a Desert Storm vet, so they send him to a VA in the middle of nowhere. When he meets Kristen the first day, he thinks it’s tragic such a pretty girl’s trapped in a huge body. And her honesty, intelligence, and bravery are even more impressive. Sean’s drawn to Kristen, but she’s had decades to build layers of defense.

Review:

***** Amazon Review by Heather Haven September 12, 2015

Well done, Ms. Weber.

This is a raw and revealing account of addiction, with a sweetness to it that pulls the reader in from the first. https://www.amazon.com/review/RJPHI5QOBJPTH

Excerpt:

Sean Wesley went into the snack room to help himself to coffee and a roll. He’d probably gain weight while he was here without his personal trainer and weight room. He’d been a fat kid—always the last to be chosen for games, and stuck in right field when he did play. He’d been saved from a life of obesity by a growth spurt in his late teens, a judge who gave him a choice between jail and the Marines, and switching addictions from food to booze and then cocaine.

By rights, Sean shouldn’t be at a VA facility. Celebrities like him usually got sober at places like the Betty Ford clinic or Hazelden. Actually, he’d come from Betty Ford, but he’d still felt shaky so his manager, Don Nelson, had done his homework. Danville, Illinois, was in the middle of nowhere. The program was different, based on Rational Emotive Therapy, and Sean was a veteran. While he made too much money to be treated at the VA, there’s money and then there’s money. Sean had money—the kind that opens doors and breaks down barriers. The kind that makes even the Federal Government say, “We’ll see what we can do,” and then do it.

So here he was in the middle of a cornfield in bum-fuck Illinois at a shabby old VA hospital. An enormously obese woman came into the snack room interrupting his reverie, and Sean thought, That could’ve been me. What a shame—she’s so pretty.”

* * * *

Kristen noticed the table of goodies and the drop-dead-gorgeous man perusing them in the break room when she went in there to put her lunch in the refrigerator.

“Want one? I heard they send ’em over every morning. I guess they’re yesterday’s leftovers.”

That’s right. Offer sweets to the fat lady. She managed a tight grimace. “Thanks, but I’m here because I’m a food addict.” She held up her orange.

“I’m Sean.” He prob’ly wouldn’t give a fat chick like me a second look anywhere else. Still, what is it about men with black hair and blue eyes that makes me go all mushy?

“Hi.”

“I’ve heard of food addicts, but what makes ya call yourself that?”

“When my kids were little, I left them without a babysitter while I went to the store and wrote a rubber check for ice cream and M&Ms. I’d say I’ve been about as desperate for my fix as any addict or alcoholic.”

“Wow! Yeah, I guess so.” He held the door for her as they exited and then followed her into the Day Room.

Kristen sat on a love seat, taking up the whole thing, while Sean sat in the chair on the other side of the end table next to her. They were the only two people in there since there were classes going on. She was sure the minute other people came out he’d find someone else to talk to. She pulled out her crocheting. She was fairly certain Eric would propose to Viki at Christmas and had already begun work on a tablecloth for them. She worked on it a minute and then decided to be polite. “So, what’s your drug of choice?”

“Cocaine. I’ve been clean a coupla months, but it’s hard ta stay clean.”

“I’ve heard that. I was at a halfway house fundraiser and they said it takes something like over a year for cocaine to completely leave the body, and during that time a person can still have random cravings. They were raising money for an extended treatment program.”

“That explains why I’ve been having such a hard time. I hope this treatment helps.”

“Yeah.”

People started coming into the Day Room from classrooms just down the hallways. Several of them gave Sean and Kristen curious looks. Yeah, what’s a great looking guy doing sitting with a fat chick?

Rochelle Weber Biography

Rochelle Weber is romance author, a Navy veteran, and holds a BA in Writing from Columbia College, Chicago. Her two previous novels, Rock Bound and Rock Crazy are available in all formats.

Ms. Weber has over twenty year’s editing experience and publishes the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter, winner of the 2013 and 2015 Preditors & Editors Readers’ Polls for Best Writers’ Resource. She battles bi-polar disorder, quipping, “You haven’t lived until you’ve been the only woman on the locked ward at the VA.” She lost about a hundred-fifty pounds and has kept it off for about three years, and has incorporated these experiences into her books. Ms. Weber lives in Round Lake Beach, Illinois. She has two married daughters, eight assorted grandchildren and step-grandchildren, and a cat who has her very well-trained.

Contact Rochelle At:

Website:  www.rochelleweber.com
Blog:  https://rochelleweber.blogspot.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/rochelle.weber2
Facebook Author Page:  https://www.facebook.com/Rochelle.Weber.Author
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/RochelleWeber
Amazon Author Page:  https://amazon.com/author/rochelleweber

THE THIN PERSON INSIDE:

Trailer:  https://youtu.be/DLJBtjXWwRk

Buy Links:
MuseItUp Publishing, Inc.:  https://tinyurl.com/rwmusettpi
Amazon:  https://tinyurl.com/rwttpiamz
BN:  https://tinyurl.com/rwttpibn

Like anywhere, there are pros and cons about living in a small town. On the upside, you know your neighbors, or at least many of them. (That can be a downside too.) There is a sense of community in most smaller towns, a sense of pride in the place.

Of course, gossip is always alive and well in small communities. A person’s reputation can be easily called under scrutiny for the slightest infraction. There are always certain people who seem to have their heart on the pulse of the town, while others will have more control, more sway in the local politics. It’s not easy to keep a secret, but they are always there behind closed doors.

Services and shops can be limited as well. Many small towns have the basics—grocery store, pharmacy, diner, hair salon, hardware, and usually a few more businesses thrown in for good measure.

Small towns are interesting and have personality. They are also filled with people who have a story to tell. It’s one of the reasons I created my fictional town of Jamesville more than 20 years ago when I wrote Discovering Dani. That book wouldn’t get published for another 10 years. Eventually, I wrote 7 books in that fictional town. I love all the characters who allowed me to tell their stories.

I’m even more thrilled that the series is getting a second life and is now available once again.

Books in the series: Discovering Dani, The Way Home, The Return of Patrick O’Rourke, The Seduction of Shamus O’Rourke, A Legal Affair, By the Book, and Past Promises. (The first two books in the series are “sweeter” in tone. The rest are all steamy.)

Discovering Dani

Jamesville, Book 1

Dani O’Rourke is no stranger to hard work. She’s been raising her two brothers alone since their parents died and she owns and operates her own business, O’Rourke Cleaning Services. Spending all her time working and looking after her family means she’s never had time for men. And if she was going to look for a relationship, it wouldn’t be with an arrogant and cynical man like Burke.

A brush with death has successful businessman Burke questioning his priorities. He’s come to Jamesville for some peace and quiet to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Catching a woman breaking into his cabin certainly isn’t part of his plan, nor is being attracted to her after her finds out just how wrong he was about her.

Burke finds himself caught up in Dani’s family, but is there room in such a gentle woman’s life for a man as hard as him?

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074DYVLJF
Entangled Publishing: https://entangledpublishing.com/discovering-dani.html
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/discovering-dani-n-j-walters/1013241610?ean=9781640630048
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/discovering-dani/id1265731269
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/discovering-dani-2

To find all the books in the series, as well as links to other venues, just go to my Author Page at Entangled Publishing: https://entangledpublishing.com/author/n-j-walters

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