At this time of year, I get a serious case of cabin fever and a longing to be digging in my garden.  I love growing things.  You can see from the photo that I have a very large raised bed garden.

Now don’t get me wrong, I really do like snow.  It’s very pretty.  It covers up the dead grass and looks great hanging on the pine trees around my house.  It also adds to the ambience of the holidays.  Snow on the ground at Thanksgiving makes the holiday feel cozier while I’m in my kitchen baking pies.  Moreover, what’s Christmas without snow?  It’s nature’s special holiday decoration.  In my area, when there is too little snow fall in the winter we have problems with our lakes not filling up as much as they need to.  In addition, there are five ski resorts around me and their very livelihood depends on good snowfall.  I just feel that winter lasts too long.  Once the holidays are over the snow should go away and spring needs to begin.

I have found two things that help alleviate winter depression.  The first is planting my own starters.  I have growing tables set up in my garage complete with heating mats under the trays and grow lights above them.  The area is large enough to grow one hundred and eighty seedlings.  At this time of year, I start my tomatoes and peppers.  I live only a hundred miles from the Canadian border and the growing season up here is very short.  If you start your tomatoes outside from seeds, they will be small and green by the time the first frost hits in September.  The only way to have a decent crop is start them indoors and move them outside after the last spring frost, which is around mid-May.

The second thing I have found to battle winter depression and cabin fever is to start writing a new story.  I may be house bound and dealing with miserable weather but my characters aren’t.

My current work in progress is the sequel to my October release, THE KISS OF A ROSE.  The new book picks up about eight months after the end of the first one.  It continues the story with all the same characters and a few new ones.  The title for the second book is, THE THORN OF A ROSE with a release date later this year.

Augustina Van Hoven
Proving Love is Strange
THE KISS OF A ROSE – Now available
www.augustinavanhoven.com
FaceBook | Twitter:  @augustinavhoven

A DISTANT PAST

In 1882, Rose Van Buren loved the wrong man and paid for it with her life. Now, more than a century later, the angel Gabriel has granted her another shot at living. In exchange, she must convince a smart, handsome, up-and-coming lawyer to set aside his lofty ambitions.

A FUTURE PRESENT

Stephen Winship is headed straight for the governor’s chair. He has a brilliant career, solid allies, and a seemingly perfect girlfriend. But night after night he finds himself dreaming of a heavenly beauty, a luminous but long-dead girl. Like some altered Ghost of Christmas Past, she shows him her own tragic tale in order to “save him.” And he’s beginning to see Rose is risking her heart as much as baring her soul. Yet falling for her will cost him everything—and open him up to a happiness he never imagined.

When an author sets out to write a book, even a pantser like me, they have an end result in mind. For instance, when I set out to write my newest release from Dreamspinner press. Drive Your Truck, I intended to write a contemporary romance about a Navy SEAL and a closeted deputy in Colorado. I wanted it to be a hot, not terribly angst-filled, and full of adrenaline-junkie stunts.

What I got was a couple of guys who met over a grief-filled moment, and a slow exploration of how two men change their lives so they can be together and live as they want to. The whole progression turned out a little darker than I expected, the guys’ relationship far more complex. This was no simple sex to love relationship; it was about both men realizing they had to give up certain unhealthy behaviors, and about them setting aside preconceived notions.

As a writer, I love it when my characters surprise me. Sometimes it delights me, sometimes it challenges me, but I always want to see where the ride takes me.

The title, incidentally, comes from a Lee Brice song of the same name, which was also a surprise. When I first heard the lyrics, I didn’t love the song, thinking it was a bit like emotional blackmail. Let’s combine all these clichés to receive a conditioned response. Then I saw the video, and it turned around my whole view of the song. The singer I already love. Check out how naughty he can be on his song Carolina Boys.

Thanks so much for letting me jabber today as a guest on Delilah’s blog! Here is all the information on Drive Your Truck, which has been on the Dreamspinner bestseller list for two weeks now!

Home on compassionate leave for his brother’s funeral, Navy SEAL Garrison Matthews needs to blow off a lot of stress and grief before he returns to active duty. In honor of his brother, he takes Bettie, the brothers’ souped-up vintage truck, out for a spin. A bit of an adrenaline junkie, Garrison has no problem finding trouble. This time trouble’s named Walt, and he happens to be Garrison’s sister-in-law’s brother.

Neither man expects their fun to amount to anything else, but after an injury sends Garrison home for good, he turns to Walt, hoping to start a new life. Walt is a closeted sheriff’s deputy, and while he adores Garrison, he isn’t sure he’s ready to come out… or for such a big commitment. Being fresh out of the service isn’t easy on Garrison either. To find their happy ending, Walt and Garrison must overcome their trust issues and get ready to settle down together.

https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5988 (Buy link)

XXOO,

Julia Talbot
www.juliatalbot.com

Tom Hiddleston’s smirk has nothing to do with my werewolves…

Really.

When I began researching werewolves in January 2010, the movie Thor hadn’t yet been released and wouldn’t be for over a full year. As a would-be paranormal romance and fantasy author, wolves interested me for their extraordinary beauty, intelligence, and grace. I wanted to find some way to put my own unique spin on wolf shifters… Optimistically, that take would produce something fresh and original.

“No story is original.”

As authors, we hear this all the time. Until we’re sick of it. Whether it’s true or not. Yeah, sure, it’s a valid statement but only to a point. Writers struggle to put words on the page in a way that conjures images. Following years of frustration and tears, one of two things happens.

1. You go mad.
2. IT suddenly happens.

What is IT? It is the magic of storytelling. Transcendent moments when words become images become scenes become movies playing out in the reader’s mind.

Am I off topic?  Allow me to return to my quest to breathe life into my werewolves. I’ve always had an interest in legends and lore, so it was a natural development when my muse turned to Norse mythology.

Nordic oral tradition tells of a monstrous wolf named Fenrir. He is the son of the Trickster god, Loki, and in turn he is also the sire of the wolves that devour the sun and moon. Fenrir, imprisoned for all time, will break free of his bindings and rise up to swallow Odin whole.

During the tumultuous years that comprise Ragnarök, many tragic events play out. There are many players including Norse gods, monsters, and giants. Wolves happen to play a huge and vital role in the story. So far as epiphanies go, Loki’s Wolves crept up on me gradually until one day I perceive the whole, wonderful vision. And I knew then–that was my story to tell.

Now, I’m struggling to put the stories to paper one word at a time.

My heroine, Victoria Storm, sprung fully formed into my head. She is a priestess of Freya and a Valkyrie to Odin. She’s also a wolf shifter and the head of a pack on the verge of extinction due to a violent conflict with a group of hunters. Her story begins a couple weeks following the violent murder of her lover…

#0 Loki’s Wolves Series

A thirty-year alliance that aligned wolves and hunters has shattered.

Victoria Storm leads a few surviving members of her pack in a desperate flight. As the only surviving child of their leaders, the she-wolf inherited the role of Alpha. The violent deaths of her parents and the man she loved left her devastated, and the lives of her followers depend on her decisions. Simple survival often conflicts with the demands of preserving her Norse heritage, so she must struggle to balance her duties as Freya’s priestess and Odin’s Valkyrie. When innocent children are abducted, she must set aside her differences and work with her worst enemy to rescue them.

ISBN   978-1-942193-05-0
ASIN: B00BWBOQNI
Published:  Jan. 23, 2015
Genre: Urban Fantasy/ Norse & Viking Folklore
99 cents on  Amazon   

Subscribe to Melissa Snark’s newsletter for new releases, prizes, and lots of fun. https://eepurl.com/LteNP (Just copy & paste the link into your browser.) You’ll get a free ebook just for signing up! Author Melissa Snark lives in the San Francisco bay area with her husband, three children, and a glaring of litigious felines. She reads and writes fantasy and romance, and is published with The Wild Rose Press & Nordic Lights Press. She is a coffeeoholic, chocoholic, and a serious geek girl. Her Loki’s Wolves series stems from her fascination with wolves and mythology.

• She blogs about books and writing on https://www.thesnarkology.com/. Visit her website at https://www.melissasnark.com/.
• Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelissaSnark
• Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0076EEQIU
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/MelissaSnark

Last week the Book Binge linked to this piece from Twitter: “Romance for Non-Romance Readers.” The piece claims, “I’m going to examine the common reasons that readers bypass the romance section, and then suggest some titles that can ease the transition into enjoying the romance genre.” Seems straightforward enough! I scrolled down to the list. Wait a minute…Jane Eyre? Rebecca? Silence of the freaking Lambs?

With the exception of one or two books, this list is not made up of romance novels at all. They may be stories about love, but that’s not the same thing. And if a reader scorns romance and discovers she likes Jane Eyre, that’s highly unlikely to convince her she should check out the latest Tessa Dare.

I’ve tried to hook many non-romance-readers on romance, and I’ve found that there are some books that work well and some that don’t. That information is hardwon, and useful to share! So I’ve put together a shortlist here of (mostly historical) books that have worked for me, and I’ve also compiled at my blog all the suggestions I received on Twitter, organized by genre.

There’s an art to recommending books and I suspect many of you are skilled at it already. But if you’re not sure where to start, here are a few guidelines:

1. What does your friend already like to read? If they’re a devoted thriller reader, try romantic suspense. If they love fantasy or horror, start with paranormal.

2. Respect their preferences. If they just watched the Twilight movie and were bowled over by how much they loved it, don’t try to use that as a segue to push Jennifer Crusie at them. Give them a vampire romance even if that’s not your favorite. If they tell you they hate scary stuff, don’t say, “Oh, but this romantic suspense book is amazing, just give it a shot!”

You don’t have to believe them when they say, “Oh, I wouldn’t like romance,” because pfft. They’ve never read a romance, or they skimmed a bad one that they picked up at random in a waiting room. They’ve been brainwashed by how romance is used as an easy punchline in our culture. Probably the only romance writer whose name they know is Danielle Steel. (Nothing against Danielle Steel! But even accounting for her phenomenal popularity, she’s one writer in a huge genre.)

But they still know what they like in a story even if they don’t understand the ways romance can give it to them.

3. Some books make better intros than others. That cozy snowed-in book you love might be incredible, Pregnesia might be hilarious, but do they work best if you’re already affectionately familiar with romance tropes? Will they strike someone as special who’s pre-disposed to dismiss romance? Maybe! Just give it some thought first. I have had a lot of litsnob friends in my life, so my tendency is to give romance haters books that decisively smash their preconceptions about what the genre can be. I’ve found that once they’re sold on the exceptional book, they can ease into the everyday delights or cracktastic deliciousness on their own. YMMV. Be thoughtful and use your best judgment!

4. Give trigger warnings. For example, you may have read so many awesome abduction stories that it doesn’t register anymore, but it may take your friend completely by surprise. Let them know that there is sex without consent in the book and they can decide from there.

And now, my list:

1. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. Heyer was a favorite author in college and I was constantly trying to hook my friends. But The Grand Sophy was the only one my friends consistently liked as an introduction to her. Hardly anyone could get through The Black Moth, my personal favorite, if they weren’t already feeling the Heyer love.

A note: there is a very anti-Semitic scene partway through the book. Check if that’s a deal-breaker for your friend. Sylvester has been suggested as another good starter Heyer (although for that one, warn for ableism!).

2. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. This book is quirky, fun, different…and oh, the sex scenes! Back in the day, I used this book to hook friends who liked fanfiction but told me the sex in romances was boring. Luckily, with the growth of erotic romance the sex scenes in mainstream stories have really leveled up, but Welcome to Temptation is still perfection. (Bet Me is another great starter book, and someone told me that Tell Me Lies and Crazy for You worked well for them as a mystery reader coming into the genre.)

My BFF was impervious to the charms of Crusie. But I didn’t give up. She loves Westerns, so when I read this next book, I was pretty sure I had her–and I did!

3. Fall From Grace by Megan Chance. An amazing, daring Western that opens with the heroine running away from the hero–who is also her estranged husband–and when he catches her, she shoots him. This book is intense, emotional, and hard-bitten. The very first review on Amazon says “This is ‘the’ book I hand to romance detractors, male and female, and say ‘I dare you to learn otherwise’. Everyone I’ve given it to has been pleasantly surprised, including a male friend who stayed up until 2 in the morning because he ‘had to know how it ended’.”

4. Loretta Chase. For me, Lord of Scoundrels delivers the most intense emotional experience and I’ve had a lot of friends fall in love with it, but Miss Wonderful is the one that finally got my dad. He’d read other romances before, but after Miss Wonderful, he was addicted. He told me it was the best book he’d ever read about relationships. Mr. Impossible also got a lot of Twitter votes.

5. A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant. The heroine pays the hero to sleep with her every day for a month (she’s a widow who needs to get pregnant with a child that could plausibly be her late husband’s, because otherwise her horrible brother-in-law will inherit). The heroine refuses to enjoy herself at first, so the sex is awkward and excruciating (which just makes it hotter!), and the prose…the beauty of the prose is astonishing. This book is particularly effective for anyone who uses the words “generic,” “badly written,” or “cheesy” while explaining why they don’t read romance.

6. My above-mentioned BFF told me she’s seen a lot of people read and love The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan as their first romance. I agree, this would be a great choice, especially for someone who tells you that romance is a sexist or unprogressive genre.

As I mentioned above, I’ve also compiled all the “starter romance” suggestions I got on Twitter at my blog. Corrections and additions welcome!

Thanks for having me, Delilah.

Rose Lerner
website: https://roselerner.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/roselerner
tumblr: https://roselerner.tumblr.com/

About Rose Lerner

I discovered Georgette Heyer when I was thirteen, and wrote my first historical romance a few years later. My writing has improved since then, but my fascination with all things Regency hasn’t changed. When not reading, writing, or researching, I enjoy cooking and marathoning old TV shows. I live in Seattle with my best friend.

Hi Delilah and thanks for letting me visit!

My novel, Drawing the Devil, was released yesterday and I’m so excited. It’s set in the rodeo circuit with all it’s flash, and problems. I’ve always loved rodeos since I was a little kid, especially the bull riding. As I got older I still loved the rough and tumble aspects of the sport, but also appreciated the scenery more and more. There’s nothing quite like a guy in a nice pair of Wranglers.

For a while team rodeo’s existed and I’m probably one of the few people in the world who experienced one of those events. Funny enough, it was some of the less spectacular events that became more interesting when it was a team event. Calf roping was great as a team event. They ran the competitors at the same time, from opposite ends of the arena. Loved it!

But even without the now defunct team rodeos, I love rodeo. The advice authors heard all the time is for us to write what we want to read. Well, Drawing the Devil certainly falls into that category.  I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I do.

Jon

Purchase Links

• Samhain Press
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• All Romance

A heart can live a lifetime in eight seconds.

Ever since his father caught him with another boy and threw him out at the tender age of sixteen, Dustin Lewis has been fighting his way up the national bull-riding rankings. He’s on the brink of qualifying for the National Finals when he draws Diablo, a notoriously rank bull—and the ride goes bad.

When bullfighter Shane Rees frees Dustin from the rigging of the same bull that nearly destroyed his face, he comes dangerously close to dropping his guard. Shane knows the potential consequences of being gay in a sport loaded with testosterone-overdosed cowboys, and the resulting scars of mind and body have left him with little self-worth.

Their near-death-by-bull first meeting sparks an attraction that awakens every last one of their personal demons. Yet as the National Finals draws closer, so do they. But they’ll have to overcome emotional highs, near-tragic lows, and bone-crushing danger before love can bust out of the chute.

Social Media links
https://jonkeys.com
https://www.facebook.com/jon.keys.773
Tweets by Jon4Keys

Want a sneak peek?

Nothing made Dustin feel more alive than sitting on a ton of beef and balls that ate cowboys for lunch. The rush was almost as good as sex. Almost. He was going to get a hell of a buzz from the bull he drew today.

“Get him in there, boys!” yelled Dustin.

His pulse raced as the bull slammed into the gate, never slowing from his headlong race down the alleyway. It tried to climb over the chute, hooves banging against the enclosure. Dustin waited for a still moment and then dropped onto the brindle hide below him. The metal chute was tight against Dustin as his legs wrapped around the bull with no room to spare. His body flooded with adrenaline. He yanked the rope around his rosin-coated glove as Diablo fought with the metal chute, then drew his crotch snug against his hand. He rammed his cowboy hat down tight. There was a second when everything aligned. Dustin gave the gateman a quick flip of his head, the signal for all hell to be let loose.

The side of the chute flew open with the force of two thousand pounds of muscle ramming against it, ending with the crash of metal against metal. The bull jumped sideways to clear the gate, then dropped into a spin.

With a snap of his hindquarters, the bull sprinted a few yards, then contracted like the devil’s slinky. It uncoiled violently, slashing the air with all four hooves in a gravity-defying move. As he anticipated each twist of the bull, Dustin tightened his jaw in determination. The bull finished his move by slamming against the ground, jarring Dustin to the bone.

Fuck! I see why this bastard’s named Diablo.

Diablo dropped into another spin. His body swapped ends with each thump of Dustin’s heart. As the bull hit his stride, Dustin struggled to regain control. No! You aren’t tossing me. Seeming to sense Dustin’s effort, the bull flipped back on itself and reversed the spin. The forces pummeled Dustin even as his muscular legs fought to regain their grip. Forces outside his control overwhelmed him. His battle against animal and time ended as he fell into the hellish vortex the bull created.

Shane’s gut twisted when the gate exploded outward and a familiar tiger-striped bull jumped into the arena. It had to be this motherfucker? His thoughts flashed to the thick scar bisecting his face. A souvenir from the last time he’d dealt with this bull. The crash of metal against metal signaled the start of Shane’s job. He focused his entire being on the cowboy who might need his help.

Shane tracked everyone as he positioned himself: rider, bullfighters and bull. There was a reason this bull won the vote for rankest bull at most of the rodeos he was at. Diablo liked to hurt cowboys and bullfighters. Shane gathered up the tattered legs of his costume as he read the beast’s moves and adjusted his position constantly so he could rush in if needed.

He studied the rider and how he handled the bull through the first jumps. Shane could imagine the painful jar reverberating through the cowboy each time the bull moved from one maneuver to another. Then it happened—the break in rhythm marking the loss of control from the rider. Damn it. Shane ran toward the bull. This bull rider needed help getting out of the arena in one piece. When he lost his seat and fell inside Diablo’s spin, Shane shifted to a frantic sprint.

He ran across the bull’s path, waved his hands and hoped the loose flags of clothing flapping in front of him would distract the bull from the cowboy under his hooves. A split second later, the situation became worse. The guy was hung in his bull rope. The slender rider bounced against the enraged animal like a rat in a terrier’s mouth.

Shit!

Shane ran across the path of the rampant bull, hoping he would give the other bullfighter enough time to get to there. “Come on, you worthless piece of hamburger meat. Chase me!”

The bull spun toward Shane, responding to the rag streamers that flapped from his arms. Diablo pawed the arena floor, tossed dirt high in the air and charged Shane. As he cut in to avoid the bull, the other bullfighter yanked on the kid’s arm. He popped loose from the rigging, and they landed on the arena floor in a heap. Shane dodged the end of Diablo’s blunt horn by a hair as he danced away, leading the bull from the pair, who struggled to get across the expanse of arena.

Shane raced for the barrelman, who dropped inside at his approach. As his painted face disappeared, Shane spun the barrel and positioned it between himself and the bull. Not a heartbeat later, the bull charged and a dull thud sounded as a cockeyed horn struck the barrel’s aluminum wall. Diablo paused, then tossed a spire of dust before charging Shane again.

Shit! Get that cowboy out of here!

Shane gauged the progress of the other two as he worked to keep the barrel between himself and the angry animal. After a brief test of wills, the bull left Shane and ran along the wall in search of an easier victim. Shane used the time to catch his breath. The bull circled back, and Shane’s heart jumped into his throat when Diablo’s head snapped up, his nostrils flared, and he spun toward the fleeing pair.

God damn it!

The bull thundered toward them as they ran for the fence. Shane realized only a slim chance of intercepting the ton of beef existed. He ran at Diablo, who whirled toward him again. The two ran a collision course, with Shane certain to be the loser. A gasp erupted from the crowd when, at the last second, Shane jumped toward the bull.

Diablo slammed to a stop. Shane sailed over his head and planted a foot on his thick neck. His momentum carried him forward to complete the jump. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause as he landed on the packed arena floor. He spun in time to see the cowboy pulled over the fence. The other bullfighter ran back into the arena as the bull shot out the gate.

Shane walked to the barrelman and slapped him on the back. “Did you get a nice nap in there? Ready for another bull?”

The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. Shane threw up his arms in a triumphant gesture…and curtseyed.

Shane sat in a dark corner of the bar, the intermittent flashes of flickering neon the only illumination. There was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to see the handsome kid who’d tried to ride Diablo.

“Hey, man. I’m Dustin. You saved my ass today. Your drinks are on me. They said you jumped the damn bull to give them time to drag me out.”

Shane lifted his longneck and filled his mouth with the cool amber liquid, then let it slide down his dry throat as their eyes met. “Name’s Shane. Glad I could help. Your ride was a little crazier than usual, but with the amount of beer I plan to drink tonight, it’ll cost you.” Shane leaned back into the shadows, trying to further hide his scarred face.

A dimple appeared in Dustin’s cheeks when he grinned. “I ended up winning today, so I can cover it.”

“You won? I thought you fell before the buzzer?”

Dustin lifted his bottle of beer and chugged down its contents, his prominent Adam’s apple dancing as he swallowed. He emptied the longneck and lowered it with a sigh. “Everyone had shitty rides today, but my other go-rounds kicked ass, so I ended up high score.”

Another cocky, good-looking bull rider.

“Hey, fag, how’s it goin’?”

Shane bristled and started to stand to defend himself, but realized the crack was directed at Dustin.

“Yeah, fuckwad. Look whose tiny little dick is talking for him again,” said Dustin.

The interloper tipped his hat backward with a friendly wink. “Yeah, pussy. We’ll see who has the biggest dick. Just wait.”

“Hey, asshole, meet Shane. He’s the bullfighter who saved my butt today. We were just talkin’ about how much beer he’d have to drink before we’re even.” Dustin turned to Shane. “Todd puts out for me whenever I whistle.”

“Yeah, whatever. Dustin loves my dork up his honey hole.”

“Honey hole? You’re such a dumb shit.”

“Yeah, whatever. I need to find some hot tail to slip my nine inches into.”

“Go for it. Maybe there’s some drunk chick here who’ll think your four inches is nine.”

Todd flipped Dustin off as he walked to a huddle of girls whose drinks all had little umbrellas.

Dustin twisted back to Shane. “Sorry about Todd. He’s an ass, but he’s my best friend.” Dustin signaled the bartender and drank from the ice-cold bottle he brought, his second. “Also my closest competition.”

“Yeah, I saw you were really high in the earnings. Taking a run at Finals?”

Dustin nodded and set down his beer. “Yup, I’ve got a good shot at making the short list. If I don’t get too many more repeats of today.”

Shane’s hand drifted to the deep scar. “Yeah, he’s a bad son of a bitch.”

A big thank you to Delilah for this guest spot! Today, to celebrate the release of Cowboy Overload, I’m chatting with the fabulous Lana Fox, editor at Go Deeper Press and author of erotic novel Cream, which releases on February 10. Look below for links to both books and a giveaway.

*          *          *

Lana: The title of your book is such fun! How much can you reveal about the “overload” in Cowboy Overload?

Mia: I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this, but when I’m overloaded—with information, stimulation, sights, sounds—there’s a moment when my brain switches from thinking to feeling. (Las Vegas and Black Friday shopping come to mind!) I wanted to recreate this experience for my main character Andie as she’s faced with the prospect of not one, but two sexy cowboys. There’s a moment in the story when she lets go of her anxieties and just feels. On a goofy side note, a friend of mine often sends me pictures of kittens and piglets from a site called Cute Overload. That inspired my title!

In the introduction, you say that Cowboy Overload contains “some of the most intense sex scenes I’ve written to date.” Can you fill us in a little on one of the sex scenes in the book? What makes it so sizzling? Was it exciting to write?

There’s a ton of steamy action in this story, but one of my favorite things to write was the scene where Andie watches Dean undress for the first time, right before he joins Andie and Decker in bed. He undresses slowly, like he knows she’s reading his body like a book. Dean is older and heavily built, with scars and a couple of mysterious old tattoos. It was exciting looking at him through her eyes. With erotic ménage romance, there’s quite a bit of choreography involved. What I want to avoid is writing a catalog of body parts and actions! At the heart of each scene are three people sharing not just pleasure but intimacy. Andie must trust both men, one of whom she’s just met, so it’s important to establish that Dean and Decker are experienced, trustworthy lovers who will take care of her every step of the way. That kind of trust leads to incredible chemistry in the bedroom.

Cowboy Overload takes place in Oleander, a “dusty little California cow town.” For a Brit like me, this is so exotic! What makes this setting perfect for sizzling erotic romance?

For a lot of people, California means Hollywood, San Francisco, the beach. But California also has an enormous interior. The Central Valley is about the size of Egypt. It’s farms and orchards and oil fields and ranchland…and cowboys! This is the far west, the California of Merle Haggard and Cesar Chavez. The people who work this land are tough, and for me, tough is hot. When I was envisioning Dean and Decker, I was thinking about descendents of the Joads, Steinbeck’s hardscrabble Okies who had to get through hell to make their home in California. These people are durable, body and soul. That’s sexy.

One of the many things I enjoy so much about your writing, Mia, is the way you immerse us in a character’s sense experiences, including the scents and textures that less talented writers often leave out. What are some of the scents from Cowboy Overload that stay with you, as the author? And what about textures as well?

Thanks, Lana! As a reader, I love sensual details. And let me just say that it was fun to imagine what two perfect, freshly-scrubbed cowboys would smell like! They’re on the road together, so they’d probably be staying in the same motel room. They’d probably use the motel soap—something cheap but serviceable…Ivory soap. It’s a distinct, sharp smell, not floral but clean. I thought of the worn leather on their boots and belts—that’s such a sexy scent. When you spend a lot of time physically with another person, you begin to smell like that person, so it made sense to me that they’d smell similar. But Andie can smell the difference. She’d know Decker blindfolded. Also, like a lot of writers, I’m really in love with the sound of certain words. There’s a line that stuck with me: “Tires hissed on the pitted asphalt.” This is near the beginning of the story. The parking lot of the steakhouse is run-down, and Andie’s run-down physically and emotionally. The sound of the cowboys’ big truck approaching is not a loud rumble, but a whisper, enticing her to make a choice: stay, or get in the truck?

Would you share an excerpt from Cowboy Overload to entice us yet further?

Absolutely! Meet Andie, Decker, and Dean.

*          *          *

Excerpt from Cowboy Overload

The motel room was a picture postcard from 1963. Faux wood paneling, a flocked green bedspread, and two plaster lamps carved and painted to look like eagles. The oil painting above the headboard was a woodland scene: three trees on a lone island in the middle of a lake.

“Home sweet home,” said Andie.

Decker put a heavy gym bag on the table. Dean went into the bathroom, brought out a glass, and sat down at the table in the corner. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his wavy brown hair. Then he poured himself a couple fingers of whiskey from a flask and sat back with a sigh. He looked around.

“Why here?” he asked.

“They don’t hassle us.” Andie took off her coat. The men looked at her in appreciation. She was wearing her new black dress: tight and short and strapless, it made her feel fearless. She’d had to sneak off to Bakersfield to buy it.

“Damn, girl. You’re fuckin’ beautiful.” Decker took Andie’s coat and hung it in the closet. Then he took off his hat and put it next to Dean’s. Andie sat down on the bed and slipped off her shoes. Decker knelt down and took her feet in his big hands, running his thumbs slowly along her arches. “That better, sweetheart?”

She nodded. She reached forward and ran her fingers through his thick black hair, mussing it with a smile as Decker’s warm hands slid up her calves and rested on her knees.

“Did you miss me?” he asked.

She said nothing.

He took her hand and pushed her palm against the hard ridge behind his fly. “Did you miss this?” he asked.

She smiled. “I guess so.”

He raised his eyebrows and spanked the inside of her thigh—not hard, but hard enough to leave a little redness on her skin. “You guess so?”

He put his hand on the back of her neck and brought her mouth to his. “You guess so?” he whispered again, and the warmth of his breath washed over her lips. She shivered and closed her eyes just as he kissed her, hard and hungry, a textbook Decker Daniels kiss. He tasted like peppermint toothpaste with a hint of whiskey—he’d taken a hit off Dean’s flask.

Andie felt herself plummeting into the kiss, getting lost in the familiar sensation of his lips and tongue. She planted her hands against his solid chest and leaned forward, hungrily drinking him in, only mildly aware that Dean was watching them from the corner like a silent, predatory shadow.

Decker’s hands skimmed down the sides of her neck and over her bare arms. He raised goosebumps on her skin. When he ran his thumbs over her breasts, her nipples hardened behind the thin, tight fabric of her dress. Decker moaned into her mouth; Andie felt the rumble of his deep voice in some sad, empty place in her chest.

He hooked his thumbs behind the neckline of her strapless dress and dragged it down to her waist. She was wearing a pink satin strapless bra. Decker broke their kiss to look at her. As he fondled her, his big, scarred hands looked brutal against the smooth fabric.

“Magnificent,” he murmured, kissing the tops of her breasts where they spilled over her bra. He reached behind her and with the flick of his thumb, snapped the hook.

*          *          *

COWBOY OVERLOAD
Mia Hopkins

The daughter of a ranch foreman with a violent temper, Andie Rich hungers for glitz, glamour, and a life of her own. One night, she sneaks out and runs into her former classmate, professional bull rider Decker Daniels. Taking a short break from the circuit, he’s in town with his good buddy, bullfighter Dean MacKinnon. Dean and Decker have big plans for the passionate homegrown hottie. But does Andie have the guts to take on two cocky cowboys at once?

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Please visit my website for more sexy stories.

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CREAM
Lana Fox

Sultry jazz singer Caroline Spence has a penchant for smokier numbers—and, as it turns out, men of a similar temperament. So when the darkly dominant Marcus takes her on as his submissive, she surprises him by sharing his love of double cream, both in a bowl and on her body, as well as a passion for kink that could lose him his job.

Still, it turns out Marcus isn’t the only one who wants Caroline. The young, rich, and audacious Kyle could listen to her sing forever. Caroline soon finds out, however, that Kyle’s obsession has a dangerous side. But with his charm and smoldering good looks, she finds it easy to let him push her a little too far.

Two men. One siren.

And a challenge that changes her life.

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CONTEST

I’d like to send a free e-book of COWBOY OVERLOAD to three random commenters who answer this question below: I love sensual details. The heroes of Cowboy Overload smell like Ivory soap and leather. What is your favorite sexy scent?

When I tell people I’m a writer, they nod politely and ask what I write, and then go back to whatever conversation they were having before. I get that. Only other writers and avid readers get even remotely interested when they meet a writer.

Those that do get excited immediately think you’re a big star and must drive a Rolex, or is that a Rolls Royce? Whatever. Sadly that’s the farthest from the truth in my case. I’m a writer making a living at it, but not making a killing. I wear sweats or yoga pants to work each day (I know, be jealous) and leave my diamonds and stilettos packed away for important events (probably my funeral).

Yesterday, I learned that COWBOY 12 PACK, a boxed set I have a story in made the New York Times Best Seller at #11 and the USA Today Best Seller List at #33. Though I was excited and jumping up and down, my dogs were not impressed. Sigh.  I told my husband and he patted my head and told me, “That’s nice. What’s for supper?” I rarely see my neighbors because I’m on the keyboard all day cranking out page after page, trying to push the world up the hill of fame and fortune. That leaves my sister who is also a writer. I share my news with her when I can get her on the phone. She at least knows the importance of a list and can share my happiness.

So why do we do it? Obviously not for the fame and fortune, because it doesn’t always come our way unless we strike gold and make it big like 50 Shades of Grey. We do it because we love it and want readers to love our stories. And if it pays the bills, we consider ourselves successful!

So thank you to all the readers who buy our books and keep us in the business of doing what we love to do. We love each and every one of you.

Oh, and by the way…WE MADE THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER LIST!!!

****For a chance to win a $5 Gift card***

Leave a comment about your successes and the reactions of those around you.
I’ll choose a winner tomorrow.

Don’t forget to get your free copy of SEAL’S HONOR before it goes off sale!
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