Collaboration and a Strip Club

Thank you for having me on your blog today, Delilah!

Recently, I’d been asked to join a brand new blog, along with nine other authors. Being a relative newbie to the industry, I was honored by the request and jumped at the chance to be a part of this talented group. This was the opportunity to interact and collaborate with other writers that I’d been looking for.

The idea of writing an anthology started with a chain of e-mails that was mostly kidding around. The discussion started with a note about Valentine’s Day and progressed to the topic of St. Patrick’s Day. Of course (we are romance writers, after all), the discussion then shifted to a sexy leprechaun and the “treasure” at the end of his rainbow, to which the response was “Lucky Charms!” It was mentioned that Lucky’s would make a great name for a strip club…with its strippers called Lucky’s Charms. Then, someone said, “Hey! We should write that!”

See, folks? This is one way plot bunnies are born. Collaboration, even when unintended, can be magical.

After the initial shock of agreeing to write an anthology wore off, we got to work. With four weeks to go until St. Patrick’s Day, the clock was ticking. Unlike other anthologies, our stories are connected to each other through common theme. All of the stories are set in or around Lucky’s Bar and Strip Club. We were able to quickly hash out the details and interworkings of the club. Our resident attorney checked into the laws that govern strip clubs in NYC. Not that some of our guys didn’t (accidentally) break them, but it’s always good to know the rules.

We utilized Dropbox as a way to share documents. This is an invaluable tool for long-distance collaboration. It gave us a central location to store things such as marketing materials and cover art. It also helped to keep things on track as we went through the editing process. And it reduced the number of “Lucky’s Charms” titled emails in my inbox. 🙂

Have you ever wondered how things can come together so perfectly, despite writers block, time constraints, surgeries, illnesses and general life stuff? Because all of these things occurred during the process of creating Lucky’s Charms.

Synergy.

We came together as women. As writers, sisters, and friends. We worked together and got the job done. Through collaboration, we’ve created a blog and an anthology I am very proud to be a part of.  I can’t wait until we do this again!

A Love, Lust and Laptops Publication:

From the ladies of Love, Lust and Laptops comes a special anthology filled with sexy tales of the men and women of Lucky’s Bar and Strip Club.

Anything could happen at Lucky’s Bar and Strip Club. Underneath the neon lights, the loud music, and the tear-away costumes, new lovers meet for the first time and old flames ignite anew. Shifters claim their mates, and leprechauns pay unusual gambling debts. Undercover operative solving crime? Advertising executive seducing the boss? All business as usual at Lucky O’Reilly’s.
Have you gotten lucky tonight?

Currently available for FREE at Smashwords.

Coming soon to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and All Romance eBooks.

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Sex and the Strong Woman 

I’ve never cared for stories that feature mistreated women waiting to be rescued. I prefer books where the victim turns around and bites her abuser. I guess that’s why when I started writing my own heroines they all kick butt and resist taking orders.  🙂

In my recently released Eclipse Heat series title, Wolf’s Tender, Naomi Parker, my heroine, is a school teacher who uses her wits and limited powers of seduction to save her kidnapped students. Do I think such a scenario is possible? Yes. I think history proves that women have always used seduction as a means of survival.

Do I think Naomi chooses well when she picks Charlie Wolf McCallister to seduce? Double yes. Naomi finds the best tracker in Texas and uses sex to persuade him to help her. Why? Because we all know that saving her students is a lot more important than saving her virginity. (And besides, Charlie Wolf is a half-Kiowa hunk who makes her blood sizzle.)

I think one of the greatest compliments I’ve received for Wolf’s Tender was from a reviewer who said “…This entire book has a gentle message of female empowerment that appealed to me greatly, [a surprise] since it was in a historical Western that normally features damsels in distress…” [Book Vixen: Reviewer: J9]

About the Author

Gem Sivad is an award-winning author with a reputation for creating multi-faceted characters simmering with passion in the Old West. Dubbed by many reviewers as the “Queen of Historical Naughty Romance” Gem loves turning up the heat.

Preceded by Quincy’s Woman, Perfect Strangers, and Five Card Stud—Wolf’s Tender is the fourth book in Gem’s Eclipse Heat series published by Ellora’s Cave. Trouble In Disguise, the next Eclipse Heat book, will release in summer, 2013.

Subscribe to Gem’s monthly Dreamcatcher Newsletter
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Find her @ Amazon

A book in the Eclipse Heat Series

Charlie Wolf is half Kiowa, all bounty hunter and a no-nonsense man—until he meets a schoolteacher with cornflower-blue eyes. After marauding outlaws attack Naomi’s school and kidnap her students, she’s desperate and will do anything to rescue them, even seduce the best tracker in Texas to secure his help.

Naomi offers one night of sexual favors, underestimating the power of Charlie’s predatory charm and his determination to claim her as his mate. She’s impatient with his decisions, questions his authority and generally ignores his warnings. But she melts in Charlie’s arms when he makes love to her.

Blood is spilled, past murder avenged, desperadoes captured and lust assuaged as the two set out to rescue Naomi’s young ladies.

A Romantica® historical Western erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Wolf’s Tender Buy Links:

Ellora’s Cave: https://www.ellorascave.com/wolf-s-tender.html

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Wolfs-Tender-Eclipse-Heat-ebook/dp/B00BR070N2/

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wolfs-tender-gem-sivad/1102940087?ean=9781419938061

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-wolf039stender-1114154-340.html?referrer=203d1555227662f5a48dc2e310466f41

The Grand Adventure Continues for Sabrina York. Also, Win A Tiara.

Long ago, in a time shrouded in myth and mystery (circa April 4^th, 2012), a virgin author, a tender soul, ventured out into the cold, hard world, unsure of what she would find. Would there be slavering wolves with long glistening fangs? Hideous trolls? Wicked witches cackling with glee at every misstep?

Oh, sure. There were a couple of those.

But to our heroine’s delight, she met come champions along the way, valiant souls who became companions, and then friends.

And Delilah Devlin is one of those souls.

Okay. Yeah. I am waxing poetic. But I’m in a poetic mood, damn it all.

It’s been a year since the release of my first book (Adam’s Obsession). A year since I dipped my toe into the publishing pond. A year since I wrote my very first blog (for one Delilah Devlin, in fact).

As I reflect on all the other firsts of the past year—the glorious triumphs as well as the…ickier moments—I can’t help but smile. It has been a rollercoaster ride, for sure—but a grand adventure. Now I have nearly a dozen titles with many more in the wings and, I am delighted to report, fans all over the world.

Who knew?

I wanted to thank you, Delilah, for welcoming me into your welkin, for embracing my work and encouraging me giving me opportunities to succeed. You are a champion. An inspiration.

And because of your encouragement, and that of many others, I am about to embark on another adventure (one that has me nibbling my fingernails to the nub).

I am releasing my first self-pubbed book.

There were a lot of reasons for trying this—not the least of which is the ability to offer a book for free once in a while to THANK MY READERS for their loyalty. But to be perfectly honest, my secret motivation is to prove to myself that I can.

Yep. Yet another grand adventure for a girl who always dreamed of being a writer but was told she was far too dyslexic to try.

There are always people willing to tell you reasons you shouldn’t take a dare.

It’s a good thing I never listen.

(Pssst! I had to include this screen shot! ~DD)

Sabrina’s First Novel-Without-A-Net…

Rebound is Book One of the Tryst Island Series—following the romantic adventures of a group of friends sharing a vacation house on the fictional Trystacomseh Island in Washington State’s San Juan archipelago. The series was inspired by my visits to a family cabin on the coast. I’ll share a picture of the view, so you get an idea why I couldn’t stop myself from writing these stories.

Sigh. I know. Right?

Here’s a taste of Rebound. It’s scheduled to come out April 4^th on Amazon. I hope you check it out.

Rebound by Sabrina York

A Tryst Island Erotic Romance

Kristi Cross has had the hots for her friend, Cameron Jackson as long as she could remember, but she knows she’s not his type. She’s nothing like the women he dates. So when he suggests they play for a kiss over a game of Hearts, Kristi can’t resist. Even if she loses, she wins. Because she’s finally going to taste him.

Of course, one kiss can quickly become something altogether steamier, especially when both parties are on the rebound…

An Excerpt of Rebound

Cam nodded and dealt the cards. They were halfway through the first hand when he broke the silence.

“Do you remember the first time we played?”

“You had to teach me.”

“Took me all night.”

“That was hardly my fault.” She rearranged her cards. “You kept pouring me shots.”

“You’re the one who kept drinking them.” Read the rest of this entry »

Writing a Series

A friend recently suggested I read FOREIGNER by C.J. Cherryh, a popular sci/fi writer. It’s the first book in a series and has a fascinating premise. A spaceship from Earth has gone off course into an alien universe. A colony is sent down to live on a planet populated by the atevi, an intelligent group that resembles humans, but are taller, stronger, and have black skin and yellow eyes. The hero, Bren Cameron, is a human translator who has learned the atevi language and culture. He wants desperately to maintain the peace between the two diverse groups, but things never run smoothly. By the end of the book, he’s so badly injured he’s on his way to the hospital for surgery, but for the moment, he’s out of danger. The second book, INVADER, begins with Bren leaving the hospital and right back into deep trouble. I don’t usually read sci/fi, but this series is so fast-paced and exciting, it drew me right in. Bren is such a sympathetic character, I couldn’t stop after the first book!

Having one continuing character works well not only in sci/fi, but also in mysteries and thrillers. Sue Grafton has pushed Kinsey Millhone through the alphabet. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum humorous mystery series is on NOTORIOUS NINETEEN. Fans know they won’t be disappointed when they read the next book in a popular series.

When a family friend married a bullfighter’s daughter, I thought it a great premise for a book, but I hadn’t anticipated a series when I began. Wealthy men often have multiple wives and create new families, and a matador was a perfect fit for the role. My goal in FIERCE LOVE was to tell the story of Magdalena Aragon, a young woman in her twenties who’s meeting her famous father for the first time. She’s the daughter born of his brief marriage to an American woman, and this is her first visit to Spain. That she has half brothers and half sisters she’d also never met added near endless complications to her reunion with her father. When she falls for a matador herself, he’s the very last man she wants to love. The story is set in Barcelona, a city I love, and the book was a joy to write.

When I sent the finished the book to my editor at Samhain, it proved impossible to leave Maggie’s eldest brother, Santos, behind. He’s the bullfighter’s son, and deserved a book of his own. FIERCE PRIDE is an entirely different story. He’s a matador himself and someone wants him dead. That he falls for Maggie’s half sister, Libby, strengthens the ties created in the first book and gives characters I’d grown to love a chance to come back for an encore.

You can probably see this coming, but Maggie’s father had a mistress, a super-model with an independent spirit, who demanded a book of her own, FIERCE PASSION. This series grew from the characters and their complicated relationships, and I had to run to keep up with them. I do believe the FIERCE series is complete as a trilogy, but Maggie has twin half sisters who may someday get a book of their own.

Do you love to read books in a series? I’ll be happy to send pdf copies of FIERCE LOVE and FIERCE PRIDE to someone who comments.

FIERCE LOVE is available in both ebook and print from Samhain. FIERCE PRIDE, a February 2013 ebook, and will be in print in February 2014. The beautiful mistress’s story, FIERCE PASSION will be a November 2013 release. Rest assured, no bulls were harmed in any way in the writing of these books.

Cooking Up a Storm

People who have read my Konigsburg series may notice there’s a lot of cooking and food there. Chefs are involved in almost all my books, either as heroes/heroines (Fearless Love) or as supporting characters (Venus In Blue Jeans, Brand New Me, Don’t Forget Me). There are a couple of reasons for this—I love to cook and I love to eat, one reason I have a treadmill in my basement. My newest book, Bolted (released by Samhain on April 2), has a pastry chef heroine who ends up as the chef de cuisine at the Hotel Grand, Tompkins Corners, MA. But just for a week.

My heroine, Greta Brewster, is the matron of honor at her brother Josh’s wedding. Just before the bride and groom exchange their vows, however, the bride’s ex shows up and spirits her away. Bolted is part of the Promise Harbor Wedding series, so you can find out more about that wedding and its aftermath from my coauthors Kelly Jamieson (Jilted), Sydney Somers (Busted), and Erin Nicholas (Hitched). The disastrous wedding leaves Greta with some time to kill and a big problem—her own marriage has just ended in divorce and she hasn’t yet figured out a way to tell her mother about it. She’s committed a lot of impulsive acts  in her life that haven’t turned out well, and her broken marriage seems to be one more link in the chain. She decides to take a drive and stumbles across a hunky archaeologist who needs help getting free from a collapsed wall in his dig (don’t you hate it when that happens?). One thing leads to another and Greta ends up offering her services as a cook at the local hotel in exchange for a week’s vacation so that she can try to figure out what to do with herself.

Since Greta spends the week cooking—when she isn’t having a good time with that hunky archaeologist, Hank Mitchell—I needed to come up with a few menus. A lot of the cooking scenes happen at breakfast, so I searched up some recipes for applesauce muffins, sour cream pancakes, and French toast. But Greta’s a pastry chef, and I needed a couple of show pieces for her to bake. Cookies were easy enough, but I wanted something that would show you Greta knows her stuff.

Around that time, I saw an old episode of “Best Thing I Ever Made” on Food Network where Anne Burrell made a rose geranium cake. Bingo! I already had a herb garden in back of the hotel (one of the eccentric hotel owners makes organic hand creams and lotions), so I let Greta do her thing, courtesy of Anne. If you’re curious, the recipe can be found here.

The other cooking Greta does was less unique. She makes chicken Marengo one night because it has an interesting backstory—Napoleon’s cook made it by foraging the countryside after the battle of Marengo. Another time she makes chicken in sherry mushroom sauce because that happened to be what I was cooking the night I wrote the scene. Hank, being one of those well-nigh perfect heroes, loves everything she makes, but then he comes to love Greta too, and not just because her cookies really rock.

Greta’s cooking actually becomes a way for her to break out of her cycle of impulsive-act-followed-by-grief, but it requires her to make one more, really major impulsive decision. She makes the right choice. But first she makes lunch. Hey, nobody said HEA can’t be accompanied by a BLT.

Here’s the blurb for Bolted:

Sometimes you have to get lost before you can find yourself.

The Promise Harbor Wedding, Book 2

Greta Brewster McBain in a bind. Two, if she’s really counting. First there’s the can-barely-breathe, bridesmaid’s dress from hell. Second, the stranger who just carried her “perfect” brother’s fiancée out the church door has made it impossible to tell her own mother about her own divorce.

Rather than confirm her reputation as the family screw-up, Greta takes a drive to clear her head.

Trapped in a hole and unable to reach his cell phone, Hank Mitchell is resigned to becoming a permanent part of his own archeological dig when help arrives—in the form of a woman who looks like a Gone With The Wind refugee. Behind the ruffles and lace, though, is something he appreciates: a woman who isn’t afraid of a little dirt.

Their instant connection draws Greta into the eccentric world of the Hotel Grand, where she impulsively trades her hoopskirts for an apron. Soon things are getting hot, not only in the hotel kitchen, but in Hank’s arms…

Warning: Contains hot moonlit sex, a melancholy turtle, two wisecracking seniors, and the world’s ugliest bridesmaid dress.

Buy It

Telling the author a story

Thanks, Delilah, for having me here today! One of the most basic reasons people read stories is to connect and relate to the characters. There can be a great premise, a fantastic setting… but if the characters suck, then we the readers are left unfulfilled and cheated.

Our characters, particularly in romance, drive the story. We need them to be memorable.

As a writer, we have many tools available to us to make that happen.

For Off Her Game, I had a hard time figuring out Darren, my hockey playing hunk of a hero. And somewhere during that process of drafting the story, I realized I wasn’t going deep enough into the character interviews to really feel out who they are. And then a friend suggested that I have Darren tell me his story. I had nothing to lose at that point, so I said, “What the hell?”

So I sat down with a blank document and pretty soon, Darren was pouring his little heart out to me. I started with age, physical description and then he started talking to me about his life. How was his relationship with his parents? What was his education like? How did he get into hockey? When did he think marriage was a good idea when his wife was a harpy? What kind of wounds does Darren carry? And the hardest question ever: What does the character want most of all?

It takes a while to get him or any character to answer that question. They might say something but then I need to dig deeper, ask him why and force him to give me his real secret desire.

For Darren, his life is hockey. He eats, lives, breathes the game. A bad marriage nearly killed that for him. So when it came time to ask what he’d be willing to sacrifice to reach that goal… well, I’ll save that for the book. The point is that letting him talk to me made him a real, live character that any woman could love.

Doing this with Darren opened my eyes to who he really was. It streamlined the drafting process, because as soon as I knew who he was, the words flowed on the page of the book. So naturally, I had to do it with Valerie too. As the heroine, Off Her Game strongly favors her story. She’s coming into her own in the story, figuring out that the job wasn’t what defined her. I never would have realized that if it weren’t for me sitting down and letting her tell me her story.

As a reader, have you ever read that book that had such a brilliantly alive character you wondered if they really existed? Or, on the flip side, read a book with a character that had yet to tell their story?

~~~

Penalty Number One: Men
Making time for men and relationships doesn’t fit into Valerie Chase’s game plan. This crisis-counselor-turned-cocktail-waitress knows the score—Men are a distraction. But when a certain hockey player tempts her wild side, part of her wants to indulge in a little harmless fun.

Penalty Number Two: Desire

As the star center for the Texas Highlanders, Darren Moran’s good looks and deadly determination make him a fan favorite. But after the previous season’s disaster, the last thing he needs is to let some woman crawl under his skin. But… Valerie is different. She brings out the best in him—both on and off the ice—and he’s not about to lose her.

Penalty Number Three: Passion

When the game moves to the next level, Darren and Val have got to call timeout. An unplanned romance is a game-thrower, a sinful temptation that neither of them can afford. After all, there’s no way to have order in matters of the heart when the penalties tally up to an ejection from the game.

Off Her Game is now available at all major retailers!

Buy Links:

Amazon  |  B&N  | iTunes  |  Kobo  |  All Romance

~~~

Suzan Butler is a romance author with a penchant for Dr. Pepper, ice hockey, and world domination. She lives in Texas under a not-so-secret identity with two monsters, writing books and planning the next step in her evil plans into the twilight hours of the night because that’s when it’s quiet in the house. Visit her online at her website, suzanbutler.com, on Twitter (@SuzanButler) or come join the conversation on Facebook. To keep up to date on new releases, subscribe to the Fabulous, her mailing list.

Character Perspective

Sometimes, when you finish a story, there is a character just begging to have their story told too. Harm, the overbearing big brother from Caribbean Christmas, really deserved to have someone turn his world upside down. It wasn’t his romance, so the best I could give him was an oh-so satisfying slap across the face.

But telling Caribbean Casanova from Harm’s point of view meant an interesting dilemma. Harm sees Saskia, the heroine (and slapper) from Caribbean Christmas, as an annoying spoiled brat. This time around we see her through his lens, instead of from her own perspective. So from this angle, he’s right. I didn’t tie up their issues with a pretty bow because a lifetime of dislike doesn’t go away because someone is dating your brother or best friend.

There is a real power struggle going on between his controlling big brother tendencies and her free-spirited new adulthood. They managed to call a truce in Caribbean Crush (Under the Caribbean Sun 3), but I’d bet they bicker whenever in the same room. We’ll have to wait and see if it carries into any more stories.

Do you like seeing characters from different angles?

Jenna Bayley-Burke :: blog| website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

Caribbean Casanova :: Samhain| Amazon| B&N| Kobo