FREEBIE!

RULE OF THREE is free right now!

Amazon
B&N
Samhain Publishing

 

If you haven't read it, now's a great chance to pick up for free. If you have read it, tell your friends!

Edited to add:

I've gotten quite a few emails from new readers who enjoyed Rule of Three and wonder what to read next. If you liked Rule of Three because it was M/M/F menage, you might also like:

One Wicked Night

And watch for How to Love, out June 25, 2013

Also 2 Hot 2 Handle is M/M/F menage- it is a shorter novella.

If you enjoy menage, I have other books that are M/F/M menage stories which do NOT end with an HEA for all three characters:

With Strings Attached

Lost and Found

RT Booklovers Convention in Kansas City

 

Kansas City here I come!

I'll be at the RT Booklovers Convention from April 30 - May 4. If you're there, I would love to meet you! Here's where I'll be (other than wandering around lost and aimless):



WEDNESDAY:

SPECIALTY: PARSING THE SMEXY: EROTIC ROMANCE DEFINED

How do you define erotic romance? Is it all about the story, or all about the heat and kink? Is it just smut with an HFN? Should it be a subgenre at all? However you define erotic romance, even if it’s just “I know it when I see it,” join authors, reviewers and industry professionals in what's sure to be a lively, thought-provoking discussion of this hot topic.

1:15pm - 2:15pm
 Mezzanine Level
Room:  Van Horn B



READER: COVER MODEL KARAOKE

Come sing along to your favorite hits, with hunky cover models! Join the Smutketeers and the Nine Naughty Novelists, who will be your doo-wop back-up singers, for a fun-filled hour of musical mayhem. There will be gift bags, prizes — and we mentioned the hunky cover models, right?!

 3:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: Ballroom Level
Room: New York A


THURSDAY

SOCIAL EVENT: E-BOOK, INDIE PUBLISHER & GRAPHIC NOVEL EXPO

Come meet more than 300 authors whose books are available as e-books, self-published and independent press books. All e-books at this event will be available through All Romance E-Books (ARe).
This event is also open to the public. Tickets are $5.00 and you can purchase a ticket at the door the day of the event.

4:00pm - 6:00pm Location: Mezzanine Level
Room: Exhibit Hall A


SOCIAL EVENT: SAMHAIN’S SAFARI

Lions and tigers and shapeshifters... oh my! Enjoy jungle beats, tasty treats and gaming feats with the staff and authors at Samhain Publishing. This year we celebrate all things shapeshifter with food and drink, games, music and prizes including e-readers, Samhain store gift cards and plenty of books. Take a walk on the wild side with us!

6:15pm - 7:45pm
Location:  Lobby Level
Room: Gillham Hall A

PROMISE HARBOR BACHELORETTE PARTY

Join the authors of the Promise Harbor Wedding series who'll be there to play Dirty Minds and give away naughty prizes.

8:00pm - ?
"The Bar" (we hope there's only one)


SATURDAY:

SOCIAL EVENT: GIANT BOOK FAIR

Meet more than 400 authors who will autograph books, posters and bookmarks. Bring your “keepers” and have them signed!

The Saturday Giant Book Fair ticket is included in the full general convention registration fee.
This event is also open to the public and can be purchased as an individual ticket for just the Giant Book Fair. You can pre-order a book fair ticket here (Choose Day & Weekend Passes and Individual Tickets in the dropdown menu) or you can purchase a ticket at the door the day of the event. Pre-ordered tickets will be picked up at the hotel on the day of the Giant Book Fair.

You may bring in your books from home to get them autographed, however, they must be checked in and stamped (invisible ink so no damage to your books) before you enter the book fair. Also only two books from home per author are allowed.

PERK FOR FULL CONVENTION ATTENDEES:
Attendees signed up for the entire convention and who have a badge will be allowed to enter the Giant Book Fair 15 minutes earlier (at 10:45am) so they can beat the crowds of local fans waiting to get in to meet the authors.

11:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Mezzanine Level
Room:  Exhibit Hall A


FAN-TASTIC DAY: FAN-TASTIC DAY PARTY

Meet a revolving door of hundreds of authors as they make appearances every 30 minutes in this high-energy event. Be one of the first 500 to sign up and receive a goody bag filled with free books and promotional items. Choose “FAN-tastic Day Pass” when you register for a pass that includes the party, the goody bag (first 500 registrants), the workshops and the Giant Book Fair.

There will be 50+ door prizes, including e-readers, lap desks, books, gift certificates and more!

6:30pm - 7:45pm
Location:  Ballroom Level
Room:  Chicago, New York, San Francisco


Of course I'll be attending lots of OTHER social events but those are the places I know I'll be! Hope to see you there!

Saturday song...

This is what I'm listening to over and over again today...   :-)

Rule of Three wins an award! And a giveaway...

I announced here a while back that Rule of Three had been nominated at The Romance Reviews for  Best Erotic Romance, GLBT, Ménage or more, and hey, it won! Yay!

To celebrate, I'm going to give away a couple of signed PRINT copies. If you'd like to win, pop over to my Facebook page 
and check out the Welcome tab (you have to like my page to see it). I will be drawing the winners Saturday April 13.

Thanks to The Romance Reviews and all who voted!

How much can you forgive?

Having characters that readers can relate to is important in a romance novel. We call them "sympathetic" characters. We want readers to feel what the characters are feeling and get inside their heads and their hearts.

A reader commented about my most recent release, Jilted, that she didn't like all the betrayals in the story. Part of the history for these characters is that Josh and Devon, my hero and heroine, had a past relationship that ended when they could not agree on something important to their future together. It was one of those situations that has no easy answer, but also no right or wrong. For them, at that time, things didn't work out and they went their separate ways.

The "betrayal" came when Josh, now living back in Promise Harbor, slipped into a relationship with long time family friend Allie, who is also Devon's best friend. Yeah — that would hurt, all right. There are rules about that kind of thing, right? You don’t EVER, EVER date your BFF’s ex. 

So what’s a girl to do if she cares about this guy and being with him is making both their families happy after a lot of unhappiness? Allie calls Devon to be up front with her and tell her about the relationship. And when Devon says, hey that’s fine, Josh and I broke up and we’re over...what’s a girl to do?

And what’s a guy to do in that same situation? Josh felt like he had no choice but to leave Boston and go home to Promise Harbor, and he had some pretty compelling reasons to do that. Unfortunately, he didn’t share all of them with Devon, and unfortunately Devon didn’t share some things with Josh, leaving him feeling as if he was the one being rejected.

We don’t know what kind of conversations Josh and Allie might have had about the situation they found themselves in when they started seeing each other. Maybe it was Josh who told Allie to call Devon. Maybe Josh was a clueless man and didn’t even imagine that Devon would care, since she dumped his ass. Maybe Josh and Allie made a HUGE, hurtful mistake by getting together...but stuff like that happens in life.

When characters make big, stupid mistakes, the challenge is to get readers to understand why they made those mistakes and then for the characters to gain some insight and realize what they’ve done and learn from their mistakes. It’s called a character arc and ultimately makes for a satisfying story if it’d done well. Not every reader will experience that character growth the same. Some may find themselves unable to forgive the characters for what they did, others will be able to.

Are there things you can’t forgive romance characters for doing?

Promise Harbor Wedding tour and contest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget that Meg Benjamin, Sydney Somers, Erin Nicholas and I are on a tour over the next few weeks, talking about our Promise Harbor Wedding series, and we're doing a giveaway as part of it.

3/19 Under the Covers

3/19-23 Smutketeers

3/19 My Secret Romance

3/21 The Book Tart

3/25 Ms. Romantic Reads

3/29 - Delighted Reader 

4/3 Under the Covers

4/5 My Secret Romance

4/8  Ms. Romantic Reads

4/16 Under the Covers

4/17 - Delighted Reader

4/18 My Secret Romance

4/19 Ms. Romantic Reads

4/23 - Delight Reader

4/29 Ms. Romantic Reads

4/30 Delighted Reader

4/30 Under the Covers

5/2 My Secret Romance

5/5 Scorching Book Reviews

Talking about Devon in Jilted

I've been so thrilled to have already gotten some lovely reviews for Jilted, and the positive response to this story and the series has been so gratifying!

I wanted to talk a little about my heroine in Jilted, Devon. One review for Jilted commented about how poorly Devon communicated her feelings with those she loved, and that it was frustrating knowing that a conversation could have avoided all that pain and heartache.This makes it sounds like communication is easy and everyone does it well. Wrong!

Communication is one of the biggest problems in relationships. It's not as simple as just talking about things. Sure, anyone can talk. But there are right ways to say things, and there are ways to say things that can hurt and make things worse. And when it comes to talking about feelings and our deepest fears and secrets - it's not that easy. Maybe for some people it might be, but I can say for me personally it is not easy for me to share those things, to make myself that vulnerable. True intimacy and love require it, but digging that deep is hard.

Devon grew up with a father who didn't want to talk about those things, after his wife left him and Devon. A stoic, proud man, he didn't want to let on how much that hurt or humiliated him. This is true of many men -- expressing feelings is considered wimpy. Thus, growing up with her father, Devon learned that that was how you dealt with feelings -- you kept them hidden deep inside and didn't let on if you were in pain.  And yes, that reluctance to admit her fears and how she really felt was a barrier to her relationship with Josh the first time around. But to say that things could have been resolved just by talking is a superficial observation, because opening yourself up and making yourself vulnerable in that way is definitely not an easy thing to do.

Of course, a good story has character growth and Devon comes to know this about herself, difficult as it is to admit her failing to herself. It takes courage to get past those things and I hope Devon's growth is ultimately satisfying to readers.