Wednesday Words – First Lines

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Silver James

Writer's MindFor those who play #1lineWed on Twitter with RWA Kiss of Death Chapter, the prompt for today is First/Opening Lines. Here are a few of my favorite openings from other authors, and then some favorites that I wrote.

She woke in the dark. Through the slats on the window shades, the first murky hint of dawn slipped, slanting shadowy bars over the bed. It was like waking in a cell. ~J.D. Robb, NAKED IN DEATH (Eve Dallas/In Death series)

Y’all knew I’d start with that one because…favorite. Book. Ever! 😉 Here are three more, all much loved books from the first books in their series, all of which I’ll be rereading this year as new books in each series arrive.

Half blinded by the storm, she stumbled into the open area between two buildings. Hoping to hide from whomever was hunting for her as well as get some relief from the snow and wind, she followed an angled wall and ducked around the corner. Her socks and sneakers were soaked, and her feet were so cold she couldn’t feel them. She knew that wasn’t good, wasn’t safe, but she had taken the clothing available just as she had taken the opportunity to run. ~Anne Bishop, WRITTEN IN RED (The Others series)
****
I’d been having the same dream for the past month–the one where a dark stranger materialized out of smoke and shadows to play doctor with me. I was starting to wonder if repetitive exposure to nightly hallucinations resulting in earth-shattering climaxes could have any long-term side effects. Death via extreme pleasure was a serious concern. The prospect led to the following dilemma: Do I seek help or buy drinks all around? ~Darynda Jones, FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT (Charley Davidson series)
****
Saturday: Day One of the Death Mark
The whispers were nothing new.
Darcy MacAlister followed behind her mother’s graceful white casket with the elegant raised scrolls as they left the MacAlister Funeral Home for the cemetery next door. Being the funeral director eased the knot of grief and sorrow in her throat. She was honored to oversee every detail of the service that celebrated Eileen MacAlister’s life, and show the community how well-loved her mother had been. She would not let the whispers affect her. ~Jennifer Lyon, BLOOD MAGIC (Wingslayer Hunters series)

Can’t wait to reread off of them! And now to mine. This is probably my all-time favorite opening:

This was only Day One of what was shaping up to be a bloody weird week and the gods had been drinking again. Too bad Sade Marquis didn’t have that option. She was on duty. Dammit. Not to mention it was only ten in the morning. However, if things got any stranger, she might change her mind. ~Silver James, THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC (Penumbra Papers series)

And now, just some random opening lines from various WIPs, though I’m not naming titles or series. 😉

She found God at a minute to midnight though the coroner would place her time of death between eleven and one.
****
Shadows. Insubstantial as gossamer wings and not nearly so user friendly. They haunted. And hunted. The unwary, the profane, the innocent, and not-so-innocent all fell prey to them. They lurked, hunting in pairs, ready to pounce when chance provided them with a victim. Like the disenchanted urchins swarming around old Fagin, Shadows plagued humans and Fae alike.
****
Destinies are a dime a dozen and Fate is the biggest bitch of all. Roman shoved his hands deep into his pockets to keep from wrapping them around the human messenger who stood quaking in his boots before him.
****
Cordell Barron was always in control—of his life, Barron Oil and Gas Exploration, everything that made up his world. Except for now. At the moment, Cord’s world was crashing down around his ears and his life seemed to be spinning out of control.

That’s it for me. How about y’all? Who wants to share their favorite first line or opening from a book you love or one of your WIPs?

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Tuesday Titles: Cowgirls Don’t Cry in the Wild

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Silver James

Cowgirls Dont Cry 680Today is the day if you are looking for the paperback copy of COWGIRLS DON’T CRY on the shelves of your local bookstore. At least I hope the books are out there! Copies should be at B&N, Walmart, Target, and other places where you can buy Harlequin categories. After coffee with my CP, I’m going to hit the local Walmart (which sometimes lags behind on getting the new books out), Target, and the nearest B&N. Because I’m excited about this, I’m running a Cowgirls in the Wild contest. How do you get your name in the drawing? You snap a pic of COWGIRLS on the shelf of whatever store you see them. You can email them to me, you can post them on Twitter with my Twitter name: @SilverJames_ and you can post them to my FB wall–either my profile (personal) page or my author/fan page. Pretty simple for the most part. When you post, be sure to let me know the name of the store and the location. See? Easy peasy. I’ll put all the names into Random.org and one lucky name will pop out.

Now, what do you win? Well, here’s “Cowboy” Blue with the prizes: a signed copy of COWGIRLS DON’T CRY and this metal wall sign, because we all need every color of boots, right? Right!
CDC wild Sightings giveaway 680

And as an added incentive, the first person who emails or posts with a picture will get a $10 Amazon gift card. 🙂 Good hunting!

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The Power of Monday

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Silver James

T-Rex Monday I’ve been thinking. Yeah, yeah. I know that’s a bad idea. *snort* Monday is much maligned. Why? Yes, for those who work, it means getting up and trudging back out into the world to deal with the job and all the contingent frustrations that go with it. Or in the case of many writers, it means shuffling into our writing caves and slurping coffee like there’s not tomorrow in a vain effort to jumpstart our creativity before getting out the paddles to shock our Muses back to life. Monday, much like the picture I used in last Friday’s post, should be a day of potential. It’s a new week (Sunday is part of the weekend. It doesn’t count! 😉 ). It’s the opportunity to start something new, or to continue an unfinished project. It’s full of possibilities and promises.

Or not. Who am I kidding? I look like this (points to photo meme) almost every Monday. But today has possibilities. I’m awaiting either an email or a phone call (a second one) from Mr. HQEditor. We talked for a long time Friday afternoon about the possibilities for the next Red Dirt Royalty book. I like the changes we came up with so I’m now working on revising the first three chapters and synopsis for the proposal. I’m excited.

And tomorrow is paperback release day for COWGIRLS DON’T CRY. Be sure to come back because there will be a new contest! With goodies.

There was a weekend in there between Friday and today. The REAL OSU (Oklahoma State) won their bowl game against Washington Friday night. I’m still in shock. We weren’t supposed to win. But then again, neither was the fake OSU (Ohio State), much less were they supposed to be playing in the national championship. Which I probably won’t watch because I don’t care about either team. *yawn* I did some business housekeeping. I read. I didn’t read. I searched for a book I wanted to read. I ended up with a reread. 😆 More on that Wednesday. Oh, and I napped. Too long. Which meant I didn’t go to sleep Sunday morning until 5:00 a.m. *headdesk* No naps yesterday. I have to get back in normal sleep mode.

What about y’all? What did you do over the weekend? Are you ready to get back to work now that the holidays are over?

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Sunday In the Pink Heart Society

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Silver James

Just a quick note: I’m visiting with the lovely ladies of The Pink Heart Society talking about COWGIRLS DON’T CRY and how the book came to life, and the call I received from Mr. HQ Editor. Stop by and say hi if you get the chance! You can find the post HERE!

Also, I’m doing a series of memes with quotes from COWGIRLS. Here’s the one I did yesterday. More to follow and eventually, I’ll have a bunch to go with each series. Yeah, yeah. We can all sing along: Pro-crassss-ti-na-tionnnn!
Chicago downtown night panorama during thunderstorm

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First Friday Free For All

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Silver James

New Year I like this image. As a writer, it speaks volumes to me. Last year is done. The holidays are over. There’s no reason not to get back to work. Except… Except it’s Friday. The last day of a traditional work week. But I’m a writer. I work odd hours. Odd days. Odd places. But I think this is a good image to start the year. I have new projects to start, new Chapter Ones to write.

A few odds and ends before I get to work.

Amazon. Amazon Author Pages, to be precise. They’ve changed. Now you can go to a favorite author’s page, click the follow button and you’ll get an email with updates every time a pre-order pops up or a new book releases. This is a HUGE boon to me. There are series I’m following but with sometimes six or more months between releases, I forget. And I’m horrible about checking my Amazon Wish List or my Goodreads Want to Read list. I spent quite awhile tracking down some favorites and clicking away. So Yay!

I totally suck at marketing and stuff like that there. But I have this whole box of paperback copies of COWGIRL’S DON’T CRY sitting in my office. The digital version went live yesterday but it’s my understanding that the paper copies won’t hit bookstores until Tuesday, Jan. 6th. I’ve given some away on Facebook. And in my newsletter. I need to give one away here. So comment. I’ll pick a random person. 😀 I’ll even sign it. 😉

Christmas cards. Oh, who am I kidding…New Year’s cards…or….Winter Wishes cards! Yes! That’s the ticket. Winter Wishes cards! Getting those out are on my list for this weekend. Yeah, yeah, I’ve been saying that since they were still Christmas cards. Sh’up!

On the writing project front, I’ve got two on the front burner. One is MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS. This is the compilation of BLOOD MOON and BAD MOON with a whole middle section added dealing with Hannah’s pregnancy, disbanding the Wolves, and her return to work in the Defense Security Service. The other is a short story (7K words max) that I plan to submit for an anthology. We’ll see what happens. It’s set in the Nightrider world, so even if it’s turned down, it has a home–and could be expanded for a full release. I really like the characters and the premise–second chances. That’s one of my favorite tropes in romance.

Sunday, I’m doing a guest post at the Pink Hearts Society blog, talking about how I came to write COWGIRLS. I’ll pop in here over the weekend with the link once I have it.

That’s it for me. TGIF! Have a great weekend and I’ll see y’all around the intrawebz. 😉

This is how I roll: New Year…New Chapter! What’s the title of your Chapter One?

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Thoughts on the New Year

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Silver James

Happy New Year with firework

Well, the New Year rolled into town just as expected. Last year was wild and crazy, but what else is new, right? Life’s like that, yeah it is. I read 210 books–or more. I forgot to record some of them. I wrote three books (The Cowgirl’s Little Secret, Blue Moon, and Moon Shot) and a novella (Faerie Faith), all 55K words or less. Seems like I didn’t do very much. But better than nothing. I have plans for this new year. If time, opportunity, and perseverance will indulge me. I’m thinking ambitious thoughts. BIG thoughts. BIG dreams. BIG plans. But I’m also remembering Murphy’s habit of throwing out new laws that kick my butt when I least expect it. Here, in a nutshell, is what’s in my head: I’m going to have a new release every month of 2015.

See? I told you. BIG STUFF!

But don’t get me wrong, while this is a huge undertaking, not every release will be a major book–like 80-100K. I’ve discovered a bit of talent for writing short and find I like it. Also, two of the books are already written and scheduled–my two Harlequin releases for January and April. That leaves me ten months to go. I might also be writing more Red Dirt Royalty books though they’ll probably won’t release until 2016 and a lot of my schedule depends on any new contracts coming from New York. Am I being ambitious? Oh, hell yeah! But to coin an old chestnut, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here’s what I’d like to do:

January: Cowgirl’s Don’t Cry
February: Moonstruck: Secrets
March: Either Hard Target or Nightriders Book #1
April: The Cowgirl’s Little Secret
May: Book #1 of whichever series didn’t release in March
June: The Devil’s Cut, Penumbra Papers #2
July: Moonstruck: Lies (though I may skip July because of RWA Nationals in New York – depends on if I can get it ready for early-monthy release)
August: Book #2 of HT or NR
September: Book #2 of NR or HT
October: Moonstruck: Betrayal
November: Considering a double release: Book 3 of both HT and NR or Penumbra Papers Book #3
December: Moonstruck: Moon Lights – a Moonstruck Christmas Novella
January: Moonstruck: Retribution

Can I keep to this schedule? I have no idea. While hugely ambitious, I remind you that the Moonstruck books are mostly already written. It’s simply a matter of further editing–adding in cut chapters and writing a few bridging chapters so it’s not like I have this massive million word goal set. And things may change. One series may end up being a serial and will be slam bam, thank ya, ma’am and done. I’m not done with the world the Wolves live in but at the same time, I want to get back to Sade and Sinjen’s world. I’d like to put out at least two Penumbra books a year. Luckily, I write fast and I have a great team behind me for production. So…that’s the writing bits.

On to the personal. No resolutions. Don’t make ’em, can’t ever keep ’em. But I am going to try to eat healthier and do my best to get on the damn gazelle for at least 30 minutes a day. ‘Nuff said.

So there it is. I suppose if I were to follow Janet’s example, my 2015 word would be WRITE! Every day–at least Monday thru Friday, just like a job. The best job I could ever have. Because being a writer, being here with y’all? Yeah…that pretty much tops my list. Here’s to a kick-ass 2015. We’re all going to shine!

Happy New Year from all the Wolves and their families, from SEAL Team Atlantis, from the Barron brothers and their cowgirls, from Sade, Sinjen, Caleb, Roman, Ari, Nikos, and all the denizens of the Penumbra Papers, and most especially from ME! *throws confetti*

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New Year’s Eve Hump Day

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Silver James

happy new year 2015I have the feeling all of us are standing here scratching our heads and wondering what happened to 2014. I certainly am. When I look back at the year, it’s a blur with a lot of valleys and a few peaks. Life is like that, yeah it is.

My word for 2014–a tradition handed down by my good friend Janet, whose posts I miss–A LOT!!!–was actually a phrase: Creative Organization–Organized Creativity. Yeah, about that… The thought lasted until Real Life™ intervened. With Lawyer Guy being in ICU for over a month, with Only and Baseball Boy’s house purchase and precipitous move while she was on bed rest and then Sprouts early arrival? Add in the Harlequin contract, the request for the final book in the Faerie Reign series, and babysitting after Baseball Boy got his teaching job, the year sort of devolved into chaos. Good thing I’m used to that, right? 😆

So, this year? No word. Tomorrow, I’ll give you a preview of my plans. Yes, tomorrow is New Year’s Day, but I figure most of you will be around. I will be.

I’d hoped to work on my newsletter yesterday but once again, chaos. Which is fine. I’m rather getting used to plans changing in the blink of an eye and I might even miss the ride if my life was smooth sailing. 😉 It’ll be out today. Or tomorrow. I’m sort of coasting along at the moment. January 2nd? Yeah, it’ll be pedal to the metal then. I want to hit the ground running and deliver a Gibbs’ Slap™ to 2015 before it gets any ideas.

In the meantime, lets talk about the blog. What’s working? What doesn’t? Do y’all like the format I’ve been following with the topics of my posts? “Wait,” you say, “there’s a format?” Well, sort of, meaning the Monday wrap ups, Tuesday Treats-Titles-Trivia, Wednesday Words (usually), Thursday Thoughts (yay for the Universe), and finally Friday Free-For-Alls where anything goes. Would you like me to change things up? I’m here to entertain you. I want to know what you enjoy reading about. Do you want more stuff about writing? Do you want a regular/weekly feature of guest blogs where I host other authors pimping their books? (Personally, I like pimping friends and like keeping slots reserved for them but I aim to please y’all…) It’s up for discussion so sing out!

And on a more fun note, anybody have plans for tonight? If I’m lucky, I’ll be awake to celebrate when the New Year hits New York. If not, I’ll be tossing ZZZZs to the Universe. We’re not big party people in this house, though I might indulge in a glass of wine at dinner. Wait. Does wine go with chili? 😆

Have a safe and wonderful New Year’s Eve, everyone. Thank you for hanging around. I miss y’all when you’re gone. As Hannah would say, “Here’s to a kick-ass 2015!”

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The Thing About Tuesday

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Silver James

survived mondayPoor Tuesday. It sort of gets lost between Monday and Wednesday. Monday is…Monday. No explanation needed. Wednesday is Hump Day. Again, self-explanatory. Then there’s Tuesday, which is just sort of there. It’s a day to recover from Monday and gear up for mid-week. Tuesday is a second-cup of coffee kind of day, don’t you think? Though the big publishers release new books on Tuesdays. That’s a good thing.

Today, I’m going to throw some things out for consideration, given that tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and it’s time to assess the old year and plan for the new.

First, Facebook is being a dick. They’re changing things for “business” pages, and that includes author/fan pages. If you follow my author page on FB, there’s a couple of things you can do. First, Like/Follow my author page. Then, hover your mouse on that Liked button and click on the GET NOTIFICATIONS. That means the page will show up in your feed. Hopefully. If I promote/sell my books in my posts I can get my hands slapped and the update buried. Way to go, FB! 😛 Yes, I’m on G+, Tsu, Ello, and other places but I don’t get the same interaction there. Sadly. 😦 So I tend to ignore them. Anyway…

Second, if you haven’t signed up for my Newsletter, please click on the Mailchimp button over there on the right and sign up. I don’t send them out often, though there will be one going out tomorrow and I’ll be announcing a winner of a signed copy of COWGIRL’S DON’T CRY and a piece of cool cowgirl swag. You have to be signed up for it to get into the drawing. That’s all you have to do. And yes, there will be something given away in each one!

Third, y’all know how much I appreciate you, right? Your friendship and faithful responses keep me going when I start to wonder if there’s anybody out there. Yes, it’s a writer thing I think all authors experience. Some of you here are writers, which is awesome, but all of us are readers. I love books. I love reading them. I love talking about books. I especially love writing them. Thank you! For reading the books I write, and showing up here to say hi.

Fourth, in the coming year, I’d really appreciate your help as a sort of mini-street team. Any of you follow Dear Author? When they do their reader post at the end/beginning of each month, if you mention any of my books, especially the new releases, I’d be totally grateful! I mean like I’d send you kisses (chocolate, of course)! And reader forums your on. FB. Twitter. Other social media sites. Pin my covers if you’re on Pinterest. (This is something I’m bad about and plan to make a resolution to do it more often in the New Year.) Word of mouth is the most priceless advertising an author can get. I also plan on doing memes based on quotes from my books. Sharing those would be totally awesome, too! With some time and patience, I hope to have a separate page you can click on to copy/paste the memes. 🙂

Well…alrighty then. I think that’s all. I had a list of things I was going to talk about but it got lost on my desk. I’ll probably find it next December. 😉 In the meantime, what’s on your mind? Book recommendations? Marketing ideas? Thoughts on writing, reading, life? I’ll be right back after I get another cup of coffee.

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Monday After a Holiday

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Silver James

Christmas was 4 days ago. I was sick. Oh, I managed to get through the last-minute rush, Christmas Eve preparations and family dinner, Christmas morning Santa Claus, and family lunch at the in-laws before coming home to collapse Christmas afternoon and sleep for a couple of days. I’m mostly better now but dang if I’m not behind! I’ll get caught up this week. Because…it’s the end of the year. Time to finish off the old and get ready for the new, right?

First, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week, no matter what winter celebration you enjoy. Santa was good to me–Amazon cards, iTunes cards, Starbucks. Iffy got me new sleep pants to work in. And my Inner Editor got me a new magnetic white board with fresh markers. I’ll get the wall next to my desk rearranged this week. Stop laughing. I will!

Second, holy cannoli! I have a Harlequin release coming out January 6th. Stand by for much promotion and giveaways. I have Cowgirl Goodies™ to dispense.

Third, while I was sick, I read. And being sick, not every book waiting on my Kindle would work. I looked at the new stuff and went…uhm…no. 😦 Yes, I’m a comfort reader. But then I realized Dannika Dark had a new book out in her Seven series. This is a paranormal/wolf shifter series that I really enjoy. But starting New Year’s Day, there will be a new Goodreads Reader’s Challenge starting. I’m well over the 200 books in my challenge for this year but some were re-reads, which Goodreads disallows. 😛 So, I plan to reread the previous books: Seven Years, Six Months, and Five Weeks before I start Four Days on Jan. 1st. Sensing a trend there? 😆 I also got WRITTEN IN RED by Anne Bishop on sale for the Kindle. I’m DYING to reread it! BUT….yeah, there’s always a but, right? The third book in her Others series comes out right after my birthday. Yes, it’s already pre-ordered. I don’t want to reread RED now, followed by the second book, because I’d HAVE to reread the second book. I’m trying to wait until closer to release date so I can reread both and fall right into the 3rd book. LOVE this series! I thought about rereading a couple of other series I really like but nothing just…jumped out. Then I started having trouble with the Fire. The power cord has to be “just right” in order for it to charge. 😦 Luckily, I have my iPhone and my very old iPad, both with Kindle Apps. So, I grabbed the iPad. And guess what was waiting when I opened the Kindle app…NAKED IN DEATH. My chicken soup book. At some point, I’d opened it on the iPad to look up a quote in the book and never closed it out. I ❤ this book so much! And so I read it. And now I'm ready GLORY IN DEATH, and I'll keep reading through IMMORTAL IN DEATH because that's got one of my favorite scenes between Summerset and Eve and oh, yeah…Eve and Roarke's wedding so…d'uh! Then I'll go back and read the Seven series. I love when a book plan comes together.

So, what plans to y'all have this week? What books did you get for Christmas? What are you dying to read in the New Year? And before I forget, don't forget to sign up for Harlequin's COWGIRLS DON’T CRY Goodreads Giveaway. Today is the last day to get your name in the hat for 1 of 24 copies! Just click on the title here, go to the Goodreads page, scroll down and click ENTER TO WIN. Easy peasy!

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Twelve Brides of Christmas – Bang the Drummer

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Silver James

Christmas Eve Gift! We come to the last day of our Twelve Brides of Christmas author spotlight and who better to take us out with a bang than the queen of erotic romance, Desiree Holt! Here’s a big welcome to Desiree!

Bang the Drummer – a new way to celebrate Christmas

With Christmas practically right around the corner, I wanted to share a taste of my newest Christmas story. Bang the Drummer is part of the Twelve Brides of Christmas anthology series from The Wild Rose Press and is a SPICY version of 12 drummers drumming!
It’s a Recommended Read from All Romance eBooks and is now available from all these outlets:

ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | KOBO | ITUNES | WILD ROSE PRESS

Blurb:

Jill Kennedy has plans for a Christmas wedding. She’s put down deposits for the flowers, photos, and venue. Now all she needs is a groom. A drummer who’ll keep her life as steady as he keeps the beat to his music. With her good friend Charlie Costello as her wingman, she’ll interview percussionists, one per month until she finds the right tempo. But with Christmas approaching and no groom in sight, she’s starting to wonder if she’ll ever bang the drummer of her dreams.

Excerpt:
Jill Kennedy curled up on her couch studying her iPad, frowning. Her Christmas tree still twinkled in the corner although the holiday was long past. Coldplay’s latest CD bumped its tunes out from her iPod docking station. The last of her Christmas candles flicked in glass holders on the coffee table, filling the room with the scent of pine and cranberry. She should be feeling mellow, but instead her nerves were jumping and a headache was creeping slowly up from the nape of her neck.

Charlie Costello lounged next to her, sock feet resting on her coffee table, his hands tapping a steady rhythm on his thighs in time to the song.

Jill tucked a strand of her shoulder-length sable-colored hair behind her ear as she studied the information on the iPad screen.

“I think I’ve got everything taken care of. Booked the Creekside Winery. Ordered the decorations. Set up a tasting for the food and Stella’s designing the wedding cake.” She glanced up at Charlie. “Why are you looking at me in that strange way?”

He gave her his familiar lop-sided grin. “You are the only woman I know who plans and pays for her wedding without knowing who the groom is.”

She flipped a hand at him. “I’ll have one by then. It’s in the plan. You know.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Yeah, I love your interview process. You aren’t even dating anyone right now.”

“Because look how poor my choices were in that arena, right?”

He snorted. “So this is better? Tell me how?”

Jill pulled up another memo on her iPad. “Okay. I have a list.”

“A list? This I gotta hear. Lay it on me.”

If she didn’t need his help so badly, she would have smacked him. “It’s very specific. I asked around about different drummers in different bands and narrowed it down to the twelve most likely prospects. You know. Twelve drummers drumming, for Christmas.”

“Like a grocery list,” he teased.

“No, Charlie.” Damn him! “Like an interview process for a job.”

“Is that what this is, kitten? A job?”

“It’s a lifetime commitment,” she sniffed. She wished he’d just let her get on with this. All these questions were making her have tiny doubts about the wisdom of her decision. She gave herself a mental shake. “I’ll do one a month until I hit on the right one. The exact right one. First I check out their musical talent and their band history.”

Charlie gave a roar of laughter. “Because that’s such a requirement for stability?”

“Because it has to be a drummer so I need his performance history,” she snapped.

“Maybe it’s a different kind of performance you should be worrying about.”

“That comes later. After the phone calls and the coffee dates to see how he is in person and match our likes and dislikes.”

“Coffee dates?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Not even a romantic dinner?”

She wanted to sling the iPad at him. “I’ve been that route, remember? The whole nine yards, and what did I get? A bunch of losers. No, I’m doing this like a project for work. As a systems analyst, she knew the importance of things being able to mesh on a practical basis. ”

So you’re going to interview these bozos and then—what?”

“Drummers,” she told him. “Interviewing drummers.”

He cocked his head. “And that’s why?”

“I told you.” She blew out a breath of exasperation. “Drummers have the best beat. The best tempo. They’re the heart of the band.” She grinned. “And have the best rhythm in bed.”

Attention: I’ll be giving away one copy of this book to one lucky commenter. Post about your favorite Christmas and be sure to leave me your email. I’ll pick the winner late tonight.

SONY DSCReferred to by USA Today as the Nora Roberts of erotic romance, Desiree Holt is the world’s oldest living published erotic romance author. A graduate of the University of Michigan her earlier careers include agent and manager in the music industry, public television, associate vice president of university advancement, public relations, and economic development.

She is three times a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award (and a winner in 2014), a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award winner for best BDSM book of the year, winner of the Ellora’s Cave Golden Ankh and winner of the Holt Medallion for Excellence in Romance Literature.

She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The (London) Daily Mail, The New Delhi Times, The Huffington Post and numerous other national and international publications. Currently she has signed on as a blogger for The Huffington Post. She is also the Authors After Dark 2014 Author of the Year.

“Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last.” (Romance Junkies)

“Holt knows what her fans will love.” and “Holt delivers with delicious love scenes, a believable story and characters you care about.” -RT Book Reviews

“Well-written erotica filled with modern-day cowboys.” -John Rodzilla, Emerson Univ., Boston The Library Journal

“Desiree Holt delivers smoking hot alpha heroes and red hot romances.” -Lea Franczak, USA Today Happy Ever After blog.

“I have read many stories by this author and she never disappoints. She knows how to bring out the best in her characters that help you connect with them.” -Romancing the Book

“Ride the Mustang by Desiree Holt is everything you come to expect from Ms. Holt.” -Sizzling Hot Reads

Learn more about her and her novels here:

WEBSITE | DESIRE ME ONLY | FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE PERSONAL PAGE | TWITTER | PINTEREST | LINKEDIN | GOOGLE+

Contact Desiree at
desireeholt@desireeholt.com

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