Ready for some summer fun? I’m excited to have a fresh, fun author with me today! Marquita Valentine writes contemporary romance, and shares an excerpt of her recent release, TWICE TEMPTED! You’ll quickly see Marquita has an inviting voice and enjoyable sense of humor.

This is a fabulous, fresh summer read to pick up TODAY!!

But if you’re willing to wait to find out if you’ve won…Marquita is giving away 2 copies today! Lots of ways to participate!
   

   
TWICE TEMPTED

Sometimes…
Born into wealth and power, Christian Romanov is Hollywood’s favorite bad boy with a golden touch…until the day his agent receives pictures of the movie star celebrating his birthday in a not-so-legal way. Now he’s been ordered to find a small-town girl to be seen with in order to improve his partying image. He agrees, but for an entirely different reason-to protect the reputation of an organization that helps get teen off the street and back into the school. Not only is he the anonymous donor that’s been solely supporting the organization since its inception, he’s slated to be their newest spokesman.

What happens in Vegas,

Zoe Ambrose is a hopeless romantic masquerading as a realist. But she’s also a successful novelist, trying to fit herself into a staid life when what she craves is the adventure she found one night in the arms of a playboy who never knew her name. When her successful crime series is optioned by a major studio, she travels to Las Vegas to find that the prince of her fantasies and single night of pleasure is the main contender for the male lead. But for four years Zoe has been publicly eviscerating the man who left her stranded that night—he’s the villain in her series! Now the movie star doesn’t recognize her, and Zoe is determined to protect her heart this time.

Doesn’t Stay in Vegas.

When Christian braves the small town of Holland Springs and Zoe’s overprotective family to win the girl of his dreams, he finds that his Hollywood skills might not cut it—and learns a shocking truth he never imagined. Can he tempt her again and finally give her the epic love story she has refused to write for herself?

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Excerpt:

He pushed away from the wall, moving toward her. “Anyway, who are you to lecture me about spontaneity? I bet you’ve never done a crazy thing in your life. Hell, you probably sit in church every Sunday in a pure white dress, thinking pure white thoughts while some dumbass of a boyfriend is too busy to notice the naughty lingerie you’re wearing underneath.” His lashes lowered over his eyes, giving them a slumberous, sexy quality as he added, “And you do nothing about it.”

Had he hacked into her email account and read her messages to Melanie? His assessment of her relationship with her ex was so close to the truth that she wanted to throw her purse at him again. On purpose and at his head.

“I can be spontaneous,” she insisted.

“You need to let me spontaneously screw you.”

“Seriously?” She shoved a finger at his muscular chest. “You need to spontaneously combust.”

“Still not impressed,” he said, catching her hand with his large one. A thrill of heat emanated from where he touched her. “You can do better.”

“I spontaneously got in here with you, didn’t I?”

A smirk fit his lips as a teasing light entered his eyes. “Yeah, riding in an elevator with a man is so spontaneous. Someone alert Perez Hilton.”

“You… you.” She smacked her palm against her dress. Her purse fell to the floor with a thud, but she was beyond caring about something so trivial. “You are so irritating. You drive me insane with your cocky ego and dumb pick-up lines. You make me want to… to just… I want to…” This was her chance. She could tell him exactly what she thought of him. Tell him exactly what a pure asshat he was and let him fend for himself, no matter how nicely he asked her to help him.

He leaned over, lips parted in obvious invitation and she took a small step closer. He tugged her even closer. Heat from his body touched hers. Oh, God. All thoughts of telling him anything dissolved like sugar in hot tea.

TWICE TEMPTED, available now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble (e-book)
   

   
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment to enter, and Marquita will give away two copies of Twice Tempted (e-book only) to randomly chosen winners!

Marquita Valentine writes small town romances that are anything but small. Lisa Kleypas, Carly Phillips and Rachel Gibson are among her favorite contemporary authors. Marquita met her husband aka Hot Builder at Sonic when they were in high school. She suggests this location to all of her single friends in search of a good man — and if that doesn’t work, they can console themselves with cheesy tatertots. She lives in North Carolina in a very, very small town with Hot Builder and their two children.

You can find Marquita all over the internet:
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Blog

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Today I’m thrilled to have my Rock*It Reads sister, Pamela Clare, with me celebrating her new release, DEFIANT.  Pamela has a fabulous story of the making of her book trailer or DEFIANT which she’s sharing today…along with a giveaway of the book! Enter below via the Rafflecopter widget!

DEFIANT

Major Connor MacKinnon despises his commander, Lord William Wentworth, beyond all other men. Ordered to rescue Wentworth’s niece after the Shawnee take her captive, he expects Lady Sarah Woodville to be every bit as contemptible as her uncle. Instead, he finds a brave and beautiful lass in desperate peril. But the only way to free Sarah is for Connor to defeat the Shawnee warrior who kidnapped her—and claim her himself.

Torn by tragedy from her sheltered life in London, Lady Sarah is unprepared for the harshness of the frontier-or for the attraction she feels toward Connor. When they reach civilization, however, it is she who must protect him. For if her uncle knew all that Connor had done to save her, he would surely kill him.

But the flames of passion, once kindled, are difficult to deny. As desire transforms into love, Connor will have to defy an empire to keep Sarah at his side.

Pick up Definat at AMAZON

Here’s Pamela…

I’ve always been frustrated with book trailers. As much as I’d like to see other authors’ books come to life — and as much I’d love to be able to bring my own characters to life, there’s only so much you can do with a trailer.

I’ve put together trailers since the release of my third I-Team novel, Unlawful Contact. In that instance, I got a photographer, an Army officer, and my good friend Libby together to re-enact Marc Hunter’s escape from prison one frame at a time. The Army officer let me cuff him, then went through the steps of escaping, even pointing his firearm — unloaded, of course — at Libby’s head. (I have very good friends.)

For Naked Edge, I used stock photos of sexy models and of Colorado to tell the story of Kat James and Gabe Rossiter. For Breaking Point, it was stock photos of Mexico, which I used to illustrate Natalie Benoit and Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Zach McBride’s escape from a cartel prison.

But each time, it was the same thing: still images interspersed with carefully chosen text and canned music. Not very exciting.

It was after my son Benjamin Alexander had finished putting together another such trailer for my new release, Defiant, which tells the story of Connor MacKinnon, that he came to me and suggested we try shooting a live-action trailer. On deadline with my next I-Team book, I couldn’t quite imagine how we’d get the time — or the actors — to manage this.
But then fate seemed to take over.

Within a span of a few days, my friend Jenn LeBlanc of Illustrated Romance (search #StudioSmexy on Twitter) texted me with a photo of a sexy guy and a one-word message: “Connor?” And the next thing I knew Benjamin and I were getting up very early on a Saturday to meet Jenn and her crew — Cora Kemp and sexy model Karl Biermann — for a day of shooting.

We took some props including my Brown Bess 1757 musket, lead balls (ammo for the gun), a powder horn, a leather medicine bag to use as a parfleche, and some other odds and ends.

Now, when you’re in public and your plan for the day is to get someone mostly naked in a public place and to brandish large a firearm, you do wonder whether you’re going to end up getting arrested and making very awkward phone calls to family. We had this in mind as we reached the lake and hiked back to a less public beach. While Jenn, Benjamin and Cora talked about lighting, Karl took off his clothes, stripping down to a pair of swim trunks, and walked into the water.

God, I love my job!

Okay, I’ll admit it. I blushed. Yes, I blushed. I’m not used to watching sexy men just strip under the bright blue sky. Watch Karl bare all that delicious muscle and velvety skin pretty much erased every coherent thought from my head as hormones took over. I wondered for a few minutes how I was going to get through the day without acting like a 16-year-old in the midst of her first crush.

The water portion of the shoot lasted for close to an hour. There was chest washing, water trickling over pecs and abs, biceps washing. I gave Karl an overview of the story and what the hell Connor would be doing in a lake — taking a bath to wash away the blood of battle, it so happens — and then Benjamin coached Karl through some shots based on that bathing scene. It’s a good thing Benjy was directing, because I love men in water and would likely have kept reshooting those scenes until Karl’s toes turned to prunes.

While this was going on, Jenn was live tweeting it to an audience of our readers, who were waiting with photos on my Facebook page and on Twitter with the #StudioSmexy hashtag.

Then we drove high in the mountains to get some forest shots of Karl as Connor MacKinnon the Ranger. Now, a Colorado forest looks nothing like a forest from upstate New York, but we couldn’t replant the whole thing. We had to make it work. We got out our props, had Karl switch from swim trunks to breeches, and got out Bess — my musket.

Benjy directed, while Jenn took stills, and Cora helped with lighting, using a “bounce” reflector to direct sunlight where it was needed. And what did I do? I drew the tattoos on Karl’s arms. This was not a hardship for me. I confess that I rather enjoyed it.

The forest shoot lasted the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon as Karl was put through the paces of being Connor MacKinnon. Even though the costume was not historically accurate and the whole operation was ultra-mega-low-budget, there came a moment where Karl was running full-tilt through the forest when both Jenn and I got goose bumps.

There running through the trees was Connor MacKinnon in the flesh. As Jenn later wrote on Facebook, it was like being in the forest with my muse.

Karl took the job very seriously, doing everything that was asked of him and handling the physical demands of it well. Fortunately, he has firearms experience, so we didn’t have to show him how to hold the musket. Working with people who’ve never held a gun and making it look natural is a filmmaker’s nightmare. We didn’t have to deal with that.

We got home after having way too much fun and looked at the footage. And then it dawned on us that we could do more.
We met a few days later for pick-up shots in Jenn’s Denver studio, adding model Derek Hutchins to the mix to play the part of Lord William Wentworth. Karl wore what he’d worn in the forest scenes plus a period accurate-ish shirt. Derek was self-sacrificing and wore a heavy British redcoat officer’s jacket, tight pants and boots despite the humid heat of the studio.

Then Benjamin took over from there, directing the filming of three shots — one of Wentworth reading a letter from his niece, the heroine, Lady Sarah; one of Connor and Wentworth face to face; and one of Connor praying with his wooden rosary.

We had a bit of extra help this time, with Kati and Jamie from Romancing Rakes working as Jenn’s assistants — moving lights, moving furniture, um… helping the guys with costumes. It was hard work, but someone had to do it, right?

For these scenes, we’d hoped to have the guys act out the physical aspects, while using the voices of people with very posh British accents for Lady Sarah and Lord William. Of course, I had no idea who would do the voices. It’s not like I keep a Rolodex listing actors by accent. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Benjy directed the first scene — a thorough filming of Lord Wentworth’s ass. This involved getting a candle set up, adjusting lighting so that it looked like the scene was lit only by the candle and so on. Then Derek gamely proffered his well-dressed and very firm backside.

Cut. Done. Next shot.

This involved adjusting lighting a bit and positioning the camera and the guys so that we could see past Wentworth’s hip and arm across the desk to Connor’s abdomen. And because they’re having a bit of a heated exchange in this scene in the book, there needed to be physical motion.

And I have to say this was the highlight, because Derek really got into it. We weren’t using sound from the shoot, so he could say whatever he wanted. So to make his gesticulations feel real, he started lambasting Karl/Connor.

“You know I hate you, but I need you to find my niece. What? You’re just going to stand there?”

Derek was so funny that everyone was laughing, and you could tell from the footage that the men were laughing. So we had to do several takes.

Two days later, Cora, Jenn, Benjamin and I met up in the mountains and shot some footage of me dragging Cora up the mountainside. I felt evil doing this, but, hey, anything for the film, right?

Thanks to author Carolyn Jewel, I connected via Twitter with Kate McDermott and Mike Gamache, two actors with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. They recorded lines I e-mailed to them, then e-mailed the sound files back. When their emails arrived, all we had left was editing.

I know I’m biased, but I was pretty amazed at what Benjamin put together. It is absolutely the best book trailer I’ve ever had for one of my novels, and readers seem to enjoy it. It was a special thrill to be able to work with these wonderful people and to combine my art with my son’s — my book and his filmmaking — in a single project.

And now you get to see the results. Enjoy!

And make sure you enter to WIN your very own copy of DEFIANT here!

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I’m very happy to be sharing the blog with the fabulous Katharine Ashe today to celebrate her new release HOW TO BE A PROPER LADY with an excerpt and giveaway.  This vibrant historical released yesterday, June 26th, so it’s AVAILABLE NOW!  I so do love fiesty heroines and as a rule-breaker myself, I say, go Viola!  And, my, oh, my, has Katharine set up quite a challenging match for Viola in Jin.  Sparks will fly!  This will be quite a show.

Make sure you read the excerpt and enter for a chance to win another of Katharine’s books. CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD

HOW TO BE A PROPER LADY

The rules of being a proper lady

1)      Never take steps greater than six inches apart
2)      Never look boldly at a gentleman
3)      And never, ever kiss a man who is not your fiancé…

But beautiful, bold Viola Carlyle doesn’t care about the rules. And she desperately wants to kiss the notoriously tempting Captain Jin Seton, the man who brought her kicking and fighting back to English society. Kidnapped as a child, now she longs to return to that life of freedom where she was able to live—and love—as she wished.

Having hunted Viola for two years, Jin Seton has finally found his good luck—for by finding Viola his oldest, deepest debt will at last be paid. And although he has vowed not to let her win his heart, this very improper lady might finally be the one who tames him.

Buy through Amazon: http://ow.ly/bQVcG

Excerpt:

“What are you reading?”

“A book,” she snapped, his perfect, breathtaking mouth and arms and everything far too close. “Is this conversation you’re attempting to make?”

“Ah. The return of the shrew.” He grinned, sending her belly into tingling somersaults. “I may leap overboard yet.”

“I can only hope.”

He had the audacity to chuckle. “Come to think of it, I prefer this to the false seductress you’ve been playing. I appreciate honesty in a sailor.”

“Don’t you mean in a woman?”

His eyes seemed to shadow. “In anyone.”

But those words were not his thoughts; she saw it in his face and knew beyond doubt that this man had seen true dishonesty in a woman and it had wounded him.

Abruptly beset by a most pressing urge, then Viola did a very foolish thing. She reached forward and placed her hand on his chest and heard herself murmur, “I am always honest.” She was in this. Despite herself she wished to be near him, and to touch him.

Beneath her palm his chest rose and fell sharply, but his voice remained even.

“You are playacting a role that neither of us is enjoying. Put an end to this wager. It is childish and you know you will lose.”

But she didn’t feel like a child. The way he looked at her with such crystal intensity even as he remained aloof made her feel very much like a woman. She should remove her hand from his body. Beneath fine linen—far too fine for a common sailor—he was all contoured muscle.

“What if I don’t care if I lose?” Her fingers spread and she felt him, his heartbeat and heat, and a soft throbbing gathered in her. She traced a fingertip to the laces of his shirt and with the smallest movement stroked the linen open. Skin. Male skin beneath her touch, firm and hot. She pushed the fabric aside, baring hard collarbone and sun-darkened man. Her breaths stuttered. “What if I’m enjoying the wager itself?”

He caught her wrist in a strong grip and slid her hand fully beneath his shirt.

The air sank from her lungs. For a moment he simply held her there, her palm pressed to his skin over his flat nipple. Then he leaned forward, bent his head and spoke low.

“You needn’t strap me to a mast in order to undress me, Miss Carlyle. I am more than happy to oblige you at any time.”

About Katharine:

The  American Library Association’s Booklist named Katharine Ashe among its “New Stars of Historical Romance.” She is a  two-time nominee in the Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards, and her novella, A Lady’s Wish, launched Harper Collins  Publishers’ e-book imprint, Avon Impulse, to rave reviews.

Katharine  lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her husband, son, two dogs, and a  garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt. A professor of European  history, she has made her home in California, Italy, France, and the northern  US. She loves hearing from readers!

BOOK GIVEAWAY!

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While my guest today, Alexia Reed, resides in Ontario, she likes to say that she lives in her own little world. A lover of all things scientific and the paranormal, Alexia uses her books as a way to straddle the realms of fact and fiction—and always with a healthy dose of romance thrown in.  When not writing and reading, Alexia paints, and  is the caretaker to two neurotic cats.

Alexia writes dark dark paranormal romantic suspense and her new release, HUNTING THE SHADOWS, published with Carina Press, is the first in her Shadow Ops series.  Of course I do love my dark romantic suspense, and all the better with a little paranormal tossed around!  Really looking forward to this series!

Alexia talks about SETTING THE STAGE today and also gives away an Ecopy of HUNTING THE SHADOWS!  Many ways to enter!  Good Luck!

HUNTING THE SHADOWS

Amy has spent her life in isolation. Locked away in the Centre, a secret government facility where children with extraordinary abilities are raised as highly skilled fighters, she longs for a normal life. A life where being around people doesn’t overload her sensitive telepathic mind. A life where she can’t see through the eyes of a murderer as he hunts down his next victim…

J.C. Nikolaiev was a top researcher, but when his conscience got the better of him, he tried to destroy his work and free his subjects—and was imprisoned as a traitor. To save himself and prevent more people from dying, J.C. must catch the serial killer stalking the halls of the facility. But his only leads come from a woman whose thoughts have invaded his mind…
Finally out of the psych ward, Amy joins forces with J.C. to find the killer before he closes in on them. Can their growing attraction withstand the truths they uncover?

You can purchase Hunting the Shadows through the Carina Press website, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

Here’s Alexia…

The stories I’ve loved the most are those where the setting can be anywhere or are isolated. Actually, I love isolation stories. Maybe it’s because I grew up on the outskirts of two towns, trapped in the middle of nowhere, but I love country settings where you have fields and acres upon acres of trees between you and your nearest neighbour. It also raises the stakes a bit more, knowing the characters don’t have easy access to escape.

I set the Centre in the middle of nowhere for some of these reasons. I took it a bit literal and dropped the compound deep in the mountains. My main reason is because they are a governmental secret. The world isn’t supposed to know the agents or program even exists. They are the weapons trained to fight in preparation for the approach of a world war. That means they need secrecy and room to train, not only their psychic abilities but also physically.

It’s hard for me to say much about the inspiration for the Centre itself. It’s a complex building with upper (dorm rooms, Medical, training rooms, class rooms, cafeteria, etc) and lower levels that extend underground in what’s called the Crypt. The Crypt is where prisoners are kept and punished by the Enforcers (psychics in charge of keeping the agents in line). It’s not exactly somewhere you want to be. In fact, if you’re sent down there, most likely, your chances of coming out are slim. It’s not a place you want to find yourself.

I knew when I started writing the book that because it is planned to be a series, I wanted book 1 to focus on the Centre and life there. In the later books, it won’t just be at the Centre so I wanted to keep it central for the first few before expanding outward.

That said, setting is tricky. You have to know how much detail to add and where. Too much can be overwhelming and not enough leaves your readers filling in the gaps themselves. It’s a balancing act and can be subjective from person to person depending on their preferences.

You can find Alexia on her website, Goodreads, Twitter, and Facebook.

Alexia is giving away one ecopy of HUNTING THE SHADOWS!
Comment on this question to enter!

Does setting matter to you when you read a book?
If so, what kind of places do you prefer?

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I am thrilled that FEVER, my first novel, was picked up by Amazon’s Top 100 program this month. Here’s the direct link: FEVER at promotional price.

That means FEVER is sale priced at $3.99 for the month of May! Now you can try a new-to-you author (me) at very low risk! And just to reduce the risk further, you can read the entire first chapter of FEVER here. If you’re interested to know what others think of FEVER, there are many in-depth reviews on Amazon to browse and the entire first chapter on my website!

For those of you who have read and enjoyed FEVER, I’d really appreciate it if you spread the word! And I’m happy to reward your your efforts with a chance to win 1 of 3 Amazon Gift Cards! $25, $15 and $10! Everyone can enter! All you have to do is follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter below.

Good luck!

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Lucky 7 – I’ve been tagged….

This is a super fun little tag going around with authors. One author tags another and each shares a snipit of their upcoming release or WIP. Only…it has to be page 77, line 7 and the next 7 lines.

Thanks Bronwen Evans, Kensington Brava sister for tagging me!! See her lucky 7 from WICKED WAGERS at her blog!

Here’s my lucky 7 meme from my May release of INTIMATE ENEMIES, a romantic suspense set in Baja Mexico.

“Cassie—“ His plea tore at her heart.

“No.” Her voice came out colder than she’d intended. “I get it. Believe me, I get it. I’ve spent a decade getting it, Rio. You’re just like everyone else in this town.”

She walked past him, dodging his grasp when he reached for her. He caught up with her quick enough and Cassie pulled on that film of armor she felt as if she wore all the time. In the E.D. In her personal life. She wore the damn barrier just to walk from a store to her car. For once—once—she thought she’d found a place she could let it down.

I now tag a few of my fellow Rock*It Reads authors, Elisabeth Naughton, Monica Burns and Vanessa Kelly…  Share with us ladies…