Monthly Roundup for September 2013

It's a big month for releases around here! Last week, Juniper Bell's alter ego, Jennifer Bernard, released How to Tame a Wild Fireman, book 4 in The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series.

The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel have a rebel among them, and there's only one woman who can put his flames out.

Firefighter Patrick "Psycho" Callahan earns his nickname every day. Fast, fit, and a furious worker, he thrives on the danger which helps him forget a near-tragedy that changed his life forever. But when his off-duty carousing gets out of hand, Patrick is sent back to Loveless, Nevada, where the wildfire threatening his hometown has nothing on sizzling Dr. Lara Nelson.

Lara would rather be thought of as the physician who returned to Loveless than as the misfit brought up at a hippie New Age commune. But right now she's focused on the job at hand, patching up injured firemen . . . until the past hits her in the hard-muscled, blue-eyed form of Patrick Callahan. Now, the embers of their decade-old attraction have ignited into a full-on inferno, as the bad-boy firefighter and the good doctor take a walk on the wild side they'll never forget.

Amazon  B&N

Tomorrow, all  THREE of the books in Kate Davies' Strip Series are being re-released with gorgeous, all-new covers.

 Check out the rest of the series HERE!






Offside, the last book (last? say it ain't so!) in Kelly Jamieson's Heller Brothers series also releases on October 1st.

Honey Holbrook is trying hard to leave her past behind her and make a new life for herself. A former spoiled, rich, wild child, her attention-grabbing antics were tabloid fodder for years. Now she has a new job, a new home, and is staying out of the limelight. But the first day of the new job doesn't go like she expects when her boss and coworkers make it clear she's not wanted there, and the first project she has to work on is with pro hockey player Matt Heller.

Matt and Honey had a wild and wicked fling eight years ago when he was attending summer development camp for the California Condors -- the NHL team Honey's dad owns. But the relationship ended when they argued over the loser friends Honey hung around with and Matt had to return to college hockey. Before he left, Matt talked to Honey's dad about Honey's exploits. She felt betrayed and rejected, and threw herself even harder into her partying lifestyle while Matt tried to carve out a career for himself in the NHL.

Now Matt's back with the Condors but recovering from a serious injury that has changed his whole outlook on life. He's not impressed to be working with Honey Holbrook, although her cleaned up image arouses his curiosity. And arouses something else...

Barnes & Noble | Kobo

As we mentioned last month, the hotly-awaited fourth book in Sydney Somer's Pendragon Gargoyles series releases October 22! Here's the blurb:

Condemned to darkness...Tempted by passion.

Enslaved by a vengeful goddess, forced to live on blood, Lucan can barely remember life as a knight of the Round Table. Yet when one woman’s touch awakens millennium-old feelings that tame the savage darkness within him, he has no choice but to deny their all-consuming passion—for her own protection.

Gargoyle cat-shifter Briana Callaghan has watched all three of her brothers find their mates, but love isn’t in her future. Especially when her mate turns out to be a lethal mercenary…and the only man ever to break her heart. 

When she’s chosen to compete in the Gauntlet, an immortal death match, Briana realizes the prize—the sword Excalibur—is her only hope of severing the fierce bond that has the power to destroy her.

Stunned to find themselves pitted against each other, Briana and Lucan quickly find that the only thing they’re fighting harder than their enemies is their sizzling, heartbreaking chemistry. But even if they survive the Gauntlet, claiming the woman he loves will be as impossible as letting her go.

Pre-order now available at Samhain 

Meg Benjamin is on tour for the next few weeks, talking about last month's release Medium Rare ( Book 2 in the Ramos Family/Medium Trilogy). Details can be found on her blog: http://megbenj1.wordpress.com/


Erin Nicholas fans who ate up It Takes Two (book 2 in her Counting on Love series) when it released on September 17th will have to wait until November 19th for the third book, but at least they can enjoy the yummy cover now...and the yummy blurb. Mmmm...did someone say cake?

 Sometimes it takes a couple of tries before you get love right. 

Emma Dixon is known for getting in over her head—and having a great time doing it. She’s aware her shenanigans rub Nate Sullivan the wrong way, but getting a rise out of the cocky surgeon is one of her favorite pastimes. Truth be told, exasperated looks aren’t the only things she wants from the guy.

Nate has no intention of taking another trip down the falling-in-love road. Women are carefully compartmentalized—to his bedroom. Women who don’t mind his take-charge tendencies. Women very different from sassy, sexy, independent Emma.

But his usual strategy of arguing with Emma to keep from kissing her goes out the window when his son falls in love with her friend’s daughter. Emma sees a normal teenage romance. Nate sees his plans for the boy’s future ruined.

As Nate tries to derail the relationship, Emma runs interference, putting herself directly in the path of the chemistry that grows stronger every time they butt heads. And that could very well lead to the best surprise of all.

Contains a guy who knows exactly who he is and what he wants and a girl who’s going to change his mind about, well, everything. Plus inappropriate use of chocolate cake (of course, that depends on your definition of inappropriate).

We  also have a cover reveal for Happy Medium, the third book in Meg Benjamin's Ramos Family trilogy (now available for pre-order at Amazon)

Finally, if you're going to be in the Nashville area on Saturday, October 19th, plan on stopping by The Cheesecake Factory at  2133 Green Hills Village Dr. between 6 and 8 pm to join Erin Nicholas, Kelly Jamieson and PG Forte for Girl's Night Out!

Flirty Friday - Busted by Sydney Somers

Before she could respond to that, Jackson touched her arm. “Can I talk to you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He drew her through the crowd, not stopping until they reached the inn’s lobby.

A few people lingered nearby, but they didn’t pay any attention to either of them.

“You told that woman I was available.”

“You are available,” she pointed out, then shook her head. “Sorry, I was…” She trailed off, waving her hand between them. “This was a bad idea.”

“Apparently.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m trying to clear the air here.”

“And doing a bang-up job of it,” he shot back.

“You’re unbelievable.” She whirled around, wishing she hadn’t bothered apologizing.

His hand snagged her wrist, dragging her back to him. Warm and solid, his chest moved with her, bracing her when she might have used the wall of muscle to push him back. His arms locked around her back, but then there wasn’t time to think about that. Wasn’t time to think about anything.

His mouth covered hers, the kiss exactly like he played the game he loved. Fast, hard and taking her by complete surprise. Smooth, hungry lips teased across hers, pushing deeper the second she dragged in a breath.

And god she needed to breathe—needed something to anchor her or she’d wind up swept away as she had years ago. She’d learned by accident that Jackson Knight knew how to kiss, but even that one time didn’t compare to the present.

Not when he cradled her jaw and slowed the kiss, his tongue sliding across her bottom lip and stroking the length of hers. She wasn’t sure when her fingers found their way to his shirt, but she slipped them beneath his suit jacket to get closer.

So much closer.

Seconds, maybe minutes later—and altogether too soon—he drew back after one more slow, soft pass of his mouth, but didn’t release her. His heart pounded furiously under her palm and he breathed as hard as she did.

“No one has ever kissed me like that,” she whispered. She hadn’t planned on saying it aloud, but once the words left her mouth, she was too caught up in the delicious high to care.

“Hayley,” he murmured.

She nipped his bottom lip, loving the way he said her name. She hadn’t planned on liking a damn thing about him aside from the way he played hockey, but the moment he climbed into that tree without complaint and without dropping a kitten with a vicious streak, she guessed there might be a bit to like after all.

Like the way he set her entire body on fire with just a kiss.

*** 

Get more info on Busted here.

September Pick Your Pleasure: how do you take your heroes?

Do you prefer your romance heroes to be super Alpha males, or sweet & romantic Betas?

Kate: I have a soft spot for betas.

PG: I like alphas. I don't feel as bad when i make them suffer.  

Meg: Um...who says sweet romantic guys can't also be alpha when it comes to protecting the women they love? I like heroes with brains and brawn, thank you very much.  

Kelly: Frack! I can't choose! I guess my preference leans to alphas. The alpha who is brought to his knees by love.  

Erin: That's a tough one. I like writing both and I like reading both. Honestly, in real life? The strong but sweet beta. Writing, probably the alpha.

Sydney: I'm with Meg, I'm all about the alphas who have their sweet, romantic moments.

Juniper: In bed, the alpha. Out of bed, I'm flexible.

Skylar: In romance novels, I'll take the Alpha almost every time, though I've read some amazing betas.

Now it's your turn: vote in our poll and tell us your favorite kind of romance novel hero!

How do you take your heroes: Alpha or Beta?
	Bring on the super Alpha males!
	I'll take a sweet, romantic Beta please!
	I've got to have a blend of both!
pollcode.com free polls

My Favorite Time of Year

That's right, I'm talking about the return of the Fall TV season. All those shows that left us hanging are returning and we'll either be back on the edge of our seats or throwing popcorn at the screen wondering what the hell the writers were smoking over the summer break.

And as always, there are a ton of new shows starting up, some that will inevitably be destined for cancellation in a few shorts weeks and some that might actually be picked up for a full season.

Here are the ones I'm looking forward to:

Once Upon a Time

Don't even tell me you don't love Rumpelstiltskin?




Grey's Anatomy

This show is going into its 10th season and I still keep watching.




Homeland

After two seasons on not knowing what was gonna happen next, I can't wait for the third one.




The Vampire Diaries

How else am I gonna get my teen angst fix? It doesn't hurt that it's chock full of supernatural creatures that appeal to my paranormal writer side.




Elementary

Sherlock Holmes. The guy is brilliant, British and has no filter. Love him!




The Walking Dead

You know I could never talk about returning shows without mentioning this one, right?




New shows I want to check out:

Sleepy Hallow



Agents of SHIELD

I may be a wee bit extra excited about this one since Joss Whedon created it.




The Crazy Ones

Speaking of Joss Whedon, Buffy's Sarah Michelle Geller is back on tv and opposite Robin Williams. This will either be crazy funny or crazy how fast it will be cancelled.




What favorites shows are you waiting to start back up again? Any new series you're looking forward to?

Guest Blogger Lisa M. Owens - Second Chance Romance

There is something about opening a book and finding yourself immersed in the story of how a couple met and fell in love. Love weaves its magical spell and you fall in love with the characters as they fall in love with each other.

But what if this couple had fallen in love before?

Did they simply fall out of love or was something else, something tragic or possibly traumatic responsible for the devastation of a love that had once been true?

And what if one of them had been betrayed by another…and not sure that they can trust their battered and bruised heart’s judgment again? Can someone who had been badly burned by someone they trusted move on with their life and fall in love with somebody new?

These are the kinds of stories that I have always enjoyed reading. They are also the kinds of stories that I enjoy writing. Novels about people who are forced to overcome something in their past before they are able to build a future with the one that they were meant to be with.

Then the wheels in my head started turning.

What would you do if you had the opportunity to go back and relive your greatest mistake?

We all have that one decision in our past, the one choice we made that we have always wished that we could take back. But what if you could? Would you be willing to change your past in order to build a better future?

In my first published novel, If Only, my heroine gets that very chance.

Five years ago, Bree Sexton walked out on her fiancé and into the arms of a charming and handsome stranger. She has regretted her decision ever since. Instead of a fairy-tale marriage, her “prince” shattered her dreams and her spirit with physical violence and emotional cruelty she barely escaped.

She then mysteriously wakes up in bed with the fiancé she loved and left, the life she’d dreamed of now a reality, until her cruel ex-husband reappears to destroy her new life. But what is real, and what is make-believe? Is she really getting the chance she has always dreamed of? And when it is all said and done, will she finally end up with the man she has always regretted leaving? Or will she wake up to discover herself alone?

This is the first novel of my If Only series. These books will all be about women who get the second chances in life that they have always wanted. But like the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for…

Buy If Only

http://www.lsbooks.com/lisa-m-owens-c343.php

http://www.amazon.com/If-Only- ebook/dp/B00ASOMPH4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356572772&sr=1-1&keywords=If+Only+by+Lisa+M.+Owens

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-only-lisa-m-owens/1114147612?ean=9781595789891

The writing bug bit Lisa M. Owens at an early age; she was writing short stories and poetry by the age of seven. At the age of eight, she entered a writing contest at her elementary school. About fifty books were written, but Lisa was one of the thirteen writers chosen who received a certificate and the chance to meet Oklahoma writer Sandy Miller. A former victim of domestic violence herself, Lisa worked at the courthouse for over seven years. Almost three of those years she worked on the Marriage License/Protective Order desk. She helped women file protective orders and worked closely with the staff and counselors at DVIS. Frustrated with books that merely gloss over the subject of domestic violence, Lisa wanted to write a book that told the entire story. Her dream is for her words to help give someone the courage to leave an abusive relationship. She resides in Oklahoma and has two children. This is her first published novel, and she is currently working on the next novel of her If Only series.

Lisa enjoys hearing from her readers and can be reached at P.O. Box 9643, Tulsa, OK 74157-0643, or by e-mail, lisamowens@ymail.com. She can also be contacted on her website, www.lmowens.com, https://twitter.com/_lisamowens on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-M-Owens-Author-Page/401065116637549, or on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6884569.Lisa_M_Owens

Coming Soon to Orange County: Put on your big girl panties!

On October 12th, the Embassy Suites in Brea, CA is being overtaken by the most awesome group of women in Orange County. The OCC RWA chapter is holding their annual Birthday Bash, with speakers Victoria Dahl and Heather Bennet during the day, and crazy pajama parties at night.

A bunch of authors are holding mini classes and workshops--a writerly pajama party--in their hotel rooms. Snacks, drinks, and maybe even some wine will complement the lessons.

This year, I decided to host a workshop on getting over fears in writing, and--lucky me--the incredible Jennifer Bernard will be co-hosting!

You still have a chance to register for the conference. And if you need additional incentive, head over to the blog of OCC President Louisa Bacio for more pajama parties being hosted!

I hope to see some local readers and writers at this celebration in just a couple weeks. You can get more info and register here.

First BOOK Friday-- Kinsey Holley

It's First BOOK Friday!  For the next few months, we're going to highlight the first book from each of the Nine Naughties.  Sometimes people find us further down our backlist, sometimes readers think they're picking up our first book when really it's number 3 or so, sometimes our first book was so long ago even we've forgotten!  (just kidding... it's true that you never forget your first!).  So we thought it would be fun to revisit the books that started it all for each of us!


This month we're featuring the first book from Kinsey Holley, Kiss and Kin.


A note from Kinsey:

Actually third book I ever wrote, first sold. I was in the middle of Yours Mine and Howls and having fits coming up with a coherent plot. Then Samhain did an anthology call for a shifter anthology and I figured - I've already got this world set up, with werewolves and everything, so why not take a break? At that point 30K sounded like a piece of cake compared to what I was trying to do. And the story kind of fell out of my head - I finished it in like two months. CAN YOU BELIEVE I WROTE A WHOLE NOVELLA IN TWO MONTHS?

I knew it was a good story when my sister - the queen of Eh, It's Okay I Guess - emailed me the day after I submitted it to tell me she LOVED it, didn't want it to end, thought it was awesome and adored my hero. And my sister, back then (2009) didn't even read paranormal.

Still, when I got an email from Angie James telling me she'd picked it I absolutely freaked. I'll never forget how my hands shook as I opened the email.

Blurb: 

Brotherly love? Oh hell no...

EXCERPT:

“What are you doing here?” he growled softly.

Those words, that voice, just hours after the dream, freaked Lark right the hell out. She started so violently her perfectly chilled Cosmopolitan sloshed the front of her dress. Her nipples stood at attention. 

He didn’t even notice.

She grabbed a handful of napkins. “Damn it, Taran, what—”

“Quiet,” he said fiercely as he stole her breath with a smile. He never smiled at her like that. He rarely smiled at her at all. She stared up at him, dumbfounded. He clamped a meaty paw on her elbow and dragged her away from the bar toward an empty table.

The dark blue pinstriped suit, a fitted European cut, and the custom-tailored, crisp white dress shirt looked great on his long, muscular frame. Taran didn’t live on his detective salary alone.

“Act like we’re having fun.” Irritable as always, he still wore that stutter-inducing smile. It stopped short of his luminescent green eyes. “Why are you here, and who are those wolves?”

“None of your business…” she grinned gaily, “…and I don’t know.”

A few golden strands of hair drifted across his eyes. He wore it halfway to his shoulders; HPD grooming regulations exempted werewolves. She always itched to brush his hair aside. One day she’d do it, just to watch him react.

”I’m serious, Lark.”

“You’re hurting me, Taran.”

He let go instantly but continued to stare at her, knowing she’d answer him.

She heaved a dramatic sigh. “I’m here with my friend Eloise, who’s into some Euro werewolf whose name I don’t remember, and he’s with his bros, and they’re all creepy and boring, and one of them keeps trying to pick me up, and after you replace the Cosmo you made me spill, I’m going home. This just is not my night.”

“Are you driving?”

“No, I’m talking to you. Why? Do I look like I’m driving?”

He didn’t laugh. He never laughed.

“El drove. I’ll take a cab home. Where’s my cosmo?”

Add it to your library here! 

9 Things...you can say to your dog, but not your husband.

Skylar's obviously been watching too much "Who's Line is it Anyway?"

1. "Who's my good boy? Who's my pretty boy?" In baby talk voice, of course. (Kate)
2. "Get your nose out of that porcupine's butt." (Juniper)
3. "Stop licking your balls, seriously." (Skylar)
4. " No humping the mailman!" (Sydney)
5. "If you bite me like that again, you're sleeping outside" (Erin)
6. "Behave or I'll make you scoop your own poop." (Juniper)
7. "Down boy, down!!" Oh wait... (Kelly)
8. "If you so much as touch that wine, blood will flow." (Meg)
9. "Get OFF me! Now!" (Kinsey)  

Your turn! What do you tell your dog (or cat) that you can't yell at your hubby? 

Bad Boyfriends and Why I Can Suddenly Write Again





Five years ago I was a size 6-8. Two years ago, a 10-12. Today, 14-16. And for a while there, the 16 was tight. I'm finally starting to lose again, because I'm finally "in the zone," that head space you have to achieve before you can make the lifestyle choices necessary for losing weight.

I'll be 50 in two months. I've been in and out of the zone for 35 years, and I still haven't figured out what puts me in the zone or what takes me out of it.  I've been gaining and losing the same 30-40 pounds since I was fifteen. They say it's very unhealthy to yo-yo like that, but I can't resign myself to remaining 40 pounds overweight, so I keep losing it. Then gaining it again.

Do you watch Doctor Who? If so, do you recall the Adipose episode ("Partners in Crime")? If not -- the Adipose are aliens made of human body fat.  For a long time I've thought of my disappearing/recurring 30-40 pounds as a bad boyfriend; after I saw the Adipose episode the first time, I finally had a image to go with the metaphor:

Don't let the cuteness fool you: the Adipose Boyfriend is an insidiously evil mofo. It takes you months, sometimes years, to kick him out of your life. You have to do it incrementally: You see him less and less often; you try to spend time with other guys, guys who are better for you; you avoid places where you expect him to show up. The less time you spend with him, the better you feel about yourself. Friends tell you how much happier and healthier you look now that you've dumped him.

But somehow, some way, the little bastard always figures out how to get back in.

At first, you only see him occasionally. You can flirt a little, maybe a peck on the cheek, then wave bye bye and go back to the Good Boyfriend. Then he shows up on a Saturday night when Good Boyfriend is out of town. Then you start to get bored with Good Boyfriend, and Adipose Boyfriend comes around more often. He "forgets" his wallet, or his car keys, or his phone or his dog.

Next thing you know, he's taking his mail at your place and he's falling asleep on the couch every night and you don't know quite how he got back in.

So. Operation Break Up has commenced for the umpteenth time and I'm feeling really good. I've even managed to kick Diet Coke, which I've done more often than Charlie Sheen has fucked hookers or Keith Richards has overdosed.

I bet Nora Roberts doesn't have an Adipose Boyfriend. Nora doesn't need to get in the zone to write and I bet she doesn't need to get in the zone to lose weight--she's got enough self-discipline to avoid falling out of the zone in the first place.

I've always aspired to Nora's Theory of Writing: There is no muse, there is only the work. Hands on keyboard, butt in chair, just get to it.

But just like when losing weight--for me, at least--I have to get in the zone to write. At the moment, I'm in the zone. I need to figure out how to stay there--for writing, for weight loss, for everything.

Guest Blogger Joann Ainsworth - Romance Changes as We Age

When mature protagonists find love, there is a different "tone" to the experience from when young heroines and heroes discover love for the first time. My historical western romance, POLITE ENEMIES, released this month from Whiskey Creek Press. Its theme is “love strikes when you least expect it.” The novel was conceived from my desire to write about “mature” love.

I don't know about you, but I find that relationships change as I age. By acquiring more experience about people and the world, there’s an interplay between my inner needs and my outer experiences that causes a different reaction to - or outcome for - relationships than when I was young. I wanted my novel to explore the sense of "knowing" and "practicality" that comes from living and gaining knowledge about the world and its peoples. The novel’s protagonists are approaching middle age for that era. The heroine is late 30’s and the hero early 40’s.

The setting is Buffalo, Wyoming, in 1895. This territory had recently gone through range wars and there was an unsettled feeling between ranchers and farmers. My heroine, Ida Osterbach, is a farmer. The hero, Jared Buell, is a rancher. An added complication is that both Ida and Jared had happy first marriages with spouses now deceased. Neither wants nor needs a new relationship. In the novel, I try to express the practical considerations that inch them toward a relationship until chemistry can take hold and take over.

As I wrote their story, I had to remember that the exciting, “first discovery of true love” was over for both of them. They needed a different foundation on which to build a relationship and a marriage. I added a tone of earthiness that I do not add to my novels with younger protagonists.

From their first marriages, Ida and Jared were both comfortable with sharing their bodies and found no embarrassment in revealing them (despite the remnants of Queen Victoria’s prudish dictums for those times). The thrill that comes with the first experience of physical love is over for them. Their lovemaking is a means to exact the full measure of pleasure for themselves and for their partner. The "discovery" in POLITE ENEMIES is that even people who are at odds with one another over their properties and their social standings are not immune when love comes knocking.

We are constantly changing and evolving, whether for the better or for the worse. Life doesn’t stand still. As we evolve, our approach to this world -- including love -- changes. To have a novel mirror life, change must transform the lovers. Ida and Jared transition from polite enemy neighbors into lovers committed to marriage and a future together.

Have you noticed that your attitude toward relationships changes over time? It is this changed attitude I tried to capture in POLITE ENEMIES.

Let us know your experiences. What changed for you as you matured?

When JoAnn Smith Ainsworth carried wood as a pre-teen so her Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, she wasn’t thinking, “I could use this in a novel someday.” Yet, the skills she learned from her horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops for her historical romance and paranormal suspense novels.

MATILDA'S SONG (ISBN: 978-1-60504-195-7)

OUT OF THE DARK (ISBN: 978-1-60504-277-0)

POLITE ENEMIES (ebook ISBN: 978-1-61160-636-2; trade paperback: 978-1-61160-590-7)

THE FARMER AND THE WOOD NYMPH (ebook ISBN: 978-1-61160-660-7) release Dec. 2013

EXPECT TROUBLE (print ISBN: 978-1-61009-074-2) release 2014

Her debut medieval romantic suspense novels published by Samhain received 4 stars from RT Book Reviews.

To learn more, visit http://www.joannsmithainsworth.com, Twitter @JoAnnAinsworth or Facebook’s JoAnn Smith Ainsworth Fan Page.

Contact her at joannparanormal@gmail.com.

Visit @JoAnnAinsworth on Twitter and Facebook’s JoAnn Smith Ainsworth Fan Page.

Cover Love - Happy Medium

Today I’m doing a cover reveal for the third book in my Ramos Family/Medium Trilogy for Berkley InterMix, Happy Medium. Like the other books in the trilogy, Medium Well and Medium Rare, this give you a sort of idealized version of San Antonio's King William District. But the man and woman here are staring at that house for a good reason—it's got one nasty ghost inside.

This one was a lot of fun to write because the possibilities were wide open. All I knew about my hero was that he renovated houses in the Hill Country. Clearly I had to get him down to King William so that he could share the adventures of the Riordan clan (and so that he could meet a few familiar faces), but beyond that I had a blank slate.

The hero of Happy Medium is the youngest Ramos sibling, Ray. At the beginning of his story, he’s got a big problem—the King William mansion he and his partner have purchased for flipping turns out to need a lot more work (and thus a lot more money) than either of them anticipated. Where to find the cash? Well as it turns out, a reality show, American Medium, is looking for suitably spooky San Antonio houses for their séance locations. And Ray’s got a really spooky house for their consideration.

My heroine, Emma Shea, is the assistant to the medium in the show, one Gabrielle DeVere. Neither Emma nor Ray really believes in ghosts. That is, neither of them believes until Gabrielle pressures them into taking part in a test séance to see if Ray’s mansion will work for her purposes. Something unseen molests both Emma and Ray, although Gabrielle seems totally unaffected.

Of course, the house is haunted, this time by a ghost who’s both sexy and very, very dangerous. And of course Ray, descendant of the Riordan family of mediums, turns out to have the same mediumistic powers as his brother and sister (see Medium Well and Medium Rare). Emma turns out to have a few powers of her own, which Ray is more than willing to help her exercise, both in séances and elsewhere.

After their test séance awakens this particular restless spirit, Emma and Ray are faced with a new problem—how to get rid of a particularly nasty ghost before Gabrielle holds her televised séance and all hell breaks loose, perhaps literally!

Happy Medium will be released on January 20, but it’s available for preorder

Erin Nicholas releases It Takes Two!

Congratulations to Erin Nicholas!

It Takes Two, book two in her Counting on Love series, releases on Tuesday, September 17th!!

How do you fall out of love with a man who’s all in?

Counting on Love, Book 2

Isabelle Dixon never should have said yes to that first date, but she couldn’t resist Shane Kelley’s larger-than-life personality. Except now Shane seems determined to make their no-strings fling into something more.

If she thought dating Shane was hard work, breaking up is proving to be much harder. Especially since she’s planning on making some major life changes that don’t include staying out all night, Jell-O shots, and a sex toy shop punch card. She needs a restful cabin getaway—alone—to gather her thoughts. And the strength to finally end things for good.

Shane has always prided himself on being the good-time guy. Exactly Isabelle’s type…or so he thought. Yet ever since he suggested her moving in, she’s been pulling back. Thing is, Shane does everything with gusto—including falling in love.

He’s not about to let her get away that easily. Even if it means chasing her heart down a crazy road to prove that no matter what life throws at them, they make a damned good team. 

Warning:  Contains a strange road trip with several weird tourist stops, some hot sex in a car wash, and two people who are just crazy enough to be perfect for one another.  

Buy links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Samhain