Kissing All Over!

When I was coming up with additional titles for my Bradford series (they all start with Just in case you didn’t know), the title for book five came to me right away—Just A Kiss.  I loved it immediately and I was thinking about that this morning.  There’s just something about the word KISS that brings so many nice things to mind!  Who doesn’t like kissing?

I was thinking about some of my other favorite kissing things :)  For instance, two of my favorite movies are Never Been Kissed and French Kiss.  And, what good chocoholic doesn’t like these?  (especially with almonds!)

Once I started looking around at kissing stuff well… there’s simply kissing *all over*! Which is exactly as kissing should be, in my opinion :)  Books, movies, songs, recipes… it goes on and on!  Here are some of my favorites:

Drink Recipes!

Kiss On the Lips

Quantities are an estimate, adjust to taste.

1 - 1 1/2 oz peach schnapps
4 - 6 oz frozen mango mix
1 tbsp grenadine syrup

The mango mix should be blended with crushed ice firstly with the schnapps. Pour the schnapps and mango mix into a cocktail glass with the grenadine already placed at the bottom.

(http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink11692.html)

Angel’s Kiss

¼ shot crème de cacao

¼ shot sloe gin

¼ shot brandy

¼ shot cream

Layer in order, into a Pony or Pousse-café glass

(http://www.cocktailmaking.co.uk/displaycocktail.php/140-Angels-Kiss)

 

Cookie Recipes!

Forgotten Kisses

Ingredients

·         3 egg whites

·         3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1 1/2 cups white sugar       

·         3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

·         3 drops red food coloring

Directions

·         Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray cookie sheets with non-stick spray.

·         Beat egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Beat until very stiff.

·         Add sugar slowly by teaspoonful. Beat until glossy.

·         Fold in vanilla, food coloring, and chips.

·         Drop by spoonfuls onto greased sheet. Place in oven. Turn OFF the oven. Leave til oven is cold. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR TO PEEK ... THE COOKIES WILL TURN GUMMY!

(http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=9923&origin=detail&servings=42&metric=false)

Chocolate Kiss Cookies (these are a favorite around my house!)

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

24 milk chocolate kisses

Directions

In a large bowl, cream peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended.

Roll into 1-1/4-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until tops are slightly cracked.

Immediately press one chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen.

 

Movies!

As mentioned above :)  Never Been Kissed and French Kiss are my favorites with kiss in the title, but when it comes to the actual KISSES in movies (and TV) there are so many great ones!  This shows various clips from some of the best kisses-- Titanic, Spiderman, Pirates of the Carribean, Princess Bride...  oh, you just have to watch it! :) 

Movie/ TV Kisses: The Power of Love

Songs!  

There are a ton of songs that have kiss or kissing or kisses in the title, of course.  And then there’s a huge number of songs by some band named KISS (you may have heard of them)  But here are some of my favorite kiss songs:

Then He Kissed Me—The Crystals 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE_jOD2Fxvs 

 

It’s In His Kiss (okay, really known as the Shoop, Shoop Song :))—Cher   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIfGFUJV2WI

Kiss Me Deadly—Lita Ford

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOtxdeyI024

BOOKS!

Okay, there’s 100 pages of books with “kiss” in the title on Amazon.  Which doesn’t surprise anyone, right?  There are seductive kisses, kisses at midnight, last kisses, first kisses... And also not surprisingly, a huge number of those are about the band KISS.  But there were a few others that caught my eye.  For instance, and yeah because I’m a big fan of hers, Julia Quinn’s upcoming book The Sum of All Kisses.  Come on, that’s a great title.

And then there’s It’s In His Kiss, another Julia Quinn.  Not my favorite Bridgerton, but I do like the title—second only to When He Was Wicked.

This one isn’t a romance, but it’s about love.  I read it to my kids and it still makes me smile.  The Kissing Hand.

And then there is this one.  Great title, great cover and sounds like something *everyone* should pick up! :)

She’s unforgettable… and that’s exactly what got him into trouble the first time. 

Blurb:                                                                                     

The Bradfords, Book 5

As a paramedic in the busiest ER in the city, Kevin Campbell knows there’s no such thing as a typical night—but this one definitely has them all beat.

His dad’s been stabbed with a fork, his mom’s been in a fight, and it’s all because of a younger half-brother he never knew existed. And if that’s not enough, everyone seems to agree that Kevin should take the boy in for the six months during his mom’s rehab. Oh, and the annulment he thought he got fourteen years ago? Never went through.

It’s really too bad he gave up drinking and swearing.

Eve Donnelly is shocked to see Kevin again, but not surprised they’re still married. After all, she was the one who refused to sign the annulment papers. Now that she’s got Kevin back in her life, nothing else matters. Not even her past fourteen less-than-virtuous years. In fact, the truth about her life without Kevin isn’t even worth bringing up. She hopes.

When Eve offers to help Kevin with his younger brother, a sweet, devout preacher’s daughter seems like an answered prayer. Besides, things can’t get more complicated. Can they?

Warning: Contains a bad boy gone good, a good girl who knows all about being bad, and lots of hot, sweet, so-this-is-how-married-couples-do-it lovin'.

 

Sometimes it Takes a Village...

...to write a book.

I know, not what you were expecting me to say, huh?  Writing has the reputation of being a lonely profession. And it certainly can be! To be honest, that's what some of us like most about it. It's just you and your words making magic together...or so we hope.

But there's a reason so very many of the author-created interviews include questions about deserted islands. There are a lot of us who think being stranded on a desert island would make for a nice change of pace...always assuming there's a Starbucks, of course. And wifi. A few bottles of wine. Maybe a shoe store. A cabana boy or two. Sunscreen...okay, you know what?  Forget the desert island fantasy.

The point is, much as we like and occasionally desperately need to be alone, much as we tend (more often than not) to self-identify ourselves as introverts and loners, we're not really as alone as we sometimes think we are. In fact, writing can be a surprisingly collaborative process and I'm not just talking about editors and agents...and proofreaders and beta readers and regular readers and reviewers. And all those characters in our heads. Much as we love them and need them, much as we maybe wouldn't keep writing (or possibly wouldn't turn out anything worth reading) without them, there's one other group of people who I think is probably even more essential for anyone who attempts to make a long-term career out of writing.

I'm talking about other authors.

See, friends and family might tolerate our weird writing habits, but they don't really understand them. Readers and editors may wait eagerly for our next book to take shape, but they'll grow impatient if we make them wait too long. Other authors get it, the good, the bad, the raging about deadlines. Sometimes, we need that more than we need that next glass of wine...or, you know, some other necessity of life. Chocolate. Coffee. A trip to Tahiti. Oxygen. Sleep.

The Nine Naughty Novelists--they're my village (and a very nice village, too, I must say) and I have others as well. My Antho-sisters from last year's A Clockwork Christmas (currently nominated for Best Antho at AAD--yes, I will shamelessly beg for votes. The link is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z8P76M9). My long-term (and long suffering) critique partners. The Guerilla Marketing pimpettes.

Without these people, I'm pretty sure I would have stopped writing a dozen times or more by now.

There's nothing quite like being in the company of people who share your particular brand of crazy, who speak the same language you do, people who can help you work through your issues, who understand your highs and lows, who can talk you off the ledge time and again. 'Cause that's another thing you can count on when writing stories becomes a way of life, there's always gonna be a ledge.

Since this is November, there's another village I should mention. One that a lot of us are a part of (not me. I have far too much going on this month). I'm talking of NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. A group of over 200,000 hopeful souls embarking on a journey together. I'm sure most of them would agree that they couldn't do it alone either.

So here's to them and here's to the rest of us and here's to more great stories to read...and here's a song before I go. One whose title I couldn't resist. One whose lyrics reminded me of leaving NOLA--and saying good-bye to all my peeps. And, most of all, one that perfectly captured the idea of what a reasonably successful, long-term partnership between ferociously independent personalities looks like.

Ours might not always be a peaceable village. But it's an awesome one.

Thursday 13: The Quotable Nine, Part 1

Most authors, like mothers, don't admit to having favorites. But the first book that gets published will always stand apart from the rest. For today's Thursday 13, we've collected some of our favorite lines from our first published books.

As a special treat, we've got a guest T13 today from author Heather Lire, whose first book comes out February 2013!

1. A soothing touch made the memory vanish. Martin worked his fingers under her hair, massaging the bones at the back of her head. “That’s my girl. Anyone without painful memories isn’t worth spending time with.” (The Extremist, Juniper Bell)
2. One-night stands were a lot like apple pie as far as Jaden Monroe was concerned. (No Matter What, Erin Nicholas)
3. "I’d recommend that the next time a girl jumps out of a cake, you pay attention. It just might be someone you know." (Taking the Cake, Kate Davies)
4. “I’m serious.” Abby smiled. “You want to get his attention? Nothing gets a guy hotter than a little girl on girl action.” (Love Me, Kelly Jamieson)
5. Cal Toleffson saw the love of his life for the first time at 5:47 p.m. in the Dew Drop Inn, downtown Konigsburg, Texas. He wasn’t exactly dressed for the event. (Venus in Blue Jeans, Meg Benjamin)
6. His hands stroked down the length of her back, wanting to remember all of it. The curve of her waist, the flare of her hips, the sweet weight of her as she lay on top of him, so warm and solid and real. How her head fit so perfectly, tucked beneath his chin. The way it felt––right now––as she moved her foot a little and it brushed against his calf. Oh, why couldn’t they just stop talking? And let him pretend for a little while longer, that she’d ever been his, or ever could be. (Scent of Roses, PG Forte)
7. She stared after him, wondering if she would’ve had enough guts to ask him out for a beer if he wasn’t a cop and she wasn’t a witch. (Say You're Mine, Sydney Somers)
8. He pressed her up against the wall, and tilted her face to meet his gaze head on. “This is how it starts. I can see the signs…the flutter of your pulse right here.” His finger trailed from her chin down to her neck, and Lara released a barely suppressed shiver. “Your eyes dilating in anticipation, excitement, and a slight hint of fear. You are, after all, putting your body and mind completely in my hands. Giving up your tightly-held control.” He wrapped his hand ever so gently around her neck, putting enough pressure for her to walk the edge between certain safety and the gray space of what if most submissives thrived on. (Maison Domine, Skylar Kade)
9. “You’re very big.” Her voice sounded husky....“Fortunately, so am I.”  (Venus in Blue Jeans, Meg Benjamin)
10. Her own eyes had been a smoky, warm, greenish gold; like the moss that grew in damp, secret hollows all along Domingo Creek.
    And her hair had been a streaky mass of yellow and brown. The same color as the grass along the cliffs there, late in summer, after it had been bleached and debauched and blown about by the sun and the wind.
    And when she smiled – but, no, he wouldn’t even think about that. He’d spent years forgetting her smile.  (Scent of Roses, PG Forte)
11. His sharp cheekbones and strong chin, and the pale, thin scar scoring his left cheek from his ear almost to his mouth, gave him a look of menacing power. That disappearing smile, though, made him look like a fallen angel. A hulking, six-foot-six fallen angel who could change in five minutes in broad daylight—the mark of a powerful alpha wolf. (Kiss and Kin, Kinsey Holley)
12. He knelt in front of her, cradling her face in his large hands. “All you have to do is let yourself go.” He kissed her, tasting her tentativeness and her desire, as potent as whiskey.  (Maison Domine, Skylar Kade)
13. "Seeing as I haven't had a female dismiss quite like you did since I was fifteen, you have me intrigued and I'm curious enough to figure you out." Reaching the table he sat down across from her.
    Morgan gave him her best you have no clue smile, "Ever hear the one, curiosity killed the cat?"
    "Yes, but what knowledge did the cat gain before he died?"
    She laughed, "Have to say I never thought of it quite like that. So what do I have to do to get rid of you so, I can finish what I am working on?" (Second Chance at Forever, Heather Lire)