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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Operation Auction

I've taken this almost entirely from Sara Brookes' post today at Paranormal Romantics. She did such a good job explaining it that I think quoting her just works better.

Earlier this month, a call went out in the romance community:

Fatin has been an integral part of the romance community for years – she owns and runs the RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Talk blog, is an administrator of the WriteMinded loop, an author assistant and a tireless advocate for romance novels. She is also a friend to many in this community.

On Tuesday, March 8th, she lost her husband in a senseless act of violence, leaving her alone with four children. You can read more about the tragedy here: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/9233067/

So the romance community answered with Operation Auction. This auction is currently ongoing over at eBay:
http://stores.ebay.com/OperationAuction2011

Of special interest is a basket arranged by the amazing author Dee Carney. In that basket, along with over a dozen other e-books, are all six of my Westervelt books. The entire collection that is currently published. That is Her Wolf, Summer's Wolf, Wolf Reborn, Wolf's Valentine, Wolf's Magic, and Alpha Wolf. The specific link for that auction is http://cgi.ebay.com/Huge-basket-two-dozen-ebooks-multiple-authors-/290547073777?pt=US_Fiction_Books&hash=item43a5f482f1#ht_802wt_6

I hope you will come out and help this important cause. There are some really amazing auctions!

Best
RR

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

New Cover Goodness!

This is the cover for Return To The Sea. My mermaid short story that many of you read in Six Sentence Sunday! Its coming soon from Decadent Publishing. I'm very excited!

Pleased to Announce

That I have signed a contract with Decadent Publishing for my Mermaid Short Story, entitled Return To The Sea. Some of you saw it on here for Six Sentence Sunday. Anyway, more details when I have them!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Getting Lost--40 Minutes From Home

This past weekend, Ralph and I attended a wedding that took place about 40 minutes from home. It was fun. The bride and groom are so in love and a good time was had by all. But, arriving at the reception after the wedding was a bit of a challenge for us. We got lost. And even with the help of our GPS we drove around for a good long while before we found where we were supposed to be. The kicker? I was only 40 minutes from home. It might as well have been days!

I don't like being lost. I don't like not knowing where I'm going--either in life or in my writing. I don't like not knowing what is going to come next. And yet? It was kind of fun, after the fact. We got to, as my husband pointed out, drive around an area of the country where we don't spend time. I think its good my hubby can stay cool when we are lost as my hands start sweating.

In the midst of getting lost, I had a new plot bunny hatch. So, something good really came out of it. Has anything good ever happened to any of you because you got lost?

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday

So, as I have finished my mermaid story (and as soon as I am certain what I want to call it, I will submit it.) I am back to writing the second book in my Conditioned series, called "Embraced."

Here are six sentences from Embraced.

“It’s too late, Eugene.” He sighed. “I’m involved. She’s a sweet, young woman. Young being the key word of that sentence. They’re not supposed to be killed so early and I’m starting to think that if I had ever thought about the fact they get murdered at all I would have objected before now.”

He hoped he would have. He liked to think he was the kind of person who would have said something.

“Whom would you have objected to?”


Best

RR


Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Wedding

Today, my husband and I are attending the wedding of dear friends. They are perfect together and we are so excited for them.

It made me think about weddings. In the old days, all romance novels used to end with the wedding of the hero and the heroine. Now? It doesn't necessarily end that way. I have to say that in real life, I really don't care if people get married or not. I'm pretty open minded and I just want the people I love to be happy. But in the books? I kind of miss it. How about all of you?

Friday, March 25, 2011

I need a new title

I've decided as I get ready to submit my short story to a publisher that it needs a new title. Groan. Now I just need to come up with one....

Thursday, March 24, 2011

A belated happy birthday to my Mom

I did see her yesterday and wish her a Happy Birthday. I just forgot to put it here. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My cute kid

My youngest is not 18 months old. He's not really a baby anymore. But unlike the last two times this has happened, I am not feeling a tremendous yearning to have another baby. At least not right away. We had his pictures taken and as I promised on Twitter to share here is one of them!

Can Books Jump The Shark?

We all know the phrase "Jumping the Shark" right? Its used to refer to television series that go completely downhill after putting out a really stupid plotline that absolutely loses their viewers. Originally used to refer to the episode of Happy Days where the Fonze jumps over a shark on water skis, we now use it regularly to refer to television shows. I've heard many conversations about whether or not one show or another has 'jumped the shark.'

I started to wonder if it was possible for longtime series to jump the shark? If you're following a series closely, if you've devoted yourself to the character(s) for many, many books, is it possible for a series to actually 'jump a shark' the same way a television show can?

For me, I find it happens more with historical romances than any other genre. Maybe its because I am easily captivated by world building in the Paranormal world and I find that I can accept almost anything. This goes against a lot of people's feelings. I know that readers are often very devoted to their vampires/werewolves. If you break or bend a few rules with them, readers don't like it.

But for me? Its more of a historical problem. Let's say I'm reading an historical romance series set in Regency England. The series is about six women who are getting to be on the so-called shelf or they agree they only want to marry for love or their sisters. It doesn't really matter for this argument. The first three books go very well. One falls in love with a misunderstood Duke, the next an earl who didn't kill his fiance even though he was accused, and the third with a French count who has been exiled. Now we get to Book 4. All of a sudden, our heroine is in love with the butler. Okay. Fine. But when the butler turns out to be the long lost bastard son of the Duke's third cousin? The series has jumped the shark for me. By the way, I have been very vague here. On purpose. Don't try to figure out which series I'm talking about because it has happened to me, recently, three times and I've deliberately not referred to the actual scenarios in the books here. I wouldn't want to offend.

Has a series ever jumped the shark for you?

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tuesdays

On Tuesdays, I am at Paranormal Romantics. Come visit.

Monday, March 21, 2011

This is Funny!!


This has been making me laugh for days.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday

Well, I am back from Liberty State Fiction Writer's Conference. It was fantastic and I learned a lot that I'm hoping to apply!! Also, I had a wonderful time meeting a whole bunch of fantastic writers including my friends Annie Nicholas and J. Hali Steele who are not just fabulous writers but really incredible people both in person and online.

Hope you are all well.

Here are my Six for this week!!

“I hate being on land, as you know.”

She rolled her eyes, which made his cock twitch. “We’re hardly on land. I can’t be in the sea, remember?”

“It amounts to the same thing. If I have to walk and not swim, it is land.”

Laneigh rubbed his arm. “Relax, my floor is next.”

Best
RR

Friday, March 18, 2011

SQUEEE

I'm going to my first writing conference today. And I'm going to get to meet Annie Nicholas and J. Hali Steele. Doing a happy dance!!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

This is an X-RATED POST


You have been warned! This is an X-Rated post. So for any family members or friends who would like to stop reading, this is your moment. Okay.

I was talking yesterday with a friend of mine who happens to be a reviewer for a popular romance review website. No, she does not review my books (But wouldn't it be wonderful if she did. LOL)

Anyway, she wanted to know if I could come up with any words that meant "female masturbation." She had been writing a review and she needed to come up with one. She could come up with a ton of phrases for males...

For example:

A big date with Rosy Palms
A date with Mrs. Palmer and her 5 slut daughters
Abusing the usual suspect
Abysmal Baptismal,The
Adjusting the antenna
Adjusting your set
Aiding and abetting a known felon
Angry fist action
Anointing the Beloved

For more examples check here

But we couldn't come up with any for female masturbation. Can you? And what does it say that erotic fiction writers can't?

Anyway, that is it. No more X-Rated for me for today.

Best
RR

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Break From The Paranormal


I've taken a break from reading the Paranormal to read some Historical Romance. I am totally addicted to Christina Dodd's series The Governess Bride series. The first book Rules of Surrender begins the series and its fantastic.

Check them out if you are looking for really good reads~~

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

Did you have a nice weekend?

We did but it was quiet and we didn't do too much, which was both good and bad. We actually watched four movies.

What did you do?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday

This weeks installment of Six Sentence Sunday comes from my current Work In Progress. I had no intention of writing this story but after the death of my father-in-law a few weeks ago, it was the only thing my muse had any interest in writing. So I am writing it even though it has not brewed very long in my imagination and I have little idea of what will actually happen or how long it will turn out to be. So far? Its very hot. Much hotter than most of what I write. That's fine. I love heat in the stories I read.

Tentatively, we can call this one On The Sea. I'm going to assume its what I'm supposed to be writing right now since it is pouring out of me.

No matter what time of day it was, men and women ran in circles around the red painted track. Over and over again. She closed her eyes.

Sylarus.

She shouldn’t be surprised he was coming.

After all, that had been the point of boarding the ship in the first place.


Best to all of you

RR

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Could you cut off your arm?

Last night, I watched 127 hours. Have you seen this movie? Oh my goodness. It's not a long movie and it's a true story so if you get the chance to go see it, you should. James Franco does an AMAZING job. Wow.

It begs the question: Do you think you could do it? Could you cut off your own arm to save your life?

I don't know if I'd have the physical strength. The actual ability to break my arm and cut it. If I could get past the mental issues of it, could I physically do it with my strength? I don't know.

Could you?

Friday, March 11, 2011

My Thoughts and Prayers

Go out to the people in Japan trying to recover today from such a devastating Earth Quake! Also, to all of you in the areas where a Tsunami might hit, I hope it doesn't show up!!

Best
RR

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Watching The Walking Dead


I have this problem. I've had it since I was a child. When I find something I like watching, I watch it over and over again. Specifically, when I was a child this was true for movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

It happened to me again yesterday. I had always heard of but never watched the show The Walking Dead. So I ordered it on Amazon.com and waited for it to arrive on my doorstep. I figured I'd watch it on the treadmill.

But yesterday I felt like hell so I put it on while I lay in bed (still feel bad today only I won't get to lay around...). Immediately, I was hooked.

The acting on this show is so incredible. I think that, ultimately, it is the acting and the writing that makes this show move forward with the level of emotional intensity that it does. Sure, there is lots of violence and the zombies are downright disturbing. I'm going to be honest, I've never found zombies frightening before. Lots of monsters--particularly haunting and demon movies--scare the heck out of me. But zombies? Usually not such a big deal.

However, the zombies in this post-apocalyptic story are scary dudes and they disturbed the heck out me.

I did it again. I watched the WHOLE SERIES yesterday while I edited and got some writing done. Now I just want to know what the doctor whispered in Rick's ear at the end of the season.

The official website for The Walking Dead is here. They also have things on that site about the original comic book series that it is based on.

If you haven't seen this show, I think you should watch it. But be warned, lots of blood. In the best possible way!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

I Can Now Announce

I can now announce that I have signed a contract with Liquid Silver Books for the sixth installment of the Westervelt Wolves series. This one is called Angel's Wolf. I will share more details when I have them!!

Anyone else...

Just dying for warm sunny days? (Unless wherever you are it is Warm and Sunny in which case I am JEALOUS!) I've had enough of this. I need some hot weather to help clear up my cold. GRRR.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

One of those days...

My second son (3 years old) woke up this morning with a 101 fever. As I went to bed with a ton of throat pain I am also in a little bit of agony this morning. If he ends up having strep throat, I will have them test me as well.

I hate when the kids are sick.


Hope you all have a great day!!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Are we equals?

Having to Change my Work-in-Progress

Before the recent tragedy that rocked my world, I was working on a project I've tentatively called Embraced. It is the second book in a series called The Conditioned. The first book, Eye Contact, released last Friday and if you want information about that please see the blog post before this one.

Embraced is a dark Fantasy Romance that deals with a lot of issues outside of the core love story. I love it. I love working on.

But man-oh-man, its hard to write it right now. I couldn't get through it. It almost seemed like I could not write at all. Finally, one evening it occurred to me: it was better to write something than to write nothing at all.

In the back of my mind, always put off for another day, I've had this idea for a light, sexy fantasy romance that would be a little different for me. Suddenly, it seemed this idea had come to fruition. It was time to write it. Right now.

I think it was the correct decision. My muse is back in order. The ideas are flowing. And hopefully when I am done, my mind will be in such a place that a darker look at love will be an okay thing to do. Embraced will wait a few weeks for me. And in the mean time, I can make the words flow.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday

In honor of my new release, Eye Contact, which can be bought here if you are interested, I am posting six sentences from the new release today. I hope you enjoy them. I loved writing this book. It flowed out of me with more ease than any other book I have written. I think my muse had been plotting it for some time. For the last few weeks, I have been posting snippets from its sequel so just think of this as a back up. Hope you are all well.

Getting her panties down and away awarded him a chance to look at her shapely legs, slender and muscular. He wondered if she worked out; she had the legs of a runner. He nipped the inside of her thigh.


Thinking started to fail him. Only single words filled his brain. Hot. More. Yes. God. Please. She seemed just as enthralled, arching her back until only his body on top of her kept her from falling off the bed.


Best,
RR

Thursday, March 3, 2011

NEW RELEASE--EYE CONTACT

EYE CONTACT Can Be Bought Here

Book One of The Conditioned Series


Thirty years ago, after the breakdown of an oil negotiation, the President of the United States decided that all people born with unusual abilities, which he would now refer to as “the condition”, would be locked away from the general public where they couldn't harm others. Parents and loved ones of these people, most of whom were children, were forced to turn them in upon penalty of death. Formed to keep the institutions secure, the Committee for the Protection of a Free Society now rules these institutions with an iron fist.

The granddaughter of one the Committee members, Addison Wade has lived her life wary of the institutions and all they represent. A woman of secrets, she is forced to turn to Safe Dawn, one of the facilities designed to hold conditioned people, when her nephew is kidnapped and, despite her best efforts, cannot be recovered. She knows the last thing anyone in 'Safe Dawn' will want to do is to help a Wade with any problems, but she is desperate and out of options.

Spencer Lewis is famous for being the premier conditioned ‘locator.’ There's no one he can't find and he has a soft spot for missing children. But, Spencer has been through a trauma and locating Jeremy Wade may be dangerous both to himself and to those around him. In addition, he takes one look at ice cold Addison Wade and wants nothing more than to knock her down a peg. Never having turned down an opportunity to help a child, he reluctantly agrees to help recover Jeremy.

In a world where nothing is as it seems and every person they encounter has his own agenda, Addison and Spencer will find that the only people they can trust are each other. But how can anyone fall in love living in a world that wants you dead just for being born?



Genre: Paranormal romance, fantasy romance, action/adventure

Heat level: 3

Cover art by Dara England




~Excerpt~

Spencer nearly swallowed his tongue when he’d stormed into the room in one of his too common rages and stumbled on the blonde with the cold blue eyes sitting in the chair to the left. Stunning didn’t begin to describe her. She had made the world stop for a moment.

That she was a Wade didn’t surprise him, not in the least.

Despite the heat of attraction, he could almost feel a chill. Then again, the whole family was said to have ice instead of blood running through their veins. Addison Wade sat frigidly in her chair, her expression haughty and removed, as if she was more concerned with not wrinkling her skirt than noticing that he was in the room. They had come asking for help to find a missing boy? She looked like she was making a quick stop before some trendy lunch date.

Spencer had some experience with finding missing children, he was used to the families falling apart, not sitting calmly looking like they had just come from a day at a hair salon.

At least they had come.

Surprising as that was, until then, Spencer would have sworn a Wade would rather swallow their tongue then come near one of the institutions. The whole thing was ironic, considering he was in the presence of two of the people responsible for the misery that plagued so many of his people and necessitated the continuing use of these places.

He should tell the Wades to go screw themselves.

Why was it his problem that they couldn’t keep track of their own child?

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he dismissed it. In his life, he’d always helped a child if he could. In this case, the could would be the ultimate question. Spencer had no idea if he was even capable of performing the functions they would need to locate their nephew.

Knowing that every eye in the room was focused on him, including Will’s, he turned around to regard the women who sat behind him. Leaning on the desk behind him, he gave Addison a good long stare. If she already thought he was a savage, why not live up to the role? There would be hell to pay from Will later, but just watching the woman squirm would be worth it.

“Your nephew has gone missing.” He made his statement sound like a question. He knew the kid was gone, Will had just said he was and Will was, as far as Spencer could tell, never wrong.

“Yes, he disappeared from his bedroom a month ago.”

“Spencer, I told them you aren’t available for the assignment. I’m going to assign someone else.” He dark tones clearly expressed what he thought of Spencer’s presence in the room at that moment. “Your other issue, the one that had you storming in here like a lunatic, I’ll look into the matter later.”

Ignoring Will, he continued his long stare at princess Addison. “And it took you a whole month to come here? What were you doing?”

“Why we were too busy to come here, naturally. I had a ski vacation in Aspen and my aunt needed to get her nails done every day.” Addison’s sarcasm spit from her mouth and Spencer nearly laughed aloud. So, the cat had claws. What was wrong with him that he liked it so much?

“Temper, temper, Ms. Wade.” Spencer ignored the tug in his groin that said he was more than just a little aware of how attractive she was.

“I don’t like your implication, Mr. Lewis. For your information, we have been working with the authorities and trying to handle this nightmare ourselves.” She looked down and for a moment, Spencer swore she was biting the inside of her cheek. Her foot still tapped on the floor. When she looked up, her gaze was not on him, but on Will behind him. Spencer narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like that one bit.

“I realize this is the perfect opportunity to attack and humiliate us. We are sitting here in your office, easy targets. But, we’ve come here in good faith, to ask you for help in our most desperate situation. Can you help us or should we leave?”

“We can help you. I’ll assign you someone.” Will stood up and walked around the desk to stand next to him, placing a hand on his arm. Spencer started. When was the last time the other man had touched him? A jolt of psychic awareness filled the room, although he was sure the two non-sensitives wouldn’t feel it. Why was Will pushing on his senses so hard? “But it won’t be Spencer here helping you. As I said, he’s not capable of doing what you need him to do right now.”

Addison’s eyes showed relief. “That’s fine. We’ll be most grateful.”

Oh, hell no. “I can do it.”

“What?” Will and Addison spoke at the same time. Spencer crossed his arms over his chest.

“I said I could do it. I’ll find the missing Wade child, your nephew.”

“No.” Addison stood up.

Looking left and right between Addison and Spencer, the older woman Will had called Morgan stood up too, a pained expression on her features showing her worry.

“No?”

“Mr. Rhodes says you are not capable of doing the job. Therefore, we need someone else.”

“I said I would do it, and I’m the best there is. No one else can find your nephew as quickly as I can. You do care about that, don’t you, Ms. Wade? Or do people in your position, who wait a month to get the services of freaks like us, not care about things like the mental health of the missing child?”

Addison’s mouth gaped open and he had the momentary pleasure of watching her do her best imitation of the number zero. Satisfaction crept up his spine. Let the spawn of all things evil feel lower than low for a while. Nothing he’d ever said had felt better.

Until he saw her hand shake.

Shopping

Today I am supposed to be shopping with my mother. I hate shopping but we have two weddings to go to and another trip to take. That means I require clothes, whether I like it or not. My mother makes clothes shopping slightly better than it might otherwise be but I still hate it.

Well, thats not true. I love shopping for books. I love purses. I love shoes. Clothes? Not so much.

Are you a shopper??

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Baby Needs Diapers And Other Things That Have Fallen Apart


I've been trying to reclaim what was 'normal' from my life before my father-in-law died. I'm not doing such a good job in this attempt. For example, the baby actually ran out of diapers. As far as I can remember, this is the first time this has happened since I had my first son in 2005. I am the mother of 3. I don't do things like forget to buy diapers.

Except that apparently now I do. I did run out and get diapers but still--how did I let that happen? How do I leave e-mails in my inbox and completely forget to send answers?

The good news in all of this? I have apparently gotten over my fear of flying. My father-in-law loved to fly. Among other things, he was a pilot. He really wanted me to like it more than I do. But, since he has passed away I have been on a ton of airplanes and not once have I had a problem.

I am hoping to get my task-oriented self back in order and keep my new 'fineness' with airplanes.

How are all of you?

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Coffee Time Romance Recommended Read


I'm very, very pleased to announce that Alpha Wolf has won the Coffee Time Romance Recommended Read. Thank you Delane for first of all reviewing the book and then for putting it up for this award. I am so unbelievably touched!!

Rebecca

It's Tuesday...

And on Tuesdays I blog at Paranormal Romantics. Come say hello!