Release Day for Not Quite Dating

Tossing Confetti 

Yes! Today is my release day for 

Not Quite Dating

I couldn't be happier with the outcome of this book. 

The cover is perfect! 

The publisher, Montlake, has been amazing!

My Trailer is stunning!

And you...my fans, have been very supportive. 

I'll be online most of the day on my Facebook release party page.

So be sure and come on over and play!

I'm sure there will be giveaways.

I have an ongoing blog schedule and giveaways for the next month to celebrate so be sure and enter in a chance to win Amazon Gift Cards. 

Please step on over to Amazon and download your Kindle copy today

or order a print book to enjoy later.

Kindle

Amazon Print

B&N Print

Welcome my friend Beth Trissel

Please make welcome my friend and fellow writer, Beth Trissel.

Beth is celebrating her new release and wanted to share some of her joy with all of us. And might I start off with a big thumbs up on this cover. It's lovely!

Welcome, Beth!

Thanks for having me on your lovely blog, Catherine, to share my new historical romance novel, Kira, Daughter of the Moon. The third in my colonial frontier series, the story follows award-winning novels Through the Fire and Red Bird’s Song. Though written to stand alone, Kira, Daughter of the Moon is the long-awaited sequel to Through the Fire and features strong secondary characters introduced in that novel, with the addition of the very unique heroine, Kira, and other characters. The story builds on the conflict between Scots-Irish settlers, the Shawnee Indians, and British mandates regarding the return of white captives depicted in Red Bird’s Song. But back to ‘Kira.’

Can a beautiful Scots-Irish healer suspected of witchcraft and a renegade white warrior find love together and avoid the hangman’s noose in the Virginia Colonial frontier?

It’s a tough match with the terror of the French and Indian War still fresh in Kira’s mind, and a badass enemy and his cronies after Logan. That Logan’s old nemesis also desires Kira only makes matters that much more complicated.  But if any man is equal to the challenge, it’s Logan, and Kira has a few secret weapons of her own.

Blurb:

Logan McCutcheon returns to colonial Virginia after seven years in the hands of Shawnee Indians. But was he really a captive, as everybody thinks? He looks and fights like a warrior, and seems eager to return to those he calls friends and family.

Kira McClure has waited for Logan all those years, passing herself off as odd to keep suitors at bay––and anyone else from getting too close.  Now that he's back, he seems to be the only person capable of protecting her from the advances of Josiah Campbell and accusations of witchcraft.  And to defend the settlers against a well-organized band of murderous thieves.

Excerpt:

    “My secret in exchange for yours.”

     Tantalizing.  He was drawing her into his snare, but she couldn’t resist asking, “How do you know I’ve a secret?”

    “To begin with, you’re hiding in a tree.  What from, a wild beast?”

    “Near enough.  You.”

     He smiled.  “Was I to think you a large red bird, or overlook you entirely?”

     Drawing her remaining shreds of dignity around her like a mantle, she said, “This isn’t one of my best hiding places.”

     “Indeed?  Where are the others?” 

     “That would be telling.” 

     The strengthening breeze tossed the branches around them as he considered.  “You never could keep secrets from me, Cricket.  I’ll discover them and you.”

     An assertion she found both disturbing and oddly heartening.

     His lips curved as if the deed were already done.  “Why were you hiding?  Am I so very frightening?”

     “Oh––I feared you were some sort of warrior.”

     The humor faded from his eyes.  “I am.”

About Beth Trissel: Married to my high school sweetheart, I live on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia surrounded by my children, grandbabies, and assorted animals. An avid gardener, my love of herbs and heirloom plants figures into my work. The rich history of Virginia, the Native Americans and the people who journeyed here from far beyond her borders are at the heart of my inspiration. In addition to American settings, I also write historical and time travel romances set in the British Isles. For more on me, my blog is the happening place: One Writer’s Way

Kira, Daughter of the Moon is available in print and kindle at Amazon, in print and various eBook formats at The Wild Rose Press, and from other online booksellers.

Werewolves or Vampires?

Oh... the age-old question. For romance readers anyway.

Which do you like, dear reader... Vampires, who illicit an orgasm from their heroine with a tiny prick from their fangs? Or Werewolves, who stalk their heroine and claim them with their scent?

When I first began writing romance I dipped into the paranormal with werewolves. Why? Because so many writers were  dishing out heaping mounds of vampires and doing it so well I thought it would be a nice change to play with the four legged shifters instead.

My readers ask me if I'd ever write a vampire romance. To that I say not only will I, but I have. And someday...perhaps by next Halloween, you might even have a chance to read that book. The story where a woman wakes in a hospital half dead with no memory as to why she's there.

But that story is for another day.

How about Richard and Kate...have you met these two yet?

Embracing the Wolf

Chapter One

Kate scurried around the worn out Formica counter with three bacon and egg breakfast platters, two orders of wheat toast, and an English muffin, without butter, in her arms. She stopped short in front of the pie case and the only thing that registered in her brain at two in the morning was...

Why is a dog sitting in the middle of the restaurant?

Then it seemed all hell broke loose.

“Hit the floor,” the voice behind the knit mask yelled from the cash register.

Kate stared, not completely sure the man spoke to her.

“Hit the floor, bitch!”

Her eyes shifted to the customers who huddled behind their cushioned seats, eyes wide with terror, then back to the man who yelled. She opened her mouth to talk when the object in his hand leveled her way. “I said, hit the floor.”

Kate froze. The deadly grey barrel of the pistol aimed directly at her face, slid fear deep into her soul. The plates she held crashed to the floor, and she took one giant step back.

Her only thought was of Joey.

The gun she focused on moved toward the register. The man hit the keys repeatedly but nothing opened.

His eyes shot her way. “Open it!”

Breath, coming in short gasps that resonated all the way to San Bernardino County, rushed from her lungs.

“Open it!”

Go along with him, and you’ll go home. Alive!

“Hurry!” The gun twitched, or maybe the man. She swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped her damp palms over the polyester of her uniform skirt. Going against every instinct known to man, she stepped over the broken dishes and closer to the deadly weapon.

The gunman jarred her shoulder with his freehand, waking her from her frozen state. “Hurry.” His voice wavered. Either his patience grew thin, or he had some doubt as to what he was doing.

Kate’s shaky hand removed the key to the cash register from her pocket, dropped it into the lock, and opened the drawer with a ding.

She removed the twenties and tens and handed the cash to the thief standing over her.

“All of it!” His putrid breath rushed past her nose with his command. He thrust the money in a bag he drew from his pocket.

The animal at his feet snarled, baring massive teeth.

The hair on the back of her neck rose. Kate’s gaze focused on the ice blue eyes of the dog. Although it didn’t look like a dog at all, more like a wolf, maybe.

“Hurry up.”

Reaching inside the till, her fingers scrambled to remove the cash. She handed the masked man every dollar and even grabbed the cash from under the drawer. “That’s all there is,” she told him, cringing away from the gun.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, backing out of the drab interior of the lobby without taking his eyes off her.

As if in slow motion, the side door to where the help took the dirty dishes opened, and Julio stepped through not knowing a robbery was taking place.

The gunman turned, Kate’s mind raced ahead. She thought of Julio’s four kids without their father.

On reflex, Kate pivoted, shoved the gunman away, and yelled a warning.

The explosion of the gun permeated the silence of the room. Something hit her and spun her around. Screams elevated over the blast.

Kate started to fall and heard the glass from the pie case shattering before her world went black. 

Only $2.99

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Read Before the Moon Rises for Free

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Whoa! Another Cover for the Gods

Oh, boy... Look at this one! Nice huh?
Possessive ~ Coming Soon from The Wild Rose Press

~ Here is my unofficial blurb ~


Grief counselor Lauren Trousdale has no choice but to take her work homewith her. A near-death experience left her with the ability to not only see,but also communicate with ghosts. The gift isn't one she dares reveal toanyone, certainly not to Dr. Ethan Bailey, the man she can't stop dreamingabout. Most of the ghosts have been kind, lost souls, but when she wakes to an ice-cold room, the entity feels evil.Perhaps her lovely, erotic dream about Ethan was actually a nightmare.


Ethan's interest in Lauren bloomed the first time he saw her. And whenLauren shares her secrets, Ethan's only thoughts are of how to keep hersafe. When the ghost stalking her becomes violent, Ethan must riskeverything to save her. Can Lauren let him take that risk alone?


Special Thanks to Rae Monet
and lovely covers.

I'm so blessed.

Meet Lucien St Clare from Shelley Munro's latest release.

Shelley has graciously added me on her latest blog tour for her debut Carina Press release, The Spurned Viscountess. For those of you who don't know Shelley, be prepared to be wowed by her talented pen. Mega-Multi-Published in everything from mainstream romance, paranormal romance, erotic romance, paranormal erotic romance and even M/M romance... Shelley will have something in her back list that will entertain any romance reader.

Today she is introducing us to her hero, Lucien. And can we give a quick AMEN to this stunning cover or what?




Name: Lucien St Clare

Title: Viscount Hastings

Age: mid-twenties

Appearance: Tall, over six foot. Long dark black hair. Mahogany brown eyes. Tanned skin since he spends a lot of time outdoors. His face is scarred, the puckered scar running from his left eye to his jaw.

Hangouts: He currently lives at Castle St. Clare in East Sussex, England. Prior to this, he lived in Italy, near Naples on the Bacci estate with his wife, Francesca.

Reason for the move: Fragments of his forgotten memory have started to return to him, memories that place him in England. He can’t remember much about St. Clare at all. Yep, he has nasty amnesia.

Reason for staying: Someone from the area murdered his wife and their unborn child. He’s desperate for revenge.

Big problem: The Earl of St. Clare expects him to go through with an arranged marriage to Rosalind, a small English mouse of a woman.

In Lucien’s words.

“Everyone tells me my name is George, that I’m the long lost heir, Viscount Hastings. I could leave and return to the Bacci estates in Italy, but I burn for revenge. Those bastards who murdered my wife and unborn child must pay for their crimes. Someone called Hawk ordered her murder. It seems a coincidence there’s a Hawk operating the smuggling ring—too much of a happenstance in my opinion. I’m investigating, looking for clues, but meantime I have to deal with my new wife. She’s small, blond and reminds me of a mouse. I tried to put her off the idea of marriage to me, but she was set on the marriage.

She’s not very good at following orders and I’m forever running across her in places I told her not to visit. Trouble is her middle name. She’s stubborn, frustrating, irritating and she’s getting under my skin. I find myself thinking about her at the oddest moments…”



The Spurned Viscountess Blurb:

She must marry him.

Cursed with the sight and rumors of witchcraft, Rosalind’s only chance at an ordinary life is marriage to Lucien, Viscount Hastings. She doesn’t expect love, only security and children of her own. Determined to go through with the wedding, she allows nothing she encounters at the gloomy Castle St. Clare to dissuade her.

He wants nothing to do with her.

Recently returned from the Continent, Lucien has no time for the English mouse his family has arranged for him to marry, not when he’s plotting to avenge the murder of his beloved Francesca. He has no intention of bedding Rosalind, not even to sire an heir.
Dark secrets will bind them.

Though spurned by her bridegroom, Rosalind turns to him for protection when she is plagued by a series of mysterious accidents and haunted by terrifying visions. Forced to keep Rosalind close, and tempted into passionate kisses, Lucien soon finds himself in grave danger of falling in love with his own wife…

Purchase and download The Spurned Viscountess at Carina Press click HERE
Visit Shelley's website click HERE

The lovely and talented, Helen Hardt

Please welcome Helen Hardt as she talks about her latest release.

CB: It's been some time since you've been on my blog, Helen... tell us, is there anything new and exciting in your life right now?

HH: Thanks for having me, Catherine! New and exciting? It's been a rather slow year for me writing-wise. After seven releases in 2009, I needed a break! I did have several releases in February/March of this year (Loving Eve [EC] and Lessons of the Heart and Rhythm of the Drum [TWRP]), and one in July (Primal Instinct [TWRP]).

CB: Any future books we should be looking for in the near future?

HH: Calendar Boy is coming to Aspen Mountain Press soon, though I don't have an exact date yet. But edits are done and I have my cover (featuring Jimmy Thomas!) so it should be pretty soon. Like my other AMP story, The Cowboy and the Cougar, this one is part of The Cougar Club series.

I have a werewolf story in the works for my EC editor, and I also have a few shorts in the works that I'm going to submit to Harlequin.

CB: Tell us about your new release:

HH: Pianist Envy originated as a submission for EC's music theme (due out in November) but my editor decided it would be better as a stand alone release. I'm big on sensory detail, so I love incorporating the arts into my stories. Rock music and classical music play central roles in this story and the theme recurs throughout. I hope readers enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Blurb:

Huge success has so far eluded musician Jane Rock. Coming from a modest background, she’s had to work hard for everything she has. When a music agent attends one of her rock band’s performances at a local club, she thinks her big break has finally come, until an inebriated—though handsome and muscular—patron spoils her show.

Classical pianist Chandler Hamilton has had most of his success handed to him due to his family name. He has his reasons for detesting rock music, but he finds himself drawn to beautiful and talented Jane. Although the two sizzle between the sheets, outside the bedroom they bicker endlessly and envy what they perceive as the other’s good fortune. When Jane needs a favor, Chandler resists. Can love blossom amid clashing notes and tempos?

Excerpt:

She didn’t bother knocking. He wouldn’t hear her anyway. Normally she wasn’t so rude, but the music called to her. His anger, his passion, called to her. Still holding the pot, she stood, mouth agape, as Chandler pounded out disharmonic chords on his nine-foot black lacquer grand.

Disharmonic, yes, but they made a certain musical sense. Discordant in a harmonic way. Sweat covered his brow and a drop hit an ivory key. He didn’t stop to wipe away the perspiration. He punished the keys, ground out eerie yet beautiful music in his raw madness. His fingers danced, his facial muscles tensed, his full pink lips pursed. Another drop of sweat hit a key as he slowed the tempo, softened his strokes, then from piano to forte again as he trilled two notes and boomed through the lower keys.

Jane’s heart thudded in time with Chandler ’s now increasing tempo. As he crescendoed, so did she, her breath coming in rapid puffs, her breasts heaving against her chest. His playing conjured images in her mind of a bullfighter twirling a red cape. Vivid reds and oranges swirled through her head.

More chords. Louder, faster…banging, clashing…

Then silence.

His eyes closed and his chest dropped, as though he were only now cognizant of the fact that he required breath. More drips of moisture emerged on his corded neck and rivered down his chest through the few blond hairs that peeked out of his black button down. The stark onyx contrasted against his fair skin in a beautiful way. Jane’s breath caught.

She stood, still holding the empty coffee pot. Should she applaud? Her hands were occupied, and applause seemed inappropriate anyway. This hadn’t been a performance. No, this had been a catharsis, a purging of negativity, a ritual cleansing.

This had been solely about Chandler . Pure, raw emotion not meant for an audience.

Regret flooded her. She shouldn’t be here.

Meet Christine DePetrillo

I'm wrapping up the August Blog Tour today with an interview with Christine DePetrillo.


CB: Welcome to my blog, Christine. I look forward to learning more about you and your work.
Tell us a little bit about you. How long have you been writing? How many books and what genre have you written?

I’ve been writing forever, but more seriously in the past ten years. I write contemporary and paranormal romance. I have three e-books out with Whispers Publishing, and three more books set for release later this year, one in print with The Wild Rose Press.

CB: Congrats! Tell us about the book you’re highlighting today on my blog?

My newest release coming in September from The Wild Rose Press is ALASKA HEART. Here’s the cover blurb:

Alaska is supposed to be cold, so why is Alanna Cormac on fire?

Sent on a dream assignment to Denali National Park, nature magazine writer Alanna Cormac has no intentions of falling in love with Dale Ramsden, sexy Iditarod winner. When Dale, his family, and even his eighteen sled dogs charm their way into her heart, however, Alanna’s fast-track New York instincts crumble. The Alaskan landscape and the caress of a man too good to be true ignite feelings she never had time to explore before. Feelings that have her so blissfully busy she’s unaware she’s being watched. Judged. Targeted.

She’s next.
Love will either save her or swallow her whole. Is there even a difference?

CB: Alaska is on my short list of places to visit. Tell me, what do you love most about this job?

That I can do it in my pajamas wearing no makeup and with my hair in a messy ponytail. Sexy, right?

CB: LOL. If there was one thing you could change about the writing business, what would it be?

I’d get rid of the synopsis. It’s like a dreadful book report. It makes me want to scream.


CB: Those do suck, big time! What do you say when someone says…”Oh, you write THOSE kinds of books.”

I say, “Oh, you wear THOSE kinds of shoes.”

CB: Great answer! Give us a taste of your latest masterpiece:

Excerpt:

“When you turn around, look first. You can grab your camera after. Okay?"


“Okay.” The anticipation buzzed through me. Or was it being so close to Dale?

With a little nudge, Dale spun me around, and a gasp caught in my throat. His hands closed over my shoulders, anchoring me, keeping me earthbound amongst what had to be heaven.

Rising above all the other mountains in the distance, Mount McKinley reached into the cerulean Alaskan sky like a white giant. Its peaks were arrowheads of rock encrusted in snow that glistened magically in the pink of the late afternoon sunlight. How incredibly small I was, like a speck of dust in comparison to the majesty of McKinley.

“Oh, Dale…” My voice was nothing more than a rasp. I let my pack drop to my feet and leaned back against him. He folded his arms around me and squeezed. When I thought the moment couldn’t get any closer to perfection, he loosened my scarf enough to nuzzle his cold nose against my neck. Though I initially shivered at the contact, he quickly warmed the spot with the heat of his lips.

Giving McKinley another look, I turned around to face Dale. He trailed his lips over my cheek and finally to my mouth where he did things that made my head spin. Our lips parted as we tasted, savored each other. Great Goddess, I had shut myself off for too long. Or maybe I’d been waiting. Waiting for him.

Whatever the case, Dale unlocked emotions in me. My heart thudded wildly in my chest. My skin longed to have Dale’s fingers spread across every inch of it. My lips wanted him to never stop kissing me.

“Take your pictures, Alanna.” The words were a whisper. “And let’s go.”


CB: Where can we find your books? Where can we find you on the net?

To order ALASKA HEART, visit me at www.christinedepetrillo.blogspot.com on September 24th. Click on the ALASKA HEART cover and it’ll take to where you can buy it. My other books from Whispers Publishing are also on this site. Also visit me and six of my writing gal pals at our group blog called A Pinch of Romance at www.apinchofromance.blogspot.com.

CB: Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to doing this again with your next release.

Pleasure being here. Thanks!

Video Blogging is BACK!

Some days I feel like I've fallen into the pit of promo and can't find my way out of it. But I have been on a kick to get back into what I know works... and V-logging works. So here it is, the next instalment of the 'Then things to do while you're waiting for your editor to get back to you.'

Contracts and Milestones

Yes... you heard me... I'm being offered another contract. Does it ever get old. "Hell no!"
The third and final book in my time travel trilogy, Redeeming Vows, has been in my editors hands for less than two weeks and a contract is on its way to my hands.

Fin and Lizzy's story completes the circle, literally and figuratively. For those who have picked up Binding Vows and who are looking forward to Myra's story, Silent Vows, this final chapter ties the entire trilogy into a neat little bow.

The Milestone for me and this final book is how much my writing has changed. I think improved but I'll let you all decided that for yourselves once you put down the last book. I will sometimes laugh and tell the world that if it wasn't for spell check I'd never have had the nerve to try my hand at fiction writing. I still put a lot of the credit for my lack of spelling errors on my critique partners who catch things I don't and to my editor who finds things that slip past the first two of us... but with Redeeming Vows... I think it really did fit the description "Edited within an inch of its life."

Bottom line to any writer is this... Sloppy Submissions = Revise/Resub Requests. Add a story that needs work and you end up with a rejection.

Back to my happy dance.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Release Day!

Binding Vows is out today! Officially and completely.

Step on over to TWRP and pick up your copy. Click here.

My blog tour has began over at the Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers Blog, so stop on by and read an exclusive excerpt and drop me a note.

My contest is up on my website... so be sure and stop by and gobble up the details.

Release date!

Yeah!!! I have a release date for

Soul Mate.

~~~AUGUST 20th~~~

Goals

RRP's Egg Hunt 2009 = Free books.

Red Rose Publishing is having an egg hunt! Have you collected yours?


Duration: April 01 - 30, 2009 (EST)
How to Play:
Egg icons have been hidden all around the RRP site and you (the player) have to find them. Some of the eggs lead off site to the homepages of a few authors who have hidden an egg somewhere on their site. Find those eggs for an added bonus.
Email your (a) name, (b) answers, (c) print choice, and (d) mailing address to contests@redrosepublishing.com, subject line "April Egg Hunt".
All correct answer entries with full information will be entered into a lottery.
Winner announced 02 May 2009

Now... I know you can find my egg on my website. All you have to do is look.

Social Networks and our Economy.

Video from ABC

Scrowl down to Recession-Proof Romance at the Knight Agency Blog

Why you should write a review

Okay... now that I have your attention, dirty girls...

As many of you know I write reviews. I do this for a couple of reasons. First... Can you say FREE BOOKS? Yeah, free as in zero, nada...nothing down... Great price if you ask me. The other reason I write reviews is for practice. When you write a review you need to summarize the book in a blurb type format. And when you do this over and over again, you get rather good at it.

Another reason to write reviews is this... When you have to put your feelings about a book down on paper, all of a sudden you realize how difficult it is to do this. So when the day comes that someone reviews your work, you'll really be able to appreciate what goes into the review. Some reviewers write better reviews than others... and dare I say some reviews are down right mean...

...and another thing... If you enjoyed a recent read it is always a good idea to , write a review and place it on the publishers site... Amazon... or simply send it to the author who may be have a right shit of a day and would love to hear that they made someone happy. So be an angel and write a review.

So tell me... have you ever written a review? What is the hardest part for you about writing a review?

Heroines~ What we love ~ What we hate

When a romance isn't.

I love romance.
And hate when books are labeled as such without one sexually tense moment or a heated kiss.

Thats not to say that my romances have to have sex... they don't. The House on Tradd street comes to mind. A wonderful ghost story in which I can't wait for the sequel.

But when I'm half way through a novel and I've no idea who the hero is I wonder how on earth it was labeled a romance?

Okay... I'm venting. Mainly because I have to finish said novel for a review. UGH. It's a good book, but not a romance. UGH....

Video Blogging about edits.

Pssstt.. "I write romance." Shhhh!!!

So tell me... when did killing, abuse and hate become respectable and love and romance take a back seat?
This year's Christmas letters to my family included my exciting news about my book contracts. In the replies I had many different responses. But the one that stuck out was,

"Well done on your writing, though I won’t judge you for your choice of material."

Wow, sounds like judgment to me. But this response wasn't the only one like it. And whats funny is what some of these people choose to read they see as respectable, but my stories are not???

When did the killing / death chase of Steven King become respectable and the love / romance chase become something that needs to be hidden? Don't get me wrong... I enjoy Steven King's books. Well some of them anyway.

I know I should expect this response but WOW! I mean... Wow! It isn't like anyone other than my publisher, editor and cp's have read my stories yet so how can anyone pass judgment before they even come out?

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Abby MacInnis for winning the free download of Having Faith, and Julie Robinson for winning Eternal Obsession. I hope your Christmas glows all the more after reading such wonderful books by two very talented authors. Contact me at catherinebybee@yahoo.com so I can see that Nancy O'Berry and Dayana Knight have your e-mail addresses.