Take Your Pleasure

Well, let’s face it, I missed a week! I honestly did intend to do the blog on the 16th, but I was vacationing down in Palm Springs, and the Wi-Fi at the resort where we stayed was terrible. Lost my internet connection about every 3 minutes. And downloading e-mail!!??? Oh my God, it took hours. And that was if I could even get into it. Okay, excuses, excuses!

This time I’m going to give away the Raintree series from Silhouette Nocturne. Here’s the line-up, Inferno by Linda Howard, Haunted by Linda Winstead Jones, and Sanctuary by Beverly Barton. It’s a great series, you’re going to love it. Although I’ll tell you up front that the Linda Howard is a well-loved copy (I couldn’t find it new). To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog in two weeks!

And now for my news! I’ve sold a naughty novella to Loose-Id! I’m honored to be a part of a great group of authors and a wonderful publisher. Take Your Pleasure will be out in February. Here’s a little tease!

When Natalie Beaumonde catches her boyfriend with another woman, Lincoln Masters comes up with a plan for Natalie to show her wandering man the error of his ways. Being a Master himself, Lincoln’s the perfect dom to help her execute the punishment. But Lincoln, who just happens to be Natalie’s boss, has an agenda of his own.

While I’m at it, Laced with Desire, a Berkley corset anthology with Jaci Burton, Joey Hill, and Denise Rossetti, will be out the same month, just in time for Valentines! (hmm, does Valentines have an apostrophe?) I love this cover, and I’m so proud to once again be writing with these wonderful ladies. Heck, here’s a little tease for my story (hint, when you read Yours for the Night, Simon Foster from Dominique’s story Payback will make another guest appearance in this story!)

La Petite Mort explores the lust of a former supermodel who needs to finally fulfill a no-holds-barred sexual fantasy. Finding two men to do it with is easy. But are they up to giving her all the pleasure she’s been denied?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Please welcome Nalini Singh!

Congratulations to Linda Henderson! You are the winner of Annie Solomon’s Dead Ringer. I’ll be sending you an e-mail for your snail mail address.

Quickly, Yours for the Night is out tomorrow! Enter Courtesans: A glitzy, sensual world of powerful people and the courtesans they’ll pay anything to have. It received an RT Top Pick! Whoohoo! Be sure to check out the excerpt at http://www.jasminehaynes.com/. Also, I’m doing a blog tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov 3rd, at http://authorsoundrelations.blogspot.com/ where I’ll be holding a drawing for a copy of Fair Game, my previous release.

I’ve got a special treat for you for this blog. Nalini Singh is joining me for the day. I adore Nalini’s books. She is the absolute best! So if you haven’t tried her, get out there and buy this book!!!! If you have read her, well, say no more, you already know what I’m talking about! Nalini has generously offered to give away a signed copy of one of her books (go to the end of this blog to find out which one!). To be entered in the drawing, leave a comment answering Nalini’s question. Now you have to comment within 24 hours (that means today, Monday, Nov 2nd until this same bat time, same bat channel Tuesday morning). And please, leave your e-mail address so we can contact you.

So without further ado, here she is!



BLAZE OF MEMORY
BERKLEY BOOKS
Out 3 November 2009

Nalini Singh returns to the Psy/Changeling world and its “breathtaking blend of passion, adventure, and the paranormal” as a woman without a past becomes the pawn of a man who controls her future…

Dev Santos discovers her unconscious and battered, with no memory of who she is. All she knows is that she’s dangerous. Charged with protecting his people’s most vulnerable secrets, Dev is duty-bound to eliminate all threats. It’s a task he’s never hesitated to complete…until he finds himself drawn to a woman who might yet prove the enemy’s most insidious weapon.

Stripped of her memories by a shadowy oppressor, and programmed to carry out cold-blooded murder, Katya Haas is fighting desperately for her sanity itself. Her only hope is Dev. But how can she expect to gain the trust of a man who could very well be her next target? For in this game, one must die…

Excerpt: http://www.nalinisingh.com/blaze.html

Reviews

“...When it comes to delivering stories that grab you by the throat and don't let go, Singh is in a class by herself!" - Romantic Times

“...BLAZE OF MEMORY had me in tears with the tenderness that Dev and Katya exposed in each other. This story adds immensely to the series…You will want to revisit this love story again and again." - Romance Junkies

Contest

Leave a comment with your answer to the question below in the next 24 hours to go into the draw to win a signed copy of Branded By Fire, the previous book in the series. (Or if you prefer, you can choose a mass market copy of the An Enchanted Season anthology).

Excerpt: http://www.nalinisingh.com/branded.html (warning, excerpt may singe your eyebrows off).

Contest Question: Who is your absolute favorite romantic hero?

Castle

Congratulations to Cheryl Casting! You are the winner of The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley. I’ll be sending you an e-mail for your snail mail address.

This time I’m going to give away Annie Solomon’s Dead Ringer. A wonderfully suspenseful read, ladies! To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog!

Have you been watching the TV show Castle with Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic? I don’t watch a lot of network TV. The commercials, we don’t have a TiVo or the like so I have to watch or remember to tape, etc, etc. And yeah, sometimes the shows are just crap. If they aren’t crap, hubby and I prefer to watch them when they come out on DVD (Yay, Netflix!). Even The Office, which we love, yup, we wait a whole year to get the DVD (okay, okay, I watched the wedding episode, but that was it). Of course, with The Office, they have all the deleted scenes on the DVD, and those deleted scenes have a LOT of stuff that really explains the show, too. But I digress, I was supposed to be talking about Castle. I love Nathan Fillion. First saw him as the evil (hot and sexy) Caleb in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then oohlala, he was Mal in Firefly (how could they cancel that show after only 13 episodes, they’re insane!). I even loved him in that silly movie Slither. So I thought I’d give Castle a try, even though honestly, I thought the commercials looked stupid, but whatever. Castle is a best-selling mystery writer who gets permission to shadow a female cop so his mysteries can have authenticity. I think in the first episode, some of the murders are like murders that occur in his books. Then he ends up working with her on all her cases. I started watching last season. Now I’m hooked! I love this show! I stay up late on Monday nights to watch it (or I actually remember to set the recorder). It’s funny, witty, sexy. Yeah, some of the cop stuff doesn’t ring true, but for the most part, they do a good job with that. But I’m not a stickler anyway if the show is enjoyable. The mysteries are interesting, and most of the time, I can’t figure out who the bad guy is until the characters do because there are so many twists and turns. There’s great chemistry between Fillion and Katic (the cop). It’s a fun role reversal that the woman is the tough cop and the guy is more flighty. The show is funny. And even the semi-sappy stuff with Castle’s daughter is actually very good. He’s the child and she’s the parent. Part of the reason I enjoy the show is how he thinks like a writer when helping to solve the cases. It rings true to how a writer’s mind works. Like when there’s a really unique way that someone’s been murdered, Castle says, “cool.” Just like I would! I would like to see more of the poker games with his writer buddies like Michael Connelly, Sue Grafton, etc. They don’t have a poker game in every show, but I always enjoy them when they do. Just my opinion, I don’t think this is a real guy show. It’s more a girlie show. My husband doesn’t watch it with me.

If you’ve seen the show, what do you think? If you’ve got a hubby or a boyfriend, do you think they’d like it?

Oh and some blatant promotion since this is my blog, Yours for the Night, RT Top Pick, will be out on Nov 3!

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!

Weddings, Part 2!

Congratulations to Rosemary! You are the winner of Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong. I don’t have to e-mail you for your address because I already know it!

This time I’m going to give away The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley. Ladies, this is one great book! I loved it! I picked up the book because my readers group at my local Borders highly recommended it, and boy, they were right! To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog!

So I’m doing “Weddings, Part 2” because my friend Judy, whose photo was in the last blog, found an old picture of her wedding party and scanned it for me! Wow! I won’t tell you how long ago it was. Because boy, then you’d know how really old I am! But I thought it would be a fun follow-up to the last blog. As bridesmaids, we made our own dresses. From left to right, that's Madeline, Nancy, Judy, me, and Margaret.

Just a few things to tell you. First, there’s an excerpt for Yours for the Night up on the website, http://www.jasminehaynes.com/. I hope you’ll check it out. Romantic Times gave it 4 ½ star review and chose it as a Top Pick for November. Second, I’ve got a new two-book contract with Berkley. You’ll be seeing a third “Courtesans Tales.” So that’s Yours for the Night next month, Hers for the Evening in May 2010, and Mine until Morning towards the end of 2010. I’ve really enjoyed writing the stories about my courtesans and creating that glitzy, high-powered world they travel in. I'm still working on the idea for the second book in this new contract. More on that later!

If you read the excerpt, I hope you’ll let me know what you think!

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!

Weddings and Dresses

Congratulations to Alexa! You are the winner of Karin Tabke’s Master of Surrender. I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address or you can email me at skully @ skullybuzz dot com.

Okay, so let’s do some paranormal! How about Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong. She’s wonderful! To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog!

I attended the wedding of my very good friend’s daughter last weekend. All the girls were so beautiful, the men handsome, the bride gorgeous, her mom splendid. Hah, it was a barefoot wedding! They got married in a park, and the ground was very sandy, so we all took off our shoes! And on the cake topper, the bride was reclining against the groom dressed in finery on the beach, and no shoes! It was all so very lovely.

Then just this morning, another friend of mine sent me a photo of herself in her wedding dress. Okay, I won’t tell you how long ago she was married because I was in her wedding! But she was going through her closet and her daughter is over 21, and she wanted to see how the dress was faring. It certainly has held up well, as has my friend Judy! Doesn’t she look gorgeous, and the dress still fits!!!! The photo brought back wonderful memories of her wedding. We, the bridesmaids, made our own dresses (hmm, no, I don’t still have the dress, but I wish I had a photo of it to post but that was pre-digital days!). We were all best friends from high school. And, of course, seeing her wedding dress made me think of my wedding. My husband and I went to Tahoe and were married in the Minden County courthouse by the judge. He’d just finished sentencing a few prisoners, then popped over to marry us! Haha, someone made a joke about him sentencing the prisoners, then coming over to sentence us! My wedding dress was a tailored cream-colored suit with a teal blouse. Nope, I don’t have that either. The cats used it to climb up to the top shelf in the closet. Um, needless to say, there were several things in my closet that had to be thrown out. But before it was ruined, I wore that suit to work a lot, it served double duty. You can really tell I’m a frugal accountant, can’t you?

So, did you keep your wedding dress? Did you wear your mom’s wedding dress? Would you save yours for your daughter? Or would you make sure yours did double duty like mine did?

Here’s a little update on my husband’s mancation. He had a wonderful trip, and we emailed all the time (well, when we were awake at the same time!). And now he’s home. Wow, that was a very, very long three weeks! I’m so glad he’s home. But the kitchen table is a bit messy again, LOL!

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!

SWAT!

Congratulations to Dena Walton! You are the winner of A Dangerous Beauty by Sophia Nash. I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address or you can email me at skully @ skullybuzz dot com.

Next up, I have an autographed copy of Karin Tabke’s Master of Surrender. She writes such hot, sexy books. To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog!

Okay, SWAT! No, I don’t mean flies. I’m talking about the SWAT team. Lest you should think they are only the stuff of TV, movies, and fiction, they really do exist. I was out watering my yard on Saturday, and down the street comes a SWAT van and 6 sheriffs’ vehicles in a caravan. This is a quiet neighborhood in the mountains. It’s at a dead end, so it’s not like you can even pass through the neighborhood on your way to somewhere else. I live on a corner halfway down the hill. And lo and behold, the SWAT van stops right along the side of my house. And really, I’m thinking to myself, did I do something bad that I don’t remember doing? Maybe one of my multiple personalities did it. Then all the SWAT guys jump out with their guns and do that crouch run that you always see on TV. Thank goodness they went down the hill, not up to my house. Of course, I rushed in to get the camera because I knew my husband wouldn’t believe me unless I had proof. Unfortunately, I was too late to capture them in that crouch run with their guns. Then the neighbors started pouring out their houses to see what was going on. I swear, people even drove here. Gosh, are we rubberneckers or what! I thought the cops would have told us to get back in our houses, but no, they let us watch. In the end, we learned that there was a robbery in the next town over, and they thought the suspect was holed up in a house two doors down from mine. He wasn’t. So they packed up their stuff and went away, excitement over. Honestly, though, two things struck me, first that I could actually wonder if I’d done something to warrant the SWAT team, and second, that we are all so nosy and excited about someone else’s business. Well, I guess it could have been my business if there was a meth lab in the house that might explode.

Here’s a little update from the last blog, my husband is still gone, and darn, it’s getting kinda lonely around here, even with Star for company. Maybe that’s why I was so fascinated with the SWAT team.

BTW, don’t miss my blog Tuesday 9/8 at The Tote Blog. I’ll be giving away one of my own books, just haven’t decided which one yet!

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!

European Vacation!

Congratulations to Fedora Chen! You are the winner of Black Out by Annie Solomon. I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address or you can email me at skully @ skullybuzz dot com.

Next up, I have A Dangerous Beauty by Sophia Nash. This book has the most gorgeous cover! To be eligible for the drawing, you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on Labor Day, September 7th! (Oh my GOD!, where has the summer gone!? I know I said that last time, but I have to say it again.) Good luck!

Okay, so about the European Vacation. It’s not mine. It’s my husband’s. He’s leaving today for a three-week trip to Germany and Norway. He’s going with an old friend of his that he’s known since grade school. They’ll be visiting his friend's relatives in Germany and hubby’s relatives in Norway (he’s a Viking God, remember!). They’ve been planning this trip forever! But I never really considered that I’d be all alone for three weeks! I’ll get to watch all the chick flicks sitting in my Netflix queue and the third season of Dexter (he doesn’t like the serial killer movies). I can eat brussel sprouts and edamame and chicken livers and lamb kabobs. I can watch endless reruns of CSI. I can lay in his spot on the sofa and eat his half of the popcorn as well as my own. The kitchen table will stay clean. I won’t have do to any ironing! This will be all such fun! For about four days. Then I’ll remember that there’s no one to share my mocha with in the morning (he makes my mocha for me!). No one to talk with or snuggle up to in bed at night just before I go to sleep (except our dog Star but she snores). No one to appreciate my cooking or to kiss me goodbye when he leaves for work. No one to call me on his lunch break or when before he leaves on his hour-long drive home. No reason to look forward to five o’clock. There’s all these little rituals we have, dinner, the TV shows we watch together, the talks we have about the day. When someone is there, you take all those things for granted. But when they’re gone, you realize how much you rely on those rituals, look forward to them. BTW, Star is going to miss him a lot, too. Because Dad is the one who gives her all the treats. When Dad goes into the kitchen, Star jumps up to follow. When Mom goes to the kitchen, Star doesn’t even open her eyes! Suddenly three weeks seems like a very, very long time for both Star and me!

So what rituals do you have, whether you do them yourself or share them with someone else?

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!