Girly Book Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Girly Books Blog Hop! This one is all about location!!! Some books take you somewhere sexy and exotic while others whisk you to a snow-capped mountain. Big city, small town, secluded beach...lot of great places to lose yourself!

I tend to mix up my book settings. The newest book I just finished is set in a small town...where everybody knows everybody and that really becomes a burden on the main character...even though she loves her quaint home town. My Karma series takes place in New York City. It's bustling vibe and never ending excitement was the perfect backdrop for Lexi and her wild and crazy plans. Paradise Cove took place in Cancun. The warm breezes and heat really set the scene for a sizzling romance! Check out an excerpt!

Shelby woke the next morning, and after her eyes adjusted to the blinding sun, her gaze moved to the sliding patio door of the resort room she’d taken up residence in. She’d left the glass open to allow in the soft breeze and the lullaby of crashing waves. Was this for real? The tattered linen curtain danced as the salty scent of the ocean drifted in and she knew she would always enjoy these simple moments.

With the Espinozas having moved to their new casita, being alone at The Paradise Cove felt quite surreal. It was no longer a resort she vacationed at--it was her resort.

Shelby stretched and sat up, recalling the events of the night before. She’d lit candles and played soft tropical music.

After a dinner together on the patio of The Paradise Cove at sunset, Mr. and Mrs. Espinoza took one last stroll to the ocean’s edge. They’d held each other and kissed, as Shelby had sat by, watching them give a tear-filled goodbye to the home they’d known for nearly five decades.

Shelby hoped they were happy with their decision and vowed to make them proud of her and what she did with the place they loved. 

Hope you enjoyed that little scene!! I want to know what your favorite book location is! Do you like being swept away to somewhere tropical, or do you like fast-paced city settings?? All commenters will be entered to win a $10 Amazon or B&N gift card!!! Woo Hoo! Just comment below WITH a valid email address. Comments without an address will not be entered to win. :( Sorry. Earn extra entries by being a blog follower, Twitter follower and/or Facebook follower! :) Just let me know!

And hop around to all the other participant's blogs!! TONS of great prizes! Every comment will be entered to win the awesome grand prize!!! So many cool things in that!!! (Read above in the pic!)

The Girly Book Blog Hop!

Today I'm part of a fun blog hop all about secondary characters!!

What gal is complete without her super fab BFF?????

Secondary characters give our main characters depth. I think you can tell a lot about people by who they keep closest to them. In my writing, my secondary characters are usually quirky and wild. They're usually a person my main character wishes they could be more like...and learns a lot from them.

Below is a scene from my newest work in progress...just wrote this scene! It's the first glimpse that readers get of the dynamic between Deeni and her BFF Lydia. Basically, Deeni has just been dumped by her longline boyfriend and concocted a wacky plan to save face at her sister's wedding. Enjoy!

(PS...except has a bit of strong language...18 and over only please!)

Deeni took a deep breath. She was about to share this crazy plan with someone who was not physically involved in it. Lydia wouldn’t sugarcoat. She’d tell her exactly how nutty they were to even attempt it. 

“It’s not how it looks.” 

“You looked pretty damn cozy, if you ask me. Who is this guy? Where did he come from? And were you cheating on Eddie?”

“Hold on. I’ll answer all that. We just met this morning.”

“Wow. You jump back in the saddle fast. And by the way, I’m kinda pissed I had to hear about the breakup from my mother, of all people.

“I know. There really wasn’t any time. It all happened late last night, and then I had to get to work. The wedding takes precedence over any other thing in my life right now.”

“Fuck the wedding.”

“I’d love to, believe me. But anyway, we met this morning and he just got dumped too. He needs someone to pose as his fiancé and I need someone to pretend to be my new boyfriend cause I kinda told my mother I had been cheating on Eddie for months.”

“And why would you do that?”

“Because she was gonna sit Uncle Fred in Eddie’s empty seat at our table for the reception, and I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time. She had that pitying look in her eye and I couldn’t stand it. I think I’d rather be a cheater than a pathetic dumpee.”

“Okay. I think I get it.” Lydia pulled up in front of Deeni’s place. “But that doesn’t explain the almost kiss I witnessed at Allegretto.” 

 I can’t explain it either. “Uh, I guess when you take two recently dumped people and give them two bottles of wine, they get a little out of control.” 

She shook her head. “Just be careful. You don’t know this guy.” 

“I will. Thanks for the concern, Mama Bear.”

“You don’t want to end up like me."

“What are you talking about? You’re blissfully happy.” 

Lydia’s fling the summer between junior and senior year turned into a baby girl that spring. Luckily, she was good at picking someone to fling with. She and Chuck fell in love, adding two more kiddos to the crew.

“Yeah, I am. But it’s not fun to have a baby with someone you barely know. It wasn’t exactly easy getting to where we are now.” 

Deeni remembered. She’d listened to Lydia cry numerous nights back then.

“So how are you, really? It had to suck being dumped like that.”

“It did. It does. I’m not sure how I feel. One minute I’m devastated and feel completely blindsided, the next, it’s like I dodged a bullet. Can you imagine if I’d married him and had kids and then he decided to cheat on me?”

“That woulda sucked. But I guess now that it’s happened, I’m not really all that surprised. Do you wonder if he’s cheated on you other times than this?”

“I never suspected until now.” She turned toward Lydia. “Do you think it’s cause I’m bad in bed? A girl like Gina G probably does all kinds of freaky stuff.”

“First of all, I can’t say for sure having never had sex with you, but you are not bad in bed. And secondly, that tramp is a freak. If he’s attracted to a girl who flashes her lady parts all over Miami and will blow him anytime, anywhere, then you don’t want him anyway.”

“You’re right.”

“And now you can find a better man. Who knows? Maybe something will happen with the tasty one you had for dinner."

“Uh, no. He’s just been dumped too. Nothing good can come of me thinking I can start a relationship with Carter. If anything, he’d be a fun fling.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with that. Best way to get over a guy is hot sex with an even hotter guy.” 

Deeni giggled and shook her head. “Thanks for the love. And the ride. I appreciate it.” She leaned across and hugged Lydia. “I’ll talk to you later.”

 So there it is! I love a great set of BFFs! And in honor of great BFFs, I've giving one lucky winner a digital copy of my book, Soap Dreams, which also stars a feisty BFF sidekick!

Giveaway is international and you must be a blog follower to enter! Just leave a comment below with an email address so I can contact you! Contest ends on Oct. 1st at 11:59 PM! Thanks for stopping by!

And make sure you check out all the other participating blogs and all their awesome giveaways!!!

How do you show your Green???

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!!!! I don't know about where you live but it's a pretty big deal around here. Everyone wears green, no matter what their background, and partakes in all kinds of debauchery! LOL

Our celebration each year includes a party at a friend's house...all kinds of fun stuff! Here are some pics from last year:

Me and my girls! (I'm on the far right!)

Me and hubby!

Being silly!

This year's party is actually tonight! Very much looking forward to it. There are custom designed t-shirts and everything. 

And I gotta post my newest release, Karma Kameleon, since the cover is green and all ;)

Ain't it sexy???

Go to my Excerpts page for the first chapter! :)

So...what do you do to celebrate St. Patty's Day???

Wanna win some GREEN??? Well, Amazon green, anyway!! $10 worth! :) All you have to do is comment below and make sure you post your email address...use "at" and "dot" in place of the symbols if you'd like to cut down on spam. Only those with valid email address can win.

For EXTRA ENTRIES, become a follower of my blog, or Tweet, Blog, or FB about the event! And for even more entries, follow me on Twitter, Click here, or on FB, Click here! Just let me know in the comment what you did! :) You can rack up a whole lotta entries for this!! And please hop around to all the other blogs in the hop! LOTS of fun prizes!!

AND all commenters are entered to win 2 RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME prizes!!  1) Winner's Choice of a KINDLE FIRE or NOOK TABLET and 2) Winner's Choice of a $90 Gift Card from Amazon or B&N.

AND...it gets even BETTER!!! The Romance Reviews is celebrating their 1st Anniversary and is giving away lots of great prizes!! Click here to answer today's trivia questions, including mine, to enter to win!

Crazy, right!??? So what are you waiting for??? Contest ends at 11:59 EST tonight.

So hop around and enter on as many blogs as you want!

Come get some Green!!!!!!

Or a Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire!!!!

I'm participating in a RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME blog hop this Friday- the day before St. Patty's Day!!!! Over 120 authors are going to be telling anything they can about being Irish, celebrating the day, wearing green, drinking green beer... pretty much anything!

Each author will be giving away a prize. Like a swag pack, gift cards, ebooks, print books, and so much more.

PLUS We have TWO Grand Prizes for TWO different winners! *gasp*

Grand Prize 1: Winner's Choice of a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

Grand Prize 2: Winner's Choice of a $90 Amazon or Barnes&Noble Gift Card

Isn't that exciting? LOL. So you as a reader - what do you have to do? Well, come on over to these websites on Friday March 16th and comment on as many as you want. The grand prize winners will be chosen at random from the commenters - meaning you can comment on EACH blog - meaning 120 entries to the grand prize.

Sounds great right? Come on over and wear your green and win some prizes!!!

Click here to see the list of all participating blogs!

Blog focus???

 When I started this blog, it had no real focus. I didn't know much about blogging then. I just did it because it was something I thought I needed to do to help build my platform. It sounded fun...like something I could get into. I wanted to share myself and my journey. But once I started, it really became something I hadn't expected. I found an amazing community of writers and readers. So so supportive!! And I did my best to support them in return. I blogged mainly about writing related things. I couldn't really teach anyone anything, but I did my best to share my experiences on my journey. But everyone seemd to enjoy my posts and appreciate them.

But now I just don't know what to write about. I guess I can keep writing about the same topics. But I still am not a teacher...I don't think I will ever feel like I can come on this blog and teach people. I still have days where I feel like I know absolutely nothing.

My readership has dropped CONSIDERABLY. I am not happy about this at all. Makes me think that I have lost everyone...I am not interesting anymore...no one cares what I have to say. I tried chalking it up to summer...but summer's over. I posted my new cover last week and I only got 4 comments. :( I'm trying to do a Blog Event in a couple weeks to kick start my promotion for the fall. Only two participants beside myself (and I know them in real life! LOL!) I know I haven't been around much posting on other's blogs...this summer really pulled me away from the computer unlike any other summer has. But I promise...I am jumping back in!!!!

I struggle with topics to write about...many of my current followers are also writers, so I know they are interested in informational blogs. But as I said, I can't teach. And I want to attract non-writers too.

So here I sit, wondering what the heck to do!!!

Please please please sign up for my Blog Event on the 19th! Click here!

Skyrockets in Flight Blog Hop! Mega Prizes!

This is SUCH an awesome blog hop!! EVERY blog on this hop is giving away a prize!!!!! Click here for a list of participants!


And now for my prize!!!

I debated on what to give away...what do people want???? I decided to give away a digital copy of my book Paradise Cove and a $10 Amazon gift card!!

Since it's all digital, this giveaway is open to everyone all over the world!!

Have fun and good luck!! I will draw a winner randomly!