tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79592593772926076112024-03-14T10:17:42.473-06:00Piper PatterGot romance?Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.comBlogger835125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-57039764876218220712014-06-02T13:48:00.001-06:002014-06-02T13:48:16.438-06:00Guest at Sara Walter EllwoodToday I'm guest blogging with Sara Walter Ellwood:<br />
<a href="http://sarawalterellwood.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/piper-denna-2/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;" target="_blank">http://sarawalterellwood.<wbr></wbr>wordpress.com/2014/06/02/<wbr></wbr>piper-denna-2/</a><br />
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All about our deepest fears.<br />
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<br />Autumn Piperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187992227902452262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-66307136831379240242014-03-27T13:05:00.004-06:002014-03-27T13:05:58.342-06:00Cover reveal and...whoa. What is this blog thing? Really, I used to do this all the time?<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's long-lost me.</span><div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot, and I mean a LOT has changed since my last post here.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My relationship with a longtime publisher dissolved, I left my job as an editor with said publisher and went 100% freelance (and will never look back, lol. Freelancing is the bomb!), and sadly, a friendship went up in smoke. That part was a painful bummer.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, like the phoenix rising from the ashes...</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of my books are getting a home with <a href="http://www.heartsdesirepress.com/" target="_blank">Hearts Desire Press</a>, where the talent is amazing and the owner is the best.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I'm going to self-publish my other books. Which is a whole new frontier of "stuff I gotta master". And I've let myself get a little off-track, by trying to research and learn Every Thing an Indie Author Must Do. Which is beyond overwhelming. But what I figured out last night was, instead of trying to make lists and not forget and keep track to make sure I do "everything" to promote, I can do some things. And later do the other things.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of those "things" I'm doing is setting up a newsletter. Over the years, I've culled so many email addresses from people who've asked to be added. And, well...I've still never sent out a dang newsletter!</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm ready to begin formatting my Fantasies, Inc books for Amazon. Here's a peek at the cover for Book 1 (formerly known as Fantasy Mountain).</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isn't she lovely? On a referral from two of the lovely authors I've worked with in both contracted and freelance capacity (Jennifer Lowery and Jessi Gage), I had Kim Killion of <a href="http://thekilliongroupinc.com/services/" target="_blank">The Killion Group </a>design my covers. The new cover for Victoria's Secret Wish should be ready later this week.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that's all I've got for now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a lovely Thursday.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span></div>
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Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-56673325470360246842013-05-16T13:27:00.005-06:002013-05-16T13:27:46.699-06:00Publisher pitch sessions?<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I've been seriously considering attending <a href="http://romancenovelconvention.com/" target="_blank">RNCon </a>this summer.</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a totally new convention, it's in Las Vegas, and it'll be a nice excuse for hubby and I to get away.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I started thinking about whether I should advertise there, and maybe put some swag in the bags...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in reading their <a href="http://romancenovelconvention.com/promotions/" target="_blank">promotional opportunities</a>, I came across an interesting theory.</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only do publishers have to pay to have a table/pitch session scheduled, but they must pitch their company to three authors at a time. Likewise for editors, cover artists, reviewers, web designers, etc. Now, I read the text provided and I "get" where the owner (a cover model) is coming from. His stance is, without authors, the romance industry would come to a halt. He thinks they are the only people in the industry who could continue on without anyone else. (seriously though...as an author I can attest, if every writer decided to eschew editing from here on out, the romance industry would DIE. Readers could only stand it for so long. lol But back to the topic...) Okay. I can see how a web designer, promoter, or cover artist might promote their business to authors--self pubbers, for the most part.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But editors and publishers? I'd say only an ed or pub who is desperately hard up (probably one an author should be wary of) would be willing to "pitch" their company or editing skills to a bunch of authors whose work they have not previously reviewed. Because let's be honest: For every good author, there are at least 20 more who--I'm not mincing words--suck. People who rush out some crazy story with no thought to story arc, character growth, or resolution. People who think their "life story" would be of great interest to everyone in the free world. People who spell and punctuate at or below a 3rd grade level but think because they can put 95,000 words' worth of that poor spelling and grammar (quantity being paramount over quality, naturally), they should be published. Just because somebody can type in a word processing program does not mean they can write. Just because it's a story, does not mean it's worthy of publication.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm going to be even more honest now. I've got loads of better things to do with my time than to spend it working on a subpar book. So am I going to "sell" myself or Lyrical Press to a bunch of unknowns? Heck no. If they send me a book and it looks ready for editing and publication, then we'll talk--about the good things Lyrical Press does for their authors, or about positive referrals from authors I've edited.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An author should always check out any publisher or agent before signing contracts. But she'd be a fool to simply go by what a person tells her in a "pitch" session and she should research more--online--about that entity anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite frankly, many of those authors who'd feel they need pitched to are divas who are completely clueless about the publishing industry and what marketing and promotion are really about. They've got another think coming, but I'm not about to be the one to spend months explaining that "think" to them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span><br />
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<br />Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-46295642782825608192013-05-09T12:53:00.004-06:002013-05-09T12:53:58.941-06:00A.M. in the life?<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blogging has been on my to-do list for 4 days now. 4. And that's since I determined I absolutely positively would blog this week. LOL.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have accomplished quite a bit, playing catch-up. Authors on my roster know my projects often get pulled forward. Which is great for them...and for me, sometimes. But it also kinda means every time I get caught up, I turn around and realize I'm chasing newer, different deadlines.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And since I'm feeling awfully schizo this week, and cannot come up with anything better, here's a morning in the life of an EIC:</span><br />
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<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5:30 AM. Wake to an idea about adding another round of author edits to our process to solve a little problem we've been having with galley review becoming Author Tinker Time</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6:00 AM Get up, feed cats, let cats out. Wake daughter.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6:15 Amble back upstairs after (hopefully) rousing daughter. Let cats in. Read emails.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6:30 Compose email to other management at LPI about possible new idea. Let cats out. (see a pattern here?)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7:00 Inhabit bathroom to do makeup and hair, since hubs has vacated premises. Make bed, straighten room. Cry like baby over niece's piccolo recital on YouTube/Facebook. Don't ask. It's just a waterworks kinda day. And she's graduating. And she's lovely. Lovely graduates are supposed to make one bawl like a soap star, no?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7:30 Bid kids adieu, certain I won't miss the banshee screaming. Hate all breakfast choices. Settle on chocolate milk and last night's TMZ.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7:50 Begin 2nd round of content edits on a file. Then get up to start laundry. Return to file. Start dishwasher. Still hate all breakfast choices. Reply to mgmt discussion about possible new round idea. Let cats in. I made the donuts!!!</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Answer some title and scheduling questions for roster author.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out <a href="http://romancenovelconvention.com/" target="_blank">RNCon</a> after receiving invite to judge their novel contest. Get excited and wonder in what universe I can talk hubs into letting me go to Vegas for 5 days</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9:00 Continue CE3. Have hair appt today. This file must go out today. Reply to a grammar question on FB, as well as 20 more replies/questions. It's all good. I've helped some folks with adjectives and nouns. Hopefully.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10:00 break for hot topics segment of <i>The View</i>. Text Renee and Sutton about RNCon. Dream. Eat...alas, a Jimmy Dean breakfast croissant. Byebye low cal day.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10:20 Return to content edits.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11:00 Complete content edits (God, this was an easy round. Wish they were all like this!) Email to author.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reply to another author question re: scheduling and vacation.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11:10 Open 2nd round file from Sutton. Review new edits, fix a formatting glitch/question. Email file back. (also wish all edits were THIS easy)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12:20 Search for blog ideas...</span></li>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah. Got a hair appointment 45 minutes from now (My inner Betty White--or shall we say Betty Silver is pushing her way out via my hair roots), which will get out about an hour before I have to pick up the banshee, who hopefully will howl no more today. It's Friday for the kidlets, so tomorrow will be much less productive.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I blogged, dadnabit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Piper Denna</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span></div>
Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-51683823743352573962013-03-13T09:40:00.003-06:002013-03-13T09:47:09.660-06:00Reviewers are not editors.<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forgive me. I'm feeling a bit soap-boxy today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You see, I've noticed a trend in book reviews, particularly those done by upstart review sites and bloggers(many of whom are obviously trying to gain a following by being snarky): Book reviewers seem to think they are editors.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I firmly believe an avid reader is capable of spotting typos, wrong word usage, poor grammar, bad spelling, and the like. And even the cleanest, most edited book will have an error or two. A 63,000 word book, which is rather at the short end of novels, has nearly 350,000 characters. That's a lot of opportunities for oopsies. Are errors okay? Not in my book (pun intended). But I've edited enough books--heck, I've written enough of my own and pored over them at the galley stage, only to crack them open a couple years later and see some blatant error--and I've read enough bestsellers with blips, to know perfection is elusive. And probably the average reader doesn't pick up on most of these mistakes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So forgive me if I find it a tough pill to swallow, when a reviewer (who has at least one error in every review she's posted on her blog) makes some off-the-cuff comment about poor editing or "grammar challenges"--whatever the heck that means--in her book review. Or when a reviewer gives a book high praise, but says she was disappointed in the editing because <b>none </b>of the dialogue was punctuated (and it turns out she messed up by trying to read a PDF file on her Nook, which doesn't process formatting from PDFs correctly). Really? An author who is fantastic, and the editor of this otherwise wonderful book, both failed to punctuate <b>any</b> dialogue? No warning bells chiming? And yet the reviewer posts this opinion, without considering the consequences...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consequences such as: the author is trying to make a living with her books. Saying this one is poorly edited will most likely turn off readers. Which affects the editor and also the publisher, who are also making a career of selling books. Which I'm finding in the majority of these cases, have been edited properly, but the reviewer (minus editing experience, knowledge, and the obvious IT skills needed to upload a digital book to a reading device) wants to convince others (and probably herself) that she's smart. That she could do a better job. When in fact, we can all see from her own errors in a 300-word blog post, is not the case.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reviews are opinions. So reviewers should state their opinion about the book--the story, the characters, the pacing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules are cold, hard facts. Not up for debate. So unless the book is absolutely riddled with errors, reviewers should avoid commenting on editing. Clean mechanics should be a given, and if the editing is so poor that it detracts from the reading experience, then it merits a mention.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just as publishing a poorly-edited book says "unprofessional," so does spouting off unfounded accusations about poor editing in a book review. I'd laugh if I saw the accused editor or author post a comment on the review citing all the typos the reviewer had made. But we all know how that would go over. Authors are supposed to sit on their hands when a reviewer steps out of line. No defending allowed...likewise, I'm sure, with the editors.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to stress, the "good" review sites know not to go there--they recognize the publishers they work with employ competent editors, so they review a book based on its content. In the end, I think that's what we're all looking for in a book review. Right?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editors know they'll always find errors in books. Always. And the rest of the world (the non-editors) seldom notice the errors. So why would we need a book reviewer telling us a book has them?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-85865015856635723692013-02-07T03:00:00.000-07:002013-02-07T06:41:27.639-07:00Guest Sara Walter Ellwood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I welcome a special guest, author Sara Walter Ellwood. I was lucky enough to find her last year at the Word Wranglers pitch session. She writes awesome romantic suspense set in Texas. Today we're spotlighting <i>Gambling On a Secret</i>, the first in her Colton Gamblers series. Her main characters, Dylan and Charli, agreed to an interview:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: Hi Piper! Dylan and I were so excited to be seeing
you again. We feel we know you almost as well as we know Sara.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: (Chuckles) Yeah, but we didn’t invade your dreams
like we did Sara’s.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: Hush! Let the poor woman ask us some questions. I
think we probably tormented her enough when she edited our book.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc;"><b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When you two met, did you
feel an instant attraction?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: Lord knows I did and it was the very last
thing I wanted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: I honestly don’t remember. I was a little
drunk when I went to the interview. But I remember thinking she had the longest
legs and I still don’t know how she walked around on those sky-high heels. (He
shrugs) Yeah, I thought she was hot—and scared probably of me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<b><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Please compare/contrast your
current squeeze to your “first love”. How is he/she different, and the same?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Charli: How do you
compare an honest, loyal man with a drug dealer? Or my second love who was my
abusive pimp, to a man like Dylan? You can’t. I never knew anyone like him.
After meeting Dylan, I’m not even sure I’ve ever felt like this for anyone
else.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Dylan: (Smiles at
Charli and squeezes her hand) I met my first love who became my wife in ninth
grade, after moving to Colton from Germany when Dad went off to fight in the
Gulf War. She’s never been anything like Charli. Now looking back, I don’t know
what I ever saw in Brenda. She was popular, the head cheerleader and
self-absorbed. Charli is the most caring person I know. There’s no way to
compare them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4">
</div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>If your town had a betting
pool, which of you would have been given the best odds for staying single for
life?</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: (snorts) I think the good people of Colton
figured I’d marry Leon Ferguson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: That’s because the town is
full of damned fools who bought his bullshit without ever thinking about it.
Anyway, I’m pretty certain, the Colton Grapevine had me dead by the end of
summer. After all, I was the town drunk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Which of you first knew you
two would be a lasting item?</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: I’m not sure either of us figured that out
until the end. But I think I was the first. (Looks over at Dylan)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: (Shrugs and rubs a hand over the back of his
neck) I probably figured it out when she came to me after Leon caught us
on the porch. But if I tell you more, I’ll give too much of the story away. And
then I’ll be in trouble—again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: (Smiles) He’s learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc;"><b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Who is the better dancer?
Cook? Singer?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: Emm... She’s got all three over me. Since she
was a stripper she has some moves that make me...(He grins and looks at
Charli) You get the idea. As for cooking... Although my mother is a world-class
chef, I was too busy messing around with carpentry and horses to learn much
from her. And Charli’s even got me beat when it comes to singing... It’s in her
blood. Her half-brother is a famous country singer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #ead1dc;">Charli: Well, I can’t rebuild a house... and a
barn and... Well, we had to rebuild about everything on the ranch. I could
never do that without you.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoList4">
<span style="color: #ead1dc;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Who is the better driver
(and yes, I like stirring up trouble!)?</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: And I like getting into it. Hell, I am.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: (Narrows her eyes at him and crosses her
arms in front of her) You can only say that because YOU never let me drive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: Do you honestly think I’d ever be caught dead
in that sissy car of yours?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: There’s nothing wrong with my Lexus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: (Raises a brow) I told you there’s nothing
wrong with your car, just I don’t like it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: It’s better than that bucket of rust and
bolts you drive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan: My truck would out-run that—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sara: (Scowls at both of them as they glare at each
other) See what you started. It think I need to take these two home. You should
have known better than asking this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: I’m not fighting about this now. People will
think that’s all we do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Dylan: (Mumbles under his breath) Yeah, but the
make-up sex is great.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charli: (Slaps his hand, but gives him a small pout
that cause him to chuckle) This argument is not over. You wait until we get
home. Piper, it was a lot of fun coming to your blog. Thank you so much for
having us. </span><br />
<b style="text-indent: 0in;"><br /></b>
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p><b style="text-indent: 0in;">Blurb:</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0DTtBzODtHrOXnvBcOKCQLsig0Z_I5gygjPxRoBbVDbtqi6-A-L6lVuRuEpMWd2Xr-2U_nEcRf1uiNO_UBD5YpQDZFy16G4qFvtSdDKuEaxjSvwh1X42iQNo_n4OUFk3hyphenhyphenvtZuI3RsGM/s1600/gamblingonasecretsmcq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0DTtBzODtHrOXnvBcOKCQLsig0Z_I5gygjPxRoBbVDbtqi6-A-L6lVuRuEpMWd2Xr-2U_nEcRf1uiNO_UBD5YpQDZFy16G4qFvtSdDKuEaxjSvwh1X42iQNo_n4OUFk3hyphenhyphenvtZuI3RsGM/s320/gamblingonasecretsmcq.jpg" width="213" /></span></a><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Charli
bets everything on a secret, will she find the deck stacked against her?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Former runaway-turned heiress Charli Monroe is hiding her
sordid past and planning a future in Colton, Texas. Attending the local college for a degree in social
work, she intends to raise cattle on her newly purchased ranch, which she plans
to open as a home for troubled teens. Only a few glitches—the Victorian mansion
is crumbling, the barn needs a roof, and her oilman neighbor wants more than
friendship. When she meets Dylan Quinn, Charli is willing to take a chance on
the town drunk to help her rebuild the rundown ranch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan
has his demons, too. The former Special Forces commander can’t get past his
ex-wife’s betrayal and the botched mission that left him with much more than a
bad limp. Certain the greedy oilman next door to Charli wants much more than
just her heart, Dylan’s even willing to stop drinking in order to protect her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When
things get dangerous and secrets of the past are revealed, is he only looking
out for his new employer, or is she the new start he so desperately needs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CONTENT WARNING: Details abuse of a minor, drug abuse,
alcoholism, swearing, spicy sex, murder.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoList4" style="text-indent: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0DTtBzODtHrOXnvBcOKCQLsig0Z_I5gygjPxRoBbVDbtqi6-A-L6lVuRuEpMWd2Xr-2U_nEcRf1uiNO_UBD5YpQDZFy16G4qFvtSdDKuEaxjSvwh1X42iQNo_n4OUFk3hyphenhyphenvtZuI3RsGM/s1600/gamblingonasecretsmcq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #ead1dc;"></span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">COVER QUOTE:<i> “Full of
intrigue, tangled pasts, and raw emotions, this one is guaranteed to keep you
turning pages from start to finish and then wishing for one more chapter!”</i><br />
Carolyn Brown, New York Times bestselling author of <i>Just a Cowboy and His Baby</i>.</span></div>
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ms. Brown also named <em>Gambling
On A Secret</em> as one of her favorite romance reads in 2012 in the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2012/12/12/authors-pick-best-romances-of-2012/1765761/">Happy
Ever After Blog on USA Today</a>.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Excerpt:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Ferguson, what are you doing here?” Dylan barked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leon ambled toward them on the stone path. “I’m saving a
young maiden from torment. What are you doing here, playing the part of the
devil?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m Miss Monroe’s new manager.” The deadly edge of his
voice matched the flintiness of his eyes. “If there’s anyone to save the young
maiden from, it’s you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Mr. Quinn, please.” She turned to Leon. “Leon, is there
something I can do for you?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He smiled, showing off perfect white teeth in a face
handsome enough to belong to an actor. “I was just passing by on my way home
and decided to stop. How are the boys working out?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan’s stance widened and his hands flexed at his slides.
“What boys?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Charli and I have entered into a business arrangement.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She lost the battle with the urge to wrap her arms around
herself. As much as she appreciated Leon’s kindness, respected him, and was
even a little attracted to him, something about him didn’t sit right with her.
He represented her peers in the community. According to Mrs. Pratt, besides the
Cartwrights, she and Leon were undoubtedly the wealthiest residents in the
county. No one in Colton could learn about her past. It would ruin her, and
Leon, no doubt, had the means to dig up the dirt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Really?” Dylan stepped closer to her in a protective
manner. Whiskey tainted his breath as the warmth of the exhalations tickled her
cheek. “What kind of business arrangement?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She could protect herself. Dylan Quinn wasn’t any safer than
Leon Ferguson. Stepping away from him, she forced her arms to her sides. “Mr.
Quinn, I can handle this.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She faced Leon. “I’m amazed by how much the men got done
since starting on Monday. The foreman told me last evening they’d be reseeding
another fifty acres for hay this morning. And they have the corrals fixed and
started on the fencing in the north pasture.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Good, good.” He glanced at Dylan. “I’ll be going, unless
you need a more reliable exterminator. I couldn’t help but overhear about your
snake infestation. I can give you the name of the company that has gotten rid
of the snakes in our lakes over on Oak Springs for years.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although he presented the perfect solution, she didn’t the
like way Leon had looked at Dylan as he said the word <i>exterminator</i>. “No,
Mr. Quinn is quite capable of getting rid of the snake.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Oh, I’m sure he is.” Leon tipped his hat. “Let me know if
there’s anything else I can do for you, Charli.” Dylan’s jaw tightened as his
uncle glanced at him. “It’s good to see you up among the living again.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leon headed back to his Porsche. With no pretense of
lowering his voice, Dylan said, “Now, there’s a snake no one wants in their
garden.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon hearing the jibe, Leon’s shoulders jerked in
mid-stride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rattled by Leon’s attention and the snake fiasco, she turned
on Dylan. “You aren’t off the hook. I want those snakes gone.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We’ll see.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I hate snakes.” She shuddered and put her hands on her
hips. “Maybe I should have asked him who the exterminator is.”</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio:</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sara
Walter Ellwood is an award winning author whose novel <i>Gambling On A Secret</i>
was named by bestselling author Carolyn Brown in the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2012/12/12/authors-pick-best-romances-of-2012/1765761/">Happy
Ever After Blog on USA Today</a> as one of her
favorite romances of 2012. Although Sara has long ago left the farm for the
glamour of the big town, she draws on her experiences growing up on a small
hobby farm in West Central Pennsylvania to write her stories. She’s been
married to her college sweetheart for nearly 20 years, and they have two teenagers
and one very spoiled rescue cat named Penny. She longs to visit the places she
writes about and jokes she’s a cowgirl at heart stuck in Pennsylvania suburbia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span style="background-color: purple;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She also
writes paranormal romantic suspense under the pen name of Cera duBois.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: purple;"><br /></span>
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<b><span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Author links:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Website: <a href="http://www.sarawalterellwood.com/">http://www.sarawalterellwood.com</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog: <a href="http://www.sarawalterellwood.com/blog/">http://www.sarawalterellwood.com/blog/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sarawalterellwood.ceradubois/">http://www.facebook.com/sarawalterellwood.ceradubois/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: purple; color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sara_w_ellwood">http://www.twitter.com/sara_w_ellwood</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lyrical Press: <a href="http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_25&products_id=574">http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_25&products_id=574</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gambling-Secret-Colter-Gamblers-ebook/dp/B00AVLL4XA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1357261386&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.com/Gambling-Secret-Colter-Gamblers-ebook/dp/B00AVLL4XA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1357261386&sr=1-1</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Barnes and Noble: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gambling-on-a-secret-sara-walter-ellwood/1114062294?ean=2940016153667">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gambling-on-a-secret-sara-walter-ellwood/1114062294?ean=2940016153667</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BookStrand: <a href="http://www.bookstrand.com/gambling-on-a-secret">http://www.bookstrand.com/gambling-on-a-secret</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Giveaway:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE
GIVEAWAY**</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~First Grand Prize is a <strong>SWAG
PACK</strong>, including a signed copy of <strong>Carolyn Brown’s</strong> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-Cowboy-Baby-Spikes-Spurs/dp/1402270186/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353203611&sr=1-5&keywords=carolyn+brown"><strong><i>Just
a Cow</i></strong></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-Cowboy-Baby-Spikes-Spurs/dp/1402270186/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353203611&sr=1-5&keywords=carolyn+brown"><b><i>boy
a</i></b></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-Cowboy-Baby-Spikes-Spurs/dp/1402270186/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353203611&sr=1-5&keywords=carolyn+brown"><b><i>nd
His Baby</i></b></a><strong>.</strong> Also included is a copy of <b>D’Ann Lindun’s</b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shot-Through-Heart-DAnn-Lindun/dp/1440554145/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353203702&sr=1-1&keywords=d%27ann+lindun"><b><i>Shot
Through the Heart</i></b></a>, a pen, a notebook, a
horse themed mini calendar, a patriotic themed day planner, and more all tucked
away in a reusable tote bag at the end of my blog tour. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~Second Grand Prize is a<b> $10
Gift Card</b> to either <b>Amazon</b> or <b>Barnes and Noble</b>. If you follow
the tour and comment as often as possible, you increase your chances of
winning!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The winners of the Swag Pack and
Gift Card will be announced on March 1, 2013.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Swag Pack is only eligible for US
residents to win.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-3840982078307970842013-01-22T07:03:00.002-07:002013-01-22T07:03:27.955-07:00Unsolicited advice, anyone?<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I'm talking about unsolicited advice, (and I got a really nice review) over at <a href="http://romancemeblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/unsolicited-advice-by-autumn-piper.html" target="_blank">Romance Me </a>for my blog tour. This blog was kind enough to host me and do my review in somewhat of a pinch when the tour organizers couldn't reach the site who was supposed to host me. Very nice of them!</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ladies at <a href="http://www.buythebooktours.com/" target="_blank">Buy the Book</a> have been very helpful and done a really nice job, with both my tours. I highly recommend them. They scheduled everything for me, organized all the posts and interviews, got me the interview questions, and I send all the post things to them...then I use the links they've sent me in my schedule to go find my posts on the right days. Easy, peasy. Well...there is a lot of guest-post-writing involved. LOL. But still. I'm pleased. I'd use them again--they took the headache out of the blog tour, and they hooked me up with a bunch of bloggers I didn't know.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's hoping my Tuesday is as productive as my Monday was.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span><br />
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<br />Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-77351747203770322152013-01-16T09:45:00.004-07:002013-01-16T09:45:41.307-07:00And the beat goes on...<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I've got a guest post (talking about a trope turned sideways) and a really wonderful review from the lovely Jennifer Lowery, <a href="http://buythebooktours.blogspot.com/2013/01/fantasy-mountain-guest-post-by-author.html" target="_blank">at the Buy the Book site</a>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, I have a guest spot at <a href="http://www.romancebookjunkies.com/2013/01/guest-post-fantasy-mountain-by-piper.html?zx=9a0f6b5d8ec540e9" target="_blank">Romance Book Junkies</a> (Workplace romance to the Nth degree).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whew. I still have 2 more guest spots this week. LOL Keeping me on my wool-sock-encased toes. (damn, it's been cold here)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a great Wednesday.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-41630350113768787562013-01-14T04:00:00.000-07:002013-01-14T04:00:02.274-07:00Guest Jessi Gage<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I'm so excited to welcome Jessi Gage, whose novel <i>Wishing for a Highlander </i>is on the Goodreads Best Highland/Scotland Romance Novels list (number 35 last I checked)...which is well-deserved, yet so amazing. She's up there with Diana Gabaldon (who has like 12 of the top 30, LOL), and Julie Garwood.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I truly loved <i>Wishing for a Highlander</i>...and that's even after I edited it. And yes, I'm totally owning that. I "found" Jessi last year when I took pitches at Word Wranglers. Asked to read her synopsis, then needed the full, and fell absolutely in loooooove with Darcy. He's very yummy, and strong, and...vulnerable. Fabulous combination. I'll confess, often when I take on a book to edit, I'm feeling a little "meh" about it. But not with this one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway. I'll let Jessi get to her guest post:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Is that a stick shift under your kilt, or are you
just happy to see me?</b></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks so much for having me, Piper. I'm so excited to be
here promoting WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER, out now with Lyrical Press!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been hitting the blogs talking about the research
I've done to help make WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER historically accurate and super
fun. One of my favorite bits of research involved working out how a
sixteenth-century Scot might manage a modern-day car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darcy is the 6'7" kitled hero of WISHING FOR A
HIGHLANDER, and he is hotter than a piston firing at full power. He operates
the windmills that make his home village profitable, he is the best warrior in
his clan due to his <i>looong</i> reach, and he is a virgin who thinks he is
too big under his kilt to ever be intimate with a woman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you may have guessed from the title of this post,
Darcy's adventures in trying to help his wife return to her home in the future
land him the driver's seat of a modern-day car. He must figure out how to drive
the contraption before an angry mob sets fire to it and kills him and the
friends he has made in Inverness, a gypsy and an albino with magical blood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started out with the car being a manual transmission,
thinking, Darcy runs windmills all day. He'd be fascinated by gears, and he'd
have an intuitive understanding of how to shift once he gave it some thought.
Unfortunately, when I ran what I had in mind past some gearheads, they looked
dubious. They seemed to think I was putting too much faith in my hero (is that
even possible in a romance novel?). After much thought, I made the car an
automatic, and I'm glad I did, because poor Darcy has enough going on in that
scene without having to manage a clutch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope you'll check out WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER, if for
no other reason than to see a sixteenth-century Scot manage a modern-day car.
But I promise, there are plenty of other reasons, including the fact that it's
half price at Lyrical all month! Here's the blurb for WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1zQdovv5cuDGhVMtHT_sziBVCrJvKs-J3MDkDxFRaLGvOxiMnWz8SEm7c5z3WbAUK37NmRHkQ5UBcpug2wrYZZEIe0VfvqwhqgACq7EfwhPAob5vrR14BhoNtqJes4EpQ4U6j18uLl8/s1600/Wishing+for+a+Highlander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1zQdovv5cuDGhVMtHT_sziBVCrJvKs-J3MDkDxFRaLGvOxiMnWz8SEm7c5z3WbAUK37NmRHkQ5UBcpug2wrYZZEIe0VfvqwhqgACq7EfwhPAob5vrR14BhoNtqJes4EpQ4U6j18uLl8/s1600/Wishing+for+a+Highlander.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While examining Andrew Carnegie’s lucky rosewood box,
single-and-pregnant museum worker Melanie makes a tongue in cheek wish on the
artifact--for a Highland warrior to help her forget about her cheating ex.
Suddenly transported to the middle of a clan skirmish in sixteenth-century
Scotland, she realizes she should have been a tad more specific.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darcy, laird in waiting, should be the most eligible
bachelor in Ackergill, but a cruel prank played on him in his teenage years has
led him to believe he is too large under his kilt to ever join with a woman. He
has committed himself to a life of bachelorhood, running his deceased father's
windmills and keeping up the family manor house...alone.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darcy's uncle, Laird Steafan welcomes the strangely
dressed woman into his clan, immediately marrying her to Darcy in hopes of an
heir. But when Steafan learns of her magic box and brands her a witch, Darcy
must do what any good husband would--protect his wife, even if it means
forsaking his clan.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WARNING: A pregnant museum worker, a sixteenth-century
Scot, and a meddlesome wishing box.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Excerpt from WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Size might have its advantages when it came to fighting,
but those few boons fell far short of making up for the problems it caused.
Being the biggest and the strongest had gotten him into far more trouble than
it had gotten him out of. Swallowing his regret for how careless he’d been with
her, he sought to determine whom she belonged to, whom, saints forbid, he might
owe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Whose wife are ye, then? Not a Gunn’s or I wouldna have
had to rescue you from one.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m not married,” the lass said. “And thank you for the
rescuing, by the way. I can’t believe I dropped the dirk. Stupid.” She shook
her head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His heart warmed at her thanks. He didn’t hear many kind
words from the lasses and would take what he could get, even from a dishonored
woman who had caught a bairn out wedlock. Oddly, he didn’t think poorly of her.
Whether it was her worried brow, her guileless, soft mouth, or her vulnerable
size, he had not the heart to condemn her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He didn’t even mind so much that she found him distasteful
for his size, although talking with her now, she didn’t seem overly upset to be
in his arms. He endeavored to keep her talking, keep her distracted from her
disgust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Ye never answered my first question,” he said. “Who are
you? And where are ye from if ye’re no’ English?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Ugh. I don’t know. Is there an answer that won’t get me
burned at the stake or locked up in a ward for the hopelessly insane?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like most things out of her mouth, that had been a
peculiar answer. “Ye could try the truth,” he offered, slowing his pace since
he heard Archie’s voice not far off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No,” she said flatly. “I couldn’t. At least not the whole
truth. How about we just go with my name, Melanie, and with the honest fact
that I’m a long way from home and I have no idea how to get back.” Her green
eyes pierced his. “I’m afraid you might be stuck with me, Darcy Keith.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks again for having me Piper! It's been a pleasure
working with you on my first romance novel More details on WISHING FOR A
HIGHLANDER and on the blog hops I'm participating in (prizes, people!) can be
found on my <a href="http://jessigage.wordpress.com/">blog</a> and <a href="http://jessigage.com/">website</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Buy links: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_26&products_id=563&zenid=pnbpj4ja44bf00nfq7827f23o6">Lyrical Press</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wishing-Highlander-Highland-Wishes-ebook/dp/B00AVL03H8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1358100446&sr=1-1&keywords=wishing+for+a+highlander">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wishing-for-a-highlander-jessi-gage/1114055341?ean=2940016151762">Barnes N Noble</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow Jessi Gage on <a href="https://twitter.com/JessiGage">Twitter</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jessi Gage Bio<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jessi
lives with her husband and children in the Seattle area. In addition to writing
paranormal romance, she’s a wife, a mom, an audiologist, a church-goer, a Ford
driver, a PC user, and a coffee snob. Her guiding tenet in her writing is that
good triumphs over evil, but not before evil gives good one heck of a run for
its money. The last time she imagined a world without romance novels, her
husband found her crouched in the corner, rocking.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-27213499481851210422013-01-10T06:46:00.000-07:002013-01-10T06:46:06.312-07:00Busy week, couple more spots<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow, this week has flown by. And for those of you who don't think it's over yet, well, you probably don't have kids in a 4-day school week. LOL Yeah, Thursday is my kids' Friday. I'm trying very hard this semester to keep on working on Friday, though, so I'll have more time to write those other 4 days. (a mom's work schedule is never set, right?)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today Piper is over at <a href="http://torymichaels.blogspot.com/2013/01/word-slingers-22-guest-piper-denna.html" target="_blank">Tory Michael's World</a> with an interview (Tory remembered me from RomCon, when we had an erotic romance party. Things got a little wild that night. I think I was first up, and we played madlibs, using "dirty" words. LOL) I loved Tory's interview questions, because they were few in number and a little different from those "same-same" ones I've been answering all month.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Autumn is at <a href="http://wavesoffiction.blogspot.com/2013/01/blog-tour-trouble-wont-wait-by-autumn.html" target="_blank">Waves of Fiction</a>, with an interview and also a book review by Arlene. (I saw Arlene's review yesterday on Goodreads, and am so thankful she cross-posted). Her review is forthright, thorough, and I can totally live with her final rating of 3.5 "suns". These interview questions were a little different also. I'm so ready for fresh interview material!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I managed to (finally) set up the Autumn Piper Goodreads author page yesterday. That took some time! But hopefully it'll start flourishing now. I was amazed--and pleased--to see how many reviews my books have. Kinda bummed, though--a blog can only "feed" to one Goodreads profile, and it's already going to the Piper Denna page. Ah well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Thursday.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-43087755635232339362013-01-08T10:01:00.002-07:002013-01-08T10:01:39.905-07:00And I'm OK with not pleasing everyone.<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First off, let me announce a couple of guest spots. Piper is guest posting at <a href="http://mamaknowsbooks.blogspot.com/2013/01/book-tour-fantasy-mountain-by-piper.html" target="_blank">Mama Knows Best </a> today, and Autumn has a guest post at <a href="http://anateasbookshelf.blogspot.com/2013/01/blog-tour-trouble-wont-wait-by-autumn.html" target="_blank">Anatea's Bookshelf.</a> (the guest post is there, but down the page a ways after the book blurb and excerpt) At least both of these ladies got all the names spelled right. LOL I had one last week where "Piper" was replaced with "Pepper". But hey, it was a nice spot otherwise, so I'm not one of those people who'd ask for a correction or anything. Since I have an actual difficult last name in "real" life, I'm often amazed at how hard it is for people to get "Piper" and "Denna" correct. Even when people are applying for jobs or submitting manuscripts at Lyrical Press! I get lots of "Dena"s and "Dina"s and even a "Dinna" before. Also a "Ms. Dena Piper". LOL</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway. I shrug it off. Not worth getting upset over.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night I got a Google alert about a new review posted for <i>All Fore Revenge</i>. It was almost bedtime (probably past, actually), so I clicked the link and read the review on my phone. And it was a rather...unfriendly review. I'm not sure how else to term it, because the reviewer seemed more annoyed with me personally than with my book, and she (maybe a she? Blog belongs to someone with a female's identity, but overall tone of the writing sounded more like a dude) pretty much said she had no idea why she even had the book or why at one time she'd decided to read it. Which kinda leads me to believe it's not even her preferred genre. It was really strange. But the thing she seemed most irritated with me about was because the main character's name is "Shurre". Apparently this blogger has never seen the name "Shurre" and thus she found it ridiculous that I used it in the book.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seriously? I knew that name because I had friend growing up, with it. But surely she couldn't be the only person in the world... So I did some Google searches, found a couple of Shurres. Looked it up on Facebook, found a couple. The reviewer was upset because she didn't know how to pronounce the name. It's actually like the French version, "Cherie". And I realize this spelling looks a little ebonic, a little white trash. But the character Shurre in <i>All Fore Revenge</i>, is pretty much white trash. So, whatever. The reviewer also didn't care for the additional story lines going on in the book, such as Shurre's abuse problem. Well, sorry. Shurre's "issues" have affected main character Ali on a deep level, ever since they were teenagers. Only Ali hasn't dealt with them--and neither has Shurre--for all these years. It ties in with Ali's discoveries about herself, her character journey, and the way she's handled sexual relationships with men all her adult life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some readers simply don't like side stories. They want a basic, category romance in which every page is focused solely on that one relationship. And that's fine. But my stories aren't that way, and they probably never will be. I'm okay with that. I'm also okay with the reviewer's final rating, a 3 out of 5 stars. At least if she cross-posts elsewhere, it won't bring down my star rating by much.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, happy Tuesday. Life is gradually getting back to normal now that the kids have gone back to school. :)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-61824138193620534002013-01-07T06:42:00.004-07:002013-01-07T06:42:56.895-07:00Back in the saddle.<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whew. December was a whirlwind for me, and so was last week. But now the kids are going back to school, hubby's work schedule is regular again, and it's time for me to actually put my resolutions on paper.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First thing, I'm going to get links for all my guest blog spots from my tour here on Piper Patter. (I've put up the very pretty banners Buy the Book made me, over on the right.....-----------></span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I kick off the <i>Fantasy Mountain</i> tour with an author interview on <a href="http://yougottaread.com/blog-tour-fantasy-mountain-piper-denna/" target="_blank">You Gotta Read</a>. They provide a list of the usual questions to choose from for the interview, but I attempted to provide not-so-standard answers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I've decided this is the year I take back my writing time. Honestly, that's what's important for me to leave behind (besides, you know, a couple of grown kids who contribute positively to society). So even if it means shifting work responsibilities or decreasing the number of books I edit, I WILL make time to write regularly.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Monday, and may the Force of Resolutions be with you!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-81737677648091031622012-12-30T17:47:00.002-07:002012-12-30T17:47:46.478-07:00Made the USA Today list!<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Trouble Won't Wait</i> made the Best of 2012 for USA Today's Happy Ever After list!!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It truly did.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check it out: <a class="copy_short_url" href="http://usat.ly/Z1PRUV" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 1px 20px 0px 0px; max-width: 150px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: initial; text-overflow: ellipsis; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;" title=""><b style="display: inline !important; left: -50px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute;">http://</b></a></span><br />
<a class="copy_short_url" href="http://usat.ly/Z1PRUV" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin: 1px 20px 0px 0px; max-width: 150px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: initial; text-overflow: ellipsis; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap;" title=""><span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">usat.ly/Z1PRUV</span></a><span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doing a little Piper pitter-patter-jig thingy right now. :)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that's the way to end the year with a bang!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Autumn Piper</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got romance?</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-71283374563279953112012-11-07T07:57:00.000-07:002012-11-07T08:38:26.404-07:00Bonus just for you!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">On </span><a href="http://piperpatter.blogspot.com/2012/11/stalk-mantic.html" target="_blank">Monday I mentioned the creepy quandary</a><span style="color: #ea9999;"> Mandy was in when a strange man approached her while she was out walking alone on Thanksgiving day. He seemed nice, and was easy on the eyes, but admitted he'd been watching her walk by his house every day. She wasn't sure whether to feel flattered, or freak out.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I've got a special bonus, for your eyes only (it's not in Trouble Won't Wait). After their conversation ends and Mandy heads home, Adam gets a surprise visit from Rifle's finest:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">Adam watched Mandy until she took a right onto the next
street and he couldn’t see her anymore.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">That had gone pretty well. Actually, it had gone great.
Those eyes of hers…he’d almost forgotten to speak at one point when he’d been
looking into them. Things felt better than they had since--in a long time. He
hadn’t come across as a total dork, and Mandy had seemed to like him. She’d
opened up, an unexpected bonus.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and headed back
home, whistling. Had almost made it back to his driveway, when a police cruiser
pulled up beside him and stopped. Weird. Maybe he’d keep walking…but the cop
killed the engine and opened his door.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Stop right there.” No mistaking the command was meant for
him. “Officer Tisdale, Rifle PD.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">He froze in place, and eased his hands out of his pockets.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">The cop came around the car and stood in front of him, hands
on his hips. “We got a call about a suspicious male, matching your description,
possibly harassing a female in the area.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Call?” Adam looked around. “From who?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Don’t you worry about it. A concerned neighbor called in,
said you followed the lone woman into the cemetery, and then when she came out,
you were tailing her home.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">Christ. “I live next to the cemetery. Walked in there,
introduced myself. Last I heard, it’s still legal for a guy to have a friendly
conversation with a woman.” What a bunch of BS. He hadn’t done anything wrong.
In fact, he could probably call one of the company lawyers tomorrow and have
this small-time Fife reprimanded for harassment.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Don’t get smart. What’d you want from her?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Look. She’s cute. Okay? I’ve…noticed her before.” He
scuffed the toe of his Doc in the gravel, then looked back up at the cop. “She
was having a bad day, so I went out to make sure she’s okay.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Bad day.” The cop narrowed his eyes. “How would you know,
if you just introduced yourself?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">What a dumbass. “I could tell by the way she was walking.
And her eyes were puffy. She’d been crying.” Some things a guy just <i>knew</i>,
and had to act on. But he wasn’t about to tell Officer Bigshot that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Uh-huh. So what was she upset about?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">Adam looked the cop in the eye. “Not my story to tell.”
She’d been pretty determined to keep it quiet until she had time to think
things through.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">The cop turned red and shook his head. “So. Your story is,
you saw her walk by, could tell she’d been crying, and went out to check on
her. At which point she confided her problems in you, then you walked her up
the street.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Yes.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“No chance you’ve been stalking her, since you think she’s
cute?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">Stalking? Not exactly. But he’d definitely gone out of his
way to make sure he could see her go by each day. And today, he’d <i>needed</i>
to go meet her, even before he noticed she was upset. Not something he could
share, though. Or he’d end up on some watch-list. He shook his head. “Nope. No
stalking.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">The cop jabbed his finger toward him. “You’re new in town,
arencha?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Been here about two months.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“And you live alone?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">Adam nodded, the lump of misery pressing inside his chest
like something he’d eaten hadn’t done down all the way. <i>Alone.</i> His least
favorite word.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">“Name?” The officer pulled notepad from his pocket. “Don’t
suppose you got any ID on ya, so I’m going on your word here.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">He swallowed the lump and took a deep breath. “Adam Kraft.”
Shit. He could only hope the guy didn’t go digging too deep. Some things in his
past needed to stay there.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">Tisdale noted his name and looked over at Adam’s house.
“This your address?” At Adam’s nod, he scribbled some more, then snapped the
pad shut and shoved it in his pocket. “Here’s the thing. Any women come up
missing, I’m thinking of you first. Got it?”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">He shrugged and nodded. What choice did he have? “Happy
Thanksgiving to you, too, officer.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999;">His face burned as he walked up his drive. All he’d done was
meet Mandy. After two months. Now this. But it wouldn’t keep him from coming
out to talk to her tomorrow, or the day after. Unless she told him she didn’t
want him to. And then he’d…Christ. He just hoped she wouldn’t.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Trouble Won't Wait </i>hit Amazon yesterday!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Autumn Piper</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got romance?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter: AutumnPiperAuth</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">autumnpiper.com</span></div>
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Autumn Piperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187992227902452262noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-66253693947216058302012-11-05T09:19:00.002-07:002012-11-05T09:20:51.066-07:00Stalk-mantic?<span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In certain social situations, we expect to meet new people,
make new acquaintances, possibly launch meaningful relationships. In other
situations…notsomuch. In fact, if a “strange” adult approaches a child,
everyone goes on alert. Likewise if an unfamiliar man starts a conversation
with a woman. Sure, if you’re out in a bar or at a party, you might expect men
and women to exchange numbers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But what if you’re a woman out alone for a walk or jog? And
what if the guy approaches in an isolated spot? That’s what happens to Mandy,
the heroine in <i>Trouble Won’t Wait</i>. She’s out on a walk, alone, and goes
through the cemetery to use the solitude for some soul-searching. This
strange—although incredibly hunky—guy walks straight for her and strikes up a conversation…and
then admits he watches her every day when she runs by his house.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Um. Creepy? Or flattering? She knows her head isn’t on
straight today…too much emotional upheaval. So is that making her more willing
to accept Adam’s attention, or more suspicious of him? After all, he’s just a
guy, and he’s not acting like a stalker. Other than the confession about
eyeballing her from his window. But if he’s really a creep, would he admit to
that? Is she nuts for feeling like the whole thing is kinda romantc?</span></div>
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In the end, gut instinct is all she’s got to go on. She doesn’t lug around mace
or a Taser; after all, and she probably couldn’t outrun a buff guy like
him…even if she wanted to.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does her instinct steer her wrong?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilErv_jQ2ZYzQ_-9_D-VCaG6AzSSAIt-cCZ6kf4Zg4Ssck-DhY3XknmMoxKTy5FSEnNnYqtjYKrJCG00Gd2xr1UYfcLUPgwrTDyLn7Fgm1U-PzKvJpXDBQxvrt6k3MAy_pA55rlGvg0DXu/s1600/Trouble+Won't+Wait.5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilErv_jQ2ZYzQ_-9_D-VCaG6AzSSAIt-cCZ6kf4Zg4Ssck-DhY3XknmMoxKTy5FSEnNnYqtjYKrJCG00Gd2xr1UYfcLUPgwrTDyLn7Fgm1U-PzKvJpXDBQxvrt6k3MAy_pA55rlGvg0DXu/s320/Trouble+Won't+Wait.5.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><a href="http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_25&products_id=562">Trouble Won’t Wait</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Good things may come to those who wait, but trouble waits
for no one…</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Cheating is a dealbreaker...or so Mandy’s always thought.
But when she catches her husband getting some “strange,” she realizes how hard
it is to cut and run, or even file papers. She agrees to a month of counseling,
which will give her time to grieve the loss of her marriage before she has to
tell the world—and the kids. Then she meets Adam, who gives her a hunky--if
mysterious--shoulder to cry on, and that thirty-day waiting period seems like
an eternity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Adam has no problem confessing that he’s watched Mandy from
his window for months as she runs by his house. If he told her why, though,
she’d freak out for sure. He knows they’ve got a future together, if he can
think of a way to explain his past. And he’s sure the rat-bastard who cheated
on her is putting the moves on her again, but he won’t be the revenge guy. The
month-long cooling off period she agreed to is lasting forever, and might just
be indefinite, if trouble keeps getting in their way.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;">WARNING: Eccentric old lady pushing salt-of-the-earth
advice, bossy big brother, kooky counselor, super-secretive hunk, and perfect
justice served amidst adult situations and language.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a little iffy, whether Trouble Won't Wait would be available for sale today. Hurricane Sandy knocked out power for a week at Lyrical Press headquarters, and only came back on last night. So please be patient, if you buy books for Kindle. It'll be available soon, I promise!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Autumn Piper</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got romance?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter: AutumnPiperAuth</span></div>
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Autumn Piperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187992227902452262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-92043772282733791542012-09-18T15:02:00.000-06:002012-09-18T15:02:16.182-06:00Balls in the air, and balls to the wall<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, before you get too excited, this post is not about testicles. :) Perv.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about having a lot going on at once (like, you know, juggling so many balls at one time) and going all-out, full-speed ahead (aka balls to the wall). That second analogy has some interesting history. Most places I researched say it refers to fighter jets, when they slide their joystick/throttle lever into the fully open position, the knob at the top (ball) hits the wall. Clever, eh? And I thought "balls to the wall" meant the G-force kinda, you know... mashed a guy's junk. I feel so enlightened.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find myself looking up phrases such as this all the time when I'm editing. Sometimes the author misspells a word, or uses a similar-sounding word in the metaphor, and I have to go looking to make sure I have the phrase right. For an interesting time, Google "raising Cain".</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any case, I seemingly have more time than ever to do my job(s) as Quickbookskeeper for hubby's business, editor, executive editor, and writer. But every week is just as busy as the last. That could be due in part to my enormously grown roster (I think I've added about 10 authors since this time last year). Also, I'm trying like heck to edit 2 books per month. Which means in a world where I'm all caught up (aka Imaginaryland), I'm reviewing 2 successful submissions per month, getting 2 authors per month started on their pre-edits, formatting 2, content editing 2, reviewing line edits for 2, building galleys for 2, correcting galleys for 2, and completing the final file formats for 2. Whew! Listing that out makes me tired. LOL</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it's part of my master plan, to be home where I'm more likely to have writing time. Did I write today? Well, a paltry 200 words, but hey. It's something. If I did that every weekday, it'd only take like a year and a half to write a full book, right? ;)</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, well, I went looking for a YouTube clip to embed here. Remember on the old <i>Star Trek</i> when they'd take off at Warp Speed, and crew would be tossed and thrashed around their stations? Yeah, that's what I wanted to embed. LOL But after dinking around for 10 minutes, I got nothin' (even tried for a clip of the Delorian from <i>Back to the Future</i>, but ended up watching some parody trailer for Brokeback to the Future. Not the best use of my time...And now I might have bad dreams about Marty and Doc getting it on). So use the imagination God and Willy Wonka gave you, and picture me slamming around in my office chair in front of my laptop, will ya?</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cause I'm taking this publishing career on... Warp Speed!</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-36688018252638804322012-09-11T09:44:00.002-06:002012-09-11T09:44:34.989-06:00Tubesday<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In honor of a most lovely country tune I used for my Tune Trivia today on Facebook, I had to share an (almost) equally famous rendition of Tammy Wynette's classic: </span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0AMMJF5-gMY" width="420"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a great Tuesday.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-3486969406238268892012-09-10T10:44:00.001-06:002012-09-10T10:44:09.549-06:00Things That Suck More Than Mondays<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All I got today is...stomach flu. And it defiinitely sucks more than Mondays.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doing it on a Monday is about as suckish as... I dunno. Quicksand?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blech.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good day to lay around and read submissions, I suppose.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-71758275827597071602012-09-07T10:03:00.001-06:002012-09-07T10:03:09.320-06:00You don't know what other people do with their time.<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soapbox moment here.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A certain someone who I follow on Twitter (and who often has informative and/or entertaining things to share) ruffled my feathers this morning, in a big way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She's pretty proud because she's written 25k in 5 days, and expects to top 35k by day 7. Awesome. Really cool thing to share. Except she prefaces this pride by saying those people who don't have time to write simply don't make the time. Because, after all, she has a full time job and a blog. So don't tell "her" you don't have time to write.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, hold on here, Ms. Superpants. You have no idea what responsibilities other people take care of. Maybe they have kids. (doesn't sound like you do, since you're singing the anthem of singles everywhere, so proud of yourself for managing 1 whole fulltime job. *insert <i>Welcome Back Kotter</i> gang going "wooooooo!"*) Maybe they care for aging/ill family members. Maybe they--gasp--have more than 1 job, or maybe they go to school in addition to working. Perhaps they have health problems, or direct the local charity organization.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, women--moms especially--are prone to putting their needs on the backburner, and often forfeiting their wants entirely. I have to make a conscious effort to claim my writing time, or it'd be taken over by cleaning bathrooms more often, mowing, painting the house, laundry, errands, you name it. I'm well aware some days I don't get time to write because of my own poor time management or lack of aggression in claiming the time. But I also know people with little kids, with businesses, with multiple jobs, with diseases like MS who impress the hell out of me when they turn out a chapter.</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So in the end, I didn't unfollow Ms. Judgmental. Nor did I post a reply comment saying "You are far superior!" like I'd wanted. But it probably would've been worth it. :)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy! --bragging is fun, judging is neither</span><br />
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<br />Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-56988487066837229642012-08-31T00:30:00.000-06:002012-08-31T00:30:04.068-06:00LK Below talks about favorite characters<br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">24 Days until the release
of This Blackened Night, The Order: Book 3!</span></b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Every author has a set of
characters more dear to their hearts than any others. In most cases, this stems
from these characters being among the first ever created. I won't claim Lori and
Terrence were my very first, but they did come close. Their first book, <i>Stalking
Shade</i>, which released in 2011, was originally written in 2007. And
rewritten. And rewritten. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">And now it feels like a
dear friend is moving away. With the release of <i>This Blackened Night</i> on
September 24th, 2012, the trilogy will come to an end. Lori might be a prickly
character, not easy for anyone but Terrence to love, but I had a lot of fun
with her. When I wrote this third book late last year, I dragged my feet to see
it finished for the same reason. I didn't want to let the pair of them go. A
not-so-secret part of me is hoping for an overwhelming response from readers
asking me to continue so I have an excuse to revisit my favorite characters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">For now, I'm counting
down the days until the third book releases. Maybe you'll fall in love with
Lori and Terrence every bit as fiercely as I have. Lori might be stubborn in
pushing people away, but Terrence is the most persistent character I've ever
written. Good thing, too. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Join me in celebrating
the release of the third book a bit early with this short, sweet teaser
excerpt:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">This Blackened Night by
L.K. Below</span></b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">With murders cropping up
all around, who should she trust?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">After months of
searching, Lori finally scrounges up a clue as to the whereabouts of the
missing leader of her secret organization. But her vision isn't encouraging--it
points to her vampire companion Terrence as the culprit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Terrence is adamant that
he isn't at fault. Even though she knows she might be walking into a trap, she
follows his lead to a shabby island port. When her informants start turning up
dead with puncture wounds in their necks, Lori wonders just how well she knows
Terrence. And why does he act different during the search than in their hotel room?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Lori doesn't know who to
trust anymore. She only hopes that she won't be the next victim.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Six Sweet Sentences from
the book</span></i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">“Are you planning on standing here
all night?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Terrence’s voice, but it held none
of his usual warmth. Lori jumped. She turned, her fingers itching for the stake
in her boot. Did he suspect she’d followed him? From his tone of voice, she
thought so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Learn more about the
series as a whole on the Lyrical Press, Inc. website: <a href="http://bit.ly/TheOrderSeries">http://bit.ly/TheOrderSeries</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Read a longer excerpt
from <i>This Blackened Night</i> at <a href="http://bit.ly/ThisBlackenedNight">http://bit.ly/ThisBlackenedNight</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bio</span></i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">:
If L.K. Below gets far too attached to her characters, well, that's because
they're interesting people. Read two of her favorites in her urban fantasy
series, <i>The Order</i>. Join her online at <a href="file:///C:/Users/Owner/www.lbelow.net">www.lbelow.net</a>
to learn more. Want to keep up to date with her tour stops? Follow her on
Twitter (<a href="http://twitter.com/LBelowtheauthor">http://twitter.com/LBelowtheauthor</a>)
or Facebook (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/LK-BelowLindsay-Below/355586159614">http://www.facebook.com/pages/LK-BelowLindsay-Below/355586159614</a>)</span><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-52830575831331904082012-08-28T07:51:00.002-06:002012-08-28T07:51:20.828-06:00Awesome Mom!<span style="color: #d5a6bd;">I</span><span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> read this blip from the AP in the paper on Sunday, and it struck a chord with me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A woman in Maine gave birth to her grandson.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yep, her grandson. Because her daughter has a heart condition and can't carry a baby, she offered to be a gestational surrogate. Mom (Grandma) is 49, has 4 kids of her own, and the youngest are in college, so it's been awhile since she's done this...but she says she thinks this last pregnancy was the easiest for her.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baby Madden was 7 lbs, 14 oz and is doing great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But...isn't that so sweet? What an awesome mom!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-6706605293284254432012-08-27T07:31:00.001-06:002012-08-27T07:31:10.247-06:00Things That Suck More Than Mondays<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm reinstating an oldie-but-goodie from years back on Piper Patter: Things That Suck More Than Mondays, in which I try to make us all feel a bit better about having to rise and shine on this most dastardly of days.</span><div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So...</span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choosing that toilet stall with only those two squares of toilet paper (not mentioning when you get the one with no TP at all... even Mondays aren't bad enough to bring that up!)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stubbing your toe</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Funerals</span></li>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that's all I've got today. Must go convince myself it's good to be up and about, instead of tucked nice and warm inside the bed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Monday, y'all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span></div>
Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-17253817920743353012012-08-24T16:53:00.001-06:002012-08-24T16:53:13.868-06:00Why Nora is The Bomb<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read a book I chose this week--for the first time since last January: Nora Roberts' <i>The Next Always</i>. With my eye problem, my normal workload got quite backlogged and reading for fun just hasn't been an option. But now I'm mostly caught up, so when I took my daughter to the library and saw Nora on the "New" rack, I grabbed the book without even reading the jacket copy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I'm so glad I did it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No matter the naysayers' spew, I can always count on Nora to deliver just what I want from a romance. This one roped me in from the beginning, with characters who have a dog named Dumbass (and yes, upon getting to know the dog better, I had to agree his name fits, LOL). I know it's a trilogy and by about 50 pages in I could tell you what couples the other 2 books will be about, and...I'm so ready to read them too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a couple lines from the book, the place where I had my "awwww moment".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Maybe she'd been sliding, she realized, inching her way along. But this was the finish line, the moment she knew--no doubts--she loved. The moment she could see herself with him next month, next year, next always."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See? Is there anything un-bombish about those wonderful lines? Anything at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I give this book an unquestionable 5 stars. It was such a nice, nice break from reading submissions (some of which have been good, don't get me wrong!). I could relax and depend on that happy ending, that moment of awwww.... Yeah. That's what reading for pleasure is all about.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And now I'm off to the library, hoping the next in the series is available. Wish me luck!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-1787551028765946262012-08-23T09:03:00.001-06:002012-08-23T09:03:10.414-06:00A bachelorette interview<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if the bachelorette could choose 2 guys? These and many other sordid thoughts go through my head sometimes...or else how could I write erotic romance, right? </span><div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Super awesome author LK Below had the great idea of doing a Bachelorette-style interview with my main characters from Victoria's Secret Wish.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I have to admit, I felt extremely... daunted when I first looked at the questions. But I got myself back inside the characters' heads--eventually--and <a href="http://paranormalromantics.blogspot.com/2012/08/join-us-for-special-edition-of.html" target="_blank">here's how it turned out</a>. Fun!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span></div>
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span></div>
Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959259377292607611.post-60326575548978808462012-08-20T12:22:00.002-06:002012-08-20T12:22:31.008-06:00Rockin' the bad girl<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still working with the bad girl from Victoria's Secret Wish. She's interviewed by my favorite fictional news mag/show: The Scoop Zone, or TSZ. (sound familiar? LOL), posted on <a href="http://sayssara.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/mondays-friend-piper-denna/" target="_blank">Sara Jayne Townsend's blog.</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a great day!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Piper Denna</span><br />
<span style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romance is sexy!</span>Piper Dennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456792447298772844noreply@blogger.com0