My day job has seen me go off to Germany for a week. It was my first time in the country, but I can tell you it won’t be my last! I had an amazing time. The people were friendly and the weather was the hottest it had been all summer. I nearly died LOL!

I got to visit the cathedral in Aachen – we just don’t have places like this in Canada. The beauty of the church can’t be captured in this picture.

I was also able to see (from the outside because I had to catch a train) the cathedral in Koln. I would have killed for an hour to go exploring here.

I even got to stand on the highest point of the Netherlands! The Vaalserberg (“Mount Vaals”) is a hill 322.7 metres (1059 ft) in height.

It’s also where Germany, Netherlands and Belgium meet.

I have officially finished the sequel to No Quarter. Not only that, my wonderful, charming editor at Ellora’s Cave has already bought it! Letter of Marque will now officially be known as No Remedy! Contracts have been sent off and edits will start soon. This is Mace’s story and I love how her character has grown from book one. Book three is in the planning stage, and I’ll get to work on that in the fall.

While I was flying, I wasn’t able to sleep on the plane. This was a blessing and a curse, as it gave me lots of time to write. I was able to get a new novella started, which I finished yesterday. This will be part of a new multi-author series from Ellora’s Cave. I don’t want to give too much away at this point (we will have blogs and fun things to come), but my novella is done and ready to go off to my editor. Fingers crossed she likes it.

What’s on the burner for me now? Well, I have a submission ready to go off to Samhain in the next week. This is the beginning of a new paranormal romance series, and I’m crossing all appendages my new editor will like/want it. Any extra good luck anyone wants to send my way would be awesome. I’m also working on a quickie for EC’s Merry Kinkmas theme. I’ll be getting this one out the door in a week or two.

I’ll also be attending EC’s Romanticon in October. Not only will I be there for the fun and book signing, but I’m going to be presenting two workshops – one on GMC and the other on characterization. Hopefully, there will be more than just me in the room.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer so far. I’m still active on Twitter if you want to keep up with my daily musings. I will check back in for August, and then get back to a more frequent blogging schedule come fall.

*does a snoopy dance*

Of course I said yes!

If you are a fan of EC and all her authors, then you need to come over and check out the fun. There are so many people participating, you can’t even shake a stick at them!

Amy has posted excerpts from participating authors, and each of us has our own section where we will be posting more excerpts and chatting. In addition, I’ll be giving away a few free books to some lucky commenters. Come over and check out my thread.

Make sure to visit the other authors too and help spread the word.

*does a snoopy dance*

Since Christine has gotten herself laid up in bed (and had better stay there until she’s better if she knows what’s good for her), I’ve hijacked her blog today to chat with you all and pimp my new release!! J

Do you want to know what I’ve done since the new year rolled around? Hah!! NOTHING! J

Although, that’s not entirely true. I haven’t started writing a new book. But I have returned to my exercise routine (YAY!) and I have finished writing the synopsis for the recently-finished novel. I have also done some critiquing for fellow writers and gotten a handle on my backlog of work at the day job. So I guess I’m not completely useless.

But the itch to start writing something new is there and it’s strong. I’m trying to ignore it for a little while longer, because I desperately need a bit of a break (even though the mind is willing, the body is weak—or something like that). The last five months have been CRAZY at the computer. Still, I don’t think I will be able to hold out much longer. For me, writing isn’t something I like to do in my spare time, it’s a gift that lives inside of me and if I don’t use it, I feel incomplete. (I know, check out the melodramatic writer.)

But to hold me over, I do have a new release to celebrate!!

The Morning After is out this month from Ellora’s Cave!

This story was a little different for me. It has no vampires, demons or immortals, and the hero and heroine aren’t caught in a life-or-death situation. Boring, you might ask? Absolutely not! The depth of emotion and level of electrifying heat between these characters was amazing and I LOVED writing it. I hope that you will all enjoy it too, and to whet your appetites I leave you with an excerpt:

Blurb:

Waking up naked in bed with a man’s arms holding you close wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing…except when that man is your husband.

Leslie has tried so hard to put Leo’s betrayal behind her—the ink was almost dry on the divorce papers. But when circumstances throw her in bed with her estranged husband one last explosive time, Leslie learns how quickly anger can turn to passion and hurt can turn to need, even while she knows there’s no way she can ever trust him again.

What Leslie considers goodbye, Leo insists is only the beginning. But the damage between them runs too deep, and sometimes, the only thing more devastating than the night before, is the morning after…

Excerpt:

Consciousness came slowly.

It started with a groan, a deep breath, and a fuzzy sense that all was not as it should be this bright new morning. Indeed, the fact that warm light penetrated her still-closed eyelids at all was worrisome, since her large bedroom windows should have been covered by the heavy, thick drapes she’d spent a small fortune to have custom made.

The sunshine wasn’t her only reason for coming to the conclusion that this morning would offer a few extra challenges. The relentless pounding in her temples, and her pasty, dry throat was also a pretty big clue.

Being buck naked beneath the soft cotton sheet was another.

However, the biggest and most compelling sign that Leslie Stevenson was in serious trouble on this particular morning came courtesy of the heavy, even breaths raising gooseflesh on the skin of her nape. The warm, wide chest pressed up against her back. The thickly muscled arm draped over her waist. The hand cupping the weight of her breast. Especially when her memory of just how the as-yet-unnamed—and very naked—man might have ended up in this bed with her was proving to be an elusive one.

Daring to open her eyes, Leslie bit back an oath as a fresh spike of pain knifed through her forehead to the back of her skull. She didn’t think she’d had that much to drink last night.

How did I get here? Why can’t I remember?

Lifting her arm, she moved to push her hair out of her face, but stilled suddenly as the hand around her breast…squeezed.

She held a harshly drawn breath, waiting nervously. Was her mystery bedmate awake then, or just a grabby sleeper? Could she somehow slip out of here without having to endure the awkward morning after, since it seemed she didn’t even have the benefit of memories from the night before to make said awkwardness worthwhile?

She shifted her hips and started a slow shuffle out from under him, but didn’t get very far. The arm tightened around her waist, pulling her back into the cradle of his solid, warm flesh. She gasped as bold evidence of a raging morning hard-on pressed intimately against her buttocks. The hand clutching her breast repositioned itself, a calloused thumb flicking across her nipple—which tightened beneath this stranger’s bold touch. Her body betrayed her, sending a sharp thrum of intensity to her belly until she wanted to thrust her hips back harder against his erection.

She groaned and shut her eyes tightly as his hips pushed forward, as his cock slid deeper into the crack of her ass. Damn. There should be at least some small nugget of memory to tell her how she’d gotten herself into this particular tight spot, but the details of last night weren’t becoming any clearer, even as soft lips dropped to the curve of her shoulder.

It shouldn’t feel this good. To be held. To be touched.

She remembered her determination to go to the ritzy nightclub last night. Kind of a test. She also remembered forcing her feet to cross the threshold, and then making her way to the bar on the other side of the dark room. She’d ordered a drink in an attempt to numb her scrambled nerves. Leslie and crowds certainly didn’t mix, but she’d been working so hard to overcome the irrational phobia that had made her feel like such a freak for so many years.

But last night she’d felt strong, even though her temples had ached and her fingers shook while she waited patiently for David. Then came the call on her cell phone to say that he was working late and couldn’t make it. And she remembered all her hard-won strength falling away, proving that it had been nothing but a flimsy mask. She had lurched up from the barstool, desperate to be gone from that place.

Until…

He appeared across the dance floor.

With a gasp, Leslie clutched the bed sheet to her chest in a tight fist. She twisted around and glared into the face of the last person she should find herself naked in bed with…

Her husband.

Not only is Red an incredibly talented writer, she is one of the nicest people I’ve never met. Always there with a kind word, a critique, or simply to act as a sounding board, Red’s been a cheerleader and a rock for me.

So I am very please to repay some of her kindness with a small pimp on my blog. You see, Red had jumped into the big kids pool and has her first NY release TODAY!!! I’ve been just bubbling with exciting over the release of Satin Sash for ages now. In fact, I’ll be heading to the bookstore later today to harass the staff for my copy.

Satin Sash
Business partners Grey Richards and Heath Solis are best friends, even though they’re as different as night and day. Grey is calm, confident, and always in control. Heath is as passionate as his smoldering looks. No woman can resist them, and it’s always been easy to share. Until now…

Grey is head over heels in love with Antonia Kearny, a woman whose luscious body enflames his senses and whose playful, willing spirit captures his heart. He’ll do anything to see her smile, to hear her breath catch, to make her scream his name. And when he realizes that Toni wants another man—and that it’s Heath—he’ll make the ultimate sacrifice…

On a decadent weekend in Mexico, Toni will experience the hunger, the touch, the taste of two men. But will her desire bring them together, or tear the three apart?

Help support a new author and get your copy of Satin Sash today!!

You can check out an excerpt on Red’s website here.

Buy from Amazon,
Borders, or Barnes and Noble

My very good friend Leah Braemel asked me to be her guest blogger over at her site today.

If you’d like to see some ramblings from me on the Eternal Bond series, and specifically The Bond That Saves Us, please pop over and say hi! While you’re there, make sure to check out Leah’s bookshelf.  Her books rock!

I’ll be picking this one up as soon as I get home tonight. Congratulations Anna!

*does a snoopy dance*

The fantastic Leah Braemel saw the release of her first book Private Property. I had the pleasure of reading this a while ago, and I have to say, it is a SMOKING hot novel. I was so thrilled for Leah when Samhain snatched this little gem up. There is a reason it’s the number one seller over at Samhain right now people. You need to run over and pick this little gem up! GO, GO, GO! I can’t wait for the sequel Personal Protection to come out in May.

My other very good (and wonderful, charming, preggers) friend Amy Ruttan saw the release of her book Enchantress: The Fey. Oh the work that went into this book, everyone. I know it holds a special place in Amy’s heart, and having seen the effort she put into it, I know you won’t be dissapointed. And to top it all off, it’s now a series! Five books…and I’m super excited.

I’m so proud and excited for both of you. Congratulations!!

*does a snoopy dance*

I’m in the process of editing All Bottled Up, which will be coming out from Samhain this January. I forgot how much I loved these characters and this story, but it’s funny to see how much my writing has changed since I initially wrote this. So I’ll be busy working away on this making it sparkle for you!

And I got my first review for Primal Elements! I was so excited when I saw this one from Manic Readers, I think I giggled out loud.

Primal Elements by Christine D’Abo lives up to its name by boiling things down to an elemental level, positive and negative, good and evil, love and hate. All these things must have their opposite to exist and so goes the plot of this book. The hero and heroine are completely different, but joined on a level that exceeds anything they understand. I really enjoyed the interaction between the main characters and their friends as well as how they learned to adjust to each other. A funny, entertaining and sarcastic book, Ms. D’Abo has a bright future in fiction ahead if this is anything to go by.

Thank you so much for this!

I didn’t get any new writing done this week, so my kick in the pants flopped. This week I’m totally focused on edits, so the new stuff will have to take a back seat. That is fine, as I’m mulling over a few plot points for my urban paranormal. I’m working on cleaning it up too, and am anxious to start sending it out. Soon….

What is everyone else up to this week?

I did manage to get most of the first part of a new story finished. I wanted to have more done, but that’s okay. I know the direction I want to take with the characters and for me that’s half the battle. This one is more of a fantasy and less of a romance, but knowing me, there will be lots of romantic elements. How can I resist?

So the plan for this week is to get most of the story done. I do have a few distractions though. The first is finishing the FANTASTIC Law of Averages, by my friend Wylie. I love this book. Oh man… I really didn’t want to put it down once I’d started reading, but vomit did take priority.

I’m going to finish it tonight and I really can’t wait! If you haven’t read this one yet, check it out!!