My Reads: Dark Love by Olivia Howe

The book I chose this week is one in a genre I don't usually read. It's rare that I even open a book with characters under the age of 25, but I was curious about it and decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did. It's Dark Love by my young friend Olivia Howe.

I didn't really know what the book was about when I started it. I'm not sure what I expected, quite frankly. I just knew that I was curious and wanted to read it. I'd already decided that if I didn't like it, I would say nothing. Olivia is a lovely young lady and I didn't want to discourage her from writing.

I didn't have to worry about that. And it wasn't at all what I thought it would be.

First, it's a Young Adult book. I don't read YAs - I just don't. Second, it's a fantasy romance. Sorry, but the first thing that went through my head was Twilight. And then I found out there was a vampire and I got really discouraged. All I could think was, Oh, great. Another vampire book. How many of those are there?

Turns out there's not another one like this one, at least not that I've seen or heard about. As you well know, I don't give plot synopses or spoilers in this blog. That's just not my style. But I wondered if there would be sparkly vampires. There weren't. That was a relief.

So I dived in. I was surprised at the way it started; not at all like I'd expect a YA book to start. When I got to all the high school parts, I almost lost faith, but I forged ahead, and I'm glad I did. Because somewhere around the end of the first quarter of the book, that thing I love above all else happened: I started to wonder what was going to happen next. See, I have this thing about that phenomenon. It wouldn't have mattered if it was the most poorly-written thing on the planet (and trust me, it was not!). As long as it makes me wonder what's going to happen next, I'm happy. And I was pretty damn happy.

I was even happier as it all unfolded. I was asked last night by a member of my street team which scene was my favorite in the book. I'd have to say when Nina goes to talk to her mother. She's afraid to tell her mother what she knows she has to divulge, but the surprise is on her - her mother already knows. I suspected she did, but I was curious to see how she was going to react, and I liked the way it was written. It was perfect, and the dialogue was very realistic.

Oh, and did I mention there's a witch? There's a witch. Well, not one that you see, but, well, you'll understand when you read the book. Suffice it to say, it made me very happy.

All in all, I liked it. I was pleased with the way it progressed, and I'm curious to read the next one. It's already out, and I haven't had a chance to pick it up, but I will and when I finish it, you'll see it here. I don't know how many books Olivia's planned in this series. I just know I'll read them all. So thanks, Olivia, for a YA that I actually enjoyed! I'm going to one-click Seeing Red!

Baton blog hop!

What the heck is a Baton Blog Hop?

Each writer involved answers four questions and then passes the baton on to another person. I received the baton from my friend Olivia Howe, author of the Dark Love series. Her second novel in the series, Seeing Red, just came out this past Tuesday on her twentieth birthday, June 24!

What am I working on?

Wow – what am I not working on. Let’s see . . . the fourth novel in the Love Under Construction series, Planning an Addition, will be coming out on November 1. It will be followed by the Citadel series, a series of three novellas, with each book having a main character(s) who was a minor character in the Love Under Construction series; the first one is already well underway. There will be more Harper’s Cove novellas; one’s almost finished. So many readers asked about the other characters in Adventurous Me, one of my stand-alone novels, that I’m planning two more books from it. And there will also be a new series starting. I don’t want to give the name of it yet, but let’s just say it’s a departure from my usual. It’ll still be steamy, but it’ll be different.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

It’s unusual in that most of the main characters are well over forty. They’re not kids. They’re also working people; they didn’t mysteriously become millionaires from unknown sources. They worked hard and rose up through the ranks to be where they are. I’ve also discovered that I do something that few romance writers really do – I write villains, really nasty ones, psychologically damaged ones. I love them. So my work tends to be very different from the rest of the genre.

Why do I write what I do?

That’s a good question. I guess it’s because I love people, and I love to watch people fall in love. Plus I’m well over forty, and I get tired of 22-year-old sexual experts and billionaires. That’s so unrealistic that it makes my head hurt just thinking about it. I want my romances to be realistic, to be something that could actually happen to a reader. I want them to be hot; I want those over-forty characters to have the wild, passionate, uninhibited sex that I know people that age have, because I am one. And I want it to be as entertaining as humanly possible. Plus I try to always build in a “wow, I didn’t see that coming” moment. I love those!

How does your writing process work?

I wish I could tell you, because I honestly have no idea. My plots come to me fully-formed, and they usually only need some detail work to make them not only work but to be fully plausible as well. I start writing, and the characters just come out of the woodwork and make it all interesting. When that happens, I stop and get out a three-page character dossier and start filling it out on the character. It covers everything, physical description, personality, age, parents, siblings, kids, work history, everything. Then once I’ve got the plot pretty well settled, I go back and start doing detail work. I also work heavily off of recognizable holidays for time placement, and I go back with a calendar and do a timeline so I know everything is in the order it needs to be. Once that’s done, it’s time for hardcore revisions, then proofing and editing. That can take me longer than the writing (as it should). For a 170,000 word novel, it’s usually an eight-month process.

Time to pass the baton!!!!

I will be passing the baton to Liz Crowe, author of the Stewart Realty and Black Jack Gentlemen series. Liz is an outstanding author and loves to write books featuring soccer in which Spain never loses a game! Just kidding. But she is a soccer super-fan and a beer aficionado. Check out her work and go and visit her blog to see what she’s up to and watch her pass the baton on July 14!

Erotic romance, erotica, or porn?

I was standing in the receiving line at a funeral, of all places, when someone I hadn't seen in at least twenty years smiled and spoke to me, then asked me if I knew the deceased. I smiled and said, "Well, I should hope so. He was my uncle." I got the funniest look from her because she's my cousin. She had no idea who I was, not a clue. When I finally told her, after forcing her to squirm for several minutes, she asked the question I always dread:

"So, what are you doing these days?"

Aww, yeah, there it is. So I say, as I always do, "I write." And then comes the other question I always dread:

"Really? So what do you write?"

You knew that's what I was going to say. Of course, first they must get past their shock that I might actually be able to string a group of words into an intelligible sentence. That's sometimes funny and sometimes just downright infuriating; guess that depends on how many idiots from the Middle East have sent me PMs on Facebook that day calling me "bb." So I hem and haw and look at the floor, and then they ask the next question that I always dread, because I know as sure as there's rain on my birthday that it's coming:

"Oh! You don't write something naughty, do you?"

I got that from a guy at Home Depot too, only I think it was more like, "You don't write them dirty books, do ya?"

So I tell them, yeah, that's exactly what I write. I'm not ashamed of it. I write under a pseudonym but, as you might remember if you've read my blog posts before (and shame on you if you haven't), it's not because I don't want anyone knowing what I write. It's because my real name is so damn long and hard to pronounce - difficult enough, in fact, that I've had people argue with me as to how to pronounce it. (What's wrong with me? How could I be this old and still not know how to pronounce my own name? I must be a real imbecile.) And I certainly don't talk about it in the presence of certain family members, mostly my daughter's inlaws, because I really, truly don't give a fuck what anyone in my own family thinks. Seriously. Couldn't care less.

They usually ask me about it. Honestly, they most often ask me for a business card. I don't apologize, and I don't consider that pimping. Any other business person, when asked for their business card, would gladly share one, and I'm no exception. For me, this IS a business, or at least I treat it like one, even though by looking at my bank statement you'd never guess it. But I digress. So, when they ask me what I write, erotic romance or erotica doesn't cut it. They have no idea what that means. I have to find some way to describe it without being descriptive. That makes no sense, but here goes.

I usually say something like, "Well, let's see . . . have you read 'Fifty Shades?'" I almost always get an affirmative on that. Then I say something like, "If you've read that, then mine are like that, only on steroids. And maybe with 'roid rage. Just sayin'."

You know, I didn't know so many people had the talent of being able to jack up one eyebrow, but it seems they do. Amazing.

Anyway, that's usually followed by a "really?" Or maybe a "you're kidding, right?" Sometimes it's followed by an "oh, my." But that's pretty rare.

So I've been grappling with a way to explain to people what I write. To do so, I had to really, really figure out what the words meant.

I write erotic romance. It's pretty damn raunchy. There are lots of naked people, lots of body parts, and LOTS of sex. Lots. Not kidding. And it's pretty wild sex too. A lot of it includes fetishes. If you don't know what that means, look it up - that's an entire blog post for another time. Lots of positions, some only for the double-jointed. Lots of combinations, as in couples, ménages (you can look that up too), singles, etc. Weird locations. Strange situations. If you can think it up, it's okay because, basically, it's an "anything goes" kind of thing. Except for one.

There is NO CHEATING. Not cool in erotic romance. If your hero or heroine cheats on the love interest, that's almost always a death sentence for the work. Nobody wants that. Regardless if the guy is an undercover mob boss and has just had three guys snuffed for stealing his kid's lemonade stand, have him put his willy in any other heroine than the one he just snatched from his sworn enemy and is holding hostage because it was love at first sight, and your readers are going to turn on you like Boehner on Pelosi. That will be the end of your literary career.

Why, you ask? Because in erotic romance, readers expect a "happily ever after." Doesn't matter that they may be the most despicible individual in the world. As long as they have one redeeming quality, just one, they deserve what we in the business call an HEA. Gotta happen. And the joy is in the journey: Readers enjoy the ups and downs that it takes to get the two individuals together forever, for at least a "happily for now," which is also acceptable, as long as there's going to be another book in which they'll have their HEA.

Oh, and please note: I said hero and heroine. It can just as easily be hero and hero, or heroine and heroine, or hero and heroine and hero, or hero and hero and heroine and hero, and . . . well, you get the idea.

I also write some erotica. It's pretty much the same as above, except for two things. The first is that it's a lot raunchier - I mean A LOT. We're talking orgies, swapping, things like that. The second is that there are not "happily ever afters" required in erotica. Matter of fact, most readers don't expect or want that in erotica. Mine usually have just a touch of romance, because most of my readers are romance readers and I want them to enjoy the erotica too. Which I'm pretty sure they do. But they'll never tell.

What I DON'T write is pornography. In porn, there are no personalities. There is no story line. There is no hero or heroine. It's just sex. Nothing else. Sex for the sake of sex. No regard for feelings. No concern for safety. It's just sex.

"Well," you might say, "there's sex going on in your books, so it's porn." Yeah, and that thing that keeps you from pulling your pants up correctly might just be a stick up your ass. No, don't pull it out on my account. I don't give a shit if it hurts like hell when you sit. It's your stick and your ass and you have the right to have it up there as far as it'll go in your business if that's what you want.

But don't get mad if I make that part of a scene in a book, okay? And no, I'm not going to give you any of the profits.

So when they blush as they get the answer to the question of what I write, I don't. I don't see a damn thing wrong with it. I enjoy it. Does it arouse me? Yeah, sometimes. Do I do my own research? Tee-hee-hee, yeah, sometimes. Okay, most of the time. And I'm still not blushing. But when I answer their questions, do you know what usually happens?

They turn to whomever they're with, show them the business card, and whisper and giggle. Or, most often, they ask for more business cards so they can share them with their friends, and I do my best to stifle a laugh or, at the least, a cheesy grin. Because I know the truth.

We're all having those thoughts. Go ahead and deny it, but you know it's true. Quit fighting them and embrace them. Have a little fun. Okay, have a lot of fun. Sex is only dirty if you don't shower before and after; otherwise, it's all the good, clean fun you can stand (that is unless you're bound to a St. Andrew's cross being flogged and then buggered from behind, and then it's more fun than you can stand).

So that's what happens when I'm asked what I do. I've learned to be truthful and accept the consequences. And carry a lot of business cards. Speaking of which, it's time to order more.

My Reads: Suicide Ride: The Platinum Man by Elizabeth Llewellyn

Last week I brought you here to my page to hear my take on a book I'd just read in the last couple of weeks, Dee Kelly's Breaking Kate. It's a book that pretty much any romance reader would enjoy.

This week's read? Not so much. I don't mean that readers won't like; on the contrary. They should love it, but they should also be prepared to read something that's not only not their typical read, but also not sweet, smooth, or pretty. I decided that I wasn't going to go easy on any of you - oh, no. Instead, you're going to get an in-your-face read that just won't stop. It's Suicide Ride: The Platinum Man by Elizabeth Llewellyn.

First off, take a look at that cover. Is that not some kind of freakin' gorgeous? It's dark, mysterious, seductive - all the things that make me want to open a book. I mean, if it's got a cover like that, it's got to be heavy-duty, right?

Let me assure you, it is. This is no light reading here. Set in Los Angeles, we begin the tale with gorgeous Johnny Gellis, a man on the run. It's only until much later that we learn what has set him on the path he's taking, but when he reaches the end of the line, he, his Vette, and his guitar go looking for someone to make him a star and save him from the miserable life of a gynecologist. It doesn't take long before casual small talk leads him to Norman Dimond, owner of Dimond Records, started by his late father, Preston Dimond. When Johnny goes to Norman's club - a gay club, no less - to look for the infamous producer, Johnny finds him. Or perhaps Norman finds Johnny. The reception the hetero Johnny receives from the always homo/sometimes bi Dimond is disconcerting, but it's even more disconcerting to Norman, who falls ass over tea kettle for the beautiful, troubled young man. The plot unfolds and we watch as the two verbally tangle and untangle over and over.

Yes, the plot is unusual in its message and structure. Yes, the story is very worth reading. But none of that was what struck me about this book. You see, I started reading and I simply couldn't stop. Because this isn't your typical read, no sir. This is something else entirely.

This is high literature. I'm careful in my writing to not go completely over the heads of my readers, but Elizabeth didn't use those brakes, and I'm glad she didn't. What you get is prose that flows, almost qualifying as poetry constructed in a swollen stream. It's gritty, raw, elegant, stark, brutal, and lyrical, all together inside the covers of one book. By the end of the book, you know exactly how Norman feels about Johnny. What we're not sure about is how Johnny feels about Norman, or himself, or life in general, except to say that young Gellis takes an approach to solving his problems that I would not advise.

But regardless the outcome, the art in this hard-driving volume will leave you breathless. It's a ride like no other, and soon I'll bring you the second in the series, Suicide Ride: The Fix. Give The Platinum Man a chance, but have a dictionary handy. Fortunately, you'll need it.

And if you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, you might want to. The first edition will be out soon and you just might miss something important!

Keep reading - don't ever stop.

RELEASE DAY BLITZ - Next to You (Life #2) by Claudia Burgoa

Title: Next To You (Life #2)

Author: Claudia Burgoa

Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult

Him

…I need time. Time to heal those wings and learn to use them…

Was part of the letter Rebecca Trent, Daniel Brightmore’s fiancée and best friend left when she ran away. The person he trusted the most for the past decade disappeared without giving him a second glance. She taught him how to love, believe in family and that everyone deserves a happily ever after. Now he’s struggling between wiping any traces of her from his life and drowning his sorrows away with the help of his new best friends—Don Julio and Jack Daniels.

Her

Rebecca’s past suffocated her to the point of not wanting to continue, her lifeline and the only reason to live began to withdraw from her. She wished it had been her imagination, but heard it loud and clear: “If not, there’s always a divorce, nothing is forever.” This time it became a leave or die situation. Something has got to change—she had to change. Packing light and leaving a letter behind, she takes a journey that can help her find herself through the shards of her painful childhood.

As letters, memories and stories are exchanged, two once inseparable people reconcile what’s left of their relationship. Beyond the confines of everything they built together, they’re left with two lonely people searching for what it means to be whole. Will they find meaning under their bruised psyches or will their pasts get the better of them?

Born on the mystical day of October 30th in the not so mystical lands of Mexico City, Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a caffeine-injected  soap opera. Seventeen years ago she ventured to the lands of her techie husband—a.k.a. the U.S.—with their offspring to start a new adventure.

She now lives in Colorado working as a CFO for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, said nerd husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.

Connect with Claudia: 

Twitter: @yuribeans

Website: http://www.claudiayburgoa.com/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/yuribeans/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ClaudiaYBurgoa

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7202946.Claudia_Y_Burgoa

Where Life Takes You (Life #1)

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo ~ iTunes

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo ~ iTunes

What do I do when I'm not writing?

Every once in a while when I’m doing an interview, or maybe filling out a bio sheet, this question crops up:

“When you’re not writing, what do you do?”

And I just laugh and laugh.

So what do I do when I’m not writing? Let’s see . . . it’s been a while . . .

Well, I sleep. Okay, not much. Maybe four hours? Five? Whatever length of time the dogs will let me.

And sometimes I dream. I dream plot lines. I dream about my characters, about conversations they’ve had, about places they’ve gone and things they’ve done. Sometimes I even have to get out of bed and write something down so I won’t forget it by the time I wake up, because it’s really, really good. That cuts into my sleep.

Wait. If I’m doing all that, then I’m writing.

Okay, I’m cooking. I have to cook eventually, because I have to eat – eventually. I cook myself eggs. Most of the time I just fix fruit to eat. Sometimes I get something frozen out of the freezer. Sometimes it’s the meatloaf that one of my characters makes. Sometimes I cook something from one of their recipes. And sometimes, while I’m cooking whatever it is, I think about them, what they’d cook, who would be there with them, what they’d be talking about.

And that means I’m still writing.

Well, what about this? I go to the store. The big store. You know the one, the huge one that has everything. Correction: It has everything if they’d just stock the shelves (my pet peeve). And I always take a list. If I don’t take a list, there’s no point in me going to the store. It’s time wasted because I come home with less than a quarter of the stuff on the list. While I’m in the store, I’m watching all the time, watching for people who look like my characters. This one’s got her eyes, that one’s got his hair, this one over here has her lips. I see them everywhere. I also look at the products and try to guess which ones they’d buy. Sometimes I see something in the clothing department that I think one of them would look good in.

Nope. Writing then too.

Answering this question is harder than I thought. Maybe I go to dinner with a friend – yeah, that’s something! We talk and laugh. I order a bottle of wine, and I think about how one of my characters really likes wine. I look at the menu and try to imagine what they’d order. While we’re having our conversation, there’s another one going on in my head, and it’s begging to be written down. Sometimes I even have trouble concentrating on the conversation because I’m thinking of my characters and what they’re saying.

I guess that means I’m writing then too.

So let’s think about the other times of day. I’m in the shower . . . Nope. They’re there too. How about when I’m driving to the mall? They’re having an argument – out loud – and people at the intersection are staring at me. Well, and then there’s the time I spend actually in my chair at my desk, writing. That’s most of the rest of it.

I’m sitting here trying to think of a time during the day that I’m not writing, and I can’t come up with a single one. Sitting on the swing, out in the kayak, washing the car. Technically speaking, I’m writing at all of those times.

And now, to answer the question: What are you doing when you’re not writing? That’s obviously not as clear-cut as it seems it should be. The question is still about what I’m doing when I’m not writing.

The answer is pretty simple. When I’m not writing I’m . . . dead. Otherwise, I’m writing.

My Reads: Breaking Kate by Dee Kelly

I’ve started something new, so this is the inaugural entry for this particular new thing. Every Wednesday I will be featuring a book that I’ve read and liked. Let me be really clear: This is NOT a review. It’s simply a way for me to tell you about authors whose work I’ve found meaningful, entertaining, or just plain fun.

So today, for the first time, I’m going to tell you about something I’ve read. For the first go ‘round, I’ve chosen Dee Kelly’s book, Breaking Kate.

This book kind of surprised me. I didn’t really know what to expect when I started it. I’d been told by a couple of people that they really liked Dee’s work, so I went into it with some expectations, but still with an open mind. I also usually read in the erotic romance and erotica genre- wonder why? - so I was afraid this would be too frou-frou for my taste. 

I had absolutely nothing to fear.

First of all, Dee did exactly what everyone is told not to do but, like me, also thankfully ignored: She writes this book in first person point of view, something I love to do. That in itself is quite a feat. And to top it off, she writes it in present tense – another difficult task, and also one which I love to do. Any editor will tell you not to do this. I think that’s a ridiculous tack to take. I find it very effective if done by someone who knows how. And Dee Kelly obviously knows how. If you’ll recall, “that popular trilogy written by a British author” that took the world by storm a couple of years ago is written the exact same way, and it was a bestseller. Further proof that a literary device, when used appropriately by someone who can effectively do so, can be just right for a particular story.

I also liked that the point of view changed back and forth between Kate and Michael. The story was presented from both sides so I could see it knit together, and that was very effective. Most writers can’t pull that off, but Dee managed to do just that, and in fine form too.

I don’t do spoilers, so I’ll tell you what I can. I didn’t expect what happened in the beginning, and I felt every moment of searing, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking pain that Kate felt. I can only describe it this way: If you’ve read my book Laying a Foundation you should remember this. Nikki was talking to Tony about the family that she’d lost and, if you’ll recall, she said of her grief, “Sometimes it hurts to breathe.” That was exactly the same sensation I had when I read the last paragraph of the prologue to Breaking Kate. All that suffering is the same. And it took my breath away.

As the book progressed, I caught what was happening, although it’s not blatant. I’m one of those people who’s always watching for the little signs, and I saw them, so I was pretty sure I knew what was happening, but I didn’t know how Dee would resolve it. What I didn’t see coming was the ending, if you could call it that. It sets the stage for the next book in the series, Catching Kate, out very soon. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m lucky enough to be participating in the release day festivities (thanks, Dee!). My biggest question is about what role Daniel will continue to play in the books. I’m very, very curious about that given the ending of this book.

All in all, I enjoyed Breaking Kate. It was every bit as good as everyone had told me it was. Get a copy now. You don’t have long before Catching Kate comes out on July 7, and you’ll want to have it under your belt before then.