Second Chance released today!

My dear friend Rita Oberlies’ newest romance book released today, Second Chance with Entangled Press. I’m so proud of her! It’s a great contemporary romance. Love the cover and the blurb. Jumping up and down for Rita right now. So everyone here is Rita Oberlies’ newest release Second Chance.

Will the past keep them apart…

High-powered attorney Luke Braden knows that perfection only comes once in a lifetime, and for him it came and went in the form of his college girlfriend, Brenna Morgan. Circumstances beyond his control separated them before, but now that she’s back in Boston, Luke won’t let her slip away again.

…or give them a second chance at love?

For Brenna Morgan, returning home is the very last thing she wants, especially when it means facing the man who once became her salvation—and then dumped her at the first sign of trouble. But Luke is determined to make up for his past mistakes, and Brenna finds herself weakening against him. A decade of deceit lies between them, and he’ll have to fight if he wants to keep his second chance at love.

Find Second Chance at: Amazon

For more information on Rita Oberlies: Website,  Blog, Twitter

I can say I’m an Award Winning Author

My critique partners and I drove from Western NY to Salem, MA this morning, a gorgeous drive with great company. The NECRWA conference started on a great note, I attended Jen Talty’s workshop on Conference Guide and Pitches Friday night. Fantastic stuff. Really got me thinking again about where I really want my writing career to be in the next five years. As well as helping me relax about giving the my pitch I have scheduled with Lori Perkins tomorrow. 

But the best part of the night is the announcement that I won the novella category with Painted with Pleasures. It’s now an award winning novel.This is my debut novel. The first to be published and I won the Bean Pot Contest. I so did not see this coming and I’m beyond thrilled. As they announced the 3rd, and 2nd winners, I looked at my CP completely stunned. I think I even asked. Is that mine? Really. I won.

So thank you, everyone who has supported me through all my writing trials!   And thank you Rita Oberlies and Jen Talty for celebrating this award with me. We rocked those Tiaras!

Excitement In Salem, MA

Wow. Can I say it again… WOOWSER.

I entered Painted with Pleasure in the Bean Pot Readers Contest hosted by the New England Chapter of RWA. This annual contest is well known throughout the romance community. All entries are read by readers, booksellers or librarians. There are ten categories based on genre and novel length.

Painted with Pleasure is in the Novella Category because of the novel length and not genre. So it went up against all genres in the 20k to 50k novel length and…. It’s a finalist.

I’m a finalist. Now I get to go to the NECRW’s Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference to find out my placement, first, second or third. Dress up in my Tiara and hit the evening gala. Not to mention, Painted with Pleasures cover and blurb will be shown to all Friday night. And..And It will be announced in the RWA Magazine in either the June or July copy.

It only gets better, because I had been eyeing this conference for some time. Some of my favorite authors have either keynote or workshops. It’s going to be huge. And I can’t wait.

Salem, MA. Here I come.

Reviews!!

My novel, Painted with Pleasure has some reviews posted. And I can’t believe how giddy I am over them. Reviews are one of those things that I knew I would happen, but reality of them hadn’t sat in yet. Now, I have two and I’m giddy. Words seem to fail at how I feel. I feel like jumping up and down and shouting to the roof tops. Ok… so words don’t really fail me.

The first Review is from The Romance Studio giving Painted with Pleasure 4 hearts. It was just spectacular to see the work I’ve done received good reviews. Thank you Amy Hopkins for your review.

 http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/painterpleasuredepaulo.htm

Today, a new Review came in and it thrilled me to my core. The Romance Review gave me 4 out of 5 stars. Erinne got my book, the setting… the passion of the book. Thank you so much. So happy with the reviews. I can’t be anymore happy.

 

http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=4556

Time to get to creating the next novel… Brainstorming here I come.

Guest blogging on Saturday.

Excitement is mounting as the promotion for my book continues. Right now, I’m guest blogging to promote Painted with Pleasure. Without stamping my passport, I’ll be in the UK. How cool is that?

Rachel Leigh blog is an erotic romance blog featuring erotic romance authors. This week she has Desiree Holt! , a multi-published erotic romance author with Ellora’s Cave, guest blog. And many other erotic author’s guest blog. For me, this is a little surreal. I’ll have a blog spot on the same blog with many of the author’s I’ve read. Talk about amazing.

So I would love all of you to come over to Rachel’s blog, on January 21, 2012 and see my promo spot. You can win a free copy of Painted with Pleasure by leaving a comment. Hope to see you there.

Goals and the new year

It’s a new year everyone has made their resolution and I’ve procrastinated. But it’s new year and I’ve made a goal for myself. Well, one of many. My main goal is a blog post a week.

Painted with Pleasure will be featured on Jan 21st on this hot and sexy blog for erotic romance Rachel Leigh Blog. And I’ll be giving away a copy of Painted with Pleasure. This amazing author’s homebase is in UK. So I hope to see all of you there. Totally sweet to be blogging here in NY and having it based in the UK. Today’s internet really given us the ability to be in touch with the world around us. It really is a small world after all.

With Painted with Pleasure on the market, I have a little bit of  time to figure out what I’m going to write next. It will be an exciting avenue of thought to say the least. Winter finally announced its presence to our hometown here with a vengeance. We went from 50 degree weather then twelve hours later six inches of snow. But I’m not complaining because the best time of year for my creative juices to flow is winter. There is something about cozy winter days that calls to seating in front of the computer with my cafe con leche and just typing. So bring on the snow.

Maybe my next erotic novel will have a hot snow scene in it. Could you image a couple heating up the snow? Perhaps two competition skiers are out in the snow and when a storm rolls in too fast. They are left out in the cold and have to find shelter… But they find that they are not only fighting for the trophy of cross-country skiing, but also they have been fighting the their mutual attraction and they find a way to stay warm through the snow storm. Ohhh. I love the stream of thought. Maybe I just found my inspiration for my next steamy novel.

I may have to tinker it a bit, but it’s a great potential spicy concept.

A few of my favorite things

Just like the song says… I dedicate this blog to a few of my favorite things. It’s Friday a week before Christmas and I couldn’t resist. Call it what you would like, perhaps the DVD player has been on repeat for days. But it’s a must.

Raindrops on the back patio relaxes me, but nothing like a downpour of  big fat snowflakes. Something I share with my character, Laurel is my love of Spanish Coffee. A thick, rich espresso with warm sweet foamy milk. On the days when the weather is just too perfect to want to leave the desk, I love to sit and type away while sipping a large cup of java.

Chocolate is a must, I’ll tell a secret. Santa never forgets to leave a box of Chocolate covered cherries in my stocking, my evil addiction for the winter months. No wonder those extra pounds won’t drop.

Of course, family gatherings are the top of the blessing list. And I couldn’t be more happy than with the blessing of family this season.

But I must say the most favorite of all, is the fact that my Book, Painted with Pleasure is on Kindle. Googling my name and seeing my book on different websites is pretty sweet . It’s beyond amazing getting published, seeing my book cover, seeing my book for sale on the Wild Rose Press website, but there is something about seeing my book on Kindle. Maybe it’s because I buy off Amazon through my Kindle all the time. It’s so surreal, but still a great present for my Christmas holidays. This season has been a blessing, in many ways, and one of the coolest things is to see my book for sale.

So these are a few of my favorite things. I could go on and on, about the lovely Spanish accent when whispered gently against my skin, but that’s another blog. For now the list is good. Happy Holidays to all.