Monday Mayhem – First Christmas

I confess, I am writing this post way early. You see, this past weekend was my first Christmas of the season. As I type this, I’m plotting and planning for the 9 hour ride to see my family. Chaos will ensue on Saturday, then we drive back Sunday. I figure I probably won’t have the energy to post when I get home, so here I am, writing like it’s Monday on a Thursday night.

How’s your December going?

Mine has been incredibly busy. Major changes at the day job this month and next month will keep me hopping. I’m also doing the behind the scenes stuff for the Play Dates series starting next fall, and one day hope to actually finish the book I started writing in November.

Oh! And I re-released Long Distance Love! Look at this gorgeous cover. If you haven’t read Jack and Ellie’s story, you need to. Grab your copy today!

Amazon ~ Apple~ B&N ~ Smashwords

Other bright spots this week included some quality time with a dog and her chicken:

And my friend, Kendra, gave me a Tribble!

Okay, it’s just one of those puffy keychains, but I like to think it’s a Tribble. What’s bright and shiny in your world this week?

 

Monday Mayhem – Hello, December!

Well, here we are! It’s December. NaNoWriMo #8 is in the bag, and the 1st draft of Play Dates #2 is 4/5+ done!

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I started tracking my #31brightspots this week. I’ve been sharing them on Twitter and FB, but here are the highlights so far:

12/1/16 Walking in the door and hearing this guy squeal, “Moogie!” Day = made. #31brightspots

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12/2/16 – Fodder got me Labrador socks! Now he’s taking me and Sally to Sonic! #31brightspots

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12/3/16 – “Writing” at Panera with Kim Ward McPhersonParker KincadeLacey Thacker Meislohn, and Brinda Berry. My bright spots for today! #31Brightspots

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It’s not too late to join in. Just pick a bright spot (no picture required) and share it with the world!

Now that we’re into December, I’m in full blown planning mode for 2017. I’ll probably be doing some updating around here, so if there’s something you would like to see from me, please let me know!

Happy Monday, my friends! Hope you have so many bright spots it’s hard to choose!

Monday Mayhem – Free, free, set them free!

Allow me to wish my fellow Americans a Happy Independence Day!

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And a belated Happy Canada Day to my friends up north!

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Been a big, busy week…as usual. I turned A BOLT FROM THE BLUE in to my editor. Wooot! Now, I’m working on the first book in a new series featuring hot single dads.

But the big news is…A WILL AND A WAY releases into the wild tomorrow, July 5, 2016!

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I’m really excited to set this one free. A WILL AND A WAY is the follow up to my super-hot seasoned romance, THREE LITTLE WORDS, and I can’t wait to introduce you to Will!

In the meantime, Fodder and I will be blowing up the back yard tonight. Have a safe and happy 4th!

 

 

 

 

Monday Mayhem – Mahhhhhvelous!

You know what’s awesome? Truly awesome? Having fabulous friends who do incredible things like throw you a surprise release day part on Facebook and Twitter. Did you see these?

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They even gave me a hashtag!!! I feel so cool! Thank you, Karen, Julie, and all of the fabulous friends who posted and re-posted. I am touched and humbled, and so very grateful to have such supportive friends.

So, yeah….FLIP is out! I loved writing Harley and Laney’s story. In my head, they were very much like Sam and Diane on Cheers. Bicker, bicker, bicker, kiss, kiss, kiss! I hope you all are enjoying it as well.

Guess what? I’m still celebrating this release into May! Tomorrow, I’ll be at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University with a little on How I Do It (the writing – get your minds out of the gutter!), and next week at Just Contemporary Romance. I’m hoping to party down on the Kensington Tumblr account and will keep you all posted if that comes about.

And the words keep rolling along. I finished the first draft on RANSOMED HEART last week. We’re taking a little break from each other before I tackle revisions. It’s kind of a hot mess, but I think it’s a good hot mess. I’ve just finished the galley read-through on LOVE & ROCKETS and it should be set to go for November! Oh! But don’t forget about A WILL AND A WAY in July. LOL

In the meantime, I’m sitting on some news and cannot wait for it to hatch so I can share it with you. Just know this…I’m going to be a very busy girl for quite a while!

xoxo
Mags

P.S. Want a signed copy of FLIP THIS LOVE for you or for a friend? Comment below and tell me your favorite TV pairing and I’ll pick a winner later this week.

 

It’s my book birthday!!!!!

At last!!!

Flip This Love is now available!

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Nothing draws a magnate like a steel magnolia…

Harley Cade is back in town—and the former bad boy is downright irresistible now that he’s donned a hard hat and set to work restoring the South’s finest homes to their former grandeur. While wealth may have gained Harley entry into high society, it’s going to take a lot more than a fat bank account to win the lovely Laney Tarrington.

Laney isn’t open to giving the self-made magnate a second chance—no matter how much she needs him. With her family fortune gone, Laney finally has to stand on her own two feet. The last person she’d ever lean on is Harley, the man who left her behind with nothing more than memories of the passion they once shared….

With the attraction still burning hot between them, Harley isn’t above seduction—or secretly buying Laney’s bankrupted family’s estate. After all, he no longer has to prove himself to anyone, least of all the daughter of Mobile, Alabama’s most prestigious family. But will pride keep Harley from gaining the biggest prize of all—a place in Laney’s heart?

Buy now and please share this with all your romance loving friends!

Kensington ~ Amazon ~ Apple ~ B&N ~ Google ~ Kobo

Monday Mayhem – Ramping up!

April is here! That means it’s almost time for FLIP THIS LOVE!

At last!

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All month long, I’ll be ramping up to release day. That means you can expect lots of blog posts, giveaways, and tidbits on social media. The fact is, writing the book doesn’t take nearly as long as the editing, packaging, and promoting does.

I received my author copies in the mail a couple weeks ago, and ordered a supply of paper books to have on hand for the book signings. Remember, I’ll be at the Chicago North RWA Spring Fling (May 21st, Hyatt Regency Schaumburg, IL 3-5pm) and the Diamond State Romance Authors 10th anniversary signing at Hastings (Benton, AR) on June 18, 2016.

In the meantime, I’m still making new words for Ransomed Heart. I’m past the 70k mark. That means I’m heading into the last quarter of play. Gotta keep moving!

How about you? How are you ramping up for Spring?

Monday Mayhem – Venturing forth

It has rained for more than a week. Not a few intermittent showers, either. We’re talking steady, pouring, sometimes torrential rains. While it wasn’t as bad here as it was in southern Arkansas and the northern part of Louisiana, the flash flooding in prone areas was bad enough to make us have to alter our usual routes for a few days.

Those of you who know me know that I’m rather like a kitten when it comes to getting wet. I don’t care much for it. Oh, I kept myself busy with writing in the evenings. Even picked up a few beach-y themed prizes for the FLIP THIS LOVE launch next month:

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But by the end of the week, we were getting restless. So what did we do? We went off to the races!

It’s racing season at OakLawn track in Hot Springs, so we drove down to meet up with some friends to watch the ponies run a muddy track. It was Daffodil Day at the track, so my boyfriend bought me a crown. 🙂

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After a day of tossing $2 bets around like we were big money, we headed back to Little Rock for the real big time. A date with a 3 year-old and a giant rodent. Due to the ceaseless rain, my boy’s birthday party had to be moved from the nice little park near their house, to the dreaded Chuck E. Cheese.

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We survived. A nap was procured (for him and for me), and now I am back in the chair and past the halfway point on this draft of Ransomed Heart. Oh, and the sun is supposed to make an appearance today. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

Monday Mayhem – Steamy stuff ahead!

Warning: I’m sharing an excerpt from my pal Jenna Barton’s upcoming release Closer and Closer today. It’s hot, so if you are of delicate sensibilities, clutch your pearls and look away.

As for the rest of you…enjoy!

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Excerpt: Tiramisu

 

“We’re doing this too fast,” he said against the base of my throat, tugging at my robe. I swallowed hard, whining when his mouth closed over the skin beneath my ear. That would bloom purple and plum. It was May. I lived in the South.

Instead of heeding those very sensible thoughts, I hailed him on, twisting my hips against his. “A turtleneck or scarf, maybe—”

He broke away, panting, his eyes level with mine. “What’re you…scarf?”

“I’ll wear one.” Threading my fingers through his hair, I pulled his lips to mine. “I’ll wear one around my neck, so just don’t stop that biting.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he said, grinning as he tilted his head away from mine. He chuckled softly when I trailed after him. “That’s my job.”

“Oh yes, sir.” I added a mock salute before I realized what I’d said. It caught between us, a quick drumbeat underlining this thing that kept us circling each other, so fast we kept reminding each other of it, and so delirious from it we couldn’t be responsible, risk-managing adults and step back to avoid it.

I shook a little. My teeth vibrated against my lips, pressed together tight so I wouldn’t say it again. I’d dropped this thing between us into the open while we were too close for any more rational discussion, and not entirely sure we’d remembered to close my front door. And I could see it in his eyes. He was deciding.

“You ready for that spanking?” His breath fell in short, soft bursts against my cheek.

I forced myself to look past his shoulder, promising myself it was the last logical decision I’d make for the rest of the night, and checked the front door. Closed. Locked. As my eyes inched back to his, the wire-swung, slow motion feeling greeted me, and dangled me before him. I took a shallow, silent breath, and nodded, watching his mouth for my next direction.

“Yes…I am.”

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Dominance and submission. The delicate balance between hurts so good and too hot to handle. They’re not just kinky trends for the members of The Enclave, a tight-knit group gathering in a Gilded Age mansion secluded in the North Carolina mountains.

Come Closer…

For Erin Proctor, life has always been about working hard, creating stability, and succeeding. She plays it safe, watching from a distance. Then she encounters an unpredictable, sensual world she’s always known was there, but didn’t believe she could belong to.

Walt Easton is straightforward and unpretentious, a big, earthy man in possession of himself—and a fierce set of solid leather floggers. Once he and Erin meet, their attraction is undeniable. Walt wants a full relationship, not just fun in the playroom. Their kinky adventures can be negotiated later.

They’ve finally found a relationship that can let them explore who they fully are. But can Walt accept that while he’s in charge in their private lives, when it comes to her job, Erin is the one in charge? Will Erin take the risk of letting down her walls and allowing Walt in all the way?

The biggest risk, after all, isn’t mixing pain and pleasure. It’s finding yourself—in love.

The first book of The Enclave Series will bring you Closer to your desire.

Preorder HERE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24324729-closer-and-closer?from_search=true

Author: Jenna Barton

Title: Closer and Closer

Genre: BDSM Erotic Romance

ISBN: 978-1-623420-70-3

Release Date: February 10th, 2015

Available in Ebook and Paperback

Twitter: @WriteyJennaB

Author Bio:

After many years spent onstage mouthing the words of other writers, Jenna Barton found her own voice while playing with an online community of mouthy broads. Writing down her own stories proved to be far more satisfying than dodging the human and inanimate hazards that come with backstage life, as well as alleviating the need to walk and talk and gesture while inhabiting.

Mostly settled into a life of carpool lanes and checkout lines, Jenna happily resides in suburbia with her husband and their two children. Sadly there are no drooly, furry, corpulent lapdogs at Chez Barton. For now. For. Now.

 

Monday Mayhem – Closer and Closer Cover Reveal!

Warning: This post contains smokin’ hot cover art and some pretty steamy subject matter!

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Dominance and submission. The delicate balance between hurts so good and too hot to handle. They’re not just kinky trends for the members of The Enclave, a tight-knit group gathering in a Gilded Age mansion secluded in the North Carolina mountains.

Come Closer…

For Erin Proctor, life has always been about working hard, creating stability, and succeeding. She plays it safe, watching from a distance. Then she encounters an unpredictable, sensual world she’s always known was there, but didn’t believe she could belong to.

Walt Easton is straightforward and unpretentious, a big, earthy man in possession of himself—and a fierce set of solid leather floggers. Once he and Erin meet, their attraction is undeniable. Walt wants a full relationship, not just fun in the playroom. Their kinky adventures can be negotiated later.

They’ve finally found a relationship that can let them explore who they fully are. But can Walt accept that while he’s in charge in their private lives, when it comes to her job, Erin is the one in charge? Will Erin take the risk of letting down her walls and allowing Walt in all the way?

The biggest risk, after all, isn’t mixing pain and pleasure. It’s finding yourself—in love.

The first book of The Enclave Series will bring you Closer to your desire.

closer art

Author: Jenna Barton

Title: Closer and Closer

Genre: BDSM Erotic Romance

ISBN: 978-1-623420-70-3

Release Date: February 10th, 2015

Available in Ebook and Paperback

Twitter: @WriteyJennaB

 

Author Bio:

 

After many years spent onstage mouthing the words of other writers, Jenna Barton found her own voice while playing with an online community of mouthy broads. Writing down her own stories proved to be far more satisfying than dodging the human and inanimate hazards that come with backstage life, as well as alleviating the need to walk and talk and gesture while inhabiting.

Mostly settled into a life of carpool lanes and checkout lines, Jenna happily resides in suburbia with her husband and their two children. Sadly there are no drooly, furry, corpulent lapdogs at Chez Barton. For now. For. Now.

 

It’s release day!

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Spring Chickens – You don’t have to be a spring chicken to fall in love.

Bram Hatchett thought he buried his heart with his wife, but when a big city beauty blows into town to dispose of the family farm, she captures everyone’s attention. Particularly his.

Lynne Prescott’s former marriage was marked by her husband’s infidelities and doomed by the secrets and lies he left in his wake. Disillusioned and adrift, she seeks refuge in the simplicity of small-town life.

There are few secrets in Heartsfield, Arkansas, but when a few loose boards on a rickety old porch bring them together, not even the combined forces of nosy neighbors, disapproving children and a disturbing decrease in the poultry population can stymie the attraction between the handsome widower and the intriguing divorcee.

But Lynne and Bram are both old enough to know there are no guarantees in life.

Can they set the fears of their pasts aside and learn to trust their hearts just one more time?

All Romance ~ AmazonAppleB&N ~ TMP Bookstore Kobo