Six Sentence Sunday

It's my first six sentence Sunday! I'm so excited to join in this fun blog hop. Think I'll post six sentences of one of my current works in progress, All She Wants for Christmas, a m/m/f contemporary erotic novella soon to be novel. Lots of angst to go with the hot sex in this one.

“Will you let me explain?”

“Which part? The way you just kissed me? How you stole almost to second and a half base while I was still sobbing on first? Or the part where I heard Tristan talk about sleeping with you?”

“All of it,” he said, his misery evident in his tone.

Interview with Mari Carr and Jayne Rylon...and CONTEST!

This past week, Northern Exposure, the first book in Mari Carr and Jayne Rylon's Compass Brothers series released from Samhain. I've got my copy and I can't wait to read it! And because I've read almost all of Mari's books and a huge chunk of Jayne's, I know I'm going to love it. I mean, check out that sexy cover done by the awesome Valerie Tibbs...and then go drool over the blurb and excerpt HERE. See what I mean?

And because I know YOU want a chance to read Northern Exposure too, I'm giving away a $5.00 Samhain Gift Certificate to a random commenter. All you have to do is leave a comment and you're entered! Easy peasy, right? Contest will end March 28th, 2011 and the winner will be announced soon after.

Until then, here's Mari and Jayne!

Jayne's questions and answers:

1) If I've never read Mari Carr's books before, can you give me a blurb of why I should read her work? Sort of a back cover blurb that covers the goodies I'll always find between the covers of a Mari Carr story.

OMG.  If you've never read any of her books before stop reading my answers.  Right. Now.  Run to the nearest ebook store and buy all her stories.  Mari Carr books are the perfect blend of humor, sarcasm and lovable characters layered with lots of heat.  You can't read one without having at least a handful of Awwww moments usually followed by Ohhhh-that's-hot moments :)

Mari's books are true romances about everyday people who make extraordinary things between them.  I sort of think that's a reflection on Mari in general.  She has that quality in real life.  People gravitate to her, she's the life of the party and her unbelievably annoying habit of always having a positive outlook leads to her own brand of unflagging good luck.

I'd vote for starting with Sugar and Spice or Tequila Truth.  Two of my favorites.  After that you'll have to read them all so make sure you set aside lots of free time (she writes like lightning!).

2) I think the idea of two authors sharing a series is awesome! How did you decide how to split up who wrote what in the Compass Brother series?

Great question!  Mari and I are pretty independent writers so co-authoring is not something I would have really envisioned for myself.  But with Mari it wasn't a big leap to go from the brainstorming and dialog we always have back and forth daily to collaborating on one vision for our characters, the story arc, their environment and the driving forces that move the story forward.

Once we had all the big strategic stuff buttoned up we decided that tactically it made sense for each of us to write two of the brothers.  I write Silas and Sam in all the books and Mari is the genius behind Seth and Sawyer.  When all the brothers come together (in some of my favorite scenes) it's kind of weird cause it's like Mari and I talking to each other but while pretending to be two different guys at once.  Sort of schizophrenic and odd but it works for us :)

3) You're given your choice of a menage with any two guys in the Compass Brothers series. Who and why?

Hooooooey, that's a difficult question.  I'd like to pick JD Compton, the patriarch of the family but I suppose that would rule out the four Compass Brothers.  There are a few other ranch hands that come to mind like Jake so I'd go with him or... no...  Colby!  Yeah, definitely JD and Colby (the third from Northern Exposure).  Although, I suppose of all the brothers, Silas is the most like his dad so the menage in Northern Exposure would do. Then again, there's always the twins Sam & Sawyer.  Dang, clearly the choice is too hard.  They're all great :P

Mari's questions and answers:

1) If I've never read Jayne's books before, can you give me a blurb of why I should read her work? Sort of a back cover blurb that covers the goodies I'll always find between the covers of a Jayne Rylon story.

Jayne Rylon captures her readers with characters who are so real you feel like you know them, stories so creative you can't stop turning the pages and sex scenes so hot you need to take a cold shower after closing the cover. I pretty much fall into a depression after every book I've ever read by her because I know I'll never be able to write like that. She takes every story she tells to the next level and she is easily one of my all-time favorite writers.

Jayne's not afraid to take risks with her stories, sometimes putting her characters in some pretty interesting situations. She doesn't pull punches and I respect and admire that quality. I think it's what makes her the phenomenal author she is.

My favorite books by her are Dream Machine and the Star series at Ellora's Cave. Through My Window is one of the most beautifully written stories I've ever read and Star is a character that will stick with me forever.

2) What's the deal with cowboys? Why do you like them as a writer and why do you think readers find them so irresistible?

Aw heck. What's NOT to love? There's something a bit untamed and wild about a man who lives off the land, who has a soft-spot for horses and who comes by his six-pack naturally through working hard with his hands. As a reader, some of my favorite books have been about cowboys. I love writing about cowboys because you can make them a little rougher, tougher, more protective. All of these characteristics speak to my alpha-male loving heart! Plus there's just something about a southern drawl that melts my butter!

3) You're given your choice of a menage with any two guys in the Compass Brothers series. Who and why?

Hmmm...as Jayne said, we each sort of took the lead on a couple of the Compton brothers. As a result, I know Seth and Sawyer better than Silas and Sam. In order to write my heroes, I pretty much have to create a guy I'd fall in love with. Typically, I give them attributes that I find appealing. Seth is a fun-loving guy with a great sense of humor and fun, but he's also romantic. He reminds me a lot of my husband. Sawyer is also fun, but he has a darker, more serious side. He's also the type of guy who will never let a girl down. When he falls, it's hard and forever. I find that very sexy, very hot!

Thanks so much for stopping by, ladies!

Have you read Mari or Jayne's books? Do you have a favorite? My favorite book by Mari is a tie between Tequila Truth and Ruby Tuesday. And for Jayne, it's Driven. I'd recommend their entire backlist!

Now go forth and comment!

Hooks...and easy characters to write

It took me a while to understand what a "hook" is. I mean, I wanted to write a story, and it had certain elements. Good enough, right? No. In this "gotta have it now" society, readers probably aren't going to hang around while you tell a meandering tale about a fisherman, and his nice little wife, and their cute little love story. Where's the meat? Where's the drama? Good writing isn't enough to save said quaint story from the circular file either. Nowadays you need to be able to encapsulate your story in a couple sentences. Here's the tagline of my menage Christmas story... "All she wants for Christmas is to lose her virginity...twice." Hopefully that tells a bit about the story while also catching a reader's interest.

And speaking of reader interest, I have an envy to share. Sometimes I wish my muse liked less difficult characters. I tend to get the most excitement when I'm writing characters who skirt lines. Ones some people may not get or even dislike. Why that is, I don't know. Whenever I'm faced with writing about decent, average people, my brain shuts off. I certainly enjoy those sorts of stories, but when it comes to writing them, I have trouble.

Random observations on a Monday in March... and don't forget to stop back next Monday when I'll have the awesome duo of Mari Carr and Jayne Rylon on the blog to celebrate the release of Northern Exposure (out Tuesday 3/15!)

Do you like characters that are more flawed than the norm? Or would you rather read about everyday Joes and Johannas finding their HEA?

Menage or Not?

Lately I've been writing several stories featuring menages or threesomes, as they're often called. This wasn't planned. Somehow I ended up writing two at once, on the heels of a book where I'd written my first, albeit brief, menage. (I do have a vampire threesome book I finished over a year ago, but as it's not polished and submitted yet, I count Provoke Me as my first "finished" book containing a menage.)

Provoke Me's menage scene came about completely organically...as in when I sat down to write the scene, I had no clue how far my heroine Kelly would want to take things. I figured she'd send the third guy home and that would be that, as her hero, Spencer, is not fond of sharing. But that scene went its own way, and they ended up having a menage with Paul, Kelly's ex-boyfriend - but it's a very limited menage. Paul is clearly there for Kelly's pleasure, and the scene serves to show a lot more about Kelly and Spencer's growing feelings than just "hey, I've got another hot guy here! Woot!" The guys do not interact sexually, and at first Spencer's kinda pissed Kelly wants Paul there at all. But if I did my job right, that scene shows how much Spencer is beginning to care for her, and how far he'll go to make her happy. Even so, I know some readers don't like menages. The threesome isn't a very long scene in an 80K book, but there will be a warning on the book that it's in there.

My other two menages are a different story. The one in Need Me, book 3 in the Unveiled series - the new official name for my EC books centered around Kink, the voyeurism club - is the focus of the book. As is the menage in my Christmas book I'm hoping to pitch to Loose Id, All She Wants for Christmas. And that menage is m/m/f, meaning the boys touch, a new one for me. None of the other threesomes I've written have been anything but m/f/m.

I'm loving All She Wants For Christmas for a lot of reasons - mainly because I've doing several "couples" at once. There's the relationship between the men, the relationship with each of the men and the heroine, then the relationship of all three. It's a fun dynamic to play with and I'm loving writing three point-of-view characters. But again, I know some readers don't enjoy these sort of books, and I guess I'm hoping that maybe some people will find they enjoy them more than they'd guessed. I know a couple years ago I didn't like menages - now I like them enough to write about them!

How do you feel about menages? Do you like them? Feel they're overdone or just not for you? I'm really curious.

Also - on March 21st, I'm having two great erotic romance authors, Mari Carr and Jayne Rylon, on the blog to celebrate their upcoming Samhain release Northern Exposure! I love both authors' writing and can't wait to get them on the interview hot seat. Stop back for prizes and tons of fun!