Coming soon from Ellora's Cave...Hot Text

And here's its sexy cover, done by the amazing Syneca! Karyn, the heroine, is an amateur painter and yep, you can bet there's an, ahem, intimate scene in the book that matches this cover...

So what do you think? Wild and sexy, right?

I'll post more details on Hot Text when I have a release date to share, hopefully soon!

It's here! (Just about...)

Tomorrow, January 19th, is the release day for Reveal Me at Ellora's Cave! I'm super excited about this story for a lot of reasons, especially since I hope it's the beginning to a new series for me. I've already submitted book 2, Provoke Me, and books 3 and 4 are being written (along with about five other WIPs!) If voyeurism, hot sex and tons of emotion are your things, hopefully you won't be disappointed! I'd love to hear either way.

Interested? An excerpt is on Ellora's Cave's site. And Reveal Me's a short and sexy bargain at $2.49. ;)

I hope to start checking out all your blogs again soon...a lot going on and I'm behind as usual but I'm trying very hard to get caught up so I can visit with all of you. Have a great week!

Lots O'News...and new contract!

And I guarantee I'm going to forget some of it, because, well, my memory ain't what it used to be!

I've been away from blogging/commenting in general for a while, mainly because I've been trying to refill the well. I was pretty exhausted and needed a little break. But I'm back! I have lots of stuff to mention then I want to get caught up with all of you.

First and foremost...the writing news! Personal Research has a release date! September 17th at Ellora's Cave.The amazing Pearl featured Personal Research as one of the books on her To Be Bought list, if you'd like to check it out here.

Not only that, I accepted a contract for a new Quickie at EC entitled Reveal Me, which is book one of a planned series of four connected stories.

Super excited about both my EC releases and about what I have in the works, which is book 2 of that series, Provoke Me, and a story I've been planning to sub to Samhain since last winter. The time has almost come! So hopefully I'll be able to say I subbed two more stories soon...along with getting back to the third and final Hunk Du Jour story at The Wild Rose Press, Giving It Up. Lots to do but it's all good.

I also got a new computer! I can't say how happy this makes me. Lovin' the 23" inch monitor and the speed. My old PC had seen better days and I finally went for a new Dell tower. So far it's been great. No uptick in my productivity as yet, but then I'm still in the courting stages with my new machine. *pets the screen*

Along with all the other stuff...I now have a website: www.cariquinn.com if you'd like to check it out. I'll be changing things as I go along but at least it's a start. And it has a moon on the homepage, which is one of my symbols. Love all things moon-related.

I've gotten several really nice reviews for Ex Appeal recently but I'll save those for another post. This one's dense enough! Guess I need to stop by more frequently, huh?

I'm way behind on reading everyone else's blogs and have several projects to critique for friends, which I will be doing this week and next. I'm on vacation from the day job starting this weekend and I need that time to get caught up!

Off to see what you've all been up to since I've been away...

Welcome Ellora's Cave author Kaily Hart!

I'm so excited to have fellow Ellora's Cave author, Kaily Hart, with me here today! Not only is she a good friend, she's an amazing author and I loved her debut release, Picture This. Trust me, you WANT to read this book! In honor of her novella's release, Kaily's going on a whirlwind blog tour and my blog is her first stop.

First off, I’d like to thank Cari, not just for having me here today, but for reaching out to me last year, for being the first person to ever comment on my blog, for critiquing Picture This, for being the first author I profiled on my own ‘Just Published’ blog segment and for her continual support and encouragement. Come to think of it, this is the first interview I’ve done about being a published author. Cari, you’ve been amazing, so thank you!

Kaily, you're welcome. And I'm honored to be the one to host your first "published" interview - and I fully admit I campaigned for this designation, though Kaily's too nice to say so - and to have been the first one to comment on your blog. As soon as I read your posts, I knew we'd get along well. I'm so excited about Picture This's release!

1) Your first book is about to be released. Does it feel the way you always thought it would? How are you combating release day jitters? (seriously, I need some tips! LOL)

I know, don’t remind me! I’m trying hard not to hyperventilate here. Seriously!  June 29 has been approaching like a freight train since I found out the release date and I have no useful advice, I’m afraid. It helps to know (maybe a little LOL),  that when the buy link finally opens I have no way to know how Picture This is selling, so being nervous or anxious or stressed, isn’t going to contribute anything. It will simply just be amazing to see it out there and available among the works of many wonderful authors with the possibility that someone might actually read it. Honestly, it still doesn’t seem real. Does it feel the way I thought it would? Yes and no. When I started writing, I pictured my first published book available in bookstores across the country. I envisioned walking in and seeing my book on a shelf, being able to pick it up and perhaps one day see someone reading it somewhere. My first book turned out to be an ebook and won’t get a print run, but it will be available online. WORLDWIDE!!! Guess that’s not a bad trade-off. I’m going to still want the bookstore scenario at some stage, but I’m happy with how things have turned out.  I think it really set in that I was going to be a published author the first time I saw my cover. It was suddenly tangible and all I could think was “my name is actually on a book cover!!”.  I’m not sure about other writers, but I visualize things very clearly (and I’d visualized this very thing), but the feeling I got from that first look was like being jolted with electricity. Maybe it’ll be the same for each book. I sort of hope so, but I’m not sure.

2) What was your inspiration for Picture This? It has such a fun, unusual premise.

It’s kind of a funny story because I wasn’t intending to write a novella at the time, nor was I at the point where I was going to submit to an epublisher. I had that planned for later in 2010. It just kind of all happened by accident LOL. I regularly check out the call for submissions on the major epub sites. I happened to see a call on the Ellora’s Cave site that asked for stories  to do with the ‘fine arts’. My story premise just hit me in that instant and I got a visual of this large, very explicit but seductive painting of a beautiful, naked woman. I immediately started to think about who she could be. She became a woman who’d posed nude in her early twenties because she was desperate for money. I kept digging deeper and the character for Jillian was suddenly 3D! Sam was easy from there. A total alpha male, crude and rough around the edges who had become successful and overcome tremendous hardship, obsessed by a painting. It throws him off his axis and I always love that. For him, not being able to control something as basic as his reaction to anything, is just unacceptable. I played with it in my head for awhile and moved on. I really intended to leave it at that, but the story just wouldn’t let go. Or I should say the characters wouldn’t let it go. They demanded I tell their story. I guess it’s an occupational hazard. So, I relented. I wrote and polished it in seven days and discovered the allure of the novella in the process. I sent it in and… the rest is history.

3) There are lots of "shoulds" and "have tos" in this business. What one piece of advice would you advise an unpublished author NOT to follow?

Mmmm, interesting question. There’s a lot of information available to the aspiring author. I know, because I’ve immersed myself in it. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, confused or just plain frustrated.  I think as writers we have to follow our instincts and do what’s right for our stories and how we tell them (our voices). There is a mega amount of different (and sometimes conflicting) information out there about the craft of writing, submissions, promotion and marketing, publishers, agents, and everything and anything associated with writing and this industry. You have to be educated but I would say don’t take any advice unless it feels right to YOU. It has to resonate with you in some way. This is not a ‘one size fits all’ industry and I don’t think you can be greatly successful by being like everyone else. You have to find what’s unique about yourself and your writing and build on that. DON’T STAY IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

4) What keeps you at the keyboard when you're not sure if you should keep going?

That’s another good question. Honestly, I’ve never been at the point where I wondered if I should keep going (*knocks on wood*).  When I started seriously writing about eighteen months ago, it was with a deep seated surety that it was what I was meant to do. I was confident I’d get published. One day. It was just a matter of how long it was going to take! Now, that’s not to say I haven’t faced rejection. I have! My very first query letter resulted in a very polite response that the story line had already been done and wasn’t very original.  Huh. They didn’t even want to see a single word I’d written in that book.  It was a bit of a blow, but it didn’t deter me at all. I looked at it as the ‘book I needed to write’. I learned an incredible amount with that book. It may never see the light of day, but it proved to me that I could actually write a full length novel and at the end of the process I’d found my writing ‘voice’, the style and tone that’s uniquely mine. So, it more than served it’s purpose.  As to the motivation to write, I just have too many ideas, too many untold stories and too many interesting characters to ignore for long.

5) Do you have a "dream" genre or book of your heart you'd love to write?

Actually, I have many! Books I’d like to write, that is. This is one author who is never short on ideas. I keep an ‘idea file’. It currently has bits and pieces for over 35 books across a number of genres. I don’t think about love, sex and romance in the context of any one genre and I’ve read across all of them. I have a contemporary trilogy I’m currently writing targeted at Harlequin Blaze. They’re related books with a unique twist but are not dependent on each other. The first book is currently sitting on an editor’s desk (*fingers crossed*) under consideration! I’d really love to see this  book published because I’m so totally in love with the hero, Callan. I love writing the tortured, ‘rough around the edges’ hero who’s never really cared for anyone, but by the end of the book will lay down his life for the heroine. Sigh… I have a total of five books outlined in the same vein as Picture This and I also have two small paranormal series outlined (four books each) that I would love to write. I started writing contemporary, but I read quite a bit in the paranormal/urban fantasy genre and I know I’ll write in this space at some stage.

6) What are you working on right now?

A lot!! Firstly, I had a lot to learn about promoting a book and I’m still learning. I probably won’t ever stop on that front! Over the last couple of months, I’ve spent a lot of time researching and weighing options and ended up selecting a few key things to do. I have a blog tour throughout the month of July and I’m participating in a few promotional activities some of the writing forums hold. At the end of the day, nothing will compensate if you don’t have a good story, well told. It’s important to market yourself and your work of course, but I think the best thing, particularly a new writer can do promotion wise, is to write the next book and have it be better than the last. I’ll also be attending the annual RWA conference in Orlando next month, so I’m starting to think about that. I’m really excited. It’s kind of like an extended girls weekend with a few hundred of your friends all interested in the same things! On the writing front, I’m currently working on two additional stories for Ellora’s Cave. One will be finished and off to my editor in July, the other in August. They’re along the same lines as Picture This with an intriguing premise, a confident but vulnerable heroine and of course, a hot alpha male who so has it coming to him. Hot and steamy sex doesn’t hurt either!

Thanks again for having me today, Cari. I admire you as an amazing author and for being such a supportive friend. Congratulations on your own publishing success. Harlequin Blaze will be ours this year, my friend!

Thanks so much for being here! Let's hope Blaze is one of the next stops on our journey! 

Want to learn more about Kaily? Visit her website HERE or her blog HERE. 

Better yet, do you want to buy Picture This? I know you do! Go HERE to pick up a copy.

KB Alan's Bound by Sunlight!

Need something spicy to heat up your weekend? KB Alan's scorching new release from Ellora's Cave definitely sounds like it might hit the spot. ;) Gorgeous cover, too!

Warning: Explicit excerpt below

Kyriana Price has spent nearly a year trapped at her evil day job. And she does mean evil. Her boss is a mage bent on power and lets nothing stand in the way of his quest to gain more of it. When she sees Connul Graysn wielding a flogger at a BDSM club, she formulates an escape plan that will require his considerable skills—as a mage and as a Dom. Going to another mage for help might not be the best plan, but it's the only one she's got, and at this point, she's willing to try just about anything.

The last thing Connul expects when he finds an intruder in his house is that he'll soon have her chained in his bedroom, her lovely body marked by his paddle. But she's begging for his help—how can a gentleman refuse? As they learn to trust each other, he begins to realize that the only thing he's not willing to do for her is let her go.

Blazing Hot Excerpt

"You've never been bound?" he asked, picking up the straps of her tank top.

"No." It was more of a breath than a whisper, but he seemed satisfied with her answer. She felt a soft spark against her shoulders and looked down. He'd severed the straps of her top, which were left to dangle above her breasts. Magic. He'd used magic. A tiny niggle of fear tried to work its way through her. He seemed to know and brought his warm hands back to her face, tilting her head up enough that she knew she was supposed to meet his eyes. Why did she find that so difficult? She forced herself to follow his unspoken demand.

"I will not harm you tonight. Not with magic. Not with anything else. I will bring you pain, but only as much as will pleasure you. Do you understand?"

She saw patience and assurance in his eyes, wondered what he saw in hers. Shame washed through her now—that she had come to him so unprepared, unworthy. He shouldn't have to deal with a novice when he was used to those at the club. His fingers on her chin tightened.

"Do you understand?" he asked again.

"Yes."

He knew there was more, she could see it in his face, see him trying to figure it out. As long as he didn't ask, she wouldn't have to admit to her insecurities. He cocked his head as he studied her.

"What distressed you now?"

She wanted to look away. The feeling of easy surrender had vanished. But she had to answer him. Had to keep meeting his eyes. Not just because of the compulsion, but because she had asked for this. Asked him to help her. He deserved to have as much of her courage as she could muster.

"I'm sorry. I'm not very good at this. I don't know what to do."

"You don't have to know what to do. That's what I'm here for. You'll do what I tell you, when I tell you. Won't you?" His voice was hard, uncompromising.

"Yes."

"Then there's nothing for you to fail at. It's my responsibility to make sure this goes right, not yours. Your only responsibility is to tell me if I go too far." He stepped closer, allowing his heat to envelope her. She felt moisture gather in her pussy and it got a little bit harder to draw breath.

"Let's start over." He pulled her chin up higher now that he was closer to her. Her neck ached a little at the strain. It felt…good.

"Do you believe that I won't harm you, even though I have every intention of bringing you pain?"

"Yes." She didn't know why, and it might be foolish, but she believed him. It was the reason she was here.

He rewarded her with a small kiss to her lips. She opened for him but he drew away. She sighed.

"Do you believe that I will bring you pleasure?"

"Yesss."

This time he smiled as he kissed her. She tried to chase his lips, but his hands kept her in position.

"Do you understand what you're supposed to do?"

Uh oh. What was she supposed to do? Hadn't he just told her—oh.

"Yes." Another kiss, she wanted another kiss. A real one this time, damn it.

"Tell me."

"Whatever you tell me to do." She parted her lips in preparation. She would have to be fast this time.

"And?"

No kiss? What was he doing to her?

"And…umm. Oh, and use my safe word if you go too far."

"Good girl." He met her lips with his, but it wasn't gentle this time. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, taking what she had tried to take, giving what she needed. She whimpered when he pulled back.

"Tell me your safe word again."

She didn't want to, didn't want to ever say that word again. He seemed to understand.

"Choose another word. It doesn't need to be that one. Shouldn't be something you don't want to say."

"No, it's all right—"

His fingers tightened against her skin again, reminding her who was in charge. He wasn't asking. He was telling.

"I, maybe…Snowball! " God, all she could come up with was her childhood cat's name. Was he smirking at her? She narrowed her eyes at him but his face had gone expressionless again. He leaned down and gave her another quick kiss. Then he let her go, stepped back, taking his heat with him.

"If you use your safe word, I'll stop what I'm doing so we can talk about it. Don't be afraid to use it, it doesn't mean I'm going to send you away."

She managed to nod her understanding.

"You have a lovely body."

She didn't. Her size eight curves weren't quite proportioned the way she'd like and—

He smacked her ass and she jumped as much as the chains would allow, which wasn't much at all. Why she should be shocked she had no idea, but she looked at him for an explanation.

"You." He put his hands on top of her head then ran them over her face, rubbing her eyebrows, exploring her cheekbones, tickling her ears and caressing her chin.

"Have." Her skin tingled as his hands moved down her neck to her now heaving chest.

"A lovely." His fingers molded to her breasts, giving a sharp, barely painful squeeze before continuing their journey.

"Body." He reversed his hands so that his fingers led the way over the curve of her stomach to the juncture of her thighs. He folded his hands along the curve, careful not to touch the part of her that needed touching the most.

"Oh," she managed to whisper. Her whole body shuddered at his intense look and careful caress. The desire in his words and his eyes did more to relax her than anything else he could have done. She didn't realize how worried she'd been about the fact that by presenting herself to him, rather than having him choose her, she would have a hard time believing he wanted this, even a little bit.

She looked down at her top. He was running a finger down its center, from neck to hem. As his finger slid past, the fabric parted, splitting down the middle. It was almost like a breath of heat, but maybe she was imagining that. It didn't take long for the whole top to fall away.

Her naked breasts were damp with sweat, her nipples somewhat swollen. He ignored them and brought his finger to her pants, performing a similar magic to remove them in less than a minute. He took a step back, observing her dressed only in plain cotton panties. It looked as if he was fighting a smile. She tried not to blush and failed. Why hadn't she dressed up for him? She had the clothes, had been provided with the types of outfits that were supposed to entice him. Black leather, lace garters and more. Much more. It wasn't that she didn't like them, but she would have felt like a spy wearing them, like a fraud. So she'd come in the most Kyriana-like clothes she had.

He walked behind her, hooked a finger in the waistband and snapped the elastic against her skin. It didn't hurt, but it startled her. She hung her head as she tried to fight off the shame and misery working their way through her.

"Just checking to see if your name was embroidered in the back." His teasing words were spoken against her neck. She choked on her laugh as his lips moved down her neck to the top of her spine, where he bit, hard.
Mmm, want to read more? I know I do!

Bound by Sunlight Purchase: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8353-50-bound-by-sunlight.aspx 

For more about the author, visit KB Alan's Website: http://www.kbalan.com

New contract!

For those who follow me on Twitter, I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I never officially announced it on my blog. I recently sold my first novella, Personal Research, to Ellora's Cave! I'm very excited to be writing for them, especially since I seem to be spending quite a bit of money buying books from their bookstore! We'll be starting edits soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to leave you with the tentative, unedited blurb for PR and the picture that perfectly fits my hero, Nunzio. 

Briefs are Elena Thomas’s life, whether they’re legal at her day job or on the men in the erotic novels she writes. She’s just fine with saving her imagination for her books until temptation appears in the form of Nunzio, the smokin’ computer maintenance guy. Thanks to the scorching scene he discovered shooting out of the printer, she’s not sure if he wants her because she’s inventive or because he thinks she’s desperate. That doesn’t stop her from taking advantage of the servicing he’s offering. Up on her desk. On the copier. And oh yeah, in her boss’s chair.

Nunzio's shocked to learn Elena’s wall-hugging persona hides a wildcat of a woman with delicious fantasies and an enticing wit. She's exactly what he's been looking for in an adventurous lover—and girlfriend. He knows she enjoys their sexual research. Now he just has to convince her that sizzling sex is only the opening chapter of their blazing hot romance. 

Also, I'm at Kaily Hart's blog on Monday April 12th, helping her kick off her awesome Just Published feature. We'd love to see you!