The Great Drain Robbery...

Hello to everyone in the Blog-o-sphere, this is Lucy's Hubcap with a report from the Chaosium.



Three nights ago, an upstairs commode decided to turn into a water feature, and I came home to blackwater pouring out of our lights downstairs. It was very pretty...pretty smelly!



The damage? Nasty. Ruined flooring in the upstairs bathroom, 2 of the 3 kids' bedrooms, part of the upper landing, and soaked ceilings in the great room and my office. Swing in bacterial mold concerns (we are after all talking about blackwater, not to be confused with the blackwater with guns), and we were sitting in Biohazard Central. On the plus side, our test of the Spontaneous Sprinkler System was a resounding success.



After trying to mitigate the smell in the just-installed carpets (and breaking my steam cleaner in the process, dam# you, Murphy!), my Gorgeous reminded me we had house insurance. Happy Days! One call confirmed we were totally covered, and emergency recovery folx came out right away to save the day.



Or actually to dry it out. They pulled out all the affected ceiling and flooring, then placed huge fans, dehumidifiers, and vapor bacterial scrubberthingamysticalimaboos running on both floors. You can see the resulting mess, with furniture shoved to the side and large holes everywhere. Also, these fans and things pump a ton of air, generating a LOT of heat (the thermostat pegged at 90 degrees F) and noise, blowing circuit breakers on a regular basis. On a positive note, the climate is like being at Malibu Beach, and if I put one of the fans to my ear, I hear the ocean...at rock concert levels. Fortunately, we only have to run these juggernauts continuously until Monday and then they'll start the replacement work.



So that's been our week, but enough about us. Lucy told me you all like prizes and hey, I think I can do that. So, to a randomly drawn name from the coments on this blog, I'll get my Gorgeous to send a signed copy of Satisfaction Guaranteed because it's one of my personal favorites. And just to make it fair, I'll leave my name out of the hat this time (hey, I won AGAIN?!!!)

Sincerely,
Lucy's Hubcap

Feel the fire with Catherine Spangler

Hello to everyone! Catherine Spangler here, and I am always delighted to be a guest on Lucy’s blog. She is absolutely amazing. Congrats on all your “happy news”, Lucy! It’s very much deserved.

I’m here to share some news of my own. The second book in my paranormal Sentinel series, Touched by Fire, will be out October 2. That’s only five days away (but who’s counting ?). You can check out the book video at MySpace (www.myspace.com/catherinespangler).

The Sentinel series is about legends of Atlantis . . . sexy alpha heroes . . . strong, resilient heroines . . . combustible sexual attraction . . . magic . . . fantasy . . . myth—all woven into contemporary paranormal thrillers.

The Sentinels are reincarnated Atlantians returning to Earth after thousands of years. Their sole purpose is to track down Belians—evil Atlantian entities who were responsible for the destruction of Atlantis and who are now returning to Earth. The tracking often requires the help of human conductors.

In Touched by Fire, When Marla Reynolds meets ultra-sexy Luke Paxton at a Houston bar, she’s upended by the powerful sexual attraction between them, not realizing it’s the pull of a matched Sentinel and conductor. Luke knows what it is, though, and realizes Marla might be the only person who can help him track a Belian serial bomber. He’ll do whatever it takes to get her cooperation—even if he has to kidnap her. You can read the entire story October 2.

Speaking of reading, is there anything more exciting than discovering a new author that you love? I adore finding an author who writes books I can’t put down, and I immediately have to buy the backlist. I’ve just discovered Sunny and her Mona Lisa series, and Heather Waters (who writes magical historicals).

What new authors have you discovered lately? I’m giving away a set of my first two Sentinel books, Touched by Darkness and Touched by Fire, to someone whose name is drawn from the responses.

Happy reading and hugs,

Catherine

Post Winners & Guest Blogger Tomorrow!

Wow! I loved reading everyone's comments on my "Happy News Post"! Thank you all for sharing and being such a great set of "Home Girls". :) Now, for the final bit of Happy News from our special post...

THE FIVE WINNERS

(I had my PA draw two names and my Bookkeeper drew three others.)

Amy

KimW

Angie-LA

Susan

Sue A.

OUR BIRTHDAY GIRLS

Jen in WA

Lidia

Please email me with your mailing address and I'll get your prizes out to you. :)

And another bit of truly great news???

Tomorrow (Sept 17th), we have another guest blogger, one of our favorites...Catherine Spangler!!!

I will also be guest blogging myself at:

The Totebag Blog

and

Fresh Fiction Blog

Hugs to you all!

Lucy

The Happy News Post :)

I just thought I'd tell you all first! But both Meagan's Chance and Annabelle's Courtship have been selected as part of Samhain's IPS print program. What that means for me is that the books will be featured in the Ingram's Catalog and receive some targeted promotion from the publisher. What that means for readers is that both titles will be as easy to purchase and widely available as any of my other books. Cool beans, huh?

Good news is popping up all over too. Harlequin Presents titles will be increasing by 4 books a month starting in January. I'll quote Tessa Shapcott (Senior Editor) directly:

Sales of the Presents series have increased by a phenomenal fourteen per cent between July 2006 and July 2007 and The Eligible Bachelors – the August Modern Extra collection - has sold ahead of target.

And the good news doesn’t stop there! From January 2008, Harlequin Presents is to increase to twelve titles a month. In the first shipping cycle of every month, eight Harlequin Presents titles will be available in the familiar way, including two titles sourced from our Modern Extra/Heat inventory. In the second cycle of every month, readers will be able to buy those and a further four Presents titles which will be published as themed collections.

We also anticipate that Modern Romance in the UK will increase from eight to ten titles from early 2009.

I'm totally thrilled by the increase in sales and that readers (including me) are going to be getting more wonderful books by my favorite Harlequin line!

Oh, and my next two books for Presents are going to be a return to my Royal Brides mini-series. They're both ultra hot and super emotional. My favorite kind. LOL

I'm trying to think if there's any other good news to share...

Oooh...my editor at Kensington was "thrilled" (according to my agent ::g::) that I offered two more books in the The Goddard Project series. So, expect one of them out next year and the other a few months after that.

I'm definitely back in the saddle and it feels GOOD!!!

We've adopted a feral colony of cats (14 of them). Do not ask me how or why? It makes my kids happy. LOL I've got two more drivers in the house now (my daughter and one of our exchange students), which means *they* can do the errand running. LOL There are more pictures of RAW up on MySpace and um, I've gotten some really nice reviews on AC & MC. My gorgeous hubby wants a date as soon as I'm finished with my current WIP (the last of my uber tight deadlines caused by the past year's health stresses). And my mom just moved to a house within walking distance of mine!

Let's call this the "Happy News Post" and share whatever good news (big or small) you've got going on in your own life right now. And to keep things Happy...I'm going to give away some books off my prize shelf in the closet along with other goodies. Would you all think I was nuts if I drew 5 names to win off this post??? Let's do it!

So, let's hear the good stuff happening in YOUR life!

A chance to win more prizes...

I'm guest blogging at two blogs today (Sept 24, 2007) and giving away prizes off of each (you all know me and that's so not a surprise, right?)...just wanted to give my homegirls a chance at the cool prizes. Not to mention chatting about some stuff that interests me. :) You can find me today at:

Novel Thoughts & Book Talk

and

Jacquelyn Frank's Blog

Hope to see you all there!

Hugs,
Lucy

Susan Grant's Latest...Yum!!!

How to Lose an
Extraterrestrial
in 10 Days

by Susan Grant

He was armed. He was dangerous and for 10 days, he was hers...

His internal computers are offline, his former employers want him dead and the Men in Black are after him. Without his cyberpowers, Reef is as weak as a lowly Earthling. He's tried to kill every human he's met—so why on Earth would they help him?

Evie Holloway needs a bodyguard! Her fledgling chocolate business is mistaken as a money-laundering scheme for the mob and the bullets have started flying. But does the suburban soccer mom really want to shelter the alien hit man who almost offed her future brother-in-law?
She is desperate, and Reef is incredibly sexy. "Ten days," she tells him—but it turns out that ten days just might be long enough to spark a love that's truly out of this world.

Mystery Guest Blogger Revealed!

Hi Readers!

Dianne Castell and Karen Kelley here. It’s great doing a guest blog at Lucy’s place. Thanks, Lucy!

Being BRAVA authors we’ve all know each other for years. One of the reasons we all go to conferences is to meet up again. With Karen being a Texas girl and Lucy in Portland and Dianne in Cincy, conferences are the best way to see each other.

Lucy and Dianne go waaaaaaaaaaaay back. Dianne did her first BRAVA anthology with Lucy and Lori Foster in Star Quality and now Dianne and Karen have two...yep, two!...anthologies out together.

And they’re both Christmas anthologies. The Morgue the Merrier (Don’t you loooove that title!) (Sept Zebra) and I’m Your Santa (Don’t you looooove that cover!)

Karen here. I had so much fun writing Blue Suede Christmas and Thank You, Santa! In The Morgue The Merrier, Tony and Sydney have been friends since Tony and his mother moved in next door to her family. Their friendship began when he realized she could thread a worm on a hook without flinching. But as adults things have changed and she's going to break up their song writing partnership because she's fallen in love with Tony, but he only sees her as his best bud. Except they get stranded in a hotel turned morgue on Christmas eve and now Sydney has one more problem to deal with--the match-making ghost of an Elvis impersonator.
In Thank You, Santa! I resurrect the dead Elvis impersonator, so to speak, and let him cause havoc in two more lives. He was too fun a character. I hope everyone will feel the same way.

I'm thrilled to have my name on a book with Dianne Castell and Rosemary Laurey in The Morgue the Merrier. Not only did we have a connection with our stories but we also formed a friendship as well. And to be in a anthology with Dianne...again...and Lori Foster with I’m Your Santa is a blast.

Dianne here: This makes three anthologies Karen and I have been in together. Remember Texas Bad Boys? We had good time writing that one too. It’s a good thing we’re friends because in writing connected stories like in TBB and TMTM there’s a lot of planning. In TMTM there’s this big Christmas snow storm and Holly’s ex-husband lands his plane right down in the middle of a steamy, delicious reunion. And in IYS we’re back in O’Fallon’s Landing where a philandering boyfriend plus an empty wallet adds up to LuLu Cahill's worst Christmas ever until she crosses paths with jilted groom Sebastian. He’s determined to go through with his pre-wedding holiday bash. Can he get LuLu to fill in for the bride?

Christmas stories are our favorite. Dianne still remembers reading The Gift of the Magi (O’Henry) for the first time where the husband sells his watch to buy combs for his wife’s hair and she sells her hair to buy a chain for her husband’s watch. Now that’s love. So, what is your favorite Christmas story? Karen and I want to know. We’ll give away two totes, two t-shirts and two books (which means two winners)!

Thanks, Lucy, for letting us visit with your wonderful readers.

Hugs,
Dianne and Karen
AuthorKarenKelley.com
DianneCastell.com

Back from Lora Leigh's RAW

And what fun I had!!! It was absolutely fantastic meeting with so many of my readers and talking with authors who I considered friends, but many of whom I'd never met face-to-face before. It was incredible getting to put faces to names that have shown up in my in-box, to talk to readers that love my characters as much as I do and be able to hug them in thanks. I also met booksellers and reviewers and they were all uber nice. If any of you read this blog, THANK YOU for making me feel so welcome and so loved.


My youngest daughter accompanied me (well so did dh and our son) and acted as my personal assistant for the weekend, taking pictures, schmoozing the readers while they waited in line for me to sign books (she's really good at that - who would have known?) and in general being a total blessing.


My husband and walked the Cherokee trails and went cave exploring with Lora's husband. They had a wonderful time and told lots of jokes that went over my head most of the time. Okay, so I don't always get that whole masculine humor thing, but that's what keeps life interesting. The differences we all have.


Dh was of course the sexiest man there. All right, maybe I'm biased, but he had his group of fans too. Bad Barb needs a spankin' for flirting and one reader told my daughter that she had a very hot daddy. My daughter about died on the spot. It was too, too funny! Naturally, she thinks her dad is all geek and no play. LOL

You can guess what a fan girl moment I had when I met Lora Leigh face-to-face for the first time. Oh, my...I almost cried. But I showed great fortitude and asked for a picture instead. LOL She was so busy all weekend, but incredibly gracious and she put together a really wonderful event!

I met some outgoing readers, some who were shy, some who fell in between, but they all love romance as much as me and we had a blast together. As expected, I came home with a bunch of goodies and a couple of books I'll be sending off to the drawing winner from my last blog post. And that would be...

Susan

Susan, please email me your mailing address so I can ship your bag of goodies out to you.


I also met the author coordinator for the Women's Expo in Tennessee and she's pretty much concvince me to go next year. Have any of you ever attended a women's expo? I think it will be a blast.


I think you can tell that this weekend was a really special one for me and that I treasure all the readers I met and friends I got to spend time with, but the truth is - I treasure you all as well. I know I've told you before, but it's been a long time. It means more to me than I can say that you choose to spend part of your day chatting with me here on my blog. If you ever doubted it, it *does* make a difference...it matters to me. :)


I was thinking of you all while I was there too. In fact, I had all the authors sign the canvas bag we were given with our stuff inside and will be giving it away to a randomly drawn name from the commenters on this post. I got Lora Leigh, Angela Knight, JR Ward, Christine Feehan and several others to sign the bag.


So, if you were to go to an author-reader weekend, what author(s) would you *most* want to meet?



Hugs,
Lucy



P.S. If you want to see lots of pictures, visit my MySpace page and look under my Lora Leigh's RAW photo album. I'll be adding even more over the next couple of days.


P.P.S. Guess who is coming to guest blog on Friday? I'll give you a hint, she's one of my favorite authors who knows how to mix humor and sensuality perfectly.

Contest Winners

Anne's daughter drew the name for the winner of the $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. And the winner is...

Melissa Glisan

Melissa, please email Anne with your contact information.

I chose a random number between 1 and 16 (the number of comments on the blog post - if you were wondering) and the winner of the LC Monroe eBook Meagan's Chance is:

Estella

Estella, please email me and let me know if you want the book on CD with a signed cover insert or the download sent to your in-box.

I'm taking off for RAW tomorrow...look for my blog update on the trip next Tuesday! I have no doubts I'll be bringing back some fun goodies which will make a great contest prize.

So, let me know which TGP agent's story you would like next (remember, Alan's is out Nov 27) and I'll choose a winner from the comments on this post. So, yeah...even the congrats comments will be eligible for the drawing. I know you all haven't read Satisfaction Guaranteed and I don't expect you to, but if you have and have an opinion, I'd love to hear it!

Hugs and "see" you soon!

Lucy

Guest Blog from Anne Rainey

Waving hello from Ohio!

I’m Anne Rainey and I want to thank Lucy for having me as a guest blogger. I first fell in love with Lucy’s books when a friend recommended ‘Three Brides for Three Bad Boys”. The title had me curious and so I bought it. Clearly, I was hooked. I mean, oh my! I went out and bought everything I could find with her name on it. LOL The really awesome thing is that besides being a fabulous author, Lucy is truly one of the kindest ladies I’ve ever had the pleasure to come across. It’s women like her that make me feel honored to call myself a fellow romance author! And one of these days she’s going to come to Ohio and I’m finally going to get a chance to meet her! It’ll happen, I just know it!

Okay, let’s get on with the show, because I could quite happily sit here and talk all day about Lucy’s books. Which of her heroes are my favorites. Which stories I read over and over again. LOL You get the idea. By the way, I’ve never guest blogged before, so hang in there as I stumble along. I pondered what to talk about and realized I wanted to talk about heat. More specifically, hot stories. The stories I write are scorchers. They always have a HEA and it’s never sex for the sake of sex. Why erotic romance? I get that question a lot and my answer never changes. I love writing erotic romance because I get to show readers that love isn’t always about flowers and poetry. Sometimes it’s wild and frantic and edgy. Just like real life. And while I read tons of books in all different genres, my own stories will always have you grabbing the ice water!

Haley’s Cabin is one such story. It’s special to me, being my first release and all, but it was never supposed to be a story. Let me explain. A few years ago, I was sitting at the computer and working on my love scenes, sort of running different scenarios through my mind when the idea of a ménage trio popped into my devilish head. I wrote the scene, then set it aside, not really intending to use it. It wasn’t until much later, at the encouragement of a friend, that I decided Haley deserved a happy ending. And I’m so glad she got it too! Haley and Jay are perfect for each other. And I’m thankful Samhain Publishing, Ltd. felt the same way, because Haley’s Cabin sat on their bestseller list for four solid weeks! My editor, Linda, has been a jewel to work with and my cover ended up looking exactly as I’d envisioned, thanks to the very talented Scott Carpenter. They made my first release a memorable experience.

My second release, Instructing Sarah, is out now, as well, through Forbidden Publications. Oh, and I nearly forgot! I’ve got the best contest for all you book-a-holics! I’m giving away a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. Yep, you can call me an enabler, since I’m clearly feeding the addiction here. LOL

Check out my website for blurbs and excerpt and trailers for all my stories! And while you’re there, sign up for my newsletter!

Discussion question: what are some of your favorite, spicy romances?

My answer: Okay, here’s a few that I seriously have read so many times, that I actually had to go out and buy a second copy. Shannon McKenna’s “Behind Closed Doors”, Jaid Black’s “One Dark Night”. Lori Foster’s “Too Much Temptation”. Lucy Monroe’s “The Real Deal”. Janice Maynard’s “Suite Fantasy” J. R. Ward’s “Lover Eternal”. Just to name a few!

Anne Rainey--bringing desire out of the dark
http://annerainey.com/

New Website, New Book and New Lucy

Well, okay, I'm not really new but I am back and that's feeling pretty cool right now. :)

Let's start with the new book because I'm so darn excited about it. This was the first sexy historical I ever wrote and it is a full length single title. I fell in love with Annabelle and Ian from the first night I dreamed about them (a story I'll tell on Samhain's blog on September 26th), but suffice to say, it's really cool to be able to share their story with readers.

Berkley was interested in this book, but agreed to let me publish it with Samhain. So, I'm really grateful to both publishers for making this foray into original e-publishing possible for me. I'm hoping to connect to readers I haven't had a chance to yet. What do you all think?

Annabelle's Courtship

Samhain Publishing

Aug 07 - eBook

Sept 08 - Print

An inconvenient proposal.

Ian MacKay, Laird of Graenfrae, has no use for love or marriage. However, his stepfather’s will mandates that marriage is what he must have...to an Englishwoman.
A sensible man, Ian develops a list of requirements in a wife: Plain, moderately dowered, older and practical. He thinks he has found the perfect candidate in Lady Annabelle.

Labeled The Ordinary her first season, Annabelle longs for a man who will see her as beautiful and love her as her father loved her mother. When she meets Ian, she thinks she has at last found that man. Until his proposal, in which he has the audacity to list his "requirements."
She refuses his proposal. He informs her that she will marry him at the end of the season.

The battle of wills is on.

Now, let's talk about the new website...Chantal & Kate, I'm so glad you like it. I'm really jazzed about it. The whole design just feels right, like it represents me and my books beautifully!

If you haven't had a look, hop on over and let me know what you think. I'm giving away two really cool prizes off the website this month to celebrate the new digs. So, take a second and enter the contest. It's worth it, I think. :)

And because you all know how much I love giving away prizes...I'll give away an electronic edition of my first Inspirational published under the LC Monroe pseudonym to a random name drawn from the commenters on this post a week from today. Sound cool?

Can a free-spirited woman teach an uptight professor something new about faith and love? She can with the help of two adorable matchmakers.

Oh...FYI - I'm heading to Lora Leigh's RAW next week, is anyone else going? I'm so looking forward to it.

Hugs,
Lucy

Lessons In Love by Kate Davies

Lucy was kind enough to offer me a spot on her blog to let you all know about my latest release from Samhain, Lessons In Love. It's a fun, contemporary prince-and-nanny story that I loved writing. Here's a little info on it, and a link to an excerpt (so I don't take over the entire blog, LOL). Hope everyone is enjoying life these days, and looking forward to Lucy's new website!



Kate

*****

Move over, Mary Poppins! A free-spirited teacher is about to give a buttoned-up royal something he never expected-a lesson in love.


Hungry for adventure and eager to break free of her snobby home town, Brynn Dexter takes a teaching job in a foreign country, sight unseen. But when she arrives, she discovers the Laurivenia Academy doesn't exist. And neither does the teaching job.


Alex du Charbonneaux, crown prince of Laurivenia, is tired of intense media scrutiny, and wary of social-climbing women who stoop to feigning interest in his vulnerable five-year-old daughter in order to get close to him. So if he fudged the details of the "teaching job" to protect his child-and his privacy-who can blame him?


His careful plans begin to unravel the moment Brynn appears on his doorstep. She is beautiful and free spirited, nothing like the dowdy, obedient nanny he ordered.


While being a nanny to a princess is a far cry from the teaching position Brynn expected, she quickly realizes the child is in dire need of a little fun in her life-as is her stuffed-shirt father. As she sets out to teach both of them how to live a little, sparks fly and unexpected passion burns between her and Alex.


But Alex's deep-rooted suspicions linger, and Brynn struggles with the feeling that she is not good enough for him. So when the paparazzi discover their affair, all bets are off.


Can the prince and the nanny find common ground-and learn to trust in love?

*****
And, as promised, an excerpt.

Thanks, Lucy!