The Life and Loves of April Johnson Now Available!!
3 months ago
Gearing Up for RT
Are you ready for the Romantic Times convention in Columbus, OH? I'm not! I'm doing my typical pre-convention dance: run around like a maniac while muttering to myself. I sound like a cross between the Nutty Professor and Ghengis Khan. There are times it's been so bad my husband hides behind crosses and holy water.
So far I've accomplished... not much. I've got cover flats for an upcoming print release, Dare to Believe; I've got pens, chapstick with my logo on it, and an outfit for the Fairy Ball. My plane tickets are bought, my room is reserved and my Ad-Libs for the Sinfully Sweet party are... um. (I'm working on that, Renee. *cough*)
I've even made sure that the infamous scooter is ready to go.
Book toting capacity has been tested, as has the distributed weight vs. tilting ratio. I've even got a neat cane holder so I don't have to clench the darn thing between my thighs again this year. (I swear, my thighs could crush Volvos after I got back last year.) And I've got some nifty slide shows to show on my netbook.So maybe I'm more prepared than I thought. Maybe I'm just experiencing that "OMG! RT! RT! I can't wait!" that usually winds up mixed with "OMG! RT! RT! AHHHHH!"
And maybe I'm just a crazy redhead who likes drama, as Mr. Bell has mentioned once or twice. I may not be ready for RT yet, but damn, I'm looking forward to it. What about you?
My Thursday Thirteen Favorite Lines from "Hoodoo Cupid"
Cue the trumpet fanfare. Today marks the release of “Hoodoo Cupid”, my first contemporary romance, by Red Rose Publishing. “Hoodoo Cupid” tells the story of two ad agency pros—copywriter Maggie Scanlan and agency wunderkind Dan Constantine—who fall in love in an Emergency Room…with a little help from a certain voodoo doll.In honor of the occasion, and because it’s Thursday, here are thirteen of my favorite lines from the story:
1. Forget the clichés about friends helping you move and friends helping you move bodies. Real friends sacrificed their lunch hour to help you exact proxy revenge outdoors on a day so brutally cold even the agency’s smokers refused to risk it.
2. “Now hurry up and push your pin in his heart so we can get back inside. My five-year plan doesn’t include freezing to death for the sake of you or your bad boy.”
3. “It’s not going to work. It never does. All it does is make me feel better. Take that, Daniel Curtiss Constantine.” Maggie finished hacking through the second leg and started to sob.
4. “Yeah, I can see how it’s a real attitude adjuster,” Germaine said dryly.
5. The universe had other plans. It planned to enjoy a big honking, snorting, coffee-through-the-nose-spewing belly laugh at Maggie’s expense. There, not a dozen yards in front of her, striding in the direction of her favorite takeout, was the bane of her professional life.
6. It never occurred to her to push him into traffic. He stepped off the curb all by himself.
7. “So this is what it takes,” Constantine gasped, “to get your attention.”
8. She expected the surroundings to diminish him. Instead she discovered the width of his shoulders owed nothing to padding. An uneasy mix of guilt and curiosity writhed inside her. Did his legs match the rest of him?
9. [His eyes] were a clear light gray, completely at odds with his Mediterranean complexion and the dark brown eyelashes that belonged in a mascara commercial. When those eyes focused on a person—the way they focused on her now—it was like being targeted by a pair of lasers.
10. His voice had a husky quality—a subtle roughness like vintage mohair upholstery, which inspired almost as much thigh wriggling and skirt palming among the agency power groupies as his eyes.
11. The only answers Maggie had were rude. She found a spot on the floor that looked like Kansas and wished for a tornado.
12. Worse, the movement called attention to his muscular, mostly naked legs. Inside her head she groaned. He’d be perfect if only he weren’t in advertising.
13. (The one my Texas friends like best.)
“Afghanistan?” she squeaked. “You were in the Army?”
“Three years, eight months, seventeen days, and just a little over three hours. Do you want it in minutes? C’mon, Maggie, give me a little credit. You didn’t think it took me seven years to graduate Yale, did you?” He laughed. “If I’d been that slow, the only way I could’ve made a living would’ve been to move to Texas and go into politics.”
Now you know you want to read the rest. Check it out at Red Rose Publishing and, maybe, take it home for Valentine’s Day.
Happy Reading!
Jean Marie
Join Me on the Red Rose Channel of Blog Talk Radio
That's right--me, the person who hates to chat--will be co-hosting the Red Rose Channel at Blog Talk Radio tomorrow, January 31, from 2-3 p.m. EST. Well, I might hate IM chat, but I do like to talk.
And I won't be the only one there. The featured guest will be Red Rose author Angela Kaye Austin. Angela is an author of inter-racial contemporary romance novels featuring strong African-American women whose love can't be bound by race, bank accounts, age, religion or gender. Her current novel, Love's Chance, tells the story of Sinclair Mosley, a woman on a mission to pay back her parents and save her family business. That mission takes her to Pennsylvania, where the locals don't exactly welcome her with open arms. But Chance O'Malley does. At the risk of losing everything that brought her to Pennsylvania, including her family's restaurant, Sinclair must decide if she's willing to take a chance on love.
My co-host will be one half of the Red Rose Channel's terrific twosome, Kali Willows. Franny is away on a well-deserved vacation, and she turned over the keys to the kingdom. Tune in or call in (917-889-3332), if only to see how I manage to make her sorry. ;-)Read More......
And I won't be the only one there. The featured guest will be Red Rose author Angela Kaye Austin. Angela is an author of inter-racial contemporary romance novels featuring strong African-American women whose love can't be bound by race, bank accounts, age, religion or gender. Her current novel, Love's Chance, tells the story of Sinclair Mosley, a woman on a mission to pay back her parents and save her family business. That mission takes her to Pennsylvania, where the locals don't exactly welcome her with open arms. But Chance O'Malley does. At the risk of losing everything that brought her to Pennsylvania, including her family's restaurant, Sinclair must decide if she's willing to take a chance on love.
My co-host will be one half of the Red Rose Channel's terrific twosome, Kali Willows. Franny is away on a well-deserved vacation, and she turned over the keys to the kingdom. Tune in or call in (917-889-3332), if only to see how I manage to make her sorry. ;-)
Waiting to Promo
Still deep in the writing cave, but I'll be emerging soon. Promise! (Be afraid. Be very afraid...) As a foretaste, today I posted the first tickle of promo for "Hoodoo Cupid", my February 4 release from Red Rose, at Beyond the Veil.
Tomorrow, if I figure out how to do it, I'll try to post a very low res version of one of the interior pages of Fantasy Art Templates. My promo copies arrived yesterday, and they are beautiful beyond belief. Even better, earlier tonight Jana Oliver was looking for the name of a specific member of the angelic hosts--and it was in there, along with everything from pirates to giants to snake goddesses. Not only is it gorgeous, the book's a great reference too. Win!
Cheers and smiles,Read More......
Tomorrow, if I figure out how to do it, I'll try to post a very low res version of one of the interior pages of Fantasy Art Templates. My promo copies arrived yesterday, and they are beautiful beyond belief. Even better, earlier tonight Jana Oliver was looking for the name of a specific member of the angelic hosts--and it was in there, along with everything from pirates to giants to snake goddesses. Not only is it gorgeous, the book's a great reference too. Win!
Cheers and smiles,
Monica Burns Kismet Blog Tour
I'll be blogging throughout the month. Come join me!
Read More......
Because I don’t know how to say no, I’ve wound up with what I think folks could say is a blog tour. My first stop is at Unusual Historicals today. I’ll be chatting about Morocco the setting for my new Berkley Sensation release, . Come read for a chance to win a free copy of . Drawings open to residents in US and other countries. Shipping/handling fees for shipment of book to locations outside of US is responsibility of winner. International winners may prepay postage via PayPal.
Samhain New Year Blog
For reasons beyond human ken, the good folks at Samhain Publishing thought I'd be the perfect person to open the next decade of the company blog. You can read the damage here. One thing you can be sure of, it fits right in with the Cartoon Network's New Year Looney Tunes marathon. Enjoy!
Best New Year wishes,
Jean MarieRead More......
Best New Year wishes,
Jean Marie
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