Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I posted on this blog, but with Witness Seduction on this month’s Blaze lineup, I knew I had to pop in and say hi–and hold a little contest while I’m at it…

I’ve gotta admit, WS was a tough one to write. The hero, Caleb Ford, is an undercover agent whose libido goes haywire when he’s ordered to stakeout Marley Kindcaid’s house. He’s totally lusting over the cute blonde, but he can’t tell her who he really is…and that’s where the tough part came for me, as a writer. Lying sucks. I hate being lied to. So how on earth was I going to make readers fall in love with a hero who’s holding out on the truth?

In the end, I think Caleb’s conflict was one of the strongest I’ve ever had in a hero. And yup, lying or not, I ended up absolutely loving the guy!! So here’s hoping that readers will love and forgive him just like I did.

To celebrate this release, I’m giving away a free copy of Witness Seduction today! Just leave a comment and let me know how you feel about heroes who aren’t being entirely honest… I’ll post the winner in the comments section tomorrow morning, so check back to see if you won!

Elle

Every year, when it gets close to summertime, I always have this huge list of stuff I want to do, and yet when the summer ends, I didn’t end up doing a single item on the list. Last year doesn’t count, though, since we had a really rainy summer and nobody wants to do fun outdoors stuff in the rain.

This year, I am determined to do some of these fun things that I never get around to doing. So here goes. This summer I will:

1) Go to the horse races. I’ve been once before and it was super fun. One of my horses came in first, while every horse my BF bet on came in dead last. It was a great time, and for the past 5 years I keep saying we should go again. This year we will!

2) Go to Niagara Falls for the night. I haven’t been back to the falls since I was a teenager, and I really want to go to that darn wax museum.

3) Spend more than a weekend at the lake. My BF’s lake cottage is the most beautiful place ever, and just once, I’d like to go up for a week or two.

4) Plant a garden. Our garden is nice, but I think it would be nicer with lots of colorful flowers. Of course, I know nothing about flowers and which types to plant and when, so I’ve been slacking on learning. Slack no more!

So, those are my top 4 must-do’s of the summer. Fingers crossed I actually do some of these this year. What about everyone else? Any summer plans? Anything you really want to do but haven’t gotten around to?

Yep, as the title of this blog post suggests, I am in need of a good cry. I’m not sad, and I’m certainly not depressed, but I enjoy crying every now and then, and my best source for that is Nicholas Sparks. I’m convinced Sparks writes for the sole purpose of making people cry. Why else would you give your readers this amazing romance and characters you fall in love with and then kill one of them in the end?

It’s the same sad story over and over again, which is why I stopped reading Sparks’ book, because they were too emotionally draining. But a 2-hour movie adaption of those books, I can handle. Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook—I cried in the books and the movie versions. Nights in Rodanthe, I never read, but the movie made me sob like a little girl. I went to the theater with a friend, and the two of us foolishly forgot to bring tissues (what were we thinking, after the Notebook fiasco?). We had to beg an elderly lady sitting behind us for a few tissues. It was mortifying.

So, when I started seeing trailers for Dear John, I called my friend up, asked her if she was up for a good, and she said, I’m in. We went to the movie, armed with two mini packages of tissues, sat through this amazing romance, and then…the ending wasn’t sad! What the eff? Well, maybe some people could argue it was sad, but considering the heroine was so unlikeable by the end, I can’t see how anyone could have possible cried. I teared up during one part, about halfway through, but it was definitely not a sob fest like previous Sparks books/films.

But I haven’t given up on Sparks yet. In a couple of weeks, The Last Song is coming to theaters, and my friend and I have already agreed to see it, to see if Sparks will redeem himself and that maybe Dear John was just a terrible fluke. So, before we go, I need someone who’s read the book, or Googled the movie, to answer this one question (and nothing more—just yes or no!!)

Is the ending cry-worthy?

Again, don’t tell me anything else, just whether it’s going to be sad.

And out of curiosity, who else cries in movies? What are your all-time sob movies? I have some non-Sparks on my list, like Beaches, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption and most recently, that movie with Edward from Twilight that came out this past weekend, Remember Me. Oh, and if you saw Dear John, what did you think?

I’ve become spoiled when it comes to television. Lately I’ve just been watching shows on DVD and I’m finding it way more fun than having to wait every week to watch a new episode on television. Over the summer I marathoned Freaks and Geeks, House and now 24 (which is so awesome!) I’m already on season 4 of 24 and it’s only been a month since I started LOL! (BTW—nobody say a single thing about 24, I’m trying desperately to avoid spoilers and all mention of the show)

There are only three shows I still watch on television–LOST, The Office and Supernatural. But LOST is ending this year and so is Supernatural, so then I’ll be down to one. Which means I need a new show. But I’m thinking I’d just rather watch a show that’s already out on DVD, only I’m all out of ideas.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried getting into that new show Flash Forward, but it was so complicated, and I realized I can’t strain my brain for another show considering I’m already hooked on LOST, the most complicated show on the planet.

So yeah, I need some ideas. What’s your favourite show? How do you feel about TV on DVD? Isn’t it so much better?!

Well, it’s that time of the year again…my birthday. Well, at least it will be on January 19th. I never used to mind birthdays. I don’t particularly like attention, but I am a chocoholic, so any event that lets me eat a lot of cake is right up my alley. And the presents aren’t bad either

But lately, my birthdays have become annoying. Not because I’m getting older. I don’t mind that. What I do mind is other people pointing out that I’m getting older and then letting me know all the things I should have in my life by now and don’t.

Why aren’t you married yet? When are you going to have a baby? Why don’t you put a down payment on a house?

These are the most typical questions, and I always give my typical answer: I’m not interested in any of that…yet.

I wonder much longer I’ll be able to get away with that yet, My parents had me when they were 23, so by their standards, I should already have a five year old by now (yes, I’m turning 28–I’m still a baby LOL!) But to be honest, I’m not ready to give up my freedom and independence for a child or a husband. There’s still so much I want to do, especially when it comes to building a career. Fortunately, my BF feels the same way as I do. Unfortunately, my family thinks otherwise. I’m constantly being reminded that I won’t be fertile forever….

Ah well. Another year older, and I feel the same way I did last year. Is that bad? What about everyone else? What were you doing at age 28? Do you have any regrets?

The other day I was at Value Village with my sister. She was off looking for jeans, so I wandered into the book section and started browsing–and I came across the very first Blaze I ever read. Pure Temptation by Vicki Lewis Thompson. It was a festivus miracle! I’d been thinking about that story a few months ago, and couldn’t remember the title, the author, or the names of the characters. And there I am, at a used clothing store, and I find a copy of it.

I was a huge fan of Temptation and VLT’s books were always a favourite, especially the Three Cowboys and a Baby series (side note–thank you, Brenda, for finally helping me find out who the daddy was!). Anyway, when Temptation started coming out with the Blaze mini-series, I always thought it would be awesome if Blaze was its own line. There was just something so delicious about the Blaze stories. They were hot, definitely sexier, but still had those same romancey elements I loved about Temptation.

So after I discovered Pure Temptation at the store, I tried to think about the first Blaze (a non-Temptation Blaze) I ever read, and yet again I could totally remember the story but not the author. But I did remember a character name–Eden. And I remembered she was a bad girl. A quick Google search revealed I was thinking about The Pleasure Principle by Kimberly Raye. So now I have to track down that darn story used because I remember how much I loved it!

It’s weird how I can remember the plots of books I read so many years ago, but that goes to show that Blaze isn’t a line you can easily forget! Some of the stories have stayed with me for years, and it’s so cool to see how far the line has come since it first came out as a miniseries for Temptation.

So, question–who remembers the first category novel they read? And what do you love most about the Blaze line? Did you read Temptation and miss it as much as I do?

Oh, and finally–Happy holidays to everyone!

I’m not a risk taker. I wish I could brag about all the cool and dangerous things I’ve done, but I can’t. I think the most “daring” thing I’ve ever done is go snorkling. Or maybe go-karts. Go me!

The reason I’m thinking about this is because of the book I’m working on. My heroine loves skydiving, so I’m trying to show how it makes her feel, the adrenaline, the thrill, etc. and it’s hard to do because I’m thinking, is she insane? Why would anyone ever want to jump out of a plane?

I’m afraid I don’t understand the thrill. I’m perfectly happy sitting at home playing a game of Scrabble, and to be honest, I hate that adrenaline rush you get when you’re in a dangerous situation, so I can’t imagine why someone would try to get that rush on purpose. So that’s why I’m blogging about risk taking today. I want to know why you guys do it! I know Brenda and some of her authors go on rafting trips all the time (another activity I think I’d pee my pants if I did–rapids! The threat of capsizing and being sucked into an eddy? Eek!) and I have friends who have been bungee-jumping (I won’t even consider that). But me? I’ve never done anything risky like that.

So tell me, why would my heroine enjoy skydiving? I need a risk-taker to tell me this so I can work on some proper motivation here! Also, what’s the craziest, most dangerous thing you’ve ever done–and if it was by choice, WHY? LOL

So on my last post here on the Blaze blog, I asked for reader recommendations. Since then, I’ve discovered a few new authors, some whose books I loved, some that were so-so. But I did discover a series that I totally love, and that’s Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Now, I’ll be honest, those books are 1400+ pages long, and in some of the books, I’ve been doing some skimming. Because really, you don’t need pages and pages of description when a paragraph would have sufficed, but that’s just my opinion. But what I love about these books is that the author answers all the stupid questions that pop into my head as I’m reading.

I have a problem when it comes to random details. Take my favourite show, for example–LOST. Now, I love coming up with theories and trying to figure out what the hell is going down on this island (who is Jacob? Why doesn’t Richard age?!) But along with these important questions, I’m always wondering about things that other people dismiss or simply accept not having an answer to. And it’s usually stuff that has to do with hygiene, or random thoughts that really don’t affect the plot whatsoever–like, where is their bathroom on this island? What do they use for toilet paper? What do the girls do during their time of the month? Do Jack and Sawyer masturbate? If so, do they do it in their tent or go off into the jungle?

Yep, sadly, these are the types of things I wonder about. My friend, on the other hand, just accepts everything. Who cares about their bathroom facilities, of course the men masturbate, they’re men, who cares where and how often. But me, I need to know these things.

So in this Outlander series, the same types of questions pop into my head–and the author actually answers them! It’s awesome. At one point I was thinking about whether or not the women in 1700′s were really hairy–was wax available then? Did they use primitive razors to shave? Most historicals never mention stuff like that, probably because they don’t want to gross out readers by describing really hairy women. But Gabaldon actually mentions things like that, not in great detail (fortunately) but a sentence or two to answer the silly thoughts that always pop into my head.

Does anyone else have this same weird necessity to know details that most people don’t care about or is it just me?

Since we’ve been having a cold and rainy summer here in Toronto, I’ve been spending a lot of time indoors, catching up on my reading. There are certain authors who are must-buys for me. I don’t bother reading the back blurb of their books, and I’ll buy them in hardcover if it means not having to wait a year for paperback. Because they’re worth it! Right now, I just finished reading Suzanne Brockmann’s Hot Pursuit, which is like the 16th (17th? 18th? who knows) book in her Troubleshooters series, and as usual I loved it.

But then I read her author letter at the end of the book, in which she stated that after the next Troubleshooters book, she’s not writing anymore of them! Oh no! The first thought I had was, now what am I going to read? I have a handful of favourite authors, and Suzanne is one of them. And sure, she’ll probably write other books, but I love this series and I don’t want to say goodbye to it at all! I’m sure I’ll like whatever she writes next, but I’ve grown attached to these characters. Same with JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series–if she stopped that series, I’d go nuts.

So, the point of this blog–I need some reading recommendations. I’m dying to discover a new author, but nobody’s sparked my interest lately. I tried some paranormals, but I didn’t really get into the big paranormal authors (I can’t get interested in anything involving werewolves or shapeshifters, no matter how hard I try!) And the last contemporary author I got into was Susan Elizabeth Phillips, but I’ve read all of her books like five times each and I need something new.

So who’s got some suggestions? What are you reading right now? How do you feel about “series” books? And does anyone know of any authors with a similar style to Suzanne Brockmann or SEP? Summer’s not over yet, so I need some recommendations!

So, anyone who knows me well is very aware of the fact that I’m not big on too much chest hair on a man. I’ve blogged about it before, quoting some of my favourite cringe-inspiring lines from certain novels, where the hero’s chest is described as so unattractive (well, to me) that sometimes I can’t even finish reading the darn story.

But this latest book I’m reading has officially topped all the previous ones. All I’m going to say is it’s a romantic suspense, and an author I don’t usually read but decided to give a chance. Seriously, this writer is obsessed with body hair. Every scene featuring the hero in a state of undress had several paragraphs about his thick forest of chest hair. The thick curly hair on his thighs. The curly hair under his armpits. The spattering of hair on his feet. Dear Lord. So much hair.

I’m going to be honest. I quit reading after the foot-hair description. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was picturing this hairy Bigfoot dude, and if I don’t find the hero attractive, I usually stop caring about the story because I’m too focused on all the terrible images floating around in my head.

The good thing about this reading experience, though, was that I was able to pick out a lot of words in the author’s descriptions and made a list for my own use, called “Words NOT to use when describing your hero”. So, from now on, when I am describing a man’s body, I will not use words such as:

forest, thick (unless it’s his muscles or man business), curly (unless it’s on his head), nest, armpits (pit hair falls under this category) and did I say forest?

But again, this is just me. I don’t mind some hair, just not anything that’s described as a forest. I’m sure there are lots of women who go wild for overly-hairy men. Which is fine. To each their own. I’m curious, though–does anyone actually find any of the words on my list attractive?

So come on, spill. Who likes really hairy guys? Anyone ever stop reading a book because a description raised your ick flag? Any words you avoid writing/reading? Oh, and I’ve included a yummy picture of Jared Padalecki because 1) I enjoy his non-forest chest and 2) I’m currently marathoning Supernatural and loving it