I have a treat for everyone today. If you’re heading out for some shopping, maybe dropping by Chapters or Borders or Barnes and Noble….pick up this book. Stolen Fury.. It’s the debut by an amazing new talent, Elisabeth Naughton. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to read an author copy and it’s one that I enjoyed immensely. If you loved Romancing the Stone then you’re halfway there! This book has all of it….romance, adventure, a hot dude and an amazing heroine. The following is an exerpt:

To unearth a centuries-old secret, an archaeologist must team up with the rakish thief who’s stolen both an ancient relic and her heart…

Oh, is he handsome. And charming. And sexy as all get out. Dr. Lisa Maxwell isn’t the type to go home with a guy she barely knows. But, hey, this is Italy and the red-blooded Rafe Sullivan seems much more enticing than cataloging a bunch of dusty artifacts.

After being fully seduced, Lisa wakes to an empty bed and, worse yet, an empty safe. She’s staked her career as an archaeologist on collecting the three Furies, a priceless set of ancient Greek reliefs. Now the one she had is gone. But Lisa won’t just get mad. She’ll get even.

She tracks Rafe to Florida, and finds the sparks between them blaze hotter than the Miami sun. He may still have her relic, but he’ll never find all three without her. And they’re not the only ones on the hunt. To beat the other treasure seekers, they’ll have to partner up—because suddenly Lisa and Rafe are in a race just to stay alive.

December 30, 2008
Dorchester Love Spell
ISBN: 978-0-505–52793-6

“A fun, sexy, page-turning romantic adventure.
This debut sizzles.”
–New York Times Bestselling Author
Allison Brennan

“A rock-solid debut…Naughton’s intelligent adventure plot is intensified by the blazing heat that builds from [the] first erotic encounter.”
– Publisher’s Weekly

So, treat yourself today and pick up this book. You won’t be disappointed!

Juliana

Three days to go and we can say goodbye to 2008.
Wow. Can’t believe how fast it’s snuck up on me and surely I’m not the only one. Three days to go.

So, this morning I’m sipping my hazelnut cream coffee and thinking about next year and what I want to accomplish. As of now, I must write a second book and have it handed in all shiny and pretty by September. That gives me a lot of time….I’ll have copy edits and such in regards to my first book. I’m so thankful to be able to say these things…Aside from the must do’s…..I would like to write a Young Adult and I’m working on an Urban Fantasy type story….as I sit here typing it’s amazing to me that I can even contemplate selling more stories…..it still doesn’t feel real. But thanks to certain people in my life it is a reality and one that I’m going to grab hold of and make the best of.

So, as I close out 2008 I want to thank my husband for not complaining (too much) about the amount of time I spent writing and pursuing my dream.

I’d like to thank lauren Hawkeye for giving my that push, that little bit extra oomph to get me going.

I’d like to thank Laura Bradford for taking a chance on my manuscript and dealing with a newbie author, and Esi Sogah for loving my Jaxon and Libby as much as I do.

And I’d like to thank my kids, Jacob and Kristen for making me smile and feel loved and for making everything worth while.

Good bye 2008 and Hello 2009…..I can’t wait to meet the endless possibilities the next year brings!

what about you? What would you like to accomplish?

It’s two days before Christmas and I’m happy to report I’m knee deep in the white stuff. We have had a truck load of snow dumped on us over the last few days, and I couldn’t be happier. Ask me how I feel by New Years and I’m sure my answer will be very different.
But there is something special about having snow on Christmas eve and Christmas day. It’s magical. This year, I’m doing good. All the prezzies have been bought, wrapped. the stockings are done….my mom is baking! (lucky me!)…all I have to do is get my holiday groceries….so I’m good.
So, for me…it’s time to start enjoying. Today is my hubbies 40th. We’ve already had a surprise party for him, so it will be low key and tomorrow my parents will come and we will relax, visit a few open houses and then I will settle in at home, glass of wine in hand and will watch, “Its a wonderful life”….my all time favorite Chrismas movie.

I hope each and everyone of you has an amazing holiday season, whatever you celebrate! And here’s looking forward to 2009 and all the possiblities a new year brings!

peace out!

Hey Everyone!

Happy Stormy Friday!

Ack…it’s pretty awful in my part of the world….drifting, blowing snow…kids home from school…BUT, I just wanted everyone to know that I will be the guest blogger at the Bradford Bunch tomorrow! Please stop by!

www.bradfordbunch.com

Cheers and peace out!

Okie dokie.

First things first. I need to address something very serious. It’s something that hasn’t affected me personally, yet. However, it’s affected some authors that I know and I’m pissed FOR them.

It’s in regards to the blatant stealing of their work. There are various sharing sites on the web, that are allowing criminals to upload copies of ebooks. Once they are uploaded to these sites, anyone can go on and download them for free. I understand the whole free thing, really I do. BUT, this content belongs to someone and if you want it, you need to pay that someone for it. It’s criminal. It’s illegal and very, very wrong.

It’s no different then breaking into the authors home and stealing a copy of their manuscript. At the end of the day the readers who greedily downloads from this site is only hurting themselves. Because if an author isn’t selling books, she won’t get the next contract. So she won’t write and there will be nothing to read. How sad would that be?????

If you by chance come across one of these sites…please red flag any material you know is copywrited…..and report the site to the author and publishers. A quick email is all it takes.

Now…onto some good news. We all as authors and readers know how bad things have gotten in the publishing world along with every other industry that is out there. These are not great economic times that we’re living in. One of the main reasons the publishing industry is failing, and failing badly is the practice of bookstores being able to return books not sold to the publisher for credit. I’m not going to go into detail about how the equation works exactly, suffice it to say it’s bad business.

Today, HarpersStudio has announced that Borders will order books at a deeper discount, and they will be unreturnable. About freaking time…..Yeah HarperStudio and Borders!…….change needs to happen folks and it will be baby steps that move us forward. I hope this is a trend that will continue.

Have a great day all!

Happy Hump Day peeps!

Yeah, it’s a gloom Wednesday where I’m from. Sky overcast and full of snow clouds…a real dull day ya know? I’m just about to sit down and finish up the second chapter in a new YA. I figured while my agent is looking at my first, I may as well start another….ya know..just in case Laura hates the first!

Now this particular story came to me. With an opening line and a visual. Much like my first book I sold to Avon. I had just recieved a rejection for a vampire story that I loved and knew that maybe I needed to try something different. I thought about it, and decided that I wanted to do a story where the Hero is faced with his ex lover and the fact that she betrayed him somehow.

So I visualized my Hero arriving in a small town intent on killing his ex lover, as her betrayal resulted in an ambush on his unit. Of course this is a romance so he didn’t kill her, but that first visual in my mind set the tone for the entire story and I sat down and wrote it, and I just kept trucking along until I had a 98k word ms.

How cool is that?

Now with this YA, it’s coming along and I started it pretty much the same way. With an idea and a scene in my head.

Got me to thinking…how do all you writers out there come up with ideas? do you read articles? research strange stories on the net? read books and come up with your own spin?

What? Share with me!

Well, the next leg on my journey to publication has occurred.
I was first offered my deal with Avon on September 11th, and Wednesday night I finally received my contracts! Twenty pages long I might add….thank god for an agent who knows all the ins and outs. She was able to get some things changed that would benefit me a bit more, and then all I had to do was sign. Four copies….and yesterday I mailed them to NewYork.

I’m not sure why, but signing on the dotted line sure does make it official to me. I’m a contracted author with Avon Publishing. Wow. Pretty freaking weird!!!!!!

So what’s next? Well, I must wait and see if my revisions past muster. If so, guess copy edits will be heading my way. I have already started the second book in this series so I’ll continue to work on that as well as my goal to sell something in YA.

Speaking of, went to see Twillight last night. And while I liked it, I thought some of the actors were…shall we say, a bit challenged? Dunno…the girl who plays Bella was beautiful, and Edward is very hawt…but some of the others just didn’t do it for me…..maybe I was expecting too much.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I am having our annual Christmas party tomorrow night so I really shouldn’t be on the computer.

ciao for now

Hello Everyone….I’m just wanting to spread the love about an amazing read. It’s by author Beth Kerry, and is her first NY release, and well, she’s done an amazing job!

Here are some reviews:

— 5 Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies: Kery brings her characters to life with her descriptive prose and realistic dialogue. I held my breath as they came together in some of the sexiest love scenes I have read this year.

— 4 stars from Romantic Times: Kery gives readers beautifully written prose with amazingly descriptive sex scenes. But be warned — this is a very sensual tale. The well-crafted characters are full of raw emotions that are right on the page for the reader to experience.

— 5 Book Marks from Wild on Books: After reading WICKED BURN by Beth Kery, I have a new favorite author! With passionate love scenes, poignant romance, and a touching story, WICKED BURN is the kind of book that I will read again and again – it will certainly have a permanent place in my personal library.

4.5 Stars from Romance Novel TV: WICKED BURN by Beth Kery is a contemporary erotic romance that has a terrific plot that will tug at your heart strings. The two main characters are well drawn, three dimensional and layered with subtext. It seamlessly blends romance, steamy erotic interludes and character development with a good story line. Bravo Ms. Kery for creating a world I wanted to spend time in.

— 5 Stars from Genre Go Round/Barnes and Noble (reviewer: Harriet Klausner) This is a poignant contemporary romance starring two scarred lovers who have demons from past relationships. Beth Kery provides a deep angst-laden tale filled with real characters wanting much more out of life, though lessons learned have led to settling for much less.

And the Blurb:

He wanted all of her…

Vic Savian knows what he wants when he sees it. And what he wants is his sexy neighbor, Niall Chandler. So when he sees her in the hallway of their building being harassed by an aggressive suitor, Vic makes his move—and finds himself greatly rewarded…

And did she ever let him have it…

Sleeping with her gorgeous neighbor—when she didn’t even know his last name—was the craziest thing Niall’s ever done. Now, she can’t seem to get enough of Vic—or the uninhibited passion he stirs in her. Suddenly, with his help, she’s opening to sensual pleasures she’s never known before. But when Niall’s past comes back to haunt her, will she and Vic let themselves venture beyond the bedroom and explore the possibility of love that’s in their hearts?

Sounds pretty damn hot! This is a total recommend, so if you’re passing by a bookstore, please check it out!

first off want everyone to know the benefit went extremely well. There were several bands that performed including a teenaged act that was comprised of Hannah’s friends and her mother on drums! What a great night, and at last report I heard that almost 10,000$ was raised in Hannah’s name. All proceeds to go into a fund that will be used to help teens and their families that are living with cancer.

And, ahem….MY REVISIONS ARE DONE!….Squeeeeeeeee!!!!! Well, I should say, as far as I know they are! I ticked off everything on my list poured over my revision letter and when I was satisfied it was all done and accounted for, I fired it off to Esi!

So, now I wait. Again. Not sure for how long, but I’m slowly geting used to the waiting game. I think!

In the meantime, there is Christmas to deal with, a couple of new ideas floating around in my head…..my second jag book is calling and I’m still waiting to hear back from my agent in regards to a YA.

so, lots going on…..what’s shaking with everyone else?