2 Releases and a chat!

I have 2 friends with new releases today! I'm so looking forward to reading each of these books. First, there's Marilyn's Brant's According to Jane, which I've been salivating to get my grubby paws on for months now. According to Amazon, my copy shipped yesterday, so I'll have to wait a few more days to read it, but you better believe I'll be tearing through that puppy. It's Marilyn's debut novel and a former Golden Heart winner and it's been getting fantastic reviews!

Then, there's my good buddy Naughty Kate (better known as Kate Pearce)'s newest installment in her "Simply" series, Simply Wicked. These are wickedly good down and dirty romances that will have you flipping the pages long past your bed time. I've been waiting a long time for this one too. Looks like my weekend is already booked (he he...get the pun?) Okay, bad joke, but you catch my drift. Run out and buy these. Or run over to Amazon and order them. Either way, you won't be sorry!

And about that chat...

On Wednesday, September 30th @ 9pm ET, Louisa Edwards will be the featured guest author in The Knight Agency chat room. Formerly an editor at Penguin's Berkley imprint before turning in her editor's hat, she describes her debut novel, CAN'T STAND THE HEAT (St. Martin's, Sept. 2009) as a "culinary romance."

Louisa has an in depth knowledge of the ins and outs of the publishing industry, and she'll be sharing lots of information about her experience as a first-time author and details on her upcoming projects.

Hope to see you there! Of course, there will also be fun trivia and prizes!

Here's the 411 on CAN'T STAND THE HEAT: For sharp-tongued Miranda Wake, the chance to spend a month in Adam Temple’s kitchen to write an exposé is a journalistic dream come true. Surely Miranda can find a way to cut the hotshot chef down to size once she learns what really goes on at his trendy Manhattan restaurant. The trouble is, she never expected Adam to find out her most embarrassing secret: this critic has no idea how to cook.

As for Adam, well, he’s not about to have his reputation burned by a critic who doesn’t even know the difference between poaching and paring. He’ll just have to give the tempting redhead a few private lessons of his own—teaching Miranda what it means to cook with passion.

To learn more about Louisa, visit http://www.louisaedwards.com/.

What: CHAT with Louisa Edwards
Where: TKA's Chat Room
When: Wednesday, September 30th @ 9pm ET
How to Chat: (1) Click on this link: http://client1.sigmachat.com/sc.php?id=115545(2) Enter a username and password (any combination) (3) Click Login

Are you a Kitty, a Shea, or a Pilar?

It's official. Thanks to the lovely and talented Jax, my website has undergone some updates! Look for an additional page titled quiz, where you can find out which Bunco Babe you most resemble. To celebrate my upcoming November release of Bunco Babes Gone Wild, I'm holding a contest. Take the quiz, and follow the directions at the bottom of the page to earn a chance for an autographed copy of Bunco Babes Tell All and a $50 gift certificate to Borders. You know you're dying to find out whether you're a Kitty, a Shea or a Pilar. So go ahead and enter!

Which Bunco Babe are you?

Are you a Kitty, a Shea or maybe even a Pilar? (And if you don't know who I'm talking about, then shame on you, it means you haven't read my book!) Kitty, Shea and Pilar are the heart and soul of my fictional Bunco Babes and pretty soon, you'll be able to take a quiz on my website and find out which Bunco Babe you're most like.

I'm had so much fun devising this quiz and testing it out on my friends. So far, I think the results have been pretty spot on.! So stay tuned and find out the real truth. Are you the nice one? The hot one? or the sharp one?

Weekend Update

Alas, it's Monday again. This past weekend just seemed to fly. Why is that?

Saturday I attended my monthly RWA land chapter meeting. The Florida Panhandle Romance Writers celebrated our one year anniversary! Usually we meet at the local library branch, but the room we use was already taken, so we met at Julie's Place, a local restaurant. We're spoiled beyond spoiled now, because I think we're going to start meeting there from now on. We had our own little room and full service (coffee, lunch, etc..) Plus, it's right off I-10 so it's perfect for our out-of-town members. I presented the afternoon workshop- Stop Plodding and Start Plotting! (cute title, huh? Mel came up with that). I think it went over really well, and I might think about adding to it to maybe one day try to present it at Nationals.

While the meeting was taking place, my beloved Charlie was at the animal hospital recovering from double ear surgery. He had two hematomas removed. Charlie is 11 years old and weighs over a 100 lbs, which makes him really old in dog years. He's such a trooper though. I'm taking him back to the vet today for a bandage change. The stitches don't come out for 21 days though. Ouch. I just hope I can keep him from messing with it too much. I'm calling him Civil War Charlie now. This picture is all the explanation you need for that. At the bottom of the pic you might see a small brown body (it sort of blends into the wooden floor). That belongs to Truffles, my 8 month old dachshund. Unfortunately, she's way too fascinated with Charlie's bandages. It's a chore to keep her from trying to help him take them off.

Saturday night ended with a bang when the Noles beat 7th ranked BYU in their own home stadium. What a game! It was like the good ol' days again. I'm really hoping this is a trend that will continue for the rest of football season.

Sunday evening I had my L&D book club meeting at Bonefish Grill. A super time was had by all. The book of the month was The Time Traveler's Wife, which we had hoped to all watch at the movies together (so we could compare the movie version to the book version). Unfortunately, we missed the movie by 2 days. What can I say? We are irony's bitch. Still, we all agreed it was a super book, even if there were parts that were a bit disturbing to some of us. Next month, we were going to read Jane Austen's Emma, but I persuaded the group to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies instead. I've heard a lot of contradictory things about this book and can't wait to get my hands on it (rubbing palms eagerly!)

According to Marilyn

Sigh. I just love the cover to my pal Marilyn Brant's debut novel According to Jane. Don't you? It looks so soft, so romantic, so wistful. I've been looking forward to reading this book for a long time now, and I'll soon be rewarded for my patience because it comes out Oct 1! Book Junkie recently did a fantastic interview of Marilyn that you can read here. There's also a contest giveaway involving an arc and some fabulous Starbucks coffee so run on over and comment!

Here's the blurb for the book (which by the way, won the 2007 Golden Heart award for Novel with Best Romantic Elements!)

It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". From nowhere comes a quiet 'tsk' of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there. Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go - sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham. Still, everyone has something to learn about love - perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending.

What's Cookin'?

I'll tell you what's cookin', it's Louisa's book Can't Stand the Heat!

Today, Louisa's blogging over at Romance Novel T.V. and she's giving away a culinary themed package (cookbook, apron, spatulas...)as well as talking about writing contemporary romance (my favorite!) So go on over and leave Louisa a message. You might get lucky!

Bunco Babes Tell All is a Fresh Pick!

I was completely tickled and thrilled to find out that Bunco Babes Tell All was selected by Fresh Fiction Staff as their Fresh Pick of the day. Yep, that's today, Sept. 14. Yay! And thanks!

Kitty and her Florida girlfriends have been getting together to play Bunco every Thursday night for years. It's a girls' night out ritual that is sacred to the so called "Bunco Babes." They have shared dating horrors, marriage proposals and babies. This tight-knit group is held together by Kitty, Shea and Pilar: the reigning queens of Bunco.

This particular story revolves around Kitty. She's celebrating her 35th birthday and lamenting her non- existent sex life and dwindling bank account. She's certainly needing a little male companionship and some money. She is a real estate broker who's fallen on hard times as a new cookie-cutter neighborhood has cropped up in town and is represented by another broker.

The "Bunco Babes" try to make Kitty's birthday special by hiring an exotic dancer. While she's being detained by Officer Bob, Kitty's thoughts go to Steve the Plumber, the hot repair man who shows up to fix her broken toilet just as Bunco is getting underway at her house. After everyone leaves for the night, there is a knock at the door and Steve has returned because he left a plumbing tool at her house. Basically, Kitty's toilet is not the only thing that gets fixed by Steve the Plumber on this particular night!

BUNCO BABES TELL ALL is a very lighthearted read. If you just don't have time to schedule regular girls' nights out with your friends, pick up this book and you just might get your girlfriend fix. The gossip, food and drinks are always flowing. Maria Geraci has created a storyline that will be easy to follow-up on in future novels.

Back to Bunco Night

Look familiar? These gorgeous little aqua flip flops have become like my writer's totem. The wine glass of course, needs no explanation. But I don't think you can tell by my picture that the little ceramic flip flops with the pink flower is actually a wine cork. So cute!

Wednesday night was my Bunco group's "Back to Bunco night." Because it's so hard with summer vacation to get us all together, years ago we decided to play only throughout the school year (Sept-May). Our first foray into the year always involves our organizational meeting, in which we make up our schedule, pay our "dues" and generally sit around and discuss what when on during the summer. This year's biggest topic is getting kids off to college. Sigh. When we get that old????

So back to that adorable wine glass. My good friend and fellow Bunco Broad Cheryl saw the wine glass while out and about this summer and "had to have" it for me. I absolutely adore it!

Research Trip!

This weekend I'm going to be down in Daytona Beach again with the family at the condo we've stayed at a few times this summer. I know, poor me!

It actually looks like we're going to have a Labor Day weekend without threat of a looming hurricane (The only Hurricanes I hope to see are those coming to Tally on Monday to get whooped by the Noles, but that's another post) so I anticipate a good time will be had by all.

I'm working on a proposal for a contemporary romance in which the main character's family owns this very tacky Florida gift shop. As a kid, I loved all the big state touristy spots- Weeki Wachi, Silver Springs and adored all the road side tourist traps. I remember begging my parents to stop the car so my sister and I could "browse." I hope to take lots and lots and lots of pics for inspiration. The working title on the proposal is "The Boyfriend of the Month Club." So far, it's been a blast to write!

Have a safe and Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Which Beatle are you?

I took this random Beatles quiz yesterday and was shocked to discover that I was JOHN. Unsatisfied with the answer (because I so think that I'm George) I found another Beatles quiz. And then another. In each case, the verdict was the same. I'm John. Who knew? My only relief was that I'm not Paul. Please. Even Ringo is preferable!

All Fired Up

Isn't that one of the sexiest covers you've ever seen? I can't believe I have 2 good friends with debut books coming out today! Okay, so you know about Louisa's cookin' book, and now there's Kristen's book. I think the stars are aligning for some hot reading. Go check out Kristen's blog and order her book. Right. Now.