Weekend Roundup

I was supposed to clean out my closet this weekend. You know, the one I write in? I even took pictures of the closet as "before" shots. Which I've done in the past to use as motivation to help get my butt in gear. It didn't work. Either time. And I'm not posting them this time until I have some "after" shots to show how industrious I am!

So, my Seminoles lost. Again. To Boston College???? All I can say is we SUCK. But I still love my Noles. We just have to get our act together.

That said, I took a trip to Hogtown yesterday (Gainesville) to visit the middle son because it was Parents Weekend. We couldn't spend the entire weekend there because it just so happened to also be Homecoming for the youngest daughter. She looked so pretty in her dress! It's always rough being torn between 2 kids events. Can the Universe not plan things out a little better next time please?

Tall, Blond and Handsome

This post is for all of you out there googling tall, blonde, handsome men. You know who you are.

A few months ago (or maybe it was longer) I wrote a post about handsome blonde guys. As opposed to the tall, dark and handsome guys. Besides "Cuban baby shower" it's one of the most popular google searches that lead to my blog.

Recently, I answered a quiz somewhere on the blogosphere that asked how you liked your heroes: blonde, dark haired or red haired. Yeah, you guessed it. The dark haired guys won by a margin of like 80%. Still, there's something to be said about those blondies. The heroes in my first 2 books have dark hair. But my current wip features a blond hero a little a la Curtis Stone.

September Contest Winner!

My September contest winner is Nicole P!

Last month was pimp my critique partners contest month. Which means Nicole is getting a copy of Can't Stand the Heat and Bite Me! The only thing Nicole had to do to enter was be a member of my newsletter community.

Congratulations, Nicole. I know you're going to love these reads.

And don't forget about my October contest. Take my Which Bunco Babe Are you? quiz and enter a chance to win a signed book from yours truly and a $50 gift certificate to Borders.

Maria and Ree: 365 Days, Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl Gone Cuban

Hee hee... I wonder what Pioneer Woman would think if I did a rip off of Julie and Julia using her upcoming cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks- Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.

I have to admit, I've never bought a cookbook in my life (except the occasional one bought from a charity organization). Cooking for me has traditionally been like housework. Something that has to get done or else. The or else in my case would be the rebellion of 3 children and a husband (who, God love 'em, does more than his share of housework and child rearing, but actually admitted to me the other day he didn't know how to turn on our oven).

I will also admit that (probably to the horror of my good pal Louisa) I had never even heard of the term "foodie" until the RWA National Convention in Dallas back in 2007. I was hanging out at the bar with friends and someone used the word "foodie" and I asked, "what's that?" I was met with a multitude of blank stares that had me sweating with the memory of 5th grade science class in Ascension Catholic School when I raised my hand to ask Sister Immaculata how humans could be mammals when we didn't feed our young (yes, the memory of the stunned looks and gasps of my classmates is still seered in my brain.) Suffice it to say that I had a VERY sheltered childhood:) And believe me, the next afternoon at recess, my pals filled me in on the facts of life. At least all they knew about, anyway.

But I digress. So while I could never be termed a foodie, I am definitely a fan of Pioneer Woman's recipes. Which means I'll be buying her book when it comes out at the end of the month. Her photography (of which I'm sure they'll be plenty of) will be worth the buy alone. Plus, there's all those lovely recipes (her chicken spaghetti casserole is to die for).

Maria and Ree: 365 Days, Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl Gone Cuban.

I actually kind of like how that sounds!

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.

Debut Day and free books!

"CAN'T STAND THE HEAT is HOT in the kitchen and everywhere else!"
Carly Phillips, NYT Best Selling Author.

I so could have given Louisa that quote myself (but I can totally understand why she'd want it from Carly!) As someone who was lucky enough to read the first version of CAN'T STAND THE HEAT all I can say is that this book is so hot it's going to jump off the shelves. It debuts tomorrow in fine book stores and Wal Mart everywhere. Here's a little bit about the story.

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.

Check out Louisa's awesome website here.



And speaking of awesome... Mel's book BITE ME! has been out a month now and is garnering fantastic reviews. I love these 2 books so much (and know that you will too) that I'm giving away a copy of each to a random member of my newsletter. I'm doing the drawing on Sept 10, so if you're not on my newsletter list (why not?) do so now right here.

My pretty new Banner

Thanks to the talented Jax, I have this fun new banner (look to the right!)

My 2nd book Bunco Babes Gone Wild comes out in just a couple of months and I decided I needed one of those cool flashy banners. (I especially love how the dice pop out at the end!)

Hot Bunko Babes

I'm featuring a new Bunco group up on my site. Go check out the Hot Bunko Babes. It's my friend Kitty's group and they're awesome. They've been kind enough to invite me twice to play Bunco with them and I've had a blast both times. I've also tried Kitty's Salsa Chicken and it's delicious. And super simple. My kind of recipe!

My son is now officially a Gator

So my son is now part of that segment of my family that I try to ignore (most of the time unsuccessfully) during college football season. A real live University of Florida Gator. Mike Geraci and I spent the last 2 days in Hogtown (Gainesville, Florida to non-Floridians) getting Kevin acclimated to his dorm and settling into college life. The atmosphere around campus was unbelievably contatgious. But don't worry, I won't be succumbing to Gator madness anytime soon, although I'm extremely proud of my son and am looking forward to his having a wonderful college experience. I have to admit, I was a little weepy too. Why do kids have to grow up?

I have to admit, we had a great time in Gainesville. My parents (Bull Gator fans to the death) had suggested this little Cuban restaurant to us called "Mi Apa" (a shortened familiar version of Mi papa). The food was very good. Not as good as Versailles on Calle Ocho in Miami, but very decent for Hogtown. I was impressed. I had the ropa vieja and it was excellent. I finished it off with a cortadito and it too, was very yummy!

So in between getting Kevin set up, I had hoped to be able to find some time to write. Or if not, write, then at least get some reading done on "The Time Traveler's Wife" which my book club is now reading. But I had won a copy of "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" on Marilyn Brant's blog and even though I had meant to read it after my book club read, somehow it ended up on the top of my pile. I couldn't put it down! My Jane Austen addiction must be tended to. I have to say, I absolutely loved this book and have to get the sequel "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict." But I will be a good girl and finish Time Traveler, then, begin the Rude Awakenings book. Let's just see how much will power I can come up with:)

In which Maxwell makes his Creme Puffs

While Mike Geraci was off on his boys golf trip I took the kids to Daytona Beach to meet up with my parents and my sister and my nephew for a weekend of fun, sun, and relaxation. Luckily, we got all 3 in large abundance (the tops of my shoulders and upper arms can attest to the sun part. Ugh. Why do I never remember to reapply sunscreen there? Despite using an SPF of 45, I still burned :(

The condo we stayed at was on the 22nd floor, giving us this really spectacular view of the beach. We were so high up, that when we sat outside on the balcony, we could actually look down on the sea birds flying. No joke. A couple of times I thought they were going to fly right into the balcony and join us for a drink. But they didn't :)

One delicious highlight of the weekend, was when my sister's friend Maureen and her 11 year old son, Maxwell, came over (that's him above checking out the Publix bakery). Maxwell is a budding chef and just about the cutest thing you can ever imagine. We'd all seen the movie "Julie and Julia" and were talking about food, and about making food, and about eating food, which stirred our taste buds to no end. So we decided we had to run out to Blockbuster to rent "Big Night" and go to Publix so we could cook something. My sister made this simple and utterly delicious pasta dish with broccoli (sorry, no pics of the pasta, I was too busy eating!) and Maxwell made his famous creme puffs.

At this point, I nearly pounced on the puffs. But here they are cooling, and I was a good girl and refrained until they were ready.

Ice Cream Creme Puffs a la Maxwell. Creme Puff stuffed with ice cream and covered with his homemade chocolate sauce. Fantastic!

After a meal of pasta and ice cream puffs, we all collapsed to watch TV.

In between going to the beach, getting sunburned, watching "Big Night" and eating, I did manage to write 8 pages on Bunco Book 3. Yay!