HEROES TO SWOON FOR

Heroes To Swoon For Boxed Set

11 Sizzling Contemporary Romances

Multi-author boxed set

Genre: Contemporary Romance Anthology

Release Date: December 8, 2014

Cover Artist: http://www.bellamediamanagement.com/

New Release Sale Price: $0.99 Limited Time. Purchased separately, the books in this set would cost over $30. Nine Full-Length Novels, 1 Novella, and 1 Short Story from NY Times, USA Today, National and International Bestselling Authors.

We all need a hero! Preferably a hot, muscled, romantic one who's not afraid to fight for the woman he loves. From firefighters to athletes, and artists to rockers, these swoon-worthy heroes will keep you on your toes and weak in your knees. Slip into a reading adventure that will have you panting for more: fun, steam, and thrills.

~~Purchase Links~~
Amazon US: http://amazon.com/dp/B00PWXGA1I
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00PWXGA1I/
Amazon CA: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00PWXGA1I
Amazon UA: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/http://amazon.com/dp/B00PWXGA1I
Barnes & Noble: (pending)
Apple iBooks: http://bit.ly/1BOJLLC
KOBO: (pending)
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1p2WAfy
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1F2mrGD

Preorder Now!!

~~Join Our Facebook Release Party~~

Join the Heroes To Swoon For authors for their LAUNCH DAY PARTY! The authors and their friends will be celebrating the release, December 8th and 9th 2014, from 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM (EASTERN TIME).

Prizes Galore, Q&A, Authors, Readers, Books, and FUN! So what are you waiting for? Come join us and have a blast!

https://www.facebook.com/events/669439816505498/

~~Included in set~~

Aroused – Jade Kerrion

Can falling in love with a gorgeous male escort lead to anything except inevitable heartbreak?

Blazing Love – Chantel Rhondeau

An emotionally injured veterinarian assistant struggles to resist the heat of a blazing hot firefighter, but she can’t avoid the flames of his passion.

Roaring Hot! –Rachelle Ayala

A playboy motorcycle racer hires an aspiring actress when he is challenged by his grandmother to bring a real girlfriend to her birthday party.

The Right Pitch – Lyssa Layne

Colie Adger is torn between the lavish attention from a big shot pitcher and the common sense of a solid friend. Can Colie figure out her own heart and hit a homerun off the right pitch?

The Art of Love- Michele Shriver

After watching her parents' marriage crumble, jewelry artist Chelsea Matthews doesn't believe in love, but a sexy painter sets out to win her heart and prove that good guys do exist.

Behind the Altar – P.C. Zick

All seems perfect in Leah's life until tattoo artist Dean rides his Harley into her heart in this story of forbidden love.

Lost Avalon - K.S. Thomas

Blaise Nolan has it all - brooding good looks, a haunting voice and troubled lyrics of a soul gone lost. Only he didn't wind up brooding, haunted and lost by accident...

Second Shield - Stacy Eaton

Agent Drew Bradley goes undercover to find an officer gone rogue, but what he finds in Detective Sergeant Mackenzie McAllister is nothing he ever expected.

Amber Rules – Melinda Curtis

One of the first assignments of life coach to the rich and famous, Amber Rule, is to improve the game of Evan Oliver, one of the biggest bad-asses in the NBA. Will Amber up Evan's game? Or will he teach her a new set of rules?

Wild Irish Ride – Jennifer Saints

Sexy, Southern Suspense. Jesse was Alexi's forbidden fruit, the one man she couldn't forget and can't resist. After twelve years he's back for her—so is a killer.

How You Remind Me - Julie Leto

Can a former party girl take a chance on a sexy guitarist who knows her deepest, darkest secrets?

~~Purchase Links~~

Amazon US: (pending)

Barnes & Noble: (pending) 

Apple iBooks: http://bit.ly/1BOJLLC

KOBO: (pending)

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1F2mrGD

WHAT'S UP WITH YOUR FUNNY BONE?

This month I’m writing about humor and how I incorporate it into my stories.  Fact is, injecting humor doesn’t come as easily as one might think because what is funny to one person isn’t to another. 

During a recent visit with friends, the husband showed me a joke he’d received over the Internet.  He and I laughed until tears rolled down our cheeks as we pictured all kinds of scenarios.  Yet when it was shown to the rest of the gang, we got the scrunched up faces without so much as a chuckle.  So why is that? 

Are you born with a funny bone easily tickled?  No, it’s not an inherited trait, but the moods of those around you can make a huge difference.  Can you teach yourself to write humorous?  I believe you can.  It’s like anything else, practice makes perfect—or not so perfect.  A lot of it also depends on your frame of mind, and how you look at life in general.  Here are some of the things you might consider:

Try to see situations through a child’s eyes.  Let’s face it; they bring a lot of humor to our lives.  In an email I received recently asking ‘what is love’, first graders responded with what they thought it meant.  One child said, “it’s my grandpa polishing my grandma’s toenails because she can’t bend over.”  I agree, it is love, but if you really think about this, is it really saying grandma is too old to bend over?  Regardless of what we think, the child saw it as love and not the flaws of age or weight.  This is what you want your readers to see.

Keep a smile on your face.  Remember it only takes seventeen muscles to smile, and thirty-seven to frown.  When people see you smiling, they’re more likely to share funny things that happened to them, which you can use in your stories.

In one of my scenes in Shut Up and Kiss Me, my heroine is in the kitchen with her well-meaning interfering mother. She’s temporarily moved back home to New York from New Jersey until she can find a job to pay for an apartment.  She’s already wondering if the independence she’s gained by living apart, will be destroyed by her moving home. Moving home typically means your parents treat you like you’re twelve.  Here’s the scene:

     “Here,” mom said placing my dish onto the table, “You eat first, then call Nicky.”

I squared my shoulders and decided this was the perfect opportunity to let Mom know my independence would not waver because I’d returned home to New York. 

     “Mother, I will call Nicky when I’m ready to call him.”

    “Whoa, somebody’s cranky.”  She smiled sweetly.  “Okay, no pushing.” 

No, this woman doesn’t push, she just freakin’ wrestles me to the floor until she gets what she wants. 

Now, I could have taken another approach with this scene and made them angry at one another, but that’s not funny.  And quite frankly, I’m not interested in reading about anger.  By injecting humor, I turned an unpleasant situation into a humorous one for the reader.  Can’t you just picture that mother wrestling with her?  Also, the humor has already helped you forget just how annoying that mother is.

Think of situations you’ve been in, or you’ve witnessed, and try the ‘what might have happened if?” approach.  You can surely come up with something humorous.  Understand that forcing humor doesn’t work either and the reader quickly becomes well aware of it.

Adding humor is like adding color to the canvas.  Just remember to exaggerate the traits of your humorous character.  For example, in Magnetic Attraction, I have a character called Mags.  She’s into the punk look, black nails, lips, dramatic eye makeup, and multi colored hair.  Mags’ character does this to upset her socialite mother.  She’s a fight-the-establishment kind of woman who’s aggressive and always speaks her mind.  By making the things she does a bit humorous, you’ve forgotten how annoying her attitude is too.  In the first chapter, my heroine, Jordan, is upset because someone sent her photos of her boyfriend of three years in a compromising position with another woman.  She’s called her two friends, Emily and Mags, and they’re at her apartment trying to console her.  The heroine has tossed the photos on the floor.  Here’s the scene:

Emily sat down next to me.  “Where are the photos?”

“On the floor,” I said weakly, nodding toward the kitchen.  Mags released her arm from around me and bolted up, racing to the kitchen to see the photos before Emily could get there.  Em, who mostly ignores Mags’ control issues, gave her one of those looks that could kill, as she breezed past her, stooping down to scoop up a few of her own.

“Hey,” Mags quipped, “I wanted to see if I knew the bimbo.”

Emily held up her hand, ordering Mags to stop, then studied the photos she’d retrieved.  When Emily released a loud “whoa,” Mags bolted next to her like she was sliding into home plate. 

“Oh my God,” she giggled leaning over Em’s shoulder.  “I had no idea

Vinny was so—”

Now in this scene, I’ve lightened the tenseness of the scene with a bit of humor just in case someone in my reading audience has experienced anything like this.  Hopefully it has stopped them from reliving their own catastrophe.

Other things to remember are: don’t worry about making your first draft funny, and by all means, don’t try it when you’re NOT in a good mood. You may feel better after writing it, but you’ll have your characters exhausted from fighting with each other.

So is interjecting humor into your stories easy? No, not by a long shot, but I promise you, you’ll enjoy the process and help your readers escape from the trials and tribulations in their own lives.  And who knows, they may even begin to look at their own unfortunate situations in a different light.  That’s a win-win for everyone.