News on the Book Front

Have to share the first review Big Mike and I have received for Veil of Deception. Reviewer Dawn with Love Romances and More gives Veil of Deception a 4.5 out of 5 hearts rating:

If you enjoy a suspenseful romance that keeps you guessing even as you flip the pages, then grab VEIL OF DECEPTION. Both these authors will keep you on your toes, jumping at shadows until the very climatic ending and then you’re eager to read it again. I definitely will be going back and reading this again in the future as it stays with you even after the last page is read. Run, don’t walk, to pick up the latest book from these two talented authors and be prepared to get lost in the mystery of Spenser Lake. I look forward to more collaborations between these two in the future.

Read the rest of the view here.

Full Throttle is now available in paperback. For all of you readers who prefers a print book you can hold in your hands, this one is only $13.95 and can be purchased here.

Also got a new review for Full Throttle. Mickey with You Gotta Read Reviews gives Full Throttle a "You Need to Read" rating (which is basically 4 out of 5 stars)?

The character studies are wonderfully detailed and vivid. I love the interactions between Sam and Linc as they work through their their individual problems, how those situations impact their lives and any potential relationships that they are trying to develop with each other and the people in their lives. Added to this underlying tension is a threat to Sam's well-being that concerns everyone, plus a developing closeness to Linc's young son that surprises them both. Full Throttle is a very enjoyable story, one with all the requisite elements needed to make it a must read book: great characters, superior plot, witty dialogue and surprising twists.

Read the full review here.

Thanks for taking the time to check out both of these books - two of my all-time favorites that I've written to date.

It's That Time Again: Preditors & Editors Book Poll

Every year, Preditors & Editors holds a contest for the best book in several categories, best publisher, best cover art, etc. for fiction and nonfiction published in the prior year. If you've never heard of Preditors & Editors, the site is a valuable resource for anyone in the publishing industry listing publishers, agents, and submission guidelines for all genres and types of publications. They post information without bias, and let others know about possible scams and bad publicity (hence the name) - a very constructive compendium.

The annual poll allows anyone to nominate a book, author, artist or editor and vote on the selections. It is only open for two weeks, this year from January 1st to January 14th.

I personally nominated Amanda Kelsey for her fabulous work on the cover art for Suspicion of Love. She did such a fantastic job getting every little detail just right I feel she really deserves the honor. If you want to vote for her you can access the poll here: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/bookart.shtml.

Of course there's lots of great Champagne books and authors, there, too, as well as Champagne being up for best publisher. Then there's my last release as the sole author, Full Throttle. If you've read it and liked it, please consider placing your vote. Use this link to take a look and vote on your favorites in all categories: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/.

And if you can, I encourage you to support Preditors & Editors. You can find out more about them and make a donation at http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/.

Full Throttle is Now Available!

FULL THROTTLE - The Story Behind the Story

Before I met and married my current husband, I spent some time doing the Internet dating thing. I started corresponding with a guy who told me he was new in town, attending school and riding an old bike. I pictured some nerd on a Schwinn 10-speed.

He sent me his photo and I thought he was pretty cute. Pretty soon we met in person. I realized his “old bike” was a Honda motorcycle and he was attending Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. To pay the tuition, he worked nights at a printing company.

I spent a lot of time keeping him company at his job. One night I changed the clutch on his Honda still garbed in the dress I’d worn to work (which got covered in splotches of grease and oil and ended up in the rag bag), while he printed out a stack of brochures for a client. That was the night he told me he was in love.

It wasn’t long afterward that he moved into my house and convinced me to front the money for a mobile motorcycle dynamometer. If you’re not familiar with this particular piece of equipment, it’s a device mounted on a trailer that measures the horsepower and torque of a motorcycle.

We got our mobile dyno business going and attended every motorcycle event and local “bike nights” we could. It was hard, grueling, dirty work that consumed nearly every hour away from our “real” jobs. Because we were on a limited budget, we usually camped out for the weekend at rallies, adding to my work.

My boyfriend graduated and got hired at a custom cycle shop in town. Many nights I met him at the shop and helped him work on his own basket case of a Harley. His co-workers accepted me in the service bays and considered me just “one of the guys”. By day I was the executive office manager for an upscale, three-star hotel; by night I was a motorcycle mechanic. There were days I would show up for work dressed in a business suit, hose, and heels with grease under my fingernails.

Along the way I met lots of interesting people. They all became the basis for the characters in Full Throttle – from the rich guy who rode a Deuce and hired us for a full day of testing and tuning his garage full of motorcycles to the woman who rode her own huge, customized hog proudly with a group of gruff bikers.

Full Throttle’s heroine Samantha is much like me. She holds a business degree but teams up with her cousin to start a motorcycle dyno business and market their services to the owner of the custom cycle shop where Doug works, Linc Montgomery. Linc is a handsome ex-motorcycle racer who is the amalgam of several men I met while testing and tuning bikes.

Alas, my relationship didn’t last, nor did the business. I still have an MMI uniform shirt that I wear to change the oil in my truck while I remember those days. I wouldn’t do it again, but boy, the experiences… Read about them in FULL THROTTLE, available now in e-book format from Champagne Books.

Full Throttle is Coming Soon

Look at my newly created cover art for Full Throttle! I think the artist, Trisha Fitzgerald, did a fanastic job.

Full Throttle will be available October 1st through Champagne Books. Here's a blurb about this contemporary romance (my first!):

When ex-Harley racer Linc plots a full throttle seduction of motorcycle tech Samantha, the last thing he expects is love to throw a wrench in the works

Phoenix is hot but the bikers are even hotter and Samantha finds this out firsthand after partnering with her cousin to run Dr. Doug’s Mobile Dyno, a motorcycle testing and performance tuning business. Spurned by an ex-fiancée and resolved to taking care of her aging father and his medical problems, romance is the last thing Samantha’s looking for while expanding her new business is at the top of her priorities list.

Along comes opportunity in the form of Linc Montgomery, a tough, business-savvy, ex-Harley racer and new owner of Full Throttle Custom Cycles in Phoenix. Linc is used to having gorgeous women fall at his feet. When he meets Samantha and agrees to contract her dyno services, he quickly realizes she isn’t one of those brainless bimbos he normally dates before carelessly tossing aside.

The challenge is on for Linc as he sets out to seduce Samantha just to prove he can. He doesn’t plan on the interference of his ex-wife and her ex-fiancée – both of whom serve to make him realize that along the way, his seduction scheme causes him to fall head over heels in love. It isn’t so easy to convince Samantha she belongs to him

This book is so far the nearest and dearest to my heart. It is based on my own experiences owning a mobile motorcycle dynamometer and the adventures my partner and I had traveling around the area and attending biker events. I can't wait until it comes out, and hope you can't either!