Read Between the Lines interview

I have an interview on Read Between the Lines, a fabulous blog for romance readers. Please check it out!

And the winner of the giveaway is....

Hi all -- the winner of my blog's Lucky in Love $10 gift card for Amazon is....

Now, hold on. Let me explain how I chose a winner, first.

The question you had to answer in the comments was:

Which statistic in Lydia's talk with Matt/Mike in Maliciously Obedient was NOT TRUE? a) 40% of all books sold in the U.S. are romance novels b) sales of vibrators shot up 414% when people buy Fifty Shades of Grey c) 9% of romance novel readers are men.

a) is NOT TRUE: I screwed up and mistakenly typed 40 when I was thinking 14, which is correct, though I do see stats of 55% floating around on the Internet, too. I'll take what the Romance Writers of America says, though: source. More on that in a moment.

b) is the COMPLETELY MADE UP STATISTIC but it's hilarious anyhow.

c) is TRUE: source

Because I made the error, anyone who answered a) or b) was entered into the drawing.

The winner is...

Kaci!

Thanks to all for participating, and happy reading!

FREE BBW Romance eBook

Amazon has made Her First Billionaire FREE on Kindle. This BBW romance follows the tale of Laura, Dylan and Mike as they navigate a unique, loving relationship (with loads of hot sex and humor).

If you haven't read it yet, please grab it. And if you have, spread the word to your friends!

Lucky in Love: My Own Real-Life Romance Story

My husband and I met online, longer ago than I'm willing to admit. We'd both just gotten out of what we thought were long-term, "forever" relationships, and really didn't believe that the line about "soul mates" was real. 

And then AOL's personal online dating service went and intervened. 600+ miles apart, both reeling from soured break-ups, we defied the odds. Stumbling across my personals ad after reading about 1,000 of them, he took a chance and emailed me. After receiving loads of "Hey, baby, we live in the same city -- wanna fuck?" messages (recognize that line from Her First Billionaire? LOL) I was close to ignoring them all.

And then his came. Earnest and funny, it made my heart swell and my hopes rise. Could there really be a real person behind this?

Yes. Call it luck, chance, serendipity. Call it crazy.

But he called me.

We spoke on the phone within a week, sent pictures shortly after, and met in person within a handful of weeks. The rest is history -- messy, chaotic, complicated history (it's always complicated...).

Fate gave me my best friend, my passionate lover, my intellectual equal, my goofy comedian, the best father to my children I could ever dream up, and my unfailingly loyal buddy all in one person.I got lucky the day we "met" through bits and bytes online.

We can't know, or plan, or predict when our lives crack open and everything changes. The best laid plans of characters reflect real life, from Michael Bournham's ambitions backfiring spectacularly and threatening the love of his life (ooo, mini-spoiler!) to Lydia's year-long plan to get a promotion coming to a shocking halt when a series of behind-the-scenes plans rocks her world.

Unintended consequences show us we can't organize and manipulate and connive and contrive -- even out of deep love -- and always get exactly what we think we want.

Instead, sometimes the universe (or God, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or your mom) knows better, and being open to possibility -- what some call luck -- is what we need the very most to get what completes us.

May you be luck in love this St. Patrick's Day and all year long!

Also -- one lucky reader/commenter will win a $10 Amazon gift certificate. Answer the following question in the comments: Which statistic in Lydia's talk with Matt/Mike in Maliciously Obedient was NOT TRUE? a) 40% of all books sold in the U.S. are romance novels b) sales of vibrators shot up 414% when people buy Fifty Shades of Grey c) 9% of romance novel readers are men.

I'll draw a random winner from the correct answers! Deadline: March 19, 2013, 1 a.m. EST. 

I hit #6/7 on Nook. You guys are freaking AWESOME

To all my readers, on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony, PCs, and Apple devices (sorry it's not on iTunes/iBooks yet, but Apple is sooooo slllloooww in approving new books) and beyond -- THANK YOU!

Maliciously Obedient reached #6 in the ENTIRE Nook store about 36 hours ago. It's still in the top 100 now, but for a very brief time my book was on the same page as Nicholas Sparks, Bella Andre, and Abbi Glines. Fine company!

And I owe it all to you. Thank you.

Maliciously Obedient is #26 in the top 100 on Nook!

I keep wanting to write this blog post and then time slips away. So does my mind.

Because Maliciously Obedient is currently sitting at #26 in the ENTIRE Nook Book store. I'm ahead of Silver Linings Playbook. You know, the book the movie's based on. The one Jennifer Lawrence won an Academy Award for.

Just -- WOW.

I am so thrilled that the book is so popular at B&N! Thank you to ALL my readers! I'd love to crack the top 10, so any help spreading the word would be AWESOME. Please share/tweet/whatever.

::runs off to work on getting Suspiciously Obedient out as soon as possible::

Her First Billionaire #7 in free Erotica on Amazon

I absolutely love What to Read After Fifty Shades of Grey (and if you haven't "Liked"d it yet, get over there and do it!).

After featuring Her First Billionaire on the page, it shot up the charts on Amazon, now sitting at #7! I'm with Sara Fawkes' Anything He Wants. Great company!

Meanwhile, Maliciously Obedient makes its way through Amazon -- grab it now!

Maliciously Obedient just $.99 on Amazon, Nook and Smashwords -- two days only!

You can get Maliciously Obedient for just $.99 for the next two days!

One playboy CEO. One curvy, determined administrative assistant. One hidden camera.

What could go wrong?

Sometimes the best way to break the rules is to follow them...

Lydia Charles is determined to show her boss that getting caught reading Fifty Shades of Grey in the parking lot can help the company bottom line. Preparing for the biggest work project of her life, a romance book marketing campaign, she never expected that an actual romance would interfere with the business of romance. Tough and cynical, her last office relationship exploded in her face. No man was worth it.

Until Matt Jones, a boss she didn't know she had – a boss who took the Director of Social Media job she was gunning for – swept her out of a promotion and into her heart. Lydia didn't want to respect him, much less like him – but her body had a mind of its own, turning traitor in chance encounters. After a steamy elevator encounter that left her missing her panties – and most of her resolve – she decided that maybe it was time to let him get inside her – in more ways than one.

When he closed off to her unexpectedly, hurt feelings unleash a torrent of tension, with his order to follow his command triggering malicious obedience – following the exact letter of the law – in her. Interest from Matt's eccentric millionaire friend Jeremy left her hot and bothered, with threesome dreams that made her want to obey – but in the bedroom. Not the boardroom.

What Lydia didn't know was that “Matt” was really Michael Bournham, the CEO of the company, part of an undercover reality television stunt. Keeping his hands off Lydia's luscious curves was becoming an exercise in restraint, but what was harder? Keeping his heart from her. For Michael, Lydia's malicious obedience ignited a night of unbridled passion in the office that made him forget everything – including the rolling cameras – until it was too late.
 

Maliciously Obedient is just $.99 for the next two days!

Regular price for this full-length novel will be $3.99.

As a thank you to my fabulous readers, I'm pricing this at just $.99 so you can grab it now at 75% off. Please spread the word, write a review, and tell your reader friends!

on Nook, Smashwords, and Kindle NOW!

I'm part of the Insatiable Reads Book Tour, with authors like Melanie Marchande (I Married a Billionaire) and more. Please check out my fellow 15 authors to grab some of the hottest romance novels out there!

Featured on One-Handed Writers!

The book tour I'm involved in (Maliciously Obedient is uploaded tonight!), Insatiable Reads, got a fabulous write-up on the One-Handed Writers blog. Check it out!

I have an uncanny ability to spot a liar. It's a skill I honed in childhood.

I'm on the Insatiable Reads website with a quick interview about me, my writing, xkcd and threesomes...

Check it out!

"MFM? Is that like LOLcats?"

Maliciously Obedient is in the final editing and formatting stages -- check out this excerpt:

"I want to explain why I was reading Fifty Shades of Grey in the parking lot." Not that I have to, she thought, but this conversation needed to happen, whether she – or Matt – liked it or not. For the past three months, Lydia had been working on a pitch for an advertising and social media campaign that would help boost her department's profits. She felt like Peggy from Mad Men, trying out her lipstick slogan, swimming against the tide of an impossible current.

Matt didn't help. Job stealer.

Her resentment was understandable, though undeserved. He looked up from the cup of coffee he'd been nursing and those bright green eyes caught her off guard. They seemed surreal. Fake? No, not really. Just a little too good to be true.

"You don't have to explain." A sly smile stretched across his face, the angular nose widening, dimples forming where she would never have imagined they could peek out. "I'm sure you are just reading it for...pleasure." He was classically handsome, in a Regency-era kind of way, but with a touch of firefighter. Lumberjack.

Man.

"I do, actually." Ignoring that maddening tone, the absolute fury it sparked in her, the intense arousal it also ignited in her – infuriatingly! – Lydia struggled to maintain her sense of professionalism. Now? Really? When she needed it most, her career on the line. Leaving home had been hard. Getting into grad school difficult. Finding a job at Bournham had been damn near impossible. Blowing it all because her new, cocky boss was teasing her about her work research for a project of her own making made the universe seem petty and unfair.

She spread a series of graphics on his desk, shoving aside a pile of folders, his travel mug, a smart phone with Angry Birds open on the screen, and a paper clip holder. "Angry Birds? Seriously?"

He just shrugged. "It's my Christian Grey." The way he said it made her blush, and she did not want to blush. Not now. Not today. This was her big chance and if it didn't go well, she had to reckon with failing on her own. Failure might not be an option as a slogan, but in the real life it was all too common, and she didn't want to taste one drop of it today.

"Oh, please," she said in a clipped, no-nonsense voice, though as he leaned closer to her, from the other side of the desk, she caught a whiff of his scent again, a spicy soap and a musk that made her swallow, hard. Her eyes couldn't stop looking at his hands as she organized her graphics. Strong, tanned, no ring and perfectly buffed fingernails. A little dandified, until he turned one over, retrieving the phone and slipping it in his pocket. Calloused and a bit worn. A man who had used his hands, but who now worked in an office. That spoke to a past quite different from this middle-management life, or a side hobby. Pulling in the reins of her wandering mind, she shook her head a bit, nipples beading as she inhaled and stretched her neck slightly, trying to distract herself.

She didn't want to like him. Her body couldn't seem to help it, though.

Mind over matter. Mind over matter. Career over clit. Career over clit.

"Fifty Shades of Grey isn't just smut. It represents an enormous sea change in the publishing world, and we're idiots if we don't do some pitches to reach out and grab market share in advertising and social media pushes." His grin shifted from one of sensual teasing to intrigued business, his hands picking up the first graphic.

"That's just a fad."

"Random House earned more than $70 million from that 'fad,' enough to give every employee, from top management to mail worker, a $5,000 bonus. You know what I got this year from this place?"

He cringed, which seemed odd. As if he were prepared for some sort of blow. If he was going to work here, though, he might as well know the truth about cheap old Michael Bournham. "What?"

"A coffee mug with Bournham Industries' logo on it. And a thumb drive on a logo key chain. Give me Fifty Shades any day."

Sputtering, he seemed to defend Bourham. "I'm sure there was a perfectly logical reason for that."

She nodded. "Yep. The logic is that Bournham's a cheap ass."

He frowned. "What does this have to do with Fifty Shades?"

"We can target that emerging market and use Fifty Shades to leverage buying patterns and marketing campaigns for existing and new clients. Have you looked at the New York Times' bestseller lists lately? Sylvia Day. The menage series by Shayla – "

In the middle of taking a sip of coffee, he did a spit take, turning his head at the last second to avoid hitting her papers. "Did you say 'menage'?"

"Yes. It's a word. Get over it."

"Two girls, one cup?"

"Two guys, one well-loved woman."

"That's no fun, is it?" His eyes lit up with mischief and her body began to tingle. What did he consider fun in bed? Ah, how she needed to know. As he held her gaze a little too long, with a ferocious heat that made her simultaneously hunger for his touch and recoil in horror at her own pliability, she broke the look and gave her head a quick shake, resuming her professional stance.

The twitch of his lips, a seductive look on his face that he respectfully turned away from her, told her the feeling was mutual.

Damn it. She didn't need actual romance to interfere with the business of romance.

"Depends on who your target demographic is. For women 26-44, with bachelor's degrees, earning $70,000 or more per year and buying the majority of romance novels, MFM is where it's at."

"MFM? Is that like LOLcats?"

She closed her eyes in frustration, taking a deep breath to center herself. "If you have to ask, then never mind."

"BDSM as the wave of the future?" His voice was skeptical. Winning him over was her goal, and if she could convince him, then maybe – just maybe – she could convince their boss, Dave. The Director of Communications. The gateway to promotions.

"BDSM as a paradigm shift in popular culture, especially among the 26-44 crowd." Confident now, she used her extensive research and market analysis to push aside the attraction that keep slithering back in and undermining her goal: to win his respect and to be an ally in what she knew would be a battle later.

"They're not the big spenders – go down an age group." The words "go down" nearly made her gasp, heat pouring into her belly, her clit beginning to tickle and throb. Even he looked a little uncomfortable at the hint of a double entendre, but quickly covered it up. "Eighteen to twenty-five is where the big money is in social media and pop culture."

She nodded, knowing that already after countless hours of research. "Yes -- and that's precisely why Fifty Shades is such an enormous shift. Because the buying dynamics for everything from eBooks to print to magazines to personal aids – "

"You mean sex toys. Don't sugar coat it." The command in his voice sent a thrilling tingle up her spine.

"Fine." Reaching across the desk for her fourth graphic, she came a little too close to him, brushing against his arm. It was intentional. He pulled back, as if burned. "Here's a fact: sales of vibrators shot up 414 percent when suggested to readers of the Fifty Shades trilogy." Locking eyes with his, she held steady, waiting for him to flinch. When he didn't, she felt her cheeks burning, the implication prickling her skin, a thin sheen of sweat popping up between her breasts. Her throat clicked as she swallowed, the air crackling with sex.

The look he gave her made her toes curl, a combination of smoke and smolder and amusement and questions. Then his eyes went neutral, as if he flipped a switch and pulled himself back. Whatever edge he had just been standing on, she wanted to join him, grab his hand, and jump together.