Talia Ricci at Joyfully Reviewed has this to say about Fated: Lauren Dane has written a highly emotional story in Fated. Shane and Megan face real fears and have to make agonizing choices.

Fated was about communication and working through problems. The mating of Shane and Megan took them by surprise but they refused to give up on their mating and each other. Just the way a loving relationship should be. Mark Fated in the winner’s column! I loved it!

Blurby Bit: Could there be any worse fate than a road trip from Seattle to L.A.—with one’s mother—to attend a wedding? Why yes, when one isn’t married yet, like Megan Warden. Toss in a grandmother and a carload of already married sisters and it’s a recipe for sneaking sips of “special” coffee while someone else drives.

Shane Rosario has better things to do than attend a wedding where his father’s relatives will be at him nonstop about getting married and having children. If it weren’t for seeing his anchor bond, Layla, he’d have taken a pass on the entire weekend. It would be easy, since he’s become adept at hiding who and what he is.

When the two weren’t even looking, Fate steps in and before they know it, their bond is sealed. Bonded pair, married in the eyes of their people. Two people tied together in every way. Trouble is, Shane’s not sure he wants all that comes with Megan. And Megan’s certain she’s not willing to live outside her pack, pretending to be human.

The distance between them is more than geographical. It’s a widening gulf rapidly filling with resentment…an emotional divide only acceptance could bridge. Can Shane can accept himself to cross it? Only if they let love take control.

This isn’t related to the previous story arc (Enforcer, Tri Mates, Wolf Unbound and Standoff), it takes place about 18 months after the end of Standoff and it’s Megan and Shane’s story! For now, it’ll be the last in the universe but eventually I’d like to come back and do Jack Meyers’ book.

You can check out an excerpt at my website and also at Samhain! I hope everyone enjoys Fated.

PS - I’m running two contests until Thursday the 21st to win copies of Ann Aguirre’s Wanderlust and Cynthia Eden’s Everlasting Bad Boys - check out the details at my blog!

Lauren

So I came to the conclusion I have no time to be an author and, therefore, I should just give it up. But then, after several weeks of moping over that heinous thought, a good friend pointed out that I was simply experiencing the same summer fizzle which I go through every year. She also threatened mass injury if I did stop writing, so it appears I won’t be quitting after all.

The whole summer fizzle thing definitely resonates with me. As my stepson isn’t at my house any more in the summer than other times and my daughter goes to preschool year round, it isn’t the kids at home that is the issue for me. It’s the light and brightness. The draw of the morning sunshine and the breaking dawn wonder and stillness that I know will be gone with the coming of the fall and winter months. Oh, the dawn still breaks and often glorious, but the ability to step out on the porch in my sleep shirt and nothing more, and draw in a breath of fresh, warm country air will soon be passing. And the light is an issue because my daughter can’t sleep if it’s light out. I can close up the house to utter blackness and her inner light vamp somehow still knows it’s light out and she must be up and “entertaining” mommy….in other words the writing time, which is only ever at night, goes kaput.

In the midst of this summer fizzle, I stopped the other day to find I had a new book release. I honestly missed its release day. I knew it was coming, then it blew past and it was a few days later before it occurred to me it had come and gone. Wow, that is so not like me. I must be fizzling more than usual this year. Anyway, the book in question is Sweet and Sinful, my latest out of Kensington Aphrodisia. When I got the cover art (see pict above) for this book, I wasn’t sure what I thought. Hot or just cheesy? Honestly, I still don’t know. I do think it’s cheesy, but maybe it’s also hot…enough so to outdo the cheese?

Speaking of covers and the like (and, yes, this is a jump in topic, but my brain is fizzling as well), how do you feel about receiving cover art and bookmarks in the mail? Not really talking about from an author you enjoy here and are on their reader list for that reason. But, rather, do you like it when authors you enjoy send other author’s material to you with their own? I ask as I often pick up various items at conferences. The marketing specialist in me is in love with anything shiny and bright and printed. But then, I get home and realize I have way too much stuff to contain. So is it good to share it, or is that cheesy, too?

~ jodi

www.JodiLynnCopeland.com

Summer is here. Which means my kids are home and my time is taken up differently so I have to guard my schedule more carefully or I won’t get my work done. And I have a book due July 31 and another one in September so I can’t give in to the long, bright, hot lure of summer lethargy.

Sometimes when you’re caught up in a bunch of deadlines, your to do list takes over your life and you forget the wonder of popsicles and playing in the backyard and a cold margarita or beer on a hot day. So I try, very hard, to remember the magic of sunsets at ten pm and to squirt my kids with the hose for no other reason than to glory in the sound of their suprised, joyful giggles.

In an around three summer book releases and my deadlines. Because goodness, why do this if I can’t be joyful?

Happy summer to you all. Don’t forget to keep some money near the door so you can run with the kids when you hear the ice cream man!

Lauren

(oh and you wanna check out those releases - check my website) To celebrate summer - in this hemisphere anyway - I’m giving away a print copy of Making Chase or What Happens In Vegas - winner’s choice. Just comment here with your favorite thing to do in summer. I’ll choose a winner at six pm pacific/nine eastern, today June 30

**WINNER - is GRETA! Send me your mailing address and your preference between What Happens in Vegas or Making Chase and I’ll get the book your way! laurendane at laurendane dot com

So it’s finally here! Making Chase will be available in paper this coming Tuesday and it’s already up for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I’m thrilled with this book. It was great fun, although sad to write because it was the close of a series I just loved. It won the 2007 CAPA for Best Contemporary Romance as well as being a Recommended Read at several review sites including FAR, Joyfully Reviewed and Two Lips Reviews.

Here’s the blurb: Book Four In the Chase Brothers Series.

Tate Murphy is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. She grew up a million miles away from the easy life Matt Chase has had. She’s spent her life pulling herself and her siblings up and out of that trailer by the railroad tracks and she hasn’t looked back. Matt Chase is a dream of a guy and she’s certainly not going to turn down a short fling with one of the most handsome men she’s ever seen!

Matt Chase has watched each one of his brothers find love and he knows he’s ready for that too. It’s all a matter of finding the woman who captures his heart. He’s certainly sampled his fair share of them but none has moved him the way Tate Murphy does when he goes to her shop to thank her for some cookies and a thank you note.

But as Matt gets to know Tate and appreciate her strength and unique beauty, he also realizes she’s got some big self esteem issues about her past. To build a future, he’s got to find a way past some big road blocks.

I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.

All kinds of stuff happening in Laurenland these days! First look at the pretty cover I got for my next Cascadia Wolves book, Fated!

I do love this cover so much! And I just finished first round edits this last weekend so that’s another thing done (thank goodness!)

And then I’m over a third done with Relentless now! Yay!

This vblog entry I did late last week will give you a bit of an idea of what Relentless is about and who the characters are.

Oh and this week I’m at Novelspot doing the Behind The Scenes Blog this week! Come over and say hello.

In June, the last book in my Chase Brothers series, Making Chase, will release in trade paper. For those of you who’ll be at the Lori Foster Reader Gathering in early June, I’m told copies will be available then!

Here’s the Blurb:

Tate Murphy is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. She grew up a million miles away from the easy life Matt Chase has had. She’s spent her life pulling herself and her siblings up and out of that trailer by the railroad tracks and she hasn’t looked back. Matt Chase is a dream of a guy and she’s certainly not going to turn down a short fling with one of the most handsome men she’s ever seen!

Matt Chase has watched each one of his brothers find love and he knows he’s ready for that too. It’s all a matter of finding the woman who captures his heart. He’s certainly sampled his fair share of them but none has moved him the way Tate Murphy does when he goes to her shop to thank her for some cookies and a thank you note.

But as Matt gets to know Tate and appreciate her strength and unique beauty, he also realizes she’s got some big self esteem issues about her past. To build a future, he’s got to find a way past some big road blocks.

And an excerpt after the read more jump…
Read the rest of this entry >

So at The Bradford Bunch on Sundays you can expect to find stuff from any or all of us about new, old and upcoming books, contests, reviews, covers and other stuff.  Since I talked about the release of Vegas last week, I thought I’d post an excerpt from my April release, WITCHES KNOT: CELEBRATION FOR THE DEAD.  Click “read the rest of the entry” to check it out…

Read the rest of this entry >

I have been feeling rather adrift lately. I am in that between contracts stage. I get here every spring and spend the month (sometimes two) that I go without a contract, reassessing my career. Am I happy with where it is going? Do I want to try something new? Will my readers feel disappointed if I head in another direction? I never quite know the answers to these questions, but I also do generate a proposal or two during the down time.  So far those proposals haven’t become published books, but I remain hopeful.  At the moment, I am working on two very different concepts–one, a contemporary romance with a smaller feel and two, a chick lit paranormal with a feisty, much grander scale. In a way, both books are calling to me. But then, so is just getting away from it all for a few weeks.

I can’t really get away from it all right now.  I have too much happening later this year that demands using my time off from the day job then (more on that to come).  So I am taking several mental respites, both via reading a lot of books and also by daydreaming about exotic locales.  I don’t know if it’s truly exotic, but I’ve always wanted to venture to Australia.  Also topping my list are Scotland and Ireland.  These are the settings in history that I’ve always adored.  Honestly, though, I am a history buff, so I would love to get away to anywhere with great history.

What about you? Do you have a dream destination? Or are you planning a dream vacation? Or maybe you just got back from one. I would love to hear about it! Living vicariously through others–real or fictional–is almost as good as experiencing it firsthand.

Now before I head out, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that What Happens In Vegas… has had its official release date yesterday. Woohoo! I’ve long been a subscriber to eHarlequin and today I got an email that featured a few of the new releases, and Vegas was among them. How lovely!   To celebrates its official release, I will select a commentor or two to receive a signed copy of Vegas.  How about the books go to the person who takes me away in the grandest fashion? grand doesn’t have to mean extravagent either. And, yes, feel free to make it up. Definitely, do have fun along the way!

~ jodi 

HUGE congrats to Denise Agnew who finaled in the Passionate Plume Contest! Go Denise! The book she finaled with was Male Call, the first book in her Hot Zone series available from Samhain. I read it and I LOVED it. Woot!

Her sexy letters are his only lifeline in his dangerous world…

Successful computer software engineer Eve Carmichael melts under yet another hotter than hot letter written by Reserve army soldier Sean O’Callahan. Yet Eve can’t take the thought of his life in danger overseas, and she resolves to get a sex life—and a life period. That means forgetting Sean before anything bad can happen to him. To celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday, Eve plans a trip to Male Call, a male review club. Still, she worries about Sean. She hasn’t received a letter from him in too many weeks. And oh, how she longs for those flirtatious, hot letters.

Sean finds Eve’s letters to be the only lifeline in his increasingly chaotic world. As their feelings grow hot and heavy, he can’t wait to return home and kindle that pure firepower.

When Eve receives a letter from Sean saying he’s been wounded, her fears are realized. But fate and a little mischievous planning by her friends will serve up the greatest surprise of all.

You can buy it here.

Other books in the series. Aren’t these some HOT covers? Wow!

You can buy them here, here, and the next one here- on sale May 20!

Here’s a new release from more Bradford Bunchers!

Behind closed doors, the real games begin…

Winning it big.

That’s the name of the game at Las Vegas’s Liege Hotel and Casino, where the hottest fantasies hinge on a roll of the dice…and the tantalizing knowledge that anything could happen before sunrise.

Cocktail waitress Carinna wants a man to tie her up, not tie her down. Little does she know that her most willing partner yet has something else planned for this fiery Latina bombshell.

Dahlia is a burlesque dancer with a brain for business and a bod for sin. Her latest admirer may be a sweet-talking Casanova, but despite what he thinks she’s not giving anything away free.

Meanwhile, Amy has the perfect plan to rob the Liege Casino blind…until the intimidating owner catches her red-handed. Now she knows she’s going to pay… with both pleasure and pain.

Professional shill Cassidy is ready to experience a breathless rendezvous with her “friend with benefits.” But when he proposes five delicious nights of sexy blackjack, the stakes have never been so high.

Can be purchased here or here.

And last, but certainly not least is Cynthia Eden’s new release! Woot!

In her sexy and suspenseful new novel, Cynthia Eden introduces readers to a seductive world where powerful night creatures ignite dark, dangerous hungers…

Dr. Emily Drake’s patients tend to be a little unusual. Instead of the typical therapist’s caseload of midlife crises and mother fixations, Emily treats vampires with blood phobias and sex-demons looking for meaningful relationships. But her gift for recognizing and healing the Other—those creatures of the night that most humans don’t even know exist—requires a few house rules. First: Never trust a shifter. Especially not one like Detective Colin Gyth whose gold-flecked eyes and predatory air make Emily realize how much she’s been longing to lose control…

Colin can’t believe the doctor he’s been assigned to work with on the Night Butcher murder investigation is the one person who could expose his true identity as a wolf shifter. Smart, sexy, and stubborn as hell, Emily brings out the alpha male in Colin, unleashing a wild, heady desire that takes them both over the edge.

But in the shadows, the Night Butcher waits…eager to spill Emily’s blood and taste her terror. And he’ll use any means to destroy her, including the one person she has grown to trust…

You can buy it here or here.