#publisher: harlequin blaze

[joannerockauthor]

To the Rescue Box Set for .99

To the Rescue box set on sale now Craving a beachy escape? I’ve got a fabulous deal for you on my 3-book box set of sexy romantic suspense titles– all in memorable beach settings from Puerto Rico to Coronado . Pick up the To the Rescue collection for just .99 while the deal lasts! This set includes: Renegade Defender Protector All titles previously published in earlier drafts as Harlequin Blaze…

[buzzdixonwriter]

Ellison’s Law

Even for the early 1960s, Burke’s Law was a silly gimmick show.

The gimmick?  Millionaire Amos Burke, despite inheriting fabulous wealth, always wanted to be a detective so he joined the LAPD and worked his way up to captain of the homicide bureau.

Basically Batman without the trauma or costume.

And like Batman of a few years later, an exercise in camp.

The show was rigidly formulaic, but for practical reasons.  It relied heavily on stunt casting celebrities as suspects or witnesses and as such it had to be flexible enough to handle rewrites and re-castings in the middle of production.

The typical episode began with someone found murdered or shown getting killed in some unusual manner, cut to Amos Burke flirting with a lady only to be called away by his police duties.  Cue the opening title as Burke and his driver hurry out of his relatively modest Beverly Hills mansion to his Rolls-Royce (actually producer Aaron Spelling’s car which he rented back to the production) as a sultry female voice incants:  “It’s Burke’s Law” then after the first commercial break Burke arrives at the scene of the crime and finds clues pointing him to four or five suspects.

Said suspects are the celebrity guest stars, recruited either to give them some manic scenery chewing time or -- more rarely -- an intense dramatic scene.

After three more commercial breaks, Burke intones one of his “laws” (“Burke’s law:  Never ask a question where you don’t already know the answer.”), pulls a rabbit out of his hat / solution out of his butt, and fingers that episode’s duly appointed murderer.

The problem with the series as a whole is that it could never quite decide on what tone it wanted to take and stick with it consistently.  The British series The Avengers found the perfect balance of tongue-in-cheek / derring-do but Burke’s Law bounced all over the spectrum, frequently in the same episode.

So why bring up this mediocre TV show at all?

Two words:  Harlan Ellison

. . .

I’ve posted many times before on Harlan’s career and the impact of his writing and friendship on me.

He was in the mid 1960s at his zenith as a TV writer, and while his writing career as a whole encompasses so much more than that, his brief run as one of the meteors streaking across the Hollywood sky only lasted 4 years.

Oh, he kept writing for TV after that, but the old zing was gone.  He supplied stories for other series, created and fought hard to keep The Starlost on track but eventually had to walk away from that heartbreak, adapted several of his own short stories to a Twilight Zone revival, as well as numerous development deals that went nowhere (including two great ideas for The Name Of The Game, another Gene Barry series, that would have fit perfectly into that show’s oeuvre).

If you find his second book of TV criticism, The Other Glass Teat, check out his first draft for “The Whimper Of Whipped Dogs” episode of The Young Lawyers (not to be confused with his short story of the same title).

It’s one of the most powerful / gut wrenching things you’ll ever read…

…but by the time the studio and the network got through with it, the final product was virtually unrecognizable…and unwatchable.

Such was Harlan’s fate after 1967 in Clown Town (as he referred to it).

But from 1963 to 1967, he was golden.

. . . 

Harlan’s rocky personal history went through many highs and lows before coming to Hollywood in 1962.

Harlan’s first breakthrough as a writer was with his series of stories and essays on juvenile crime in New York in the early and mid-1950s..

Drafted in 1957. following his discharge, he settled in Chicago with his second wife and her son, editing Rogue magazine, a  Playboy imitator.

Feeling his personal life becoming untenable, he called in favors from a friend, drove out to California with his soon-to-be ex-wife and stepson (aware the marriage was over, she also wanted to relocate away from Chicago), made his first sale to TV (his short story “No Fourth Commandment” to the TV show Route 66), then briefly found a sweet spot with Burke’s Law, writing four teleplays for their first season.

Burke’s Law is a good crucible for examination because of its silly, gimmicky nature and rigid format requirements.

These scripts represent a pivotal point in Harlan’s writing career, but more importantly, they mark the only sustained run he enjoyed on a non-anthology show, and as such make a good benchmark in comparing his growth as a writer and how his unique perspective played out in in relation to the constraints of episodic television.

While a couple of Harlan’s better science fiction / fantasy stories were written before 1963, the meteoric rise of his career in those genres began with his classic short story “’Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Ticktockman” in 1965, followed by a host of other groundbreaking short stories and novellas, and his original anthologies Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions in which he recruited other science fiction and fantasy writers -- many of them already well established pros -- to follow the path he blazed in the genre.

His experience on Burke’s Law occurs squarely between what he once was to what he was becoming, and as such is worthy of attention.

SPOILER: There are no great hidden gems here.

There’s a lot of amusing writing, and a few flashes of the emotional intensity Harlan could provide, but by and large this is journeyman level stuff:  Better than most, but not the best.

. . .

”Who Killed Alex Debbs?” was his first script for the series, and he pitched it to producer Aaron Spelling at a cattle call after a screening of the show’s pilot episode.  

Harlan jump started the pitch process by improvising an idea off the cuff at the end of the screening, and Spelling took him to his office to hear how Harlan planned to resolve it, then hired him on the spot.

It’s unclear if Harlan was actually a staff writer on the series or simply hung out at the studio a lot, but he used his skills as a quick study to start working his way up the food chain.

His first script fulfills all the requirements of a Burke’s Law episode and shows off two of Harlan’s main strengths:  An ability to hone in on intense emotion and a keen eye for the culture around him (in this case, very specifically Hollywood of the early 1960s).

On the downside, logic gaps render this story more implausible than most -- and as noted, Burke’s Law as a series wasn’t famous for its plausibility.

A flaw of almost all Burke’s Law episodes is that the victim is typically found dead under mysterious / bizarre circumstances, and the impression we get of them is constructed entirely through the words of suspects and witnesses.

It’s not an unworkable approach, but not the best suited for episodic television.

In this instance. victim Alex Drebbs is a Hugh Hefner-like men’s magazine publisher and monarch of a mini-empire of key clubs ala the Playboy Clubs of the era.  Harlan captures that milieu well but here’s where the logic gaps hit hard:  There’s no way a Hefner-like figure would be alone long enough for someone to kill him without being noticed, there’s no way his disappearance wouldn’t be immediately noticed by employees needing his attention, and it sure as hell wouldn’t have happened in a deserted club on the afternoon of its big opening.

On the plus side, there are some great character scenes including Arlene Dahl as a bitter ex-investor in Debbs empire now reduced to licking saving stamps to keep her decay mansion in repair, Burgess Meredith as a men’s magazine cartoonist who is nothing but a  bundle of neurotic twitches and tics, and finally Sammy Davis Jr as Cordwainer Bird, the humor editor for Debbs’ magazine.

This was at the Robin Williams stage of Davis career, when all you had to do was point a camera in his direction and let him go.  Harlan supplied the corny gags but Davis launched them over the top with his antics, and while he brings the proceedings to a complete disruptive halt, his brief scene is the most entertaining in the entire series.  (Harlan later used Cordwainer Bird as his WGA pseudonym when he wanted to indicate displeasure at what had been done to his scripts.)

By his own account, Harlan had less luck with Diana Dors -- “the British Marilyn Monroe” -- and treated her condescendingly during the shoot.  (By comparison, William Goldman in his memoir Adventures In The Screen Trade shows a much more sanguine / roll-with-the-punches attitude, and that might explain part of the reason his screenwriting trajectory was far different than Harlan’s.)

All in all, an uneven example of both the series and Harlan’s abilities.

. . . 

”Who Killed Purity Mather?” was Harlan’s second script for the series and one of the few that played with the rigid format of the series insofar as the victim is seen alive for a few moments before being killed in a rather sadistic and spectacular manner (splashed with acid then trapped in a burning house, and the high angle shot used to show her demise must have been incredibly risky -- and thus costly -- to film).

It also drops a very subtle clue that I’ll reveal in the footnote.*

This is Harlan going so far over the top he emerges on the other side.  Plotwise it features more logic gaps than his first script, but the whole thing is so silly it’s pointless to complain about it.

Purity Mather is a professional witch (!) who speeds up the investigation into her own demise by mailing Amos Burke a recording saying she’ll be killed along with a list of five possible suspects (that she doesn’t mention them by name in the recording reflects the show’s desire for standalone scenes, enabling them to recast and rewrite plotlines more easily; the scene where Burke reads the names to his team was doubtlessly shot after the guest cast was locked in).

Burke & co. start shaking down suspects, including Telly Savalas as Fakir George O'Shea, a Muslim holy man / cosmetics chemist (!!); Charlie Ruggles as I. A. Bugg, an eccentric elderly millionaire who likes to chase -- but not catch -- prostitutes around his apartment while dressed in lederhosen(!!!); Wally Cox as Count Carlo Szipesti, vampire for hire (!!!!); and Gloria Swanson as Venus Hekate Walsh a fright wig bedecked self-proclaimed goddess of free love (!!!!!).

The episode might as well have had a laugh track.  It’s amusing with several daft touches only Harlan could provide, but the daftness comes from his take on Hollywood culture of the time.

I’d go so far as to say elements of Cox and Swanson’s characters were based on real life people living in and around Hollywood at the time, in particular some science fiction fans Harlan had come in contact with.

It’s a romp but a disappointing one.  The logic gaps are too big in this one (case in point, if you’re the captain of the homicide bureau and you come home to see a masked figure climbing out of your second story window in broad daylight, you don’t simply shrug and let them run off) and the ending is one of those annoying ah-yes-now-that-you-caught-me-I-will-admit-everything-even-stuff-you-don’t-know cappers that Joe Ruby and Ken Spears would have rejected for Scooby Doo.

In short, a script whose parts are better than the whole.

. . .

”Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?" is another slight story that pays off with an insight into Hollywood pop culture of the era.  The victim is “a pop artist” (no, he’s not; he an assemblage sculptor) impaled on his own artwork.

He’s also revealed to be an extortionist who acquires embarrassing evidence that he affixes to his assemblages then blackmails his victims into buying the art to keep their secrets safe.

Once again Burke is conveniently handed a list of suspects, in this case the people who bought the last five pieces of art from the exhibit.

This is one of the few times the series had more than one suspect in the same scene as there’s a big gathering in Burke’s office midway through the story (it also includes Michael Fox, a semi-regular on the series playing the coroner, so it represents a pretty sizeable filming day for the show).  The suspects include Macdonald Carey as Burl Mason, the star of a popular TV detective show (Harlan gives his scenes what we would now call a meta-fiction touch by playing off Barry’s fictional TV detective dealing with a fictional fictional TV detective); Jack Weston as Silly McCree, a kid’s show host who destroys his career with an on air anti-child rant; Ann Blyth as Deirdre DeMara, a rival “pop artist” who creates her art by spraying women with paint and having them roll around on giant canvases (a gimmick later used in the bizarre 1966 Ann-Margaret comedy The Swinger); Aldo Ray as Mister Harold, former pro-wrestler turned poodle groomer; and Tab Hunter in a surprisingly well done scene as a sky diving playboy.

Hunter’s scene in particular shows Harlan getting his hyperbole under control, much more laconic and evocative than other characters he wrote for the series.  As mentioned above, Burke’s Law occurs just on the cusp of Harlan’s huge success in print; he’s beginning to harness the lessons learned to maximum effect.  (He would have some setbacks, too, in his screenwriting career, and to be honest part of that can be attributed to his failure to consistently apply the lessons learned, part of it can be attributed to his reputation preceding him, and part of it can be attributed to just bad luck.)

The motives this time are fairly edgy for a 1963 TV series, and combined with the slices of Los Angeles life Harlan provides give a fair example of the cultural zeitgeist of the era.

. . . 

”Who Killed ½ Of Glory Lee?” can be explained as Benjamin Glory, half owner of Glory Lee Fashions, with Gisele MacKenzie as the other half, Keekee Lee.

After breaking the budget with his spectacular demise of Purity Mather, Harlan staged this murder as an inexpensive off camera elevator plunge.

This time the plot is a wee bit more plausible, with control of a profitable business being the apparent motive for the murder.

But Harlan loaded up this episode with a more powerful emotional punch than most of his others, and while the dénouement may feel a bit farfetched, it certainly rings true emotionally.

He certainly gave Nina Foch and Anne Helm plenty to work with regarding their characters’ complicated mother / daughter relationship, yet at the same time found room for a playful scene in which Buster Keaton pantomimes his answers to Burke’s questions.

Yet at the same time one senses an impatience behind the keyboard.  The opening scene has a squad of female elevator operators (yes, once upon a time there needed to be somebody in the elevator to push the buttons for you) discussing pop culture references of a generation before -- Harlan’s generation.

And while the key emotional conflicts are played out well, several of the other scenes feel rather perfunctory…yet at the same time this is probably the most cohesive whole of any Burke’s Law script, whether written by Harlan or not.

It’s as if after a brief but profitable run on a network series, Harlan realized he’d absorbed as much of the practical end of the business as he could and his next moves should be into broader, edgier territory.

   © Buzz Dixon

   * SPOILER: Purity Mather is the murderer; she connives a career nudist (!!!!!!) to participate in a magic ceremony then disfigures and kills her, leaving evidence that she hopes will convince the police the body is hers.  The subtle clue Harlan drops is the victim, wearing a long black negligee, complaining about how she doesn’t like the feel of the clothes.  A nice touch, but undercut by Purity then going to the nudist camp her victim operates and waiting in the buff by the front gate for the police to show up and question the career nudist -- whom Purity has mentioned as a suspect in her faked murder.  While it works insofar as Purity doesn’t try to pass herself off to anyone else at the camp as the career nudist, it doesn’t scan that she would know when the police would come to investigate or if they could be easily convinced at the gate and not come in to question other patrons.

[adrias-musings]

Review: A SEAL's Temptation by Tawny Weber

http://dlvr.it/PDnYpW

[1998tales]

7 JUNE 2020

5:58AM

I decided to force myself to go to sleep again last night. I woke up around 5AM. I used a sample from Charlotte Tilbury. It was the goddess-skin clay mask. It was so soft. I loved how creamy the formula was. It was one of those samples you get when you make an order. I rarely ever use my samples and have a box filled with them. I give the mask 2 thumbs up, but I would never buy it because it’s so expensive. 

I’m trying to plan another video to make today. I’ll probably do it this evening before I go to bed. Something I’ve learned since being monetized is that you have to upload as unlisted and you see if Youtube’s robot approves you for monetization or not. Regardless if the bot approves you though, I’ve found that the next day or so, my monetization status is switched to limited. So, that means if someone is watching with Youtube premium, I can be paid a few cents, but regular ads won’t show. Regardless, I’ll still make videos, but it’s frustrating to not have a full and clear set of rules. 

I’m reading an old Harlequin Blaze book that I bought called Kiss and Dwell by Kelley St. John. I’ve never read anything by this author and I rarely read anything from this line. I’m not even sure if Harlequin still publishes it. Nonetheless, it involves a ghost and I wanted to read something paranormal. I’m enjoying it so far and I’m about 60 pages in. To be honest, I probably shouldn’t even be reading something like this. I have felt so alone lately that I could scream. 

I have to go back to putting effort into weight loss. I need to change a few things in my life and maybe I can find a partner. I don’t understand why I’ve been given this kind of life and I don’t want it. Maybe I’m cursed. Anyway, I’m not giving up despite failing this week. 

Aside from that, I grew so angry at posts yesterday that I decided to deactivate my social media. I keep having the urge to pull open the apps, but I’m not doing it. I’m going to reactivate in 7 days and probably go dark again. I think this is  better for my mental health.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Final Deception by Heather Graham

New York Confidential #5

Coming into this series on book five shouldn’t have worked but it did. I have enjoyed this author’s work before and was happy to read a new-to-me book by her again.

Craig Frasier is an FBI agent and his fiance sometimes does pysch consultations for the FBI. In this book Craig is still having nightmares about the tough case of THE FIREMAN and Kieran Finnegan, Craig’s fiance, has just interviewed The Fireman a little while before he escapes from prison. About the time he escapes another murder following the same modus operandi takes place and all of New York is soon intently watching the news to find out what will happen next. Is this a copycat murder or did The Fireman do it?

In addition to the catch-him-if-you-can thread there is the ongoing romance between Craig and Kieran and if/when they will get married, the sibling support of the Finnegan family for one another, the police procedural aspects of solving the murder, the suspense of wondering who might be following Kieran and the question of Ruff the dog and where he will end up in the future.

This was an interesting read that might have been more interesting had I come in on book one and read the four books preceding this one because I would have known the main and supporting characters better than I did going into book five. That said, I still knew them well enough to enjoy the story.

What I liked:

* Kieran: Smart, intuitive, puzzle solver, not clingy, a good sister and fiance and very likable

* Craig: Intelligent, driven, keen to solve cases, not too clingy, a good boyfriend, dependable and bit hearted.

* The relationship between Kieran and Craig – they were mature, knew what they wanted and allowed one another the independence and distance needed to accomplish the goals of their profession.

* The Finnegan brothers – I am sure there is more to each and every one of them that I would love to know.

* Ruff – a scrappy fellow that landed in clover

* Following the threads that lead to the WHO and WHY of the murders

* The twist or two at the end

* The good thwarted evil

What I did not like:

* The psychotic puppet master and those he pulled the strings of

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series/by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins and Harlequin-Mira for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4.5 Stars

BOOK SUMMARY

Witness the thrilling conclusion to the beloved New York Confidential series, in THE FINAL DECEPTION (MIRA Books; March 31, 2020; $26.99). Kieran and Craig are about to take on their most chilling case yet as they hunt for a deranged serial killer who has escaped from prison to satisfy his need to kill again.

When criminal psychologist Kieran Finnegan was released from her responsibility of counseling the brutal serial killer known as The Fireman, once he was incarcerated, she was relieved to escape the tendrils of his twisted inner world. The chill she received from her sessions with him has stayed with her despite trying to leave him in the past. However, some demons refuse to remain behind bars. When her FBI agent boyfriend Craig is called to a gruesome crime scene that matches The Fireman’s MO, news begins to spread that he’s escaped from prison.

And he remembers Kieran...

Amid a citywide manhunt, Kieran and Craig need to untangle a web of deceit, privilege, and greed. They suspect that those closest to the killer have been drawn into his evil, or else someone is using another man’s madness and cruelty to disguise their crimes. When their investigation brings the danger right to the doorstep to the once safe haven of Finnegan’s Pub, Kieran and Craig will have to be smarter and bolder than ever before, because this time it’s personal, and they have everything to lose.

THE FINAL DECEPTION

Author: Heather Graham

ISBN: 9780778309437

Publication Date: March 31, 2020

Publisher: MIRA Books

Buy Links:

Harlequin

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Powell’s

EXCERPT

PROLOGUE

CRAIG FRASIER BREATHED IT IN BEFORE HE COULD STOP himself; the bloodcurdling scent of burning flesh.

Human flesh.

Flames still skittered over the body—an accelerant had been used. As he stood there in the small dark alley, he heard others rushing in: Mike Dalton, his partner, and patrol officers. He heard the sirens; the fire department was coming.

But there was no saving this victim.

Craig was already tamping the fire out; an extinguisher would make the work of the medical examiner more difficult.

But he knew what the medical examiner would find.

The victim had been strangled, then the tongue had been cut out. And then the eyes had been gouged out. Death had occurred, mercifully, before the fire had been set.

The corpses haunted his dreams. Burned shells, some flesh and soft tissue remaining, charred and clinging to the bones, mummy-like. The mouth in the blackened skull was agape, and those empty, soulless eye sockets seemed to be staring up, as if they could still see, as if they stared at him in reproach…

Why hadn’t they caught the killer sooner?

He heard a rustling sound. Looking across the alley, Craig saw a shadow moving. Leaving the corpse to others, he took off like a bullet. He pursued the moving shadow at a run…running and running for blocks. The city was a blur around him.

He reached apartments on Madison, with a coffee shop and a dress store on the first floor, just as the gate at the street entry to the residential units above was closing. He caught the gate, and he reached the elevator in time to see what floor it stopped on. He followed.

And again, as he arrived, a door was just closing; he didn’t let it close.

And there he was: the Fireman, still smelling faintly of gasoline, ready to sit down to a lovely dinner with his family. About to say a prayer before the meal…just a husband and a father, and a man who looked at Craig and calmly said, “So, my work is over. But I have obeyed the commandments given me, and I will go with you.”

Why did you take so long? The corpse again! In Craig’s dreams, the corpse was back, animated, flying at him like a ghostly banshee, issuing a silent scream.

Craig opened his eyes.

He didn’t awake screaming or startled—he didn’t jerk up. It was almost as if he always knew it was a dream, reliving the day the Fireman had gone down.

He’d had the dream several times before. But, now, it seemed as though it had been a long time. Weeks. He’d thought he’d ceased experiencing it altogether. He’d been doing all the right things: quietly seeing a Bureau shrink a few times, following their advice. He hadn’t told Kieran Finnegan, his fiancée, about his recurring nightmare, and while she was a criminal psychologist working with two of the city’s finest criminal psychiatrists, he’d made a point of not telling her or her bosses.

He’d thought he’d settled it on his own. It was a little strange and sometimes intimidating being in love with someone who studied the human psyche, and he hadn’t wanted Kieran worried about him or trying to analyze him.

Why the hell had the dream come back?

He felt Kieran shift against him. He pulled her into his arms and she rolled, crystal eyes opening wide when she realized that he was awake.

And aroused. Kieran’s tangle of auburn hair was a wild mass around her face, emphasizing her eyes and the quick smile that came to her lips.

“Ah!” she murmured, feeling his arousal against her.

“Your fault,” he accused.

“Well, thankfully. What time is it?” she asked with a soft whisper.

He laughed. “Quickie time, or time for a quickie,” he said.

Her smile deepened, and there was something so sensual about it that it never failed to increase whatever he had begun to feel.

In her arms, in the liquid burn of kisses here and there strategically placed, in the swift—and intense—blaze of arching and writhing and thrusting, all else faded.

After, Craig headed for the shower. He was an FBI agent in the Criminal Division of New York City’s branch of the FBI. He could be satisfied in having brought down several killers. But there would be more; a sad fact of the world and humanity. He was blessed to have his job, his vocation, and it was time to go to work.

He shoved the dream into the back of his mind.

Whatever his day held, he’d already seen the worst that this world could offer.

Little did he know.

AUTHOR BIO:

Heather Graham is The New York Times and USA Today best-selling author sold her first book, When Next We Love, in 1982 and since then, she has written over two hundred novels and novellas with about 60 million books in print in categories of romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. Graham earned high praise for her New York Confidential series, including a starred review from Library Journal which called it, “Intricate, fast-paced, and intense, this riveting thriller blends romance and suspense in perfect combination and keeps readers guessing and the tension taut until the very end.” For more information, visit her at TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com.

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @HeatherGraham

Instagram: @TheOriginalHeatherGraham

Facebook: @HeatherGrahamAuthor

Goodreads

[theeditorreads]

Rules in Defiance by Nichole Severn

Rules in Defiance by Nichole Severn

My Rating: 5/5 Genre: Romantic Suspense (Fiction) Pages: 256 (Kindle) Publisher: Mills and Boon (Harlequin) Date of Publication: 18 November 2019

Series: Blackhawk Security #4

Synopsis: A conman turned private investigator for Blackhawk Security, Elliot Dunham goes in all guns blazing when he hears his next-door neighbour – Dr Waylynn Hargraves – scream her guts out. Finding himself in the middle…

[ceciliatan]

The #RT17 BDSM panel wrapup and handouts

Thanks everyone who attended the panel at RT Booklovers in Atlanta on BDSM: What’s Next for BDSM Romance?

If you need the handout, you can grab the PDF from here: RT BDSM HANDOUT. It includes some specific sales numbers from the authors on the panel demonstrating the rise and fall of sales numbers.

I opened the panel by saying when we first started planning the panel it seemed like if we were all seeing sales drops like that, it was legitimate to ask whether the post-50-Shades “BDSM boom” was over. However, since compiling our numbers, I’ve been talking to many authors in other subgenres of romance and erotica, and to publishers as well, all of whom have seen very similar curves in rise/fall even when no BDSM is involved. So, it’s not just us.

Shelly Bell brought up that Amazon is constantly changing which keywords they have decided to suppress, and you have to be very careful not to use words like “forced” in either keywords or descriptions.

Among the factors that the panelists spoke about, which have led to each of our individual numbers dropping: -Kindle Unlimited has cornered the market on power readers of erotica -Amazon suppresses the search results of many erotic books -A glutted market with many many authors leaping into publishing BDSM

Overall the demand for BDSM erotica and romance might even still be rising, but with so many books being published, each slice of the pie gets slimmer. Now that we are 6 years after 50 Shades broke huge in the book market, everyone also knows about BDSM, though. This means that kinky scenes are slipping into other genres of romance. Tiffany Reisz mentioned her latest Harlequin Blaze novel has a scene where the hero makes the heroine crawl across the floor. Six years ago that might have been seen as too much for an otherwise vanilla sex scene, but “my editor didn’t even blink!”

Annabel Joseph has taken the BDSM into historical romance with many of her self-pub titles. I would love to see more of that and I recommended a new book as a resource, Peter Tupper’s OUR LIVES, OUR HISTORY: Consensual Master/slave relationships from Ancient Times to the 21st Century.

One of the lighter moments on the panel, I asked them to describe what kink or thing in their books they’d included that they had to explain to their editors. Tara Sue Me: “Figging.” Annabel has also used figging — which is the insertion of a ginger root where a ginger root usually doesn’t go — and she has readers telling her often about how they think of her book in the produce section of the grocery store. Tiffany Reisz: “Snowballing.” Google it. She had to take it out of the scene. (My own editor made me take out mention of the hero’s foreskin.)

All four agreed if you’re going to get into writing BDSM scenes in your romances, do your research. Get on FetLife (which is like Facebook for kinky people) where you can join discussion groups and talk to people. Go to munches (real life meetups for groups of kinky and kink-curious people in public places). The community is full of exhibitionists who love to talk about their sex lives. :-)

Much much more wisdom was dispensed by these fine writers, but you had to be there to soak it all in!

Follow the panelists on social media and sign up for their newsletters:

Cecilia Tan: Twitter: @ceciliatan Instagram: ctan_writer Mailing list/newsletter: http://bit.ly/ctannews

Tara Sue Me: Twitter: @tarasueme Mailing list/newsletter: http://ift.tt/2pEEogA

Shelly Bell: Facebook: ShellyBellBooks Twitter: @ShellyBell987 Mailing list/newsletter: http://ift.tt/2pEEoNC

Tiffany Reisz: Twitter: @tiffanyreisz Read free stories at http://ift.tt/2pEEpkE

Annabel Joseph: Twitter: @annabeljoseph Facebook: AnnabelJosephNovels Mailing list/newsletter: http://eepurl.com/E0pyb

from cecilia tan http://ift.tt/2qFjyMQ via IFTTT

[proudbookaddict]

Fast Burn

A Body Armor Novel

by Lori Foster

For the woman who’s his perfect match, he’s willing to break the rules…The moment Brand Berry meets beautiful, driven Sahara Silver, the connection between them is electric. It’s also something he can’t pursue. Sahara wants him, sure—to join Body Armor, where his MMA skills, size and cocky attitude make him perfect for her elite crew of bodyguards. For Sahara, the agency always comes first, and Brand needs more. Yet when she’s kidnapped by men searching for her missing brother, he doesn’t hesitate.Somewhere along the way, flirting with Brand for the sake of business turned very personal. Despite his refusal to join Body Armor, it’s Brand who steps up when Sahara needs him most. Now there’s no more time for games, and no point denying the hunger they both feel. They’ll escape together or not at all. But if they survive, can Sahara finally surrender control to claim this blazing passion?

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Review:

I have been eagerly awaiting Sahara & Brand's story for awhile...we've gotten to see the flirting between these two in previous Body Armor books and I just knew they would set my Kindle on fire!

Sahara has always believed her brother was still alive, and now there are others out there that think so too...others who want to use her to get to him and don't care who they hurt in the process. Although Brand has no interest in working for Sahara at Body Armor, his interest in her is enough for him to go into protection mode when Sahara is threatened.

Fast Burn is a fantastic addition to the Body Armor series. It has all the action, intrigue, and super sexy MMA fighters~turned body guards that your heart can handle. 

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, but is currently with Harlequin.

Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home.

In 2007, Lori began writing her annual benefit books, meaning once a year she writes a novella where all advance and proceeds from the sales of the book go to wonderful, local causes. In the beginning the books benefited our deployed men and woman, the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, and more. In 2013, Lori decided that the proceeds from the benefit books would go to the Animal Adoption Foundation.

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[tometender]

Fast Burn

My Rating:

Written by: Lori Foster

Series: Body Armor

Sequence series:  4

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: HQN

Publication Date: March 20, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance | Thriller

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Burn-Body...

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fast...

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/fast...

For the woman who’s his perfect match, he’s willing to break the rules… The moment Brand Berry meets beautiful, driven Sahara Silver, the connection between them is electric. It’s also something he can’t pursue. Sahara wants him, sure—to join Body Armor, where his MMA skills, size and cocky attitude make him perfect for her elite crew of bodyguards. For Sahara, the agency always comes first, and Brand needs more. Yet when she’s kidnapped by men searching for her missing brother, he doesn’t hesitate. Somewhere along the way, flirting with Brand for the sake of business turned very personal. Despite his refusal to join Body Armor, it’s Brand who steps up when Sahara needs him most. Now there’s no more time for games, and no point denying the hunger they both feel. They’ll escape together or not at all. But if they survive, can Sahara finally surrender control to claim this blazing passion?

Fast Burn by Lori Foster Sahara wants Brand to join her security firm, Body Armor. Brand wants Sahara. Not willing to compromise, Brand decides that his number one person to protect is Sahara. Especially after she is kidnapped by people claiming to know where her brother is. The action take place at high velocity with Sahara in crosshairs and its all up to Brand and her loyal MMA fighting staff of Body Armor to get her out alive. Sizzling sex appeal, Brand's and Sahara's tumultuous relationship finally comes to head! Caution: There is overall dark and disturbing vibe, with difficult topics that are not for the light hearted reader. I received this ARC copy of Fast Burn from Harlequin (US & Canada). This is my honest and voluntary review. Fast Burn is set for publication March 20, 2018.

[sirsreadingblog]

Title: Snow Kisses

Author: Diana Palmer

Publisher:  Harlequin Books

Released: December 2014 (First Released 1983)

Pages: Two Hundred and Forty-Eight (248)

Chapters: Twelve (12)

Goodreads Rating: 3.95 (as of March 3, 2018)

Synopsis: When Abby Shane went home to the Big Sky Country she’d always loved, she seemed more like a wounded bird than a glamorous fashion model. After what had happened in New York, she could never let any man near her again. But Cade McLaren was not just another man.

In his powerful arms, Abby began to move past her terror and enjoy his touch. If only his attentions stemmed from love instead of pity. Abby didn’t want Cade’s charity. She hungered for that other, all-consuming blaze of love she’d sparked in him one summer night a lifetime ago….

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Western, Harlequin

Setting: Painted Ridge, Montana, USA

Plot: It was predictable. She comes home, he’s been moody but perks up when she’s around but begins pushing her away. No communication between them whatsoever.

Characters: They annoyed me. He had feelings for her since she was 15 (and there's a 14 year age difference), which weirds me out because he was 29. And she had a crush on him starting at that age (that I'm kind of okay with because feelings change when growing up). She left because of him saying he wanted to be free. He feels like she is some city girl who doesn't want a life in the country. At least, that's how it comes across since his side isn't written.

Overall: 💎. I hate read it. There was/is nothing different than others she has already written. 

[fictionvxn]

Review: Ruled by Anne Marsh

Ruled is one of the first releases from the new Harlequin Dare imprint, which is supposed to deliver the sexy, heat filled romances that fans of this publisher will be missing since the Blaze line was discontinued. Great news! Even better? The Dare line will turn up that heat level a bit by offering readers what are supposed to be their sexiest reads yet. If I had to describe this book in two…

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REVIEW

Between you, Me, and the Bedpost By Serenity Woods

Between the Sheets #5

Reading the last book in this series was bittersweet. I finally found out why Beck and Josie broke up years before and I was then given the chance to see what they would do when the situation was right for them to perhaps have a HEA together if they were both on the same page at the same time. The author made me feel with both Josie and Beck and understand where they were coming from. The fact that they both still loved one another throughout was amazing even though they were trying to move on with their lives...sort of. Edward, their son, was a sweetie. Getting to see how the couples from previous stories was a delight and hearing about people from other series tweaked memories of stories I have read in the past and would like to revisit in the future.

This is another stellar story from Serenity Woods – one that I highly recommend! I always look forward to reading what this author publishes and can’t wait to see what will come next.

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46263675-between-you-me-and-the-bedpost

BLURB

 A second chance to win back the love of his life… Ever since Beck’s wife, Josie, moved out of their family home with their son, he’s been trying to win her back, but Josie refuses to reconcile. As much as he loves her, he knows if he doesn’t do something drastic, he’s still going to be working in his bar, waiting for her, in twenty years’ time. So he’s applied for a new job in another town, and when their divorce comes through after Christmas, it’ll be time for him to move on. Caught up in a cycle of pain and grief, Josie’s retreated into her shell, cutting herself off from her family and friends, and refusing to talk about the event that broke up her marriage. As a psychologist, she knows she’s locked in a destructive behavioral pattern, but it’s impossible to break it. Despair threatens to overwhelm her—and then, on the evening of her friend’s bachelorette party, Beck does something that finally opens the floodgates, and she begins to talk. For the first time, the pain of the past lifts, and the ice around her heart starts to thaw. At the wedding, she dances with Beck, and after a few drinks, it’s all too easy to have a kiss – and maybe more – for old time’s sake. Suddenly, the future’s looking much brighter. But can they both overcome the problems of their past enough to give their love a second chance?

AUTHOR BIO

USA Today Bestselling Author Serenity Woods lives in the sub-tropical Northland of New Zealand with her wonderful husband and gorgeous teenage son. She writes hot and sultry contemporary romances with a happy ever after, and she would much rather immerse herself in reading or writing romance than do the dusting and ironing, which is why it’s not a great idea to pop round if you have any allergies.

MORE

Serenity is a USA Today bestselling author, reaching #53 on the USA Today bestseller list in November 2016 with the Three Wise Men Box Set. She has won first prize in a dozen international writing competitions, including: - Harlequin Blaze Aviator Challenge - Writing Magazine's Adult Fairy Story Competition - Writing Magazine's Open Poetry Competition - NZ Rodney Writes Premier Writing Competition - RWNZ First Impressions Contest Also, writing as Freya Robertson, she won the NZ Sir Julius Vogel Sci-Fi/Fantasy Award for Best Novel for her debut, Heartwood.

WHERE TO FIND SERENITY:

Website: https://www.serenitywoodsromance.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/SerenityWoods

https://www.facebook.com/serenitywoodsromance

https://www.twitter.com/serenity_woods

https://nz.pinterest.com/serenitywoodsnz/boards/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/serenity-woods

[otherlands-editing]

Hello all. I will say that my first time at RWA was pretty overwhelming. It’s pretty scheduled for four days with everything you can imagine from book signings by authors to awards events like the Golden Hearts and the RITAs (think the Oscars of romance) to a ton of great and informative workshops and panels. I tried to go to everything I could, which maybe wore me out a bit as I’m now recovering from a cold. However, I learned quite a bit, and I wanted to boil down what I learned as a top ten list, which contains a mix of information about craft, about marketing, and about going to the actual conference itself.

So, below, is my list of most important things I learned at RWA 2017 with ten in this case being the most important:

1. You will hear “no” a lot in this business and, that’s normal, just keep going. In Susan Wiggs and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s keynotes as well as Christie Craig’s workshop, it was emphasized that in this business people are going to pass on your ideas no matter how well selling you already are. For example, it took years before her editors and publishing house wanted to sign off on Kenyon’s Dark Hunters idea. Ms. Craig was more direct by showing her first 100 (still saved) rejection letters to everyone at the end of her session. You’re going to hear “no” so just stay determined and keep working.

2. This is also related, but, as Ms. Wiggs pointed out, if you stay in the business long enough everything will happen to you. You’ll have good luck and bad luck, you’ll make list and have sales and fans, but you’ll also go through the downs as publishing keeps evovling and changing. Sometimes you’re entire publisher will fold or close the line you work for. You can’t control what happens but only your response to it and how you choose to evolve.

3. You never know what a conversation just casually with someone sitting at a table with you at a luncheon or a cocktail hour can bring. For example, my friend ended up sitting due to a lack of seats and being late to the RITA ceremony with three editors and a marketing director from Harlequin so she was able to talk with them and learn more about how to submit to them, garner interest from them in her work all spontaneously. In my case, that meant I sat next to the secretary of the Rainbow Romance Writers chapter and joined with them to help get more support in my f/f and m/m writing.

4. The first day, some of the board held a session for the newbies/conference neophytes called about how to make the most of the week. They all emphasized not just getting out of your introvert shell, which I think we can all agree is hard for writers, but also writing thank you notes and working to keep in touch with people you met. I’ve been fighting a bad cold since I got back from Orlando, but I’m going to be taking that advice to heart as a nice thank you note, in my opinion, can really go a long way.

5. This one might sound like a joke but it’s very important. Even if you’re going somewhere hot in July (the annual conferences are in the summer), think about layers and even small blankets you can take with you in your bags during the day. The temperature inside the Disney hotel was super, super cold, probably at Arctic levels. By the second day, people had blankets and sweatshirts and were still cold. I call it the movie theater principle. Even if it’s hot as blazes outside, it can be freezing inside so have some extra options in case.

6. Additional things outside of the main RWA events can be worth going to. For example, I went to the annual YARWA (young adult romance writers) meeting on Wednesday morning. That session was invaluable. I learned so much about character development from Damon Suede’s presentation, and I can’t share all of it, but I will say that thinking of my characters in terms of the verbs that describe them and what their actions are really helps. I also loved Jennifer L. Armentrout’s speech because she really told us that you’re allowed to enjoy your success, that sometimes you have to take a break and let yourself be content. It’s a hamster wheel otherwise because no matter how successful you are, you still need to acknowledge what you’ve done. Finally, I enjoyed the agents and editors panel where they read the first page of submitted sample manuscripts. Seriously, if you ever get a chance to go to the YARWA annual meeting, you need to go!

7. Hearing from the horses’ mouths or, in this case, the agents and editors themselves really mattered and crystalized what publishing houses are looking for. I went to about three panels that taught me so much about publishing as a business. First, the agent and editor panel at the YARWA had me rethinking how I start novels. You have 30-60 seconds to grab attention before they move onto the next book in the pile. You have to make sure you start in medias res, in the middle of things, get the conflict out there fast, and worry about the backstory or reflections or worldbuilding a bit later. You need to get them to fall in love with your lead character and be invested in the conflict immediately from page one and, similarly, just say no to prologues. In a second panel, I listened to a different set of agents an editors talk about cliches they hated to see/automatic turn offs in manuscripts. This basically boiled down in romance to a) thinking more deeply about your characters’ psychology and not going for the easy answers about why they are the way they are and b) don’t do anything racist, sexist, homophobic. The panel was very sick of reading subtley misogynistic tropes like “not like other girls,” “the bitchy ex,” or “the frigid mother.” Basically, if your book basically painted every woman but the heroine as a horrible shrew, then you needed to rethink your manuscript. Finally, the lead editor from Entangled really revealed to me how much of a business mainstream publishing is. I think it’s good to know and I was grateful for her honesty. She said that “No matter how good the writing, if I can’t sell the concept of your book in one sentence, then I’m not interested.” There’s definitely an entertainment industry aspect to publishing the same as in music or in movies and if you can’t find a way to generate word of mouth and easy, sellable comparisons, it will be an uphill battle.

8. It’s okay to say no. I spoke in the airport while waiting for my plane with Karen Carlyle, a writer for Harlequin. She told me that you can get overwhelmed at RWA and you had to pick which activities you were going to attend. I had been feeling guilty for skipping the RITAs, but I’d wanted to get rest before pitching early that morning (to be fair it worked as I got asked for a full submission to that company). However, Ms. Carlyle explained that everyone had to pace themselves at an RWA event because you couldn’t please everyone or see everything. Similarly, Dr. Emily Nagoski aka Emily Foster’s talk about burnout was invaluable. I have to learn to say “no” more and allow myself to get sleep and rest because there’s nothing that can keep you alert and focused if you’re consistently getting only 5-6 hours a night, which I have a habit of doing, especially during the school year.

9. Pitching an agent or editor is a communal process. I was so glad I went to two different panels to help me prepare. My mother helped get me to focus more on how the plot of my pitch was emotionally affecting my heroine. The second session with mentors from Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars also was invaluable because they really refined and trimmed the fat out of my 6-sentence blurb and gave me perspective on how to bring out my own voice beyond the plot. Also, I feel like I made connections and learned about opportunities I might not have if I’d tried to pitch all alone.

10. Finally and also related, pitching an editor or an agent isn’t the process you think it would be at RWA. In general, you have to sign up for a slot in April for the conference in July. However, a ton of people either cancel or are no-shows. On pitch day, if you go and spend the whole day waiting in the wings, you can get a chance to slide in when others haven’t shown up or, even, when a pitch finishes early and there’s a spare 5-6 minutes to see the editor or agent. In other words, even if you couldn’t get a formal appointment, just go and wait and try and slide in. I knew one woman who was able to get three editor and agent appointments that day even though she hadn’t signed up in advance. This finally brings me to my last point, the RWA is working to be more diverse and inclusive and they had editors from Bold Strokes Books and Riptide Publishing there, but very few writers took the slots. If you want to get face time with editors from LGBT publishers, then you can definitely get it at RWA as they have tons of slots still available the day of. Basically, even if you think you can’t get a slot to see and agent or editor, if you’re flexible and patient, you probably can and it’s worth trying.

So, that’s what I learned at RWA 2017. I’ll be working on my thesis next summer and retaking the darn GREs. However, I’m looking forward to RWA 2019 in New York (I have a phobia of flying so getting to Florida was hard), and I definitely recommend people go and check it out!

[limecello]

Team ALBTALBS TBR Challenge Review: A SEAL's Salvation by Tawny Weber

Team ALBTALBS TBR Challenge Review: A SEAL’s Salvation by Tawny Weber

Babs’ review of A SEAL’s Salvation by Tawny Weber Contemporary romance published by Harlequin Blaze February 1, 2014 Subject: Navy SEAL Petty Officer  Brody Lane Current Status: On leave Obstacle: The one girl who was off-limits… Where Navy SEAL “Bad Ass” Brody Lane goes, trouble follows. Being run out of his hometown years ago for misbehaving with Genna Reilly—the sheriff’s daughter—was one…

[proudbookaddict]

Close Contact

A Body Armor Novel

by Lori Foster

There’s no resisting a desire like this…

MMA fighter Miles Dartman’s casual arrangement with personal shopper Maxi Nevar would be many men’s fantasy. She seeks him out, they have mindblowing sex, she leaves. Rinse, repeat. Yet lately, Miles wants more. And when Maxi requests his services via the Body Armor security agency, he’s ready to finally break through her defenses—and protect her day and night.

Receiving a large inheritance has brought chaos and uncertainty into Maxi’s life. Her ex has resurfaced, along with lots of former “friends,” and someone is making mysterious threats. Then there’s Miles, who doesn’t ask for anything, except her trust. Pleasure is easy. Now Maxi has to give her heart as well as her body or risk losing a man who could be everything she needs.

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Review:

Close Contact is the third book in Lori Foster's Body Armor series. The series follows a group of former MMA fighters turned body guards. If you have read previous books in this series and/or the Ultimate series you will see a few familiar faces show up in this one. 

Close Contact is Maxi & Miles story, Maxi gains a large inheritance and along with it...more trouble than she can handle on her own. Miles was a one night...ok three night stand and just happens to work for a company that provides protection. When things become dangerous and gets too far out of hand, Maxi hires Miles for his protection. Miles knows what he wants in life and he wants more than a quickie with Maxi, by becoming her bodyguard, Miles figures he could wiggle his way into her heart.

I love that this book takes a bit of a different angle and steps away from the main streets and inner city that the other books showcase. As always, Close Contact has all the suspense, intrigue, hot MMA guys, and steamy lovin' that you come to expect from a Lori Foster book....oh, and of course some laughs too! I always enjoy the scenes with the interaction between the guys...they are fun & quite hilarious too. This author writes like she can see right into the mindset of the male species and I just love that.

Please be sure to pick your copy of Close Contact...you won't be disappointed!

Lori Foster first published with Harlequin in January 1996. Her second book launched Temptation Blaze and her 25th book launched Temptation Heat. Since those early days, Lori has routinely had 6 to 10 releases a year. She’s a Waldenbooks, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author with over 50 titles published through a variety of houses, including Berkley/Jove, Kensington, St. Martins, Harlequin and Silhouette.

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