Vixenwriter

Okay so I’m lucky enough to have received an early peek at Shelley Munro’s Stray Cat Strut, her M/M quickie that releases today from Ellora’s Cave. This is told in first person and is more than just sexy, it’s romantic and a little heartbreaking in places.

This story is soooo good! It has a great flavor (as many of Shelley’s books) from the culture and geography of New Zealand and it’s got some great visits from old friends in the Middlemarch Mates series too.

But the heart of the story, the blooming relationship between Saul and Lucas is just wonderful.

As I said above, Shelley tells the story in first person and I think she did such a fabulous job. Oh and one of the things that bugs me sometimes is when men in a romance are like women in a man suit. They say and do things no man I’ve ever met would say or do. But Shelley’s Saul and Lucas are written so well and this romance definitely comes across with so much genuine masculinity and male voice.

Anyway, I loved it! It’s a quickie so it’ll start your day out or make your lunch hour really good and send you home in a really good mood!

Okay, not so wild really, LOL!

Next week I’ve got two new releases - the second book in the Chase Brothers series - Taking Chase and the fourth book in the Witches Knot series - Thrice United. You can read excerpts by clicking on the titles above.

Some appearance/Chat stuff:

I’ve got some new excerpts up at my messageboard for Taking Chase, Thrice United, Threat of Darkness and Ascension.

I’ll be chatting tonight with the rest of the Dynamic Trio at We Write Romance at 6 pm pacific/9 eastern.

My wonderful husband indulged me this last week and we got a Roomba! Okay how cool is it that there are robots who clean your floors? But I don’t want my kids touching it so I told them they’d die if they did. My husband thought that was harsh so I changed it to I’d kill them if they broke my floor cleaning robot. The boys seemed to understand that one quite well but the two year old is fascinated with the robot but I’ve been warning her not to touch it so of course the moment I’m out of the room I hear the darned thing turn on and her scream and the patter of her feet as she hightailed it out of there crying. It was hard not laugh as I rocked her and stroked her hair because man was she freaked and she knew she wasn’t supposed to touch it anyway so she had that guilty face they get. Still, she probably won’t touch it again until tomorrow, LOL. I know, mother of the year.

I’m at 7500 words on Chased and Marc has turned on the charm big time. Liv doesn’t quite know what to do about it though. Still won’t stop her from looking at him when he takes off his shirt and he’s all muscly and sweaty. Heh.

The release date has been moved from January to November 21! Yep, next week. So please head on over to my website to check out an excerpt. I can’t wait for you all to meet Holly, Rhett and Nate!

The 21st is going to be a busy day for me as Taking Chase comes out then as well. A bit of everything for every taste - romantic suspense or paranormal menage - or both!

Chase Brothers: Chased

5,000 / 60,000 (8.3%)

Looking good! It’s always an odd transition to move from one book to the next but easier for me if I switch genres because there’s nothing from the old manuscript to hang on to. I went from a paranormal action romance to contemporary romance so the transition from Threat of Darkness to Chased was pretty easy.

I think I’m going to miss the Chase family when I’m done with this series though. I wrote a scene last night at Polly and Edward’s house and realized I just adore Polly Chase. I hope I do her sons justice.

I’m guest blogging over at May’s on the 17th! I think I know what I’m going to write about and I’ll finish it up today or tomorrow.

It was a productive weekend. Finished one book, started a new one, hung out with my family, got some great pictures of my kids. I love candid shots, so much more than posed ones. It’s funny how that is. I love to see them active and living their lives in pictures. We rarely have the time to get to a photo studio and it’s nearly impossible to get them clean all at once and to sit still long enough but when I look at all my favorites of them growing up, it’s the first birthday cake face or the running in the back yard through the slip and slide that I always smile when I see.

I think I like my romance like that too. I want my characters to be real and living life (both those I write and those I read) I don’t want perfection because perfection isn’t real.

Finished Threat of Darkness last night and it’s off to beta this morning! I’d originally meant for this to be a foray into the world of the Fae but I think in the end it’s more a foray into the world of these warriors I’ve written. There are some familiar faces here and there - Aine, the queen of the Fae, Jayce, Con and Em and at the end we see Lee, Alex and Kael so that was fun.

Then I got back to Chased and I’m about 3K in now. I like Marc a lot and he’s fun to write dialog for.

Got two very lovely reviews for Tri Mates in JERR this morning! Both Five stars…

Tallyn gives TM an O and says: Lauren Dane has created an intriguing, suspenseful and erotic romantic tale about two dominating alpha males and their even more domineering mate. Tracy is a sassy, highly independent, intellectual, tattoo and piercing fanatic female who can hold her own. Nick is a clean cut, high maintenance second-in-command, while Gabe is a confident, self-assured, very professional high ranking alpha wolf. Both men are drawn to high maintenance women until they meet the very spirited Tracy. I found Tracy’s edgy and mischievous presence a likeable quality in a heroine and I can see why both men were drawn to her. The physical connection between the three characters is erotically explosive. Nick and Gabe’s need to protect, conquer and seduce just makes me envious of Tracy! The intimacy and love between Tracy, Nick and Gabe will have you prolonging your playtime with your partner. Definitely hot, hot, hot! I enjoyed the complexity of the political aspect of the storyline; it was quite fascinating and easy to follow. I found the interesting secondary and villainous characters to have depth and definitely added to my enjoyment of this story. Cascadia Wolves: Tri Mates can be read independently but I would suggest reading the first installment to better understand the unique and exciting world Ms. Dane has created. I look forward to reading future installments of this captivating series. A definite keeper!

and LT gives TM an H and says: Tri Mates has everything that I love about a book - werewolves, lots of sex, action, and two men to one female. HOT! I just loved this story. Tracy is a young woman not afraid of her sexuality. She has the nice girl appearance with the sex kitten appeal. Nick Lawrence is one sexy man and he was confident enough to know it without being arrogant. The sexual chemistry between Nick and Tracy was just plain hot. The friction between the Alphas from the Pacific clan against Tracy coming in as Nick’s mate and second was believable and fit with the plot. When Gabe volunteers to be Tracy’s anchor, I was a little disappointed because I was expecting a triad always and not just once. Ms. Dane is a master of her craft. The sex was so good between Gabe and Tracy that you felt their guilt and began to feel sorry for Nick. It isn’t until later when Tracy’s grandmother points out the Tri Mate bond that I lost the guilt and the triad became very real. All of the characters played a major part in the story and I couldn’t imagine any of them being left out. I am looking forward to how the series will end and can’t wait to read more about the Cascadia, Pacifica and National packs.

Busy week here! I’m sooooooo close to finishing Threat of Darkness I can taste it. Finished the last big sex scene, which sort of snuck up on me. Now all I have is the final scene in the book and I’m done and it’s off to beta and I can get started on Chased. Which by the way, releases March 6!

I also have really exciting news but I can’t announce it just yet. I’m waiting for all the final stuff to be taken care of and then I can say. I was pretty incoherent yesterday for a while.

This morning I woke up to find an ARC of Shelley Munro’s, FALLEN IDOL in my inbox. HEE! I can’t wait to read it and I’ll tell you all about it when I do.

Later today my husband is taking our 9 year old and a few of his friends out for a birthday thing at the local game center. Laser tag and video games and ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s. I’ll be here (thank heaven!) having a pizza party with the 5 year old who feels left out and the 2 year old who doesn’t care, LOL.

And now I need to finish a blurb. Enjoy your weekend!

Oh man, this week has been so wonderful! I’ll fill you all in on the whole story early next week but a highlight was this review from Talia at Joyfully Reviewed, who made Taking Chase her November Recommended Read! It’s not up at the site yet so take a sneaky peek at it:

Taking Chase called out to my heart with the first scene. When I started reading, I could not believe the change in the man I loved to hate, Shane Chase. Still angry at his meanness in Giving Chase, I made myself give him another chance and I do not regret this decision for a moment. Shane is the ultimate stubborn hero. Content to chase away Cassie’s demons, he found redemption in allowing Cassie the freedom of healing. Cassie Gambol. What a fighter she was. Her triumph over adversity made me proud. Scarred, scared, and oftentimes hurting, the words, “uncommon valor” come to mind when I think of her. She humbled me with her spirit.

Taking Chase by Lauren Dane is book 2 of the Chase Brothers series and it is one of those books that you must read over and over. I found it hard to breathe at times because I was so caught up in the story. As Taking Chase unfolded, a sense of calm invaded my soul and I happily continued the ride. Lauren Dane’s writing continues to amaze me, and it gives me great pleasure to Joyfully Recommend Taking Chase!