Vixenwriter

A wee snippet from Taking Care of Business, shall we?

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS BY MEGAN HART AND LAUREN DANE
Copyright, Megan Hart and Lauren Dane, 2008
All Rights Reserved, Random House
Releasing: UK October 08; US January 09

Katherine loved the way his voice sounded. The tease layered in innuendo. If any other man had spoken to her the way Charles Dixon did during her business day, she’d have cut him off at the knees. He was that one little bit of dark chocolate she allowed herself in a sea of eating fiber and doing the right thing.

To what extent she gorged on the absolutely sinful man, no one but the two of them knew.

She’d decided to walk from her hotel to Hargrave and Aaron. Normally she would have ignored the call, preferring not to carry on phone conversations on a public sidewalk but she’d seen it was him on her caller ID and picked up. She flipped the phone shut and tucked it into her bag as she approached the glass revolving doors to the building housing the Philadelphia offices of her firm.

The artificially cool air soothed over her skin as she pulled Katherine tight, pushing Kate far away. Here in midst of three thousand dollar office chairs and floor-to-ceiling glass and chrome, there was no room for mistakes.

The shiny reflective walls of the elevator showed a confident, cool woman. Feminine, but not too. Her heels weren’t matronly, nor were they sexy. Understated and expensive, chosen with the same deliberate care she put into everything else to do with her career. The suit, a summer weight, was smoky gray. The wine-colored blouse added just enough color. Not flashy, but it complimented her skin tone and hair. Hair carefully tucked into a sleek chignon at the base of her skull completed the look she wanted to achieve.

Choices. It all came down to choices, and Katherine Edwards made the right ones. The right choices were what it took to get ahead in the savvy and male-dominated world of corporate law. It didn’t mean she was a ball-busting bitch, but she’d made her share of attorneys on the other side of the aisle cry, she was sure. A smile touched her lips at that.

I hate the term cougar for a woman who likes younger men. I mean, hate it with a grand passion that stirs up all my feminine outrage. It’s not a nice term. It’s not sexy. It’s derogatory.

Everyone has preferences. I like dark men with dark or green eyes. I also tend toward men my own age (which to a younger woman would be older men, LOL) So a woman has a preference for a younger man. That automatically makes her a predator? Really? Why and who decided that? You tell me, is Ashton Kucher being taken advantage of by Demi Moore?

It’s not something I’d celebrate if that was my personal preference - to be referred to as a cougar. And seriously, if a book is marketed that way, I’d never buy it. Older woman/younger man book, fine! If it works for the story, I think it’s an interesting dynamic. But if it’s marketed like “oh she’s on the prowl for that young man meat!” I throw up in my mouth a little.

Your preferences may vary.

going to be chatting at Jackie Frank’s messageboard from 11 - 12 pacific/2 - 3 eastern. I’m giving away a faboo Vegas themed basket with loads of cool stuff in it. So come on over and say hello!

Here’s a list of the participating authors (times shown are eastern):

10:00 – 11:00: Patrice Michelle

11:00 - 12:00: Alexandra Ivy

12:00 - 1:00: Gena Showalter

1:00 - 2:00: JJ Massa

2:00 - 3:00 Lauren Dane

3:00-4:00 HelenKay Dimon

4:00-5:00 Lara Adrian

5:00-6:00: Cynthia Eden

6:00-7:00: TBA

7:00-8:00: Meljean Brook

8:00-9:00: Shelly Laurenston

9:00 - 10:00: Yasmine Galenorn

First off - the stuff I’ve read:

When He Was Bad by Cindy Eden and Shelly Laurenston

Oh man was this antho fabulous. Shelly kicks off with Miss Congeniality and I sped though it as I laughed and had to fan myself here and there too. What I loved best about this story was the heroine. Laurenston gives us Irene who is maladjusted, cold, awkward and hostile - but she makes it work so well. I really *liked* Irene and I loved the moments when she was just totally confused by Holt’s attraction to her. She was smart and strong. The story is clever and quick and Holt is mmmm!

And Eden’s Wicked Ways is set in the same world as her After Midnight books so I loved that continuity. Cain and Miranda are a great couple, she’s got just the right amount of incredullity and waryness balanced with her attraction and acceptance of Cain. The story opens with a bang and the action sucks you straight into the story. The chemistry is done quite well as were the scenes with Cain’s beast.

Both stories were well done, the antho isn’t “carried” by one author - both of them really gave readers fabulous reads with totally different voices and perspectives.

And then on to finish the last bit of Resident Evil: Extinction by Keith DeCandido - this is a novelization based on the movie but actually fills in a great deal of things you didn’t see on the screen. I picked this up at the airport coming back from Cincinatti earlier this month and it was an entertaining read. After the movie I was left wondering what happened to Jill and Angie and the book fills in all that backstory nicely.

I also finished up Blood Noir. I don’t have much to say about it just now. It wasn’t horrible. I just wasn’t compelled by it in any sense.

On to my TBR:

I’ve got Recipe For Disaster by Michelle Pillow. This one is in her Matthews Sisters series from Cheek and Zoe is my favorite sister so I’m totally excited to read it.

Aspiring chef, Zoe Matthews has lost her job and all hopes of a satisfying future. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s just publicly shot down her one and only chance at culinary redemption. Restaurant mogul, Jackson Levy is determined to teach the rude city-slicker a lesson in manners. What she thinks will be a head chef position at one of his fancy restaurants turns out to be a small town diner. Can this city girl and a country boy find common ground? Or is this just a recipe for disaster?

And I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Noelle Mack’s Wanton - the next entry in her St. James Pack books - I can’t wait! I loved the first book.

There’s no blurb at amazon and I can’t seem to find her website via google but through the link above you can see the pretty cover (this series has a great cover progression so far)

And also, Mandy Roth’s Bella Mia is now available and in my E-TBR pile:

On the run from two men who want her, Gwyneth Stevens finds herself at the door of a third-Giovanni Baldassare, master vampire and former henchman of her father, the King of the Dark Realm. When Pallo and Caleb resurface, all
hell breaks loose and old habits die hard. Out of time and places to hide, Gwen must face her destiny head on if she ever hopes to find happiness. Can the triangle of lovers make welcome a newcomer, or will the group succumb
to old enemies resurfacing and centuries-old grudges, allowing history to repeat itself?

The totally fabulous Jeri Smith-Ready is guest blogging over at the Maverick Authors blog talking about Wicked Game and how you know you’re on a deadline! Go say hello and enter into a contest to win a signed copy of Wicked Game.

CHASE BROTHERS: MAKING CHASE BY LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2007, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing
Now Available in Trade Paper!

Tate Murphy sat in the comfy chair at her station, sipping coffee and looking out the window. It was a Saturday in the very beginning of February. Winter had been cold but spring was beginning to imagine itself. The trees carried buds, heavy with leaves and the air wasn’t quite as chilly as it’d been even a week before.

All in all, a lovely day. Soon to be even lovelier. One leg crossed over the other, foot slowly kicking back and forth, she waited for her morning visual donut. Matt Chase.

Ah, there he was. Hot damn, her body lit up when he pulled his truck into the lot adjacent to the salon. Hopping out, he hefted a duffel bag over one shoulder and loped across the street.

“Good Lord the man looks good enough to eat,” Tate murmured as she took a drink of her coffee. Faded jeans showed off long legs and a nice, trim booty. A hoodie sweatshirt fended off the cold but didn’t stop her from seeing the work-hard body beneath. He was in dire need of a haircut and she had no trouble admitting she’d love to get her fingers in it. A bit shaggy, it curled up just around his ears and touched the back of his collar. A color like burnt sugar.

Although he had on cool-looking sunglasses, she knew the eyes beneath were a light green, fringed with chocolate lashes. Mmm. Mmmm. Mmmm.

“Ah, I see his hotness has arrived.” Anne, co-owner and her next youngest sister, stood next to her, leaning into the chair.

“Kinda makes me want to set a fire,” Tate said, one corner of her mouth lifting.

“Um, I smell something burning already. Your panties perhaps?”

Blushing furiously, she spun, laughing at Anne’s outrageous comment. “I’m gonna light a candle for you. Three.”

Anne joined her in laughter. “You just about raised me, I expect I need all the help I can get.”

“Hey, divas, did I miss him?” Beth, the last owner and next youngest sister after Anne approached to refill everyone’s coffee cup.

“Yeah, he just went inside. But there’s always lunchtime.” Sated for the morning, Tate stood and began to get all her tools in order, making sure her station was stocked and ready for the day.

Four years before, Tate and Anne had decided to buy the rundown old house at the far end of Main Street and renovate it into a hair salon. They’d scrimped, saved, worked multiple jobs and got the down-payment together and then had spent months doing the renovation work themselves. Luckily, they had a large, and free, workforce. With eight Murphy kids and two spouses to help, they’d been able to paint, knock out walls, drywall, replace the plumbing, landscape, and apply for all the proper permits and licenses. Hell, they’d even put up a new roof. A few months after Anne graduated from beauty school, Tate left her old salon in Riverton and they opened the doors to Murphy’s Cuts and Curls.

Two years after that, Beth came in as part owner and ran the business end of things. The salon was a family affair. Beth had been helping out with the books when she’d offered to buy in at a smaller share. The place would wither and die without her to, well, do everything that needed doing. Not only did she handle the books and deal with ordering supplies but if someone needed a shampoo she could do that too.

Truthfully, Tate had wanted a fancier name but their youngest sister, Jill, who was getting her degree in marketing, told them that if they kept the name folksy but not too cutesy, it’d make people more comfortable.

Jill must have had something, because from the moment they’d opened, they’d done a brisk business. Women stopped leaving town to get their hair done. Tate and Anne offered everything from the giant hairspray helmet the women like Polly Chase preferred to the stylish razor cuts her daughter-in-law Liv currently sported. It made Petal seem a friendlier place to Tate, who always had felt an outsider there.

Tate made a decent living. Enough that she’d been able to help Tim and her other siblings pay tuition at the University of Georgia for their two youngest siblings. Before that, she worked to pay for her younger brother Nathan’s college and master’s in teaching. They’d all worked together to help out when the others had needed it and that’s what counted.

“Anne, your first client of the day is a color, I’ll send her over to Tate for the cut,” Beth announced as she made another pot of coffee.

Tate looked at the place she and her sisters had built from the ground up and pride swelled her heart.

A few very fun things!

FIRST - TODAY IS RELEASE DAY FOR MAKING CHASE!!!! Wheeee! Those of you who’ve been waiting for the paperback release can now finish the series with Tate and Matt and their HEA. I have some errands to run this morning but when I come back I’ll post an excerpt.

You can get Making Chase at Amazon (although it’s saying it’s temporarily not available but I think it’s a glitch), and My Bookstore and More as well as your local Borders and Barnes and Noble.

And secondly - I’m going to be chatting at Jacquelyn Frank’s place this coming Saturday from 2 - eastern/11- 12 pacific. There will be huge prizes given out all day by all her guests as well as from Jackie herself so come by and say hello. I’ll be giving away a Vegas themed bag with a copy of What Happens In Vegas. A list of all the authors attending is here.